Pupils funding prom after school budget squeeze

Pupils have raised funds to pay for their own prom after a secondary school's tight budget meant they were due to go without one.

The Bemrose School, in Uttoxeter New Road, Derby, usually puts a "few thousand pounds" into the Year 11 prom, as well as the students contributing, but the head teacher said they could not afford to this year due to rising costs like energy.

The initial fundraising target was £1,000, but pupils have surpassed that by £600 so far.

The additional money will go towards making the prom bigger and better, said the school.

Neil Wilkinson, executive head teacher, said the pupils had made it an enterprise project, and had been "very innovative" and he was "really proud" of them.

He said: "They wanted it to be a memorable event for their life at the school so they set about having a prom committee and having their own fundraising initiatives, which we though was a really good idea, a good enterprise activity.

"It's galvanised the year group together as they are heavily set on bringing this idea to conclusion."

Mr Wilkinson said it was the first year the school was unable to contribute to the cost of the prom.

He added: "Some of the costs we have have spiralled massively - energy being one of the biggest ones, also some costs around staff salaries, maintenance of school."

Oreoluwa Idowu, student and member of the prom committee, said they wanted to end the year on a "positive note" and asked the community "to donate what may seem like a small amount to them, but would mean the world to us".

Ayomide Makinde, a pupil and member of the prom committee, who is originally from Nigeria, said: "Some pupils like me, have to repeat academic years after relocating to this school from another country.

"I speak for all of us when I say how challenging that can be, and we want to end our time at the school with a proper celebration."

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