COMMONWEAL students were given a challenge this week to raise funds for Romania in just 11 days.

Thirty Yr9 C30 students accepted the challenge from former student James Phipps, CEO of Excalibur Communications to raise much-needed funds the poverty-stricken country.

The students who have been identified, as Yr9 top attainers were given £11 to raise as much money as possible in just 11 days.

Last year the school’s sixth form students went over to Romania to support People Against Poverty with their charity work in Eastern Romania.

Students made chicken coops for families in a shanty town and assisted with the building of a shelter for quails so that the village micro-farm could start to supply eggs to restaurants and shops in Romania. “The level of poverty is like nothing I have seen before,” said Louise Forrester, deputy head of sixth form, who in recent years has also organised trips to the Gambia.

“These people live in such poverty dealing still with the consequences of the revolution in the 80s. State welfare is minimal, jobs are few, education is limited and alcoholism and trafficking are rife.

"I took a group of sixth formers over to Romania and the chicken coops we made were on wooden legs with a closing door to protect them from foxes and dogs," she said.

"Each chicken coop allowed a family to keep six chickens for a fresh egg supply every day. We return in July this year and any funds raised by sixth formers and our C30 students will be used to further support this programme.”

James, a keen supporter of the school, stumped up £300 and the school added a further £30 to ensure all students had the £11 challenge money.

“The C30 students really embraced the idea and have gone away to think about ways to raise money. James has very kindly offered to give the team who raises the most money a cash sum of £50, but if they fail to meet the deadline they will be fined £1 per day,” said Nick Bartlett a member of the school’s senior management team and a modern foreign language teacher.

James who now employs more than 60 people in a multi-million pound enterprise, left the school in 1996. He said:" Commonweal was a really positive experience for me. I could not have had the career I have had without the grounding and support I had from the school, as it hugely influenced my values. Staff went above and beyond to help me and my siblings, we came from a disadvantaged background. I also met my wife at Commonweal and we have been together for 20 years so it has a very personal connection for me.

" I want to encourage young people to push themselves out of their comfort zone and I know they will surprise themselves with what they can achieve. "