Grantham school spreads cheer with Gift Drive

Caroline Milligan, Academy Chaplain (left) and Louise Breden, Cover Supervisor (right) with West Grantham Secondary Academy students and their collected Christmas gifts.  (Photo credit: West Grantham secondary Academy) West Grantham Secondary Academy Gift Drive spreads Christmas joy in the community

West Grantham Secondary Academy have been spreading some Christmas cheer through their ‘West Grantham Gift Drive’.

Inspired by the academy’s values, students and staff donated gifts which were then distributed to
families via their West Grantham Secondary Academy and West Grantham Primary Academy sites, and also from the Hope Cafe on the Earlsfield Estate.

Altogether a whopping 91 gifts were wrapped and labelled according to age, including items such as
books, puzzles, board games, colouring books and crayons, cuddly toys and Marvel toys, dolls and a
spectacular Barbie aeroplane!

Louise Breden is Cover Supervisor at West Grantham Secondary Academy and organised the gift drive.

Louise said, ‘I started the West Grantham Gift Drive because I wanted to give something back to my
community. With the rising cost of living, I saw the struggles many are facing and that’s when I
knew I had to do something to help. Incorporating our school values of Love, Courage, Ambition,
Belief and Integrity, this initiative is about supporting each other and spreading kindness.”

Caroline Milligan, the Academy’s Chaplain, helped Louise with the gift drive and said the staff,
students and their families had rallied to donate the gifts. “We were blown away by the generosity of
students and staff and hopefully this initiative is something we’ll continue each year.”

West Grantham Secondary Academy student, Abi Dobney (Year 8) said she was happy to help. ‘I
donated to the West Grantham Gift Drive because I wanted to help give something back to our
community. The cost of living has risen, so I wanted to help where I could.”

Clare Barber is Principal of West Grantham Secondary Academy, and she said, “Once again, the West Grantham school community has shown enormous generosity with their donations, and we
hope their acts of kindness will help to spread joy far and wide in the Grantham community. I want
to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped to organise and support the collection.”

Louise Breden, Cover Supervisor at West Grantham Secondary Academy with some of the collected gifts.