Hall of Fame - News from our Schools and Colleges
Epsom primary school raises £1,000
Article from Epsom Guardian 11th Oct 2011
An end-of-year production by primary school pupils was so successful its proceeds have resulted in a donation of nearly £1,000 to a charity supporting street children in Africa.
Year six pupils at St Martin’s Junior School in Epsom gave a performance of Hoodwinked, loosely based on the legend of Robin Hood, with sales of a DVD of the performance reaching £900.
Street Child Africa, based in Thames Ditton, was chosen by pupils after they heard a presentation by the charity about street children at the Model United General Assembly at Kingston University in June.
Jacqui Hegarty, education and community officer at Street Child Africa, said: "The charity currently funds an ambitious programme across eight sub-Saharan countries.
"Thanks to the help of fundraisers like St Martin’s Junior School we can continue to support children's physical and emotional well-being, foster children's skills and learning, encourage children to enjoy and express themselves through arts, sports, music and play and plan for children's long-term needs."
Mr Bob Twells, head teacher at St Martin’s, added: "The work of Street Child Africa really moved and inspired the children at the school and I’m proud of their choice to support this charity.
"The year six leavers performance is now a rite of passage for St Martin’s and it’s enormous fun to be part of.
"So, it is a real bonus that we can utilise the community’s support of the annual performance to make such a significant contribution to a worthy cause."
St John's School Leatherhead
We are grateful and excited to announce that St John’s School Leatherhead will be championing our work and fundraising for us in the coming academic year.
Thank you to everyone in the school community for choosing us, and welcome to the Street Child Africa team!
St John Plessington Catholic College - Our new Student Ambassadors
Street Child Africa was welcomed into the heart of St John Plessington Catholic College in April. Thank you to Tom Quinn, Headteacher and to the whole school for the warmth of their hospitality. They have generously committed to support our work and act as Ambassadors in their local schools and parishes for the next three years. Gerard Boyle, Chaplain said, “I have been struck yesterday and today by the number of students and staff who have commented about what a fantastic way Street Child Africa helps young people, they are really keen to get involved.”
Model United Nations General Assembly for Primary School Pupils
Street Child Africa gave the opening speech to pupil delegates from schools around Kingston, who gathered together on June 14th at Kingston University to debate the issue ‘Child Labour in a Global Recession.’ Delegates representing Ghana, India, Kenya, Uganda, Brazil, Italy and the USA, to name but a few, heard Jacqui Hegarty speak about the challenges and issues affecting children who earn their living on the streets of Africa.
Dragon's Den Competition Winners
'Respect not neglect', is the title of the highly creative marketing campaign devised and designed by these students, from St Philomena Catholic High School for Girls, winners of our 2010 Dragons' Den competition. Students at the Carshalton school became young marketing executives for the day, charged with creating an on-line marketing campaign to mark the 2011 ‘World Day for the Prevention of Abuse against children'. The winning team presented their campaign, along with other competing teams' campaigns to Street Child Africa's Overseas Programmes Director and Programmes Officer, Savina Geerinx and Ashley Danewood.
The winners were chosen because of the ‘simplicity and clarity of their message', said Savina. ‘We particularly liked the students use of the mobile phone, which will make the campaign especially accessible to the young supporters we need to attract, who are tomorrow's decision makers'. Street Child Africa will be launching the campaign in time for the ‘World Day for the Prevention of Abuse against children' on the 19th November.
Our first Street Child Ambassadors
Six International Baccalaureate students at Ashcroft Technology Academy have become our first Street Child Ambassadors. Pictured presenting Jacqui Hegarty with a cheque from their Christmas fundraising, these highly motivated and committed students will now be working throughout the coming year as Street Child Ambassadors.
These students will have an important role in helping street children in Africa to be heard by raising awareness about street childrens' lives within Ashcroft Academy and their wider communities. This work is part of the CAS element of the International Baccalaureate, providing evidence of creativity, action and service. It also fulfils the criteria of becoming a world citizen as the Ambassadors will be involved in fundraising activities which will help street children.
Throughout the year our Ambassadors will link into the Street Child Ambassador Programme's four key events: Day of the African Child in June; Peace One Day in September; World Day for the Prevention of Abuse against children and One Voice in December.
We are very grateful to Ashcroft Academy for being part of this programme and for its continued support of our work with street children.
Charity Sunday at Bryanston School
Pupils, staff and parents joined together in support of Street Child Africa's Zimbabwean partner, Streets Ahead for a massive day of fun and fundraising on a warm Spring Sunday at the end of April. Organised by the indefatigable, Sarah Stacpole, events took place around Bryanston's campus with students taking on challenges as diverse as climbing Everest on the school's rock climbing wall, swimming the English Channel in the pool and running a marathon distance around the grounds. Staff were on hand with ice cream, water and TLC to encourage, cajole and congratulate pupils who hope to have raised in excess of £10,000 for Streets Ahead!
Summer Holiday on Mount Kilimanjaro
Many of us look forward to a good book, suntan lotion and an easy chair to unwind after the hard work of the school year - but that's not for Street Child Africa's intrepid supporting teachers, Annemarie Williams, Headteacher at Humberstone Junior School, Leicestershire and Ed Jeffry of Salesians School in Chertsey. With great courage and the enthusiastic support of their schools communities, Annemarie and Ed will be taking on the challenge of climbing to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for Street Child Africa over the summer holidays. We wish them a safe and fun filled adventure! To support them, please visit their fundraising page.
Heathbrook Primary School Visit the Genememe Exhibition
Year 2 pupils were fascinated by their visit in June to the Crypt at St Pancras to the Gene Meme art installation on population. There was a sense of wary anticipation as the 7 year olds descended the steps into the crypt but, having looked around a few of the darker corners, they quickly became gripped by the talk given by artist, Gregor Harvie. Gregor explained how the worlds' population is growing at an unsustainable rate and then invited these young concerned citizens to examine how his paintings and the stories written by Alex Harvie help us to express our feelings about this global challenge. The pupils were highly engaged and responsive to the exhibition and moved by the stories they heard from Street Child Africa's Education officer, Jacqui Hegarty, about the consequences for African street children of the global growth in population. Kirstin, a pupil at Heathbrook said, "I liked the way Jacqui talked about Noah twice, because she doesn't know where he is. It made me know we need to help. Where he was sleeping got burned down."
Elmbridge Schools Partnership International Pupil Conference 2010
Wednesday 10th March was the day when primary school pupils from around Elmbridge gathered at Esher College for a Pupil Conference addressing the theme, ‘A Fair World'. Each school was asked to represent one country and to research and prepare display material about the provision of water, health and education in their chosen country. Street Child Africa was the guest speaker at the Conference and Jacqui Hegarty spoke to the pupils about the difficulties that street children in Africa have in accessing clean water, health care and education and how the charity works with its partners, street children and its supporters in the UK to provide these basic rights for the children. The young delegates were very well prepared for the conference, their displays were of a very high standard and their knowledge about their chosen country was impressive. We very much hope that these youngsters will become supporters of our work.
Poetry Please at Yr 9 Retreat Day at The Ursuline School
Gerry Coates, musician and poet joined Street Child Africa in leading a retreat for Year 9 pupils at the Ursuline School in Wimbledon at the end of March. It was a day of creativity, prayer and poignancy as pupils explored the realities of being a street child and turned their feelings into poems and prayers. Gerry's poetry workshop inspired the students and gave them confidence in their writing skills. By the end of the day, these talented girls had produced a portfolio of moving poems, which will be published and sold in the Autumn to raise funds for Street Child Africa. We are really grateful to Gerry Coates and to the Ursuline pupils and staff, especially Louise Jackson for all the work that went into making this event a success.
