Girl, 10, collects £23k in donations for school

A 10-year-old girl from Nottinghamshire who wanted to leave a legacy at her primary school has collected more than £23,000 worth of donations.

Grace set up a students fundraising committee at Bleasby C of E Primary School in January.

She wrote to a variety of companies to ask for donations and the school has since been inundated with books, gardening equipment, games and art supplies.

Grace said: "I feel really proud and happy that I've managed to get all this stuff for the school."

Among the items received so far are more than 700 books from Penguin Books and Waterstones.

There were so many that the school ran out of room to store them so Grace wrote to Ikea to see if the company would donate a bookshelf - and it did.

The school has also received board games, tools and scarecrows for the school garden along with new outdoor benches.

It was sent so many art supplies that some were donated to other nearby schools.

"I wanted to leave a legacy at Bleasby and make sure that the ongoing years, when I leave, they have something to be reminded of the leavers of 2026," said Grace.

Head teacher Russyn Cast said all the students at the school were benefiting from Grace's efforts.

"It's just wonderful because we want to give the children a really great all-round experience and our budget goes into the learning and the teaching, but the children want more than that," she said.

"To be able to add to the gardening, the games, keep topping up the books, it's just phenomenal and we wouldn't have been able to do that without Grace.

"I think Grace has been a fantastic role model."

Grace has been awarded the school's 'extra mile' trophy for her work and was also honored by the High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire with an award in recognition of "great and valuable services to the community".

The group she set up, the Junior Bleasby School Friends Association, is now planning lots of future fundraising events, including bake sales.

Grace says she wants to carry on fundraising for her school even after she leaves this summer to go on to secondary school.

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