Vital York help for St Paul’s CE School, in Holgate, York

At The Press reported earlier this year, St Paul’s CE School, in Holgate, which retained its 'good' Ofsted judgement last year, was established in 1874, and has been a cornerstone of the community, nurturing generations ever since.

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As part of the celebrations, the school has helped grant 150 wishes for 150 years. 

Vital York Limited, in Huntington, has been St Paul’s preferred IT provider for a number of years, so when the team their heard of the school’s aim to grant 150 wishes to pupils, they were only too happy to help.

St Paul's launching their 150 wishes bid (Image: Supplied)

St Paul’s head, Christie Clarke said: “As part of our celebrations, we’re granting 150 wishes for each of the school’s 150 years. All of the children were encouraged to join in and write down one wish, and this term, we’ve pulled together to make each wish a reality.”

Two of the Year 6 pupils at the school made wishes which involved taking a trip to London, so following a conversation between Vital’s customer success manager, Adam Smith, and Christie, Vital offered to stump up the travel costs from York to London.

Year 6 pupil, Charlie, had her wish granted when she visited the Natural History Museum, and aspiring engineer, Abi, was lucky enough to meet Bill Pierce, chief engineer from WSP who was responsible for the design and build of The Shard. Abi got to go to the very top of the iconic London building and had lots of time to quiz Bill about engineering, and some of the famous London landmarks she could see.

St Paul's Abi and Charlie on their way to London (Image: Supplied)

Abi said: “It was really interesting learning about how the concrete shrinks and crosses, so the beams have to be a bit tilted so they are correct. It was very cool at the top of The Shard because you could see everywhere. I’m even more keen to become an engineer now as my visit to The Shard has given me an understanding of how they build tall buildings, which is what I am interested in.”

Abi at The Shard in London, with Bill Pierce, chief engineer from WSP (Image: Supplied)

Charlie said: “I really wanted to go to the Natural History Museum because it is one of my favourite places in the world. The best thing I saw was the big whale skeleton because it is really cool and crazy to think how big they are. I also learned that the museum's biggest cut diamond was the size of my fist.”

• Charlie at the Natural History Museum in London (Image: Supplied)

Adam said: “As well as being able to fund the London trip for Charlie, Abi and their teachers, we were also able to help out with another child’s wish to do a skydive, by loaning the school our virtual reality headsets so he could take a virtual skydive and another wish from a child who wanted to learn about games design. Our Education Technology Consultant, Richard Skidmore, accompanied a Year 1 child and their teacher to York St John University for a morning where he met with their games design team.

“It’s such a lovely initiative and something the children will always remember, so we were very happy to help where we could.”

Other wishes which have been granted as part of the 150-year celebrations include: meeting a ballerina; meeting a famous drummer; having a football stadium tour; meeting an elephant; cooking lunch on an open fire; and having ice cream every day for a week. Every child in the school has also been awarded a Blue Peter badge thanks to one pupil’s wishes.

Charlie with the statue of Charles Darwin at the Natural History Museum (Image: Supplied)