The students, all aged 16-18 are on the 'English for Speakers of Other Languages' (ESOL) course at the college. The group is made up of asylum seekers, refugees and non-English speaking youngsters from Asia, Europe and Africa who live in the Kirklees and Wakefield districts. Course tutors at the college say that 30 of the students recently raised around £140 for the Haiti appeal by making and selling cakes and biscuits around the college, but also wanted to give something back to Dewsbury.

Tutors on the ESOL course teach the students the English language; however the course itself also helps them to settle in to the UK. The students also take citizenship, numeracy and IT courses which help them progress into work, training or further study.

On Friday, the young people took part in a Kirklees Council organised litter pick at woodland on Boothroyd Lane in Dewsbury.

Steph Watson is one of the ESOL lecturers at the college. She said:

"After the group raised money for Haiti, they really wanted to put something back into their local community and approached the Council to find out about volunteering schemes. This idea has come from the youngsters themselves and they are pleased to have found a way to contribute to the community.

During our courses, we see the young people develop their communication and social skills and it makes us proud to see them representing the college in this way. We had a great time last week, we completely filled a skip just with the first van-load of rubbish. One student, filled four and a half bags of rubbish - we're pretty sure nobody did better that!

It was a really worthwhile project and I'm sure the students will be keen to keep up the good work both on their courses and in the community."

Around 50 bin bags were filled with litter on the day (3 van-loads).