Each year, Year 9 students participate in the Social Action competition First Give from April to July. 

The project enables students to become the ambassadors and social campaigners for a local charitable organisation. At the School Final, the winning Form Group wins a fantastic £1,000 for their charity. 

During the first stage of the programme the students work as a form group to select the local cause that wish to become the ambassadors for. 

Once they have selected their local cause, they then work with their charity over the next few weeks, to learn how the organisation would utilise the £1,000 prize fund. Using this knowledge the students are then able to prepare their presentations and videos for the competition. 

The third stage of the project is an in class competition. This is when each team within the form group shares their knowledge of the charity, the video they have made and how they would encourage social action to promote the charity to the wider community. This stage is judged by the PSHE class teacher, a member of the Senior Leadership Team and it is also peer assessed by the students in the class. 

First Give then provides a public speaking workshop for each of the groups who are presenting at the final so that they can fully prepare to try and win the overall competition. 

Lastly, we have the School Final. This event is held during the school day in the main school hall. All members of Year 9 attend, along with the charity representatives. The judging panel has the very tough decision of deciding which team has shown the most social action and presented the strongest argument to win £1,000 for their charity. 

This is an extremely popular and exciting event that students particularly enjoy and flourish in. Some of the educational elements of First Give include:

- Being involved in real and current issues

- Connecting directly with the community

- Learning through planning activities 

- Learning through 'doing'

- Reflecting on and assimilating learning 

For more information about the First Give project at St Albans Girls' School please contact Mrs Jarvis, Assistant Head Teacher.