ROYAL Wootton Bassett Academy celebrated with a Christmas Market after raising a whopping £15,000 to help build a school in Burma.

The academy has been fundraising since January for the Burmese school along with the charity, Stand By Me.

At a Christmas Market held at the school yesterday evening, the students and staff managed to beat their target, which will see the school, which is based in Tamu, completed.

Hester McCunn, who headed up the fundraising campaign for the school in Burma, was ecstatic with the staff and students’ efforts.

She said: “When we got involved with the project, the school only had a piece of bare land and said it needed £15,000 to build a school.

“We started fundraising and every time we reached £1,000 we sent the money over, so the students have been able to see their money grow as the school is built.

“I am so proud of all the things the students have been doing to raise this money.”

Youngsters at the academy have been working hard to raise money for the school by devising their own fundraising schemes, including a sponsored silence, sitting in a bath of cold beans, and walking along the Ridgeway.

They have also held non-uniform days, cake sales and piano recitals to held raise further funds.

Seventeen-year-old Isobel Griffiths said: “I thought it was going to be hard to reach £15,000 but we have done it within the first year which is absolutely amazing.

“To the disappointment of my peers I started up a swear jar, with all the money going to Burma.”

Royal Wootton Bassett Academy’s school motto is ‘A Global School in a Local Community’, and the project has helped the school to make the motto a reality.

Headteacher George Croxford said: “I think it’s absolutely amazing what has been achieved.

“It’s just wonderful, some of the stuff they have done, and how all the students have got behind it.

“It’s so good to see them wanting to help someone else who hasn’t got the things that they take for granted.”

The Burmese school is situated 90 miles into a restricted zone, in a centre known for drug and human trafficking. It is hoped the new school will equip youngsters with the knowledge they need to break the cycle of poverty – a hallmark of the country which has been ruled by a military junta for years.

Forty per cent of children in Burma do not have access to education because the government spends only 1.3 per cent of the budget on education.

To find out more about Stand By Me visit www.standby.me