Staff from Saint John Houghton Catholic Voluntary Academy are set to scale the Yorkshire Three Peaks in a bid to help raise £3,000.
Sixteen members of staff will take part in the challenge and the money raised will go towards the cost of a kitchen and having it fitted in the Emmaus Centre at Saint John Houghton CVA.
The Emmaus Centre is specifically for children who need extra support academically and emotionally.
Ella Davies, who works at the Emmaus Centre at Saint John Houghton CVA, in Kirk Hallam, said the kitchen would be a real benefit to the students.
She said: “The money we raise will pay for the kitchen units, a fridge freezer, the electrics and for a suitable floor.
“The Emmaus Centre is for our most vulnerable students and it helps to prevent exclusions, we support children so that they can go back into lessons. We’ve had a lot of success.
“Some children struggle to cope socially and a support centre like this really helps them as they might be suffering from anxiety and they find being in large groups of children difficult. Coming here really boosts their self-esteem.’’
Mr Brown, support worker at Saint John Houghton CVA, said having a kitchen would be fantastic.
He said: “It would mean that students could make themselves breakfast and learn real-life skills at the same time as well as helping them to get into a routine. At the moment we only have quite basic facilities for them to use and any food preparation needs to be done in a hygienic environment so we really do need a kitchen.”
Staff will be taking on the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge on July 7th.
The challenge consists of climbing the summits of Pen-Y-Ghent (694m), Whernside (736m) and Ingleborough (723m) in less than 12 hours.
Joan McCarthy, headteacher at Saint John Houghton CVA, said: “We wish our staff members taking part in this challenge the very best of luck and we would like to thank them for giving up their time to benefit our students.”
To sponsor the ‘Emmaus Walk Team’ you can donate online through the JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/emmaussjh
