Students raising funds to pay for a trip to help African communities next autumn have nearly reached their target – despite a burglary which left them short of hundreds of pounds worth of prizes just ahead of a charity auction.

Five teenagers from Shirebrook Academy, plus maths teacher Tiffany Musgrove, have so far collected £8,200 to help pay for their passage to South Africa in October, where they will spend 10 days living under canvas and working with schools and villages.

The trip is being organised as part of the I-Venture project, which is being led by the Bolsover Partnership and is designed to offer opportunities for learning and personal growth for young people.

They need to raise a total of £10,500 to meet the cost and have taken part in a series of money-spinning activities, including Christmas fairs, car-boot sales and a gift-wrapping service.

Their most successful event, however, was a charity auction that almost ended in disaster after burglars broke into Tiffany’s home and stole envelopes containing prizes, including tickets for Mansfield Town and Notts County matches, a Derby County stadium tour and vouchers for paintballing, go-karting and tobogganing.

The thief also stole a mobile phone and a necklace that had belonged to Tiffany’s grandmother.

Despite the break-in, the charity auction eventually went ahead after some of the organisations agreed to supply replacement prizes, while Tiffany’s school colleagues donated items as well.

The event, which took place at Shirebrook Miners’ Welfare Club, eventually raised £1,500.

Tiffany said: “The I-Venture project is a trip of a lifetime and promises to open everyone’s eyes to what life is like for young people like them growing up in South Africa.

“It’s not an easy trip to get onto and it takes a huge amount of commitment beforehand, because of the amount of money that students have to raise, which is why I’m so impressed with them.

“They’ve all worked so hard and are way ahead of schedule, despite the burglary, which was very upsetting at the time.

“People were incredible. The organisations were very understanding and my colleagues rallied round, donating wine, champagne and toiletries. In the end, we had more prizes than we had in the first place, and the whole night was a brilliant success.”

The students will be travelling to South Africa along with students from Stubbin Wood Special School, Shirebrook; Frederick Gent School, South Normanton; and Tibshelf Community School.

Landing at Durban Airport, they will drive into the KwaZulu Natal province to Tugela River Camp, close to Ladysmith and near to the site of the famous Rorke’s Drift battle, where they will visit two schools and take part in a giraffe research expedition.

The second half of their trip will see them travel to the East of the country, close to the border with Swaziland, where they will spend time at the Amakhosi game reserve to learn about conservation and do some animal tracking.

One of the students, Amber Humphries, 14, said: “I wanted to go on the trip because it would be a new experience and would help to boost my confidence. We’ve done really well to raise the money and I’m really looking forward to it.

“We were really disappointed when we heard that the prizes had been stolen before the event, but I knew that our group would be able to sort it and it was a total success in the end.”