Montgomery Academy pupils help four Lancashire charities with donations earned through their achievements

Montgomery Academy pupils are rewarded with points in recognition of hard work and good behaviour, which they can accumulate to swap for either treats or charitable donations.

The school, in All Hallows Road, is separated into four "houses," with each house choosing a charity to support throughout the academic year.

The charities the pupils chose to support this year were Blue Skies Hospitals Fund, Tippytoes Baby Bank in South Ribble, Blackpool Food Bank and Streetlife.

Each charity received over £300 in donations, which was raised through the house points system.

Rob Hegarty, assistant headteacher, said: "Through school we do something every year, and pupils choose the charities they want to support in each house - although they can donate to whichever house charity they want to.

"Each point they receive when they engage well with us and produce good work is worth a penny, so they can either build them up to give to charity or spend them on treats like chocolate bars. Our system in school is that during every lesson they can get one or two points. It's funded by the school through our rewards budget.

"Although they've missed out on a lot of school during the pandemic they've still been given points during lockdown through their remote learning.

"It's really nice that so many of them chose not to spend their points and decided to donate them instead."

Joanna Allitt, community fundraiser for Blue Skies, said: “We’re delighted to be one of the beneficiaries of the students giving their points to charity.

"We’ve very kindly had their support for many years, and it’s so nice to see young people connecting with their community in this way."