As it’s now three months since the last blog, which was in fact James Riggs’ final missive in his role as Project Manager for EDP at the school, I realised it was time to send out an update since, as is now becoming the norm, much has been happening in Awutu in the intervening period!
We now have three hard working, UK graduate, volunteers in situ: Rachel Schmieder, Harriet Fisher and Kiran Sahib. Rachel will be sending out her own blog which we aim to put onto the website tomorrow (March 2nd), there is a lot to consider, but I will leave the detail to her to fill you all in, so please look out for it on www.edp-trust.org.
The main news is to confirm we have 165 students and plan to increase the school size by a further 70 in September. By then we will be full, until, and when, we can raise the additional £100k+ needed to build the third and final planned phase. In the interim we will be planning for the increase in teacher numbers and expanding the facilities on offer. Thanks to our generous benefactor who allowed us to purchase the land adjoining the school - and he has just made another donation to let us to go ahead and level it and install a pitch which, under Harriet’s supervision we hope will be ready for use by the September term start - we hope , soon, to be the sporting focus of everyone in the Awutu region. What a fantastic facility it will be for the local kids - used to kicking patched-up footballs on nearby, rubbish-strewn, wastelands - to be able to use!
In the meantime we are also working to raise the standards of the teaching, the levels of behaviour by students, and to create an element of competition within the school now we have formed the four houses – Hampshire, Dorset, Avon and Wiltshire!
One thing to explain further – in order to obtain fully recognised exam status in the future we need to build the teacher numbers up to 70% full time. Currently the budget can’t allow for that so we will have to arrange to take exams at another centre, this in turn will cost, probably in the region of £3,000 and will mean the current crop of Second Years won’t be able to take their third year finals in fact until next autumn. A mixed blessing as they are the ones who need more tuition as many of them were the longest out of the education system until we opened the school, but that in turn will mean more teaching cost to fund in the interim!
So, and we have mentioned this before I know , we have decided to make a real push to try and get the numbers of pupils sponsored up to the 75-100 plus level. As many of you know (and are already generously supporting us in this area already!) the proposal is that sponsors put up £25 a month on a standing order (or £300 yearly) and in return are allocated a specific student to sponsor. They will receive communications from time to time and will get an annual update from the school on the progress of their student. If you are prepared to sponsor, or could spread the word and maybe find additional support for us it could really help us reach that number.
Currently we have 32 pupils sponsored, that is set to bring in about £9600 over the next 12 months, if we could get the number up to 75 that would add a further £13k income to the school – enough then to pay for over half the additional teachers we are seeking to employ for September, if we can get it up to 100 it will pay for all of them!
In the meantime we are aiming to spread our educational connections further! We are in touch with Andrew Smith, ex-Winton School, Andover Headmaster, now running the Rodborough School near Godalming in Surrey. Winton school themselves are beavering away at sponsorship having started so well last year and hope to increase the number further later this year. James is also in touch with a couple of schools in the Ringwood area as we remain very keen to try and bring the message of educational opportunity that the Awutu project conveys to kids in the UK. We believe it’s a powerful message to convey to our children: ie to be able to show them how good the facilities they are learning in are in the UK and contrast that with the deprivation – coupled with great enthusiasm for learning - that their peers in West Africa experience.
My apologies for the rather begging tone of this blog! Rachel’s will be more informative, that’s a promise, and thank you, again, for your on-going support. If you, or someone you know, is willing to sponsor a child it’s a simple procedure of filling out the attached form. Thank you.
Kind regards
David
David
David Lunan
Director, EDP Trust.
Director, EDP Trust.
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