STUDENTS and teachers from Stockton Sixth Form College have been sending alternative Christmas gifts to poor communities.

Fifty tutor groups logged on to the Oxfam Unwrapped website to make purchases, using £1,700 raised in the college.

Thanks to their efforts, nine goats, six calves, four donkeys and three camels are on the way to poverty-stricken areas across the world.

The cash was also used to buy six hygiene kits, two safe-water units, four toilets, 250 trees, two school desks, two allotment kits, 20 buckets, two first aid kits, 3,100 school dinners and food for three families for a week.

Val Hart, assistant principal, said: "We have done quite a lot of fundraising this term, which helps create cohesion between the tutor groups and give each one its own identity, as well as supporting a worthy cause.

"Some of them have been doing little sponsored events and some of them brought in contributions.

Oxfam Unwrapped gifts can be found at www.oxfam unwrapped.com