TWO academies will be raising money for a charity voted for by pupils this year.

Winterbourne and Yate international academies, as well as Woodlands Primary and Woodlands Nursery in Yate, will all raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust, which helped the family of 15-year-old Jordan Thorn.

The charity, which is dedicated to improving the quality of life and chances of young people, is particularly close to the hearts of staff and students at Yate International Academy as it provided support to the family of Jordan, who died of a rare form of childhood cancer in 2010.

Football-mad Jordan was in Year 10 at the academy when he died after battling the illness for three years.

The Teenage Cancer Trust helped his parents, Tim and Vanessa from Blakeney Mills in Yate, and gave Jordan the chance to enjoy some final days out with his family.

Rob Phillips, spokesman for the federation, said the vote held across the schools had proved a great success.

“It was a fantastic response and demonstrated the passion for a wide-range of causes,” he said.

“While the federation will continue to promote and encourage staff and students to support their own preferred charities, a combined effort across the organisation is expected to help raise the profile and fundraising efforts for the designated charity.

“Staff voted between 16 charities and were are pleased to announce that The Ridings' Federation of Academies nominated charity for the academic year is Teenage Cancer Trust.”

This is the first time the academies have worked together to raise money for a cause.

The first event in aid of the charity was an initiative to get staff to cut down on Christmas cards and instead of sending each other individual cards, they sent one each to all colleagues. From the money saved, staff made a donation to the trust.

In the last academic year, students across the federation have raised almost £11,000 for charities including the Children's Hospice South West, CLIC Sargeant, Comic Relief, North Bristol NHS Trust and Children in Need.