Fundraising Update

Although there is not yet much money in the bank plans are now moving along for this year's fundraising activities. Each 'family' will be hosting a fundraiser in an attempt to help us reach, or even surpass, our £5000 target. Here is an update on our plans so far...

Mr Charity's Family are organising a raffle and will be selling tickets in the coming weeks once prizes are finalised. They are still appealing for high-quality prizes, so if you think you can help please get in touch via jghssouthafrica@gmail.com. Even if you can't donate a prize remember you will be able to buy tickets soon!

Miss Gray's Family have organised a social for S5 and S6 students at JGHS which will be held on December 11th at the Columcille Centre in Morningside.

Mr Adam's Family will be participating in a sponsored 5km run later this months.

Miss Smith and Miss Grant's Families will be working together to organise an end of term Christmas Party for the S1 and S2 pupils at JGHS.

Miss Campbell's Family will be hosting an "Art Attack" event by selling off sections of wall space in Warrender and Spylaw to be painted by pupils before we move into the new school building next year.

Mr Warden's Family are yet to decide on their fundraiser due to only having been together for a few weeks, but we are looking forward to seeing what they come up with!

In addition to our Family Fundraisers there has been a lot of discussion about other ideas from bake sales to bag packing, and we are also delighted that some enthusiastic S1/2 pupils will be working with Miss Smith to help raise money to buy shoes for the children on Charles Memorial Primary School.

Of course we are also still appealing for donations as shown in the image below. Some of our S6 have also been our to our cluster Primary schools speak to the children about the project and launch appeals for pencil cases and sports equipment to take over to our partner schools.

Please keep up with our achievements over the next few weeks and keep an eye out for how you can support our efforts!

Reflecting on 10 years of the JGHS South Africa Project

The James Gillespie's South Africa Project began back in 2003 when the school's former head teacher, Alex Wallace, first visited Durban and Umlazi and chose to link with Zwelibanzi High School.

Since then, th project has grown from strength to strength and now incorporates links between the JGHS community and is cluster primaries, three South African Schools (Zwelibanzi HS, Dloko HS and Charles Memorial Primary), and a number of charitable organisations supporting disadvantaged young people in South Africa.

The project has contributed to the development of values of Global Citizenship in countless members of the South African and Scottish communities that have been involved in the project over the years, in addition to providing financial and material support for the education and care of young people living in impoversished communities.

In 2015 we hope to share some of the sucesses of our project with the wider community and would like to invite anyone who has been involved in the project to get involved by sharing your thoughts and reflections of your experiences. What did you gain from being part of the project? What affect did your experience have on you? What are your lasting memories of your visit to South Africa? We would love to hear from you!

If you would be willing to share your thoughts (and photographs if you have any) please send them to jghssouthafrica@gmail.com

Many thanks and we look forward to hearing from you soon!