PARALYMPIC GREAT INSPIRES PUPILS AT TIGHS

Pupils at Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School and Sixth Form College (TIGHS) welcomed Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, one of Britain’s most successful Paralympians, to inspire them to take up the Duke of Edinburgh’s (DofE) Silver Award.

Baroness Grey-Thompson, a member of the House of Lords and the DofE’s Chair of Trustees, shared her inspirational personal story and spoke to pupils about the endless opportunities of the Silver Award challenge.

An 11-time gold medal winner in wheelchair racing across five Paralympic games, Baroness Grey-Thompson spoke at length about her determination to be the best in her discipline. She also explained the significant barriers she had to overcome when entering the world of politics in 2010, when she became an independent crossbench peer in the House of Lords, where she campaigns on disability rights and sport.

Whilst challenging pupils to aim for the sky with their future aspirations, Baroness Grey-Thompson also gave extra motivation for pupils to pursue the next stage of their DofE experience by progressing from the Bronze Award to Silver.

Over the last seven years, hundreds of TIGHS pupils have completed the Bronze Award and the school is now finalising plans to offer the Silver Award to its sixth form pupils to further advance their resilience and character. Alongside the physical challenges that young people have to complete for the Silver Award, volunteering also forms an important part of the qualification. Participants are tasked with completing at least six months of voluntary work in the community. The voluntary element of the Silver Award feeds into Star’s established community programme, which aims to promote community service, social impact and charitable giving.

Acknowledging the importance of young people serving their community, Baroness Grey-Thompson said: “The Silver Award gives young people ideas on what to do in terms of volunteering and instils the importance of giving back to their community. I think a lot of young people want to make a change to society and the Duke of Edinburgh’s