Supporting Sparrow Schools

In the spring of 2016, Astrid Schueller, who was Charities Coordinator at the time, was seeking a charity with which we could establish a long-term relationship.

Around the same time, Alleyn’s was contacted by Lizzie, a representative of Sparrow Schools in South Africa. She explained, in an email to the Head, all about the important work their schools do with disadvantaged disabled young people from the townships, prepare students for the Sparrow FET College or re-entry into a mainstream educational environment.

Funds were especially low for Sparrow at the time and Lizzie explained quite how much could be achieved in South Africa with relatively little sterling raised in the UK because of the weak rand.

Presented with this opportunity for Alleyn’s to make a real difference, Ms Schueller gathered more information about how we could support Sparrow Schools and presented this as one of the possible projects the Charities Committee could vote for that year.

The Charities Committee decided to support two charities: one charity in London (and that year the children’s hospice, Demelza House was chosen) and a second charity abroad, and Sparrow Schools won that vote.

The Sparrow Schools Educational Trust were over the moon to hear the news, and very quickly, links were established between our two schools. In October of that year, some of our pupils and members of staff spent a day helping out at Sparrow as part of a Sports tour of South Africa. Alice, a pupil on the trip, talked with feeling about her experience of the school:

“The most accepting place I’ve ever been. The teacher didn’t tell us about the difficulties the children had; instead she told us why they were all special, and the kids were so proud of that. It was so moving.”

That December we hosted Sparrow teachers, Norval and Kagiso at Alleyn’s, who returned to South Africa full of ideas they wanted to implement. Our pupils and teachers volunteered at Sparrow again in 2019 during their Sports tour to South Africa.

In our first year of fundraising for Sparrow Schools we raised a staggering £6221.47, which they quickly made great use of by refurbishing their science classroom. Ali Seal continued the sterling work Astrid had begun and oversaw the Charity Committee as they raised similar amounts to 2016 every year since, and Sparrow has put these funds to full use.

During her recent visit, Jackie spoke in assembly and to our Charity Committee, explaining how Sparrow managed Covid-19 lockdowns for families who don't have access to the internet. Each week, the Sparrow teachers would put a pack of materials together and deliver the packs to families with the help of volunteers and the local police, so that the pupils could do the work at home that week. The following week, the Sparrow teachers would collect the previous week's pack for marking and give the pupils a new pack. It was a huge time commitment that required many volunteer drivers because the packs sometimes needed to be sent an hour’s journey from the school.

Most recently, funds raised by Alleyn’s have gone into building new sports facilities for the Sparrow Schools post-covid. They especially needed these facilities as part of their strategy for supporting pupils with the stress and anger management issues they returned to school with after the lockdowns.

We are proud that our keen Charity Committee members of successive years have raised funds for Sparrow (as well as our ‘home’ charity of each year) through their hard work, imagination and determination to help others and it is wonderful to know that this contributes to The Sparrow Educational Trust continuing its important work of helping the children in its charge become independent, skilled, income-generators in their society and in doing so to help tackle skills shortages and youth unemployment in South Africa.

Back in South Africa after her visit, Jackie said:

“I have enjoyed building on the partnership with the staff and students of Alleyn’s, who I feel hear us and assist us in building a better future for the most vulnerable children in many communities in Johannesburg. We were overwhelmed with the generosity from Alleyn’s during the Covid pandemic, which ensured we were able to continue the work we do.”

If you would like further information on Sparrow, or the work of the Charity Committee, do contact James Sharp, who is Charities Coordinator covering for Ali Seal’s maternity leave.