On Wednesday 20th November 2013, it was the UN Universal Children’s Day. This marks the day on which the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989. Children on the Edge works to restore the ingredients of a full childhood and the convention on the rights of the child guide our projects throughout the world. This year, we’ve partnered up with some local schools to raise the profile of our work and to engage local school children in discussion around the global issue of children’s rights. Beckie has been visiting schools and delivering workshops, assemblies and class activities all designed to spark conversation and introduce our work. This project started just before the school holidays with a visit to our good friends at Birdham Primary School. The children there had been raising money for our projects all year with a particular focus on the refugee camp schools in Bangladesh. We ran various sessions with all the children, encouraging them to think about what life as a refugee might be like. They also role played as junior reporters, telling their friends in the UK about the situation in Burma. Overall, they managed to raise an amazing £556 which will support the provision of education in Bangladesh. Dorset House School and Oakwood Prep both set aside time to focus on Children on the Edge. Dorset House did a sponsored walk on the downs and raised over £2000! Over at Oakwood, the year 5 pupils organised a day of activities designed to reflect some of the challenges children around the world face on a daily basis. There was an obstacle course where pupils had to carry water without spilling it, a shelter-building activity and a jewellery making ‘sweatshop’. It was a brilliant day and the children were all fantastic! So far this term, we’ve been working with West Wittering, Chidham, Funtington and Eastergate Primary Schools. At Chidham Primary, Beckie spent time with the school council who are planning activities they can do with their peers in order to raise money for our work. At West Wittering, each class gave over a lesson to think about the rights of children all around the world. Reception class loved discovering all the different objects in the feely bag - each representing a different thing that we need to lead happy and healthy lives. Over at Eastergate primary, Green class spent an afternoon learning about what we do and our different projects. They’ve been doing lots of work on the rights of the child and were particularly fascinated with the refugee crisis in Burma. They are now thinking about how they can raise vital funds for our work with Burmese refugees. We’re so excited to be able to talk to local school children about the rights afforded to all children in all parts of the world - the same for them as it is for a working child in Bangladesh or a refugee from Burma. What’s been brilliant is seeing their engagement with the topic and how they are so alert to injustice. This week, on Universal Children’s Day, the children of Funtington Primary took part in a range of activities designed to get them thinking about what rights children all around the world have. They learnt about our projects in Bangladesh and how Children on the Edge is working to make a difference to the lives of refugees living there. We’ve got a range of different workshops, lessons and assemblies that can be adapted and delivered for any age group. We’re always pleased to be able to build further partnerships with local schools as well as producing a schools pack with ready-to-use resources for those schools a little further afield. If your school would like to get involved with learning a bit more about our work and children’s rights, please get in touch! Josh Rudd is a sixth form student (currently in year 12 in Powell House) at Eastbourne College. We were delighted to hear from him a few months back, saying he was about to run a few races and wanted to use them as an opportunity to raise money for our work. "My ambition is to work with others, support others who are less fortunate than me or need support and to run on behalf of charities” says Josh. “I run for Sussex at the moment and also for Seaford Striders ... but running for a charity is more important than running for medals and positions." Josh describes the various challenges he has undertaken for us: "This weekend has been exhausting but it has been a great experience. Firstly, I did the 3,000 metres on Saturday in Crawley at the K2 and that proved exhausting, but ended in a good result and also a good experience”. “The main event was the half marathon though, and it proved a tough course, however by taking on board the wise words of Mr Lowden regarding the hills, I managed to come 41st out of 729 participants and my prediction of 1 hour 40 minutes was correct! Moreover, last minute sponsors are now coming in”. Josh also sends his congratulations to a few other boys like Toby Marriott and Jonny Robinson who also finished with good times. Josh says “I am very happy at raising money for Children on the Edge and would be delighted to run on behalf of them again in the future." Josh has raised over £320 for us and is still adding to that total as he runs more races. We are always looking for people to raise money for our work and have as much fun while doing it as possible. If you’d like some ideas then just get in touch, or if you’re planning a fundraiser we’d love to hear all about it! Children from Dorset House school recently raised over £2,000 by venturing out on two South Downs walks! Starting at Whiteways, the entire school took part, followed clues and enjoyed a delicious picnic. The older children walked about over seven miles whilst the younger ones took a shorter route. Lots of fun was had by all, (despite a few staff losing their bearings!) with children of all ages having the chance to spot insects and butterflies, and identify leaves along the way. Dorset House School have been faithfully supporting our work for many years now, and pupils here are regularly kept up to date with all of our projects around the world through regular assemblies and presentations. We are hugely grateful for the difference they continue to make in children's lives. If you think your school could fundraise for our work and your pupils would benefit from finding out more about our work, then please do get in touch. On Tuesday 30th April, Osmund Company at St Mary’s Calne School in the Wiltshire Downs, raised over £400 for Children on the Edge by inviting Peter Wilson MBE to speak at a fundraising dinner. Peter is the gold medal winner for Double Trap Shooting at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Following a delicious supper with pupils and staff, Peter gave an entertaining and enlightening talk about his experiences leading up to the double trap final. Peter’s obvious enthusiasm for the sport, his commitment to hard work and practice, and his ultimate ambition to make his dream come true, were inspirational for the young and not so young alike! Bringing along his gold medal provided an ideal photo opportunity for many of the pupils and many autographs were signed! We are hugely thankful to both Peter and Osmund Company at St Mary’s Calne who, in addition to this event, have raised £250 through their ‘bob a job’ campaign and mufti day. Altogether the amount they raised will pay for rent on a classroom and a hot meal each day for 100 working children, for three months at our Learning Centres in Bangladesh. If you or your school would like to fundraise for our projects then please do get in touch. After raising £7,000 last year for our work, the girls at St Christopher’s Prep School in Hampstead decided that they would like to run another fund raising activity in 2013. The girls of Bronte house, decided that an Alice themed tea party would be just ideal, and with the addition of a second hand clothes exchange into the mix, it was the perfect recipe for what Head teacher Suzie West described as “a hectic, entertaining and profitable afternoon”. All the girls dressed up as a character from Alice in Wonderland, ate cakes, drank lemonade and enjoyed a screening of the film, whilst parents chatted and enjoyed a cake or two themselves! Whether or not these girls believe in ‘six impossible things before breakfast’ we’re not sure, but they did raise an incredible £2,000 for our project in Bangladesh in one afternoon, which is a nigh impossible feat and one to be very proud of. We’d like to say a huge thank you to them and the staff and parents at St Christopher’s. If you think your school could raise money for our work, then please get in touch. With the imposing back drop of the Caldera of Cabo Blanco in Tenerife and a perfect blue sky behind them, Wingate School students started their sponsored run for Children on the Edge. With marked laps of 250 metres, the fastest runners completed 30 or more laps in 45 minutes; but in total, the students ran an amazing 581 kilometres, with sponsorship pledges per lap run. This is the second year that Wingate have supported our work, linking fundraising to their assemblies and classwork regarding Universal Children´s Day. Funds this year were raised to support our ‘Sport in the Slums’ work in Haiti, while last year they raised over €800 for children on our project in Burma. This years efforts raised just over €1000 which is enough to pay for an entire football team living in the slums of Port au Prince to attend the programme for a year, including coaching, matches, mentoring, weekly food parcels and day trips out of the city. Headteacher Graham Hurrell commented “We are very proud of the way that our students are fundraising for several charities at the moment. It is an important lesson to understand that many in society are less privileged than ourselves, and that there are practical and fun ways to help make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate”. As well as supporting Children on the Edge, Wingate School raise money for a number of organisations and community Service is an important part of the curriculum. Students are encouraged to be part of both the planning and participation stages. Pictured above are Danny MacKenzie, Zöe Watkins , Ryan Walters and Anthony Glock who all ran over 30 laps in the allotted time. Special mention must also go to 6th former Linda Mekele who raised €177 for her completed laps and Physics teacher Miss Kerbey who ran with a smile and completed 11 laps, raising over €50. We’d like to say a huge thank to all the runners, fund-raisers and staff supporters. May your fantastic community spirit be ongoing! Read more about our work in Haiti, and If your school or organisation is interested in raising valuable funds for our work then please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Pupils in Wargrave House, one of the boarding houses at Eastbourne College in Sussex, completed their 24 hour non stop 'Eastbourne to Dakar Challenge' on Sunday 12 February. Rowing across the sea and cycling across the land (virtually), to reach Dakar, Senegal, without stopping, each pupil completed at least one row and cycle – both consisting each of 10 minutes - in a relay form style throughout the night to raise a whopping £2342.50 for our work with vulnerable children across the world. Our community fundraiser (also a former housemaster at Eastbourne College), Euan Clarke, thanked the boys and staff for their outstanding commitment to raising funds for our work. Current Housemaster Nick Russell said: 'I am delighted we managed to exceed our expectations and that the boys have been able to make such a magnificent contribution to the work of Children on the Edge'. If you or your school would like to find out about fundraising for Children on the Edge, please get in touch. Howard's House, Hurst Prep School, may not yet lead the House Points Competition, but their big hearted generosity raised £1128.86 for Children on the Edge in their annual charity day on Tuesday 13th March. Throughout Howard’s charity day the children in the House created and ran their own stalls including bobbing for marshmallows in a bowl of flour, nail-painting, cream egg and spoon relay racing and a treasure hunt. One of the most successful competitions was ‘Beat the Stig Goalie’ where a mystery person was dressed as the Stig in front of a football goal and prizes were awarded to any competitor that scored. Everyone enjoyed taking part, especially those who were covered in flour for the rest of the day! When presenting the certificate, Euan Clarke thanked the pupils for their outstanding contribution to supporting COTE projects. Inspirational head, Heather Beeby, praised the pupils, parents and staff (particularly house mistress Alexandra Albury) for their tremendous efforts at the charity day. In addition Mark Travers and his team of musicians orchestrated a wonderful Jazz concert to raise £250 for vulnerable and marginalised children around the world. If you or your school is interested in raising money for our projects, please do get in touch. In December, pupils from St Christopher's School in Hampstead voted to support Children on the Edge as their charity project for the term. Spurred on by enthusiastic staff at the school, 186 girls skipped until they dropped (and the younger girls dressed up in support) to raise the astonishing sum of £5772. On his visit to the school our community fundraiser, Euan Clarke thanked pupils and parents for 'lending a hand' (the chosen assembly hymn of the day) to help vulnerable children around the world. Susie West, the dynamic head said: “I am very proud of these generous hearted girls for supporting such a wonderful project with their enthusiasm and their energy”. If you think your school would be interested in fundraising for our work then don’t hesitate to get in touch. Merton House at Glyn School in Surrey have raised a staggering total of £1024.22 for Children on The Edge through a month of fundraising. The school are working towards a full International Schools Award and aim for their students to grow into independent learners who are able to contribute to the society in which they live. In having a fundraising focus for January, the boys in Merton House did just this, and learnt about an innovative sports programme supported by Children on the Edge in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Haiti is a desperately poor country. According to UNICEF one in five Haitian children have no access to clean water. Since the earthquake in 2010 many children have ended up living rough on the streets where they are forced to depend on the kindness of strangers, making them vulnerable to traffickers and violent gangs. The boys at Glyn School spent the entire month raising money for boys their own age, living in the slums of Port-au-Prince. The programme they were raising money for provides football coaching, support and counseling. As the children gain a sense of belonging through team sports, they also have access to education, learn from positive role models and are provided with a food package after each practice session to take home. The amount raised by Merton House is enough to fund 819 children for a week’s worth of football coaching and food parcels. The Glyn boys used various ideas and events to reach their goal. These included a a sponsored silence, a sponsored 'Keepy Uppy' on the school field, a day spent with uniforms turned inside out, the hosting of a fiercely contested cross bar challenge and the running of a chess and X Box clubs for a week. We’d like to say a huge thank you to Merton house for their contribution, and will be keeping them posted on what their money has achieved. Find out more about our work in Haiti, and think about donating to the project. |
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