The £604 was raised by a staff raffle for Christmas hampers that were put together by individual College departments. The money is now being distributed to five grateful causes: Stoke Village Hub (Foodbank), Keyham Green Places (KGP) Foodbank, Stonehouse Community Fridge, Devonport 'Help a Neighbour' project, and Plymouth PIE club.

Rachel Miller, Director of Student Welfare at Stoke Damerel Community College, said: “As a College, we are very proud to support our local community and we have worked hard on building our community links.

“This work has been extremely important, particularly in recent years, and we will continue to support the charities in our school location as much as we possibly can now and in the years ahead.”

She added: “Thank you to our staff who helped to raise this money, which will go towards helping those most in need in our area.”