As families across the country are busy stocking up on festive culinary delights for Christmas, Paddington Academy students have been supporting local families by donating essential food to their local food bank. 

Over the past week, the academy has been running a food drive to collect tinned food for North Paddington Food Bank.  The academy had set itself the ambitious target of collecting over 3,000 tins of food but thanks to the generosity and kindness of students, it has exceeded this target and collected a whopping 5234 tins. 

The food drive is part of the academy’s commitment to deliver and Education with Character which seeks to instil in students key characteristics such as compassion, integrity and kindness. 

The academy’s drive has been commended across social media with local MP Karen Buck tweeting:  

Zeinab Awada, Year 9 student, who donated 1000 tins in one day, said: 

"At the beginning it was like a competition but then I realised that this is real, that poverty is an actual issue and that people will be able to benefit from our school's donations. 

People spend a lot of money on useless things without a second thought when even a little bit of money could help to change people’s lives - this is what encouraged me to do as much as I could." 

James Quail, North Paddington Food Bank Manager said: “You have no idea how much this will do for us, we’ve been keeping track on your progress and it means an awful lot for you guys to be organising this. One student giving 1000 tins equals what many of the companies have donated to us previously!” 

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Peter Jones, Principal of Paddington Academy, said: 

“We are overwhelmed by the generosity of our staff and students in giving so much to help others in need. This year, as part of our school value of integrity, we have launched a charity fundraising drive and have encouraged the students to compete with each other to raise money.  It is also really important for us to be able to have an impact in our local community.”