We are incredibly proud to celebrate a major milestone in our first year as a registered charity, having raised an amazing £160,000 to support our mission of creating more opportunities for young people with SEND.
Over the past 12 months, our staff, students, families, local businesses and supporters have come together to help turn our vision for a new college site and purpose-built facilities into a reality. Through fundraising events, community activities and valuable partnerships, we have taken significant steps towards creating enhanced learning environments and life-changing opportunities for the young people we support.
Our fundraising journey began with the much-loved Pig Race, where crowd favourites Notorious P.I.G., Chris P Bacon and Hamela Anderson entertained supporters while helping raise vital funds. We also launched our JustGiving page and took our fundraising efforts into the wider community through pop-up shops at local supermarkets and Ulley Café.
Support continued throughout the year, including an invitation to Wolffkran’s Christmas Light Switch On, where one brave member of staff took on the crane climb challenge. The ROC Fundraising Week brought staff and students together for a range of activities, including the popular ROC Bake Off, judged by special guests.
The generosity of local businesses and community partners has been instrumental in helping us reach this milestone. Grant Harris hosted a Medium Night, raising an incredible £6,500 in just one evening, while ROC staff and the Mayor of Rotherham rounded off the year by taking part in the ROC Big Charity Skydive.
Every donation, every fundraising event and every act of support has brought us closer to achieving our mission. Just as importantly, it has shown the strength of the community that believes in what we do and shares our vision for a future where young people with SEND have every opportunity to thrive.
We would like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported us during our first year as a charity, whether by donating, volunteering, attending events, sponsoring activities or helping spread the word.
To mark this achievement, we welcomed supporters, partners and friends to a special breakfast event on 14th October, where we reflected on everything we have achieved together over the past year. Guests enjoyed a showcase of our fundraising successes, heard about the impact their support is having and watched a special thank you video celebrating the people, partnerships and community spirit that have helped make our first year as a charity such a success.
With £160,000 raised and a growing community of supporters behind us, we are excited to continue building opportunities for our students and bringing our vision to life.