Six girls from Roedean School have successfully swum the English Channel to raise money to educate Ukrainian refugees, The Express reports.
The pupils – one of whom was only 12 – swam the 21 miles to France in a relay to fund six bursary places for Ukrainian girls.
Bella Mapledoram, 12, joined Rose Owens, 15, Amy Ng, 16, Clara Burton-Dowsett, 14, Olivia Crawley, 16, and head girl Jemima Venturi, 17.
The girls swam overnight last week in hourly rotation through the waters between Dover and Cap Gris Nez.
The team had a support boat with two teachers and swimming coach Stefan Serafimov on board and took 13 hours and 13 minutes to complete the challenge and raise £7,100.
Bella said: “It was tough because your brain kept saying ‘you can’t do this’.
“But each time I had a wobble, I looked up to see the rest of the girls on the boat dancing to Elton John’s I’m Still Standing, and I knew I couldn’t let them down.”
She added: “When we got to France we all started screaming. It was amazing.”
