Fatima, Kaltun and I are part of a group called 'Empowering' which is funded by Forward, a diaspora women’s charity. As a group we aim to raise awareness around the issue of female genital mutilation (FGM). The group created a teaching resource to help raise awareness of FGM in schools because we saw that there was a lack of education and knowledge around the issue and this needed to be addressed.

We then organised and hosted a conference which was attended by health and education professionals, police and other young people. At this conference we discussed the issue and concluded that we would need the support of all of the professions in the social sector to safeguard the young women at risk. We then had a radio interview at BCfm (Bristol Community FM radio) on zero tolerance day for FGM where we talked about the only way to tackle the problem would be to raise awareness and to let young women at risk know that they have a right to speak out against FGM.

Our primary aim as a group has been to get FGM taught in schools because we believe that it's 'Everybody’s business'. Through supporting the Bristol group Integrate and their petition to include it in the curriculum and through our recent work with The Guardian at a poetry and spoken word event in London, we are happy to say that The Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, has agreed to have FGM taught in schools!

We are now one step closer to ending FGM once and for all.

Nike

Paul Morton, a former SMRT student, died in his first year at University, in 2008. His parents set up the charity Paul’s Fund as a positive way of remembering Paul.

In December Dad, David along with Jo Stockdale and Rachael Lilley, two close friends of Paul, set off on a climb of a lifetime when they ascended Mt Kenya to raise funds for the charity. Mt Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second highest in Africa after Kilimanjaro.

David recounts the following:

"We added the SMRT logo to our Mt Kenya banner and as the photos demonstrate, we completed the climb successfully, with banner!

 

After a 2 day walk in and one day’s acclimatisation, we set off up the final 3,000ft climb at 3.00am in the dark, reaching the summit of Pt Lenana just as the sun was coming up. It was epic!

Rachael showed a great deal of determination to get to the top despite quite severe altitude sickness. The descent was not entirely straightforward as she needed a lot of help to get back down, but once back at camp she made a steady recovery and was none the worse for the experience apart from vowing never to go to altitude again!

Although we don’t have the final total yet, the fund raising has also gone well and I expect we will raise in excess of our £4,000 target."

David Morton

A little bit about Paul's Fund and what it provides:

Young adults who have been bereaved, or diagnosed with a terminal or life threatening illness, or who are themselves caring for a family member, can apply to Paul’s Fund for a grant to pay for themselves, along with one or more family members or close friends, to have a holiday break staying at Paul’s Place, a B&B and place of retreat with self catering facilities in Georgeham near Croyde on the North Devon coast.

Paul’s Fund relies entirely on donations in order to make grants.

Great news from the district semi- final of the Young Chef Competition on 21 January. James (year 9) and Miss Millar headed over to St Katherine’s School in Pill where he gained first prize for his cooking!!

James completed a three course meal over 2 hours consisting of a duck breast salad, porcini risotto and a lemon tart for dessert. The judges made comments that he was calm, organised and the flavours from his dishes were brilliant.

James will now be competing in the district final of the competition on the 1st of February and moving into the regional final if he is successful.

In July 2013 our school orchestra were asked to perform at the Colston Hall with Bristol’s biggest community choir ‘The Gurt Lush’ directed by our singing teacher Sam Burns. The orchestra is non-auditioning so all of our student musicians were represented from beginner violins to grade 8 tromobonists! We played an integral part of ‘A Romany Journey’ a suite of vibrant Roma gypsy tunes arranged superbly by Sam. The orchestra rehearsed solidly for six months prior to the concert and all of their hard work paid off with a spectacular concert alongside not only the Gurt Lush Choir but also nationally acclaimed Roma band ‘The Gypsy Stars’. Have a look at our video of one of our favourite songs 'Maki Maki’.