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NTU students raise over £1,700 for charity supporting young people in Nottingham

Students from Nottingham Trent University (NTU) have raised more than £1,700 for Nottingham School of Boxing charity Switch Up, which works to empower children and young adults in Nottingham to break the cycle of offending and reoffending.

    Values Week
    First year primary education students taking part in the walking challenge

    Nearly 300 BA (Hons) Primary Education students took part in Values Week, which takes place every year and looks to teach students the values which underpin education and citizenship, with an additional focus on fundraising and giving back to the local community.

    Students voted this year to raise money for Switch Up, a local charity which usesa mix of mentoring, counselling, workshops and physical training to engage with young people to help create a more positive future for them.

    Due to COVID-19, students had to think creatively about how to fundraise safely. Activities included a walking challenge, which saw the students and staff tasked with individually walking as many steps as they could over a 24-hour period with sponsorship from family and friends. Together, staff and students walked nearly 900,000 steps with one third year student walking an impressive 46,866 steps.

    Around 400 staff and students also tuned in to a live auction to bid for items such as a tattoo voucher and designer sunglasses, while local businesses, including Rock City and The Pudding Pantry, donated prizes for a raffle.

    Fiona Hunter, Senior Lecturer at the Nottingham Institute of Education, part of NTU, said: “Values Week is a great example of students getting together to give back to Nottingham and local communities. We are so proud of all of our primary education students and all of the money they have raised for Switch Up and the important work they do.”

    Third year primary education student, Julia Wilcox, said: “I put forward Switch Up as one of the nominated charities because I was concerned about the ongoing violence on our streets and the work Switch Up do with young people to help prevent this is amazing. It was such a good experience to get alongside students from different year groups and raise money for such a good cause.”

    Founder and CEO of Nottingham School of Boxing and the Switch Up charity, said: “This year has been tough for everyone, but especially those living in some of the city’s most disadvantaged communities.

    “We’re incredibly grateful for the money raised by the students at Nottingham Trent University. Their positive actions really show the best that the city brings out in people, and we can’t thank them enough for their support.”

    You can find out more about Switch Up and the Nottingham School of Boxing here.

    • Notes for editors

      Nottingham Trent University (NTU) was named University of the Year 2019 in the Guardian University Awards. The award was based on performance and improvement in the Guardian University Guide, retention of students from low-participation areas and attainment of BME students.

      NTU was also the Times Higher Education University of the Year 2017, and The Times and Sunday Times Modern University of the Year 2018. These awards recognise NTU for its high levels of student satisfaction, its quality of teaching, its engagement with employers, and its overall student experience.

      The university has been rated Gold in the Government’s Teaching Excellence Framework – the highest ranking available.

      It is one of the largest UK universities. With nearly 32,000 students and more than 4,000 staff located across four campuses, the University contributes £900m to the UK economy every year. With an international student population of more than 3,000 from around 100 countries, the University prides itself on its global outlook.

      The university is passionate about creating opportunities and its extensive outreach programme is designed to enable NTU to be a vehicle for social mobility. NTU is among the UK’s top five recruiters of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and was awarded University of the Year in the UK Social Mobility Awards 2019.

      A total of 82% of its graduates go on to graduate entry employment or graduate entry education or training within six months of leaving. Student satisfaction is high: NTU achieved an 87% satisfaction score in the 2020 National Student Survey, above the sector average of 83%.

    Published on 17 December 2020
    • Subject area: Teacher training, education and childhood and youth studies
    • Category: Press office; Nottingham Institute of Education