STUDENTS at St Benedict's School in Ealing have raised £1,263 for St Mungo's homeless charity.

Year 7 students in Gervase House organised a raffle – where prizes included an England rugby shirt - and socially distanced games and activities in order to raise the funds.

The amount raised was record breaking, as usually each House raises around £500-1,000 as part of its Charity Day.

Head of Gervase, Ron Mushiso told Nub News: "Huge congratulations to the kids, they managed to take the message home to their parents and got them to donate in record breaking numbers."

The pandemic forced Gervase House to alter its activities for fundraising, moving away from its traditional cake sale, but Mushiso believes this produced better results.

"COVID-19 has forced charities to do all their fundraising online, helping them in the long run, as any ambiguity to where the money is going to has now been removed.

"When you're walking down the street and someone approaches you to donate money to a cause, you could be put off for some reason, online however that's different, as people can see the message clearly and understand where their money is going to," he added.

The coronavirus pandemic hasn't just changed how lessons will be taught in the future, but also how 'Bennies' will raise money for charity.

The PE Teacher said: "Our fundraising this year has been such a great success, that we will definitely follow the online format going forward too."

St Mungo's was so grateful for the money that they sent the school a 'thank you' video in response.