West Sussex Alternative Provision College: Co-op thanked for generosity after appeal for gifts for vulnerable students across West Sussex

The college has seven sites across the county, in Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, Lancing, Littlehampton, Worthing, Chichester and Crawley, catering for young people who cannot access mainstream schooling due to illness, emotional and behavioural needs.

Headteacher Doug Thomas pointed out some of the young people are extremely vulnerable.

He said: “Christmas time can be a joyous and happy occasion but the reality for some of our children, this is not necessarily the case.

“I am amazed at the generosity from our local Co-op community stores across the county. The response was amazing!

“As we run seven centres across the county, so many of our local Co-op stores generously provided a gift for each child before the break-up of the holiday.

“I asked Bob Smytherman , our chair of governors, to ask and reach out to his Co-op colleagues to see if there was anything that they could contribute in terms of selection boxes as presents for our children.

“My gratitude and thankfulness goes out to all who work for the Co-op, an organisation that is socially aware and cares about doing the right thing and is founded on fairness and equality.”