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Google Apps Running a marathon to raise awareness of Action Duchenne
- Details
- Published: Monday, 25 April 2016 15:11
- Written by Mr P Dean
Sixth former Alice recently took part in Brighton marathon with the aim of raising awareness and much needed funds for her chosen charity, Action Duchenne.
Action Duchnne. initially called Parent Project UK, was set up in 2001 by Nick Catlin and Dr Janet Hoskin, after their son Saul was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The charity was the first organisation in the UK dedicated exclusively to Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophy and, with the help and support of friends and supporters and other Duchenne families, developed into a national organisation.
Alice explained ‘When I first started training and fundraising for the marathon I was rather anxious but keen to get started. I began my fundraising by starting up a Just Giving page and spreading the word via social media. However I soon realised that I was going to need to do some kind of event to make up the £500 I planned to raise before running the marathon so I decided to organise a quiz night at my school and shared the sponsorship money with the David Shepard Wildlife Foundation as it is a charity that Mr White is a part of and he helped a lot with the running of the event. I also did a number of assemblies at school to raise awareness about the illness and about what I was doing to help raise money for the charity.
I found the marathon a real challenge and at the start line I was very nervous but with such a positive atmosphere I was able to cross the finish line with a grin on my face and have a strong sense of pride for myself and everyone else that had completed the run. I managed to complete the marathon in a respectable 4 hours 37 minutes and 4 seconds and have raised more the £1300 for the charity. I hope to run another marathon in a few years but would like to concentrate on my studies for the time being.’
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a common genetic disorder diagnosed in childhood, affecting approximately 1 in every 3,500 male births (around 2500 people have DMD in the UK). To find out more about the charity, Action Duchenne, or to donate to the help support sufferers of the condition please visit: http://www.actionduchenne.org/
On Friday 18 March a group of Year 7 students from Dane Court attended The Big Bang event at Discovery Park in Sandwich. The Big Bang was a celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) for young people. The show aimed to highlight how many rewarding and exciting opportunities there are in STEM related careers and further education.
Three of Dane Court’s sixth form students have been offered a place to study at Oxford and two at Cambridge in the autumn, pending their results. The entry procedure is a demanding one: students are required to meet not only the highest of academic standards but then they are rigorously interviewed in their chosen subject by college academics. ‘Sincerest congratulations’ to these successful applicants has come from Executive head teacher Paul Luxmoore, who said: ‘These brilliant students have won offers against increasingly strong competition, both nationally and internationally, across a broad spectrum of subjects. To have almost half of our applicants winning places to study at these world class universities is a wonderful reward, not only for the talent and hard work of our students, but it is also an endorsement of the expertise of our highly committed staff. This is continued evidence of the culture of rising aspirations in our school community and also in Thanet’
Congratulations to Dane Court under 16 girls table tennis team who on Sunday 31 January won two and drew two of their four matches to finish runners up in the South East Zonal Tournament in London. This means they have qualified for the Southern Regional Final in Bristol on 20 March 2016.
