BERMUDA High School has come up with a poignant way of giving both financial and moral support to victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster.

Primary reading specialist Susan Gorbutt came up with the idea of selling "bands of hope" in the form of rubber bracelets and selling them for $3 each. Each bracelet is emblazoned with the word for "hope" in English as well as five other languages of various countries where hundreds of thousands died as a result of the huge tidal wave which caused horrendous destruction two months ago.

And BHS is not the only school to be raising money for tsunami victims. Saltus Grammar School announced this week that it had raised a grand total of $21,764.76 in just over a month through the efforts of students, parents and teachers.

The BHS bracelets have been on sale at some local businesses and at the school and the first consignment of 2,500 has been virtually sold out.

The bands of hope project was officially launched in school assembly this week, when five students from countries affected by the tsunami were presented on stage with bracelets.

"It was very symbolic and it was a way of saying, 'We're with you'," Ms Gorbutt said. "The kids' response has been very positive. They're buying and wearing the bracelets because all their friends are doing it."

Ms Gorbutt said she had been inspired by the yellow rubber bracelets of the Lance Armstrong cancer research appeal.

"In any crisis, you feel like you need to do something," she said. "I looked into it and found it was not too expensive. After some research on the internet, I got in touch with Tony Green of Rubber-Bracelets.com of North Carolina.

"He did a marvellous job and the whole process took about five weeks. We established the words for 'hope' in Indonesian, Somali, Indian, Swahili, Thai and English. Tony managed to find fonts which would work for the symbols. And we decided to make the bracelets in the BHS colour, blue."

The funds necessary to launch the project came in a loan from the school. That loan has already been paid back after the first batch sold out in two days.

To keep costs down, Paul Toomer, a BHS teacher who had been on a skiing trip in the US, physically brought back the first bracelets. Thousands more have been ordered.

Among the students who were presented with the bracelets were Surekha Rodrigo from Sri Lanka, Kika Richata from Indonesia, and Ty Kayam and Subha Chelvam, both from India.

The aim is for the money to be used for rebuilding schools in the devastated communities. The funds will be channelled through an international agency called Round Square, founded on the philosophy of Kurt Hahn, who argued that schools should aim not just to prepare people for college but also educate them for life.

Guidance counsellor Tina Nash, another driving force behind the bands of hope project, said: "We have nothing against charities like the Red Cross, but we thought this would be better going from school to school, from kids to kids."

Sportseller, Sports 'R' Us, Riihiluoma's Flying Colours and True Reflections are among the businesses that will sell the bracelets. Ms Gorbutt will be selling them at Masters Ltd. tomorrow.

Adding to the tsunami relief effort, primary school girls at BHS have been participating in a coin drive.

Primary head Tina Harris said: "The girls started by bringing in a different coin each day of the week, starting with one cent on Monday and ending with one dollar on Friday.

"We used the coins for different educational activities like counting and making graphs.

"Also some of the girls have been doing chores over the last few weeks to raise more money. Their parents have been paying them in small denominations to contribute to the coin drive."

The girls have already raised enough coins to fill two small cardboard boxes, but Ms Harris could not say how much there was in total.

Saltus head teacher Nigel Kermode was full of praise for his students after they raised more than $21,750 for tsunami victims.

"The students' fund-raising efforts have been absolutely stunning ? I am overwhelmed!" Mr. Kermode said.

Saltus Senior Department students raised more than $12,000 during a Grub Week, during which students paid $5 for each day they came to school in casual uniform.

Saltus Junior Department students raised $6,300 from four Grub Days, plus class and individual efforts, while Saltus Cavendish students collected more than $3,200, mostly in spare change.