Pupils at Slough's Eden Girls’ School, Slough never say no to a challenge.

Year 7 girls have spent the year at the Bath Road school avidly fundraising and creating social awareness campaigns for a number of charities, as part of the First Give programme.

First Give works in partnership with secondary schools to help young people to give their time, tenacity and talents to improve their local communities.

The charities supported by the school over the year include Samaritans, Slough Foodbank, the RSPCA and Phab, which supports children, young people and adults with and without disabilities to socialise together.

The school’s project with First Give culminated in a final challenge, with pupils taking part in a Dragon’s Den-style pitch to compete for the £1,000 charity donation. The girls had to pitch to a panel of judges as to why their chosen charity should receive the donation.

The event, which was held at the school, was hosted by Daisy Jacobs of First Give and the panel included Maria Grazia Hindmarsh from the Buffini Chao Foundation, who generously donated the prize money. After a hotly-contested final, the Eden Girls' team representing the Samaritans received the donation.

Davina Singh, deputy director of Outreach at Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead Samaritans said: “We are so grateful to Eden Girls’ School, Slough for this donation. It is even more special to receive it in this our 50th anniversary, when we are celebrating 50 years of listening. The money will be used to enable our Samaritan volunteers to continue our work in the community and to continue supporting those in distress and despair.”

It is part of Star Academies, one of the UK’s leading multi-academy trusts. The school opened in September, 2015. For more information about Eden Girls’ School, Slough visit www.edengirlsslough.com.