Students and staff at Oasis Academy Coulsdon have been moved by the recent news highlighting the plight of Syrian refugees fleeing their homes in fear of their safety.

Stacey Clark, Youth Worker, said:  “We wanted to help by doing something practical, and being able to provide them with clothing, shoes and warm blankets seemed like one of the most practical things we could do”.

In a bid to help those who have had to flee, students with the support of Stacey Clark began a collection in the local community for donations of clothing and blankets in mid-September.

Stacey said:  “We started collecting four weeks prior to our drop off date as we were anxious to make sure we had a reasonable amount to take with us to the drop point. However we actually had to stop taking donations a week prior to this as we have received such a staggering amount of support for this cause and were running out of storage space; we are truly overwhelmed by the generosity of the Coulsdon community”.

Year 9 students, George Funnell, Callum Cross, Max Francis, Robert Herring, Hazem El Tawil, Dominic Terry, Dominic Munn, Nathan Cook, Jesse-James Ahlijah and Gus Farndon spent hours on Monday this week sorting through the donations splitting them into men’s, women’s and children. The boys will be taking the bagged clothing and blankets, over 40 bin liners full, to West Croydon Baptist Church on Friday 9^th October where they will then be distributed. Unfortunately it has not proven possible to find an organisation who will be able to take the donations abroad, but instead the items will be passed on to refugees in the South East of the country who are in desperate need of items such as this. The boys have said that they are just pleased that after all of the work that has gone into the collection the donations will all be going to those who are in need.