Sixth form students raise £179.60 during Diversity Week to raise money for a local mental health and wellbeing charity in Surrey.

This week, Collingwood College celebrated diversity week, a week dedicated to embracing and learning about different cultures, religions, and identities. As part of it, the ‘Innovate Catering’ team suggested a bake sale as a way of raising money for a compelling cause.

The catering team did an incredible job at making a huge amount of delicious baked goods to sell around the school and in staff rooms the next day. They worked tirelessly to bake hundreds of muffins, flapjacks, and shortbreads, as well as kindly providing items like doughnuts and biscuits. Stalls were set up in Kinston, Barossa, and the Sixth Form Centre to ensure that everyone had the chance to enjoy what was made.

It took quite an effort to set up the sale because the split timetable meant that there was a lot of break times that needed people to run the stalls. There was also the issue of moving the banquet-worth of muffins which required the strongest members of the Sixth Form to help carry them. Thankfully, there were people willing to help and the event proved to be an enormous success. Virtually all of the items were sold, and the doughnuts proved to be a popular choice amongst the younger years!

Overall, we managed to raise an incredible total of £179.60 which will all be going to the ‘Catalyst’ charity. ‘Catalyst is non-profit organization which is based in Guildford but operates throughout Surrey to provide support in three primary areas: Mental Health and Wellbeing, Drugs and Alcohol, and Specialist Outreach such as counselling. They believe in reducing the isolation and stigma faced by people experiencing challenges through a number of projects. They are a great charity, and we are proud to support them.

Thank you to everyone who made this sale a success. A massive thank you again to the ‘Innovate Catering’ team and especially Artur who helped with all of the logistics and managing of baking the items. Thank you to everyone who helped run the stalls throughout the day, even though the wind was blowing everything everywhere! And a massive thank you to everyone who bought something and donated to the ‘Catalyst’ charity, your donations will go a long way to helping people.

Daniel Sawyer (Bake Sale Organizer) & The Senior Prefect Team