On Monday 26 July, we were delighted to welcome to the academy pupils from Hillside Primary and Nursery School to take receipt of a wonderful donation of a new defibrillator, after their fundraising efforts exceeded their own expectations.

The children from Hillside, Hucknall, decided to raise funds for a new defibrillator in the community after finding out that the nearest one to their school was a seven minutes’ drive away – and that every minute needed to get to a defibrillator decreases someone’s survival chances by 10%.

With a fundraising target of £1,000 reached, the children continued their efforts to raise additional funds to help other schools in the area, including The Holgate Academy.

Two pupils from Hillside, who will become Holgate students in September as they join year 7, presented the defibrillator to the academy and were thanked by students for their amazing fundraising efforts. We look forward to seeing them join the Holgate community in the autumn term.

We would like to extend our thanks to all the children and staff at the Hillside Primary and Nursery School for helping to make Hucknall a safer place to live.