On 18th May 2018 Queen Elizabeth’s Academy celebrated ‘Thy Kingdom Come’, a global prayer movement which invites Christians around the world to pray between Ascension and Pentecost for more people to come to know Jesus Christ.

As part of our celebrations, we undertook some charitable work as our full academy community donated a wide range of tinned/dried food to support those less fortunate members in our society.

We were also honoured to be joined by the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, Paul Williams, who blessed the food. He also spoke to our students about the importance of prayer, and how important it is to also offer practical help to our local community by taking part in events such as this food donation.

Miss Brothwell, academy principal, said, “I am delighted to see our students pull together to support others, aligning with one of our core academy values of respect. We collected over 500 donations on the day, which is a huge feat, and have been staggered by the generosity and thought of our students and their families. Our students were proud to donate to the Salvation Army on Victoria Street in Mansfield – they will now add this food to their stock for use by individuals in need within our community.”

Stephen Hicks, community programme co-ordinator at the Salvation Army in Mansfield added, “We are very grateful and want to say thank you for the generous donation from the students at Queen Elizabeth’s Academy. The food donation collected will be distributed to those in need and to the homeless in the Mansfield area in the form of food parcels. We cannot do the important work we do without support from others, so this will go a long way to helping those less fortunate in our society.”

Further to this donation, the academy has also provided sandwiches not eaten during their half-term revision sessions to the Salvation Army, with these distributed to the homeless community through local soup kitchens.

All students who have contributed to this foodbank donation will receive the reward of a non-uniform day at the academy after the summer exam period as reward for their involvement.