PHILANTHROPIC pupils are learning how to fight their corner and give to charity at the same time.

Pupils of Turin Grove School, in Turin Road, Edmonton, will be given £3,000 from the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) to give away next week.

Age Concern Enfield, C.H.I.P.S, Enfield Clubhouse, Enfield Disability Action, The Hanlon Centre, Edmonton, and Kith and Kids are in the running for the grant.

But only one charity can get the money.

Pupils in Year 9 will work in small groups to research the needs of their community before choosing their charity.

They will be trained in teamwork, communication and public speaking.

Then on Thursday the teenagers are due to give a presentation explaining why their chosen charity deserves their support.

Representatives from the YPI, which is run by the international organisation The Philanthropy Institute will decide which charity gets the money based on the best presentation.

The Institute's schools coordinator Emily Miller said: "The scheme is good in terms of citizenship and philanthropy and learning about charities but equally the skills they get are really useful.

"A lot of these students will be applying for work experience or for college courses so things like team working and presentation skills help them.

"The children respond to it really well. It can be quite surprising to find sometimes that pupils who haven't engaged with anything else will completely engage with this, they get a lot of autonomy."

But Miss Miller, a former teacher, said choosing which group gets to give the money away was "really tough".

This is the second year the programme has run and Turin Grove will be the first of 30 schools across London to be responsible for giving the money away.

The funds for the scheme come from Credit Suisse.