Fund Raising and Support

by Martin Phillips

Devon Adviser for English

All staff: Education, Arts and Libraries Directorate

Dear Colleague,

I am writing to let you know that the EAL collection for the DCS Crossings project was a great success. We slightly exceeded our target of £1,500. The team of teachers and advisers who visited Cape Town during half term took the fund with them and it was very gratefully received by the three schools.

The Chris Hani Community School in Langa used their £500 to purchase paint and other materials which enabled them to completely refurbish the whole building in which the school is housed. It had not been decorated at all since the days when it was a hostel for migrant workers and both children and staff are delighted to be working in newly decorated surroundings.

Stormont Primary School are involved in raising £3000 to create a library. They used their allocation to have some purpose built shelving erected in the area where the new library will be housed. It is the first element of the scheme to have taken place and gives added impetus to further fund-raising to ensure completion.

Thandokhulu High School is also in the middle of a library scheme, reflecting the very high priority all South African schools have to tackle the literacy issue. They used their portion of the fund to have an admissions desk and shelving built at the new entrance to their library. The remainder was used to purchase three soap dispensers for various locations around the school. This is seen as a great benefit towards the fight against diptheria which has been a source of great concern recently.

The extra £112 was donated to the Simon Estes School of Music in Lansdowne. The Crossings project is developing links with them and we hope their extraordinary choir will perform a concert in Exeter as part of their American and European tour later this year.

 

November 1998