The store agreed to offer various donations including sweets, gift sets and a turntable which will be offered as a star prize for an end of academic year attendance raffle.

Ms Hare then asked if students could bag-pack and sing at the store to raise money for P3 Charity, particularly to support the work it does with young people aged 16 to 24.

She said: “We were thrilled when B&M offered to donate some fantastic prizes for our students and these will be used as part of a scheme we run at the academy to reward attendance. We would like to thank duty manager Alex Pratt for these wonderful contributions.

“After that initial contact, B&M agreed that some of our students could sing and bag-pack at the store over two weekends and we are extremely proud of them for giving up their own time to do this. We hope to develop a long-term partnership with B&M and are looking forward to working with them in the future.

“We managed to raise £734 which is a tremendous amount and we will be donating that to P3 charity to support their work with young people in our local community.”

Mark Simms, P3 chief executive, thanked OIEA students and staff or their support.
He said: “Whilst P3 receives funding from Derbyshire County Council and other Government departments to deliver services, the money raised through community fundraising helps us to go over and above the support we are funded to provide and is particularly welcome during this Christmas season.
“With the generous support from local schools, organisations, and the people in the community, we will continue to help people get back on their feet, with money raised through fundraising allowing us to go that little bit further.”

Alex Pratt, duty manager at B&M in Ilkeston, said he was happy to support the academy.

He said: “I was pleased to be able to donate goods to Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy, which will be used to reward attendance. We like to support the local community and this is an excellent way of doing that.”