PEAS News
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NEWS & EVENTS IN BRIEF: | |
| Green Shoots Secondary School Opens | February 2010 |
| The newest PEAS school - Green Shoots Secondary School - has opened with the most extraordinary student demand. The school is located in Hoima District in the West of Uganda. Over 330 students have enrolled so far, which has left us with the problem of raising further funds immediately to help build more classroom capacity at the school; a great problem for us to have. |  |
| The Big Give & PEAS Gifts Raise Over £30,000 | December 2009 |
| The combined efforts of a number of our major donors and hundreds of individual PEAS supporters together with the match-funding challenge offered by The Big Give meant that over the Christmas period we raised over £30,000. A huge thank you to everyone involved. |  |
| PEAS Alternative Christmas Gifts 2009 | November 2009 |
| Once again PEAS is offering our supporters the chance to give something special to family & friends at Christmas. The PEAS alternative gifts catalogue has a range of gifts that will benefit our schools & students in Uganda. We provide a gift card for each gift you buy that you can pass on to your family/friends. See our range of gifts here. |  |
| PEAS Students Receive University Bursary Awards | October 2009 |
| In partnership with the Laura Case Trust (see our partners) PEAS is supporting a small number of our students as they graduate from our schools through the next stage of their education - university. The first group of students to receive the new bursary awards were recently selected (see right) having beaten serious competition! On completion of their university careers, the students will return to work with PEAS, either in our schools or with the central organisation. We wish them all luck in their new endeavours. |  |
| Run to School Event Raises over £8,000 | October 2009 |
Our newest annual fundraising event, 'Run to School.' was held on Sunday 11th October. Over 150 runners took part in either our 5km fun run or 10km running race around the banks of the river Thames in West London in a beautiful setting (and with only a little rain!) Even though it was only the first year we've held the event, the fantastic efforts of participants raised over £8,000 for PEAS. To find out more & see the results, visit our dedicated website: www.runtoschool.org.uk |  |
| Two new schools planned for 2010 | July 2009 |
PEAS had now located two more sites for new schools due to open in February 2010. The sixth and seventh PEAS schools will be located in the west of Uganda in Masindi and Kigorobya. We are still looking to secure funding to be able to open both of these much-needed schools in February. Watch this space for further developments! |  |
| Inter-school Public Speaking Competition | June 2009 |
In June this year, students from each of the four current PEAS schools took part in our first ever public speaking competition. The grand final was held at Onwards & Upwards School and featured students from each PEAS school talking about education in relation to themselves, their families and their country. The event was featured in the national press, and the winner, 13 year-old Tina Kisakye, will be visiting the UK in October as part of her prize. Read the article on the website of Uganda's New Vision newspaper here. |  |
| Bridges to Africa: 22nd MARCH 2009 | March 2009 |
Our annual fundraising event Bridges to Africa proved another big success this year. For the first time, the sponsored walk event also took place in Birmingham as well as London. For the the 3rd year running, the event raised over £20,000 for PEAS. Visit the website to find out more. |  |
| 2 New Schools launched in Uganda | February 2009 |
The fourth and fifth PEAS schools were opened in February 2009 - Kiira View Secondary School is in the Jinja district of Uganda and Sarah Ntiiro High School serves the community near the town of Mayuge. Read more about these developments in our projects |  |
| PEAS Shortlisted for The Guardian Charity Awards 2008 | October 2008 |
| We are pleased to announce that PEAS has been shortlisted for The Guardian Newspaper's Charity Awards 2008. Over 550 charities were considered for the Award, so we're delighted to have reached this stage. |  |
| Land acquired and new school construction to begin | August 2008 |
Thanks to the hard work and generosity of our staff and supporters PEAS is on course to open a further two schools in February 2009. We have recently purchased land and construction will commence in the next month. Find out more about these exciting projects here. |  |
| Bridges to Africa Sponsored Walk - Sunday 11th May 2008 | May 2008 |
The third annual PEAS 'Bridges to Africa' walk took place on Sunday 11th May, involving 50 schools from across London. In total, nearly 2000 students and their teachers completed the walk on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Thanks to everyone involved - students, teachers and our volunteer stewards! Visit the Bridges to Africa website here for more information. |  |
| PEAS Photo Exhibition - 7th-10th May 2008 | May 2008 |
| From 7th-10th May PEAS held an exhibition in London, in collaboration with photographer, Paloma Pargac. The exhibition featured a selection of students from PEAS schools, in their home and school settings. The photographs were accompanied by stories describing the lives of these students in Uganda. As well as raising money for future PEAS schools, the exhibition allowed many of our supporters to see directly the impact their support and donations is having on young people in Uganda. |  |
| Two new PEAS Schools officially opened in Uganda | February 2008 |
| On 23rd January 2008, UK artist Tracey Emin joined the Ugandan Commissioner for Secondary Education in the role of chief guests of honour at the opening ceremony of Forest High School in Uganda. The school, funded in partnership with the New Forests Company, serves a rural community in a district in the west of Uganda. Tracey Emin donated £20,000 for the construction and equipping of the school's library. We are immensely grateful to all our supporters who have helped in founding this school, one of two new schools in 2008. Forest High School has already enrolled over 200 students. On 6th February 2008, the second new PEAS school, Onwards & Upwards Secondary School, was officially opened by the Ugandan Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development. Like Forest High School, Onwards & Upwards has enrolled over 200 students in its first term. Thanks to everyone for helping to make this happen. |   |
| PEAS fundraising passes £200,000 in one year! | November 2007 |
For the first time in the history of PEAS, our fundraising during a single calendar year has passed £200,000. A huge thank you to everyone who has supported us in any way. In 2008, we're looking to set more records to help us build another three schools to open in 2009. We still need your support! |  |
| UK Artist, Tracey Emin, supports the work of PEAS | October 2007 |
In July of this year Tracey Emin made a large donation towards the construction of the library at our school in Kikandwa, Western Uganda. More recently, on 13th October, a new Fiat 500 car, which Tracey had turned into a work of art with her design, "I told you not to" was auctioned for £42,000. Tracey has kindly donated the proceeds to PEAS. Read an article about Tracey's work with Fiat on the website of The Independent here. |  |
| 7000 people attend PEAS FEST - a music festival in Uganda | August 2007 |
| On Saturday 18th August, over 7000 local people were entertained by an all-day music festival at the first PEAS school, St. Janan Luwum SS in Kampala, Uganda. The day celebrated students' talents with an inter-house music, dance and drama competition and also saw a number of outside music artists perform, including Bobi Wine (see right), Mega D and Qute Kaye - some of Uganda's most popular musicians. The event was featured on radio and television stations in Uganda, and the artists waived their normal performance fees to support PEAS. A great day for the school and for PEAS! |   |
| New school construction underway | July 2007 |
We are pleased to report that work has begun on the construction of buildings at our site in Buloba, which will be completed in time for the start of the next academic year in February, 2008. We are also preparing to start work on our other site in Kikandwa - architectural designs are about to be signed-off. |  |
| PEAS feature in SecEd magazine | July 2007 |
An article written by Sarah Birke on the people behind PEAS has appeared as a feature in the July edition of SecEd magazine - a weekly magazine focussed on secondary education. You can read the article on their website here. |  |
| PEAS awards professional development grants to staff | June 2007 |
After an intensive application process, seven members of staff in the first PEAS school have been awarded professional development grants towards further study. The grants have been made to both teaching and non-teaching staff at St. Janan's and will be used to support the costs of courses outside of school. |  |
| Land acquired for another school development | June 2007 |
PEAS has recently acquired a 22 acre site in Western Uganda for the development of a new secondary school to open in 2008. Find out more about Kikandwa Secondary School and our partnership with the New Forests Company in Uganda here. |  |
Bridges to Africa 2007 - Sunday 13th May Over 1100 students from 41 different schools successfully completed this year's Bridges to Africa sponsored walk event in
Central London. Students and their teachers walked the ten bridges of the Thames, from Vauxhall
Bridge to Tower Bridge - a distance of 10km - to raise money for PEAS. The rain failed to dampen their spirits and we hope to raise at least £30,000! Visit the website for more details (and to see Jon Snow in a PEA costume!), or email us: help@bridgestoafrica.org.uk. | May 2007 |
Land secured and Construction underway! Having recently secured a leasehold agreement on a piece of land to the west of Kampala, PEAS is now pleased to report that construction work has begun on one of our new school developments, situated in the district of Buloba. The school is being funded by a very generous personal donation from the Stephenson family. Find out more here. | April 2007 |
Low Fees – Great results! The first cohort of students to complete four years at a PEAS school sailed through their O-level exams with flying colours. PEAS achieved an 100% pass rate, well above the national average. Half the students of the pioneering year group achieved the top 1st and 2nd grades. St. Janans school reopened for 2007 with 900 students. The school is proving that quality education can be delivered for low-fees. Now we can just look forward to building on that success as we launch 10 new schools in the next three years. | March 2007  |
PEAS supports a new school project in Kenya: PEAS is working together with the Got Matar Development Group on the foundation of a new secondary school for a local community in the Bondo District of Western Kenya. Aswell as administering funds on behalf of the group, the PEAS management team in Uganda are supporting the school's development. The school opened to the first 150 students in January 2007. Find out more in Our Projects pages or by visiting Got Matar. | January 2007
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PEAS Volunteer Updates Two of our current volunteers, Tim Trainor and Annette Islei have written about their experiences in Uganda. Tim is working to support the work of the Managing Director in Uganda, Mike Kironde. Annette has been working as a tutor in our first school, supporting the work of the school's management team. You can read their articles on our volunteer placements page. | January 2007  |
Award winning PEAS Unltd Millenium Award Teach First Ambassadors Award | October 2006  |
Raise money for PEAS just by searching the web! Just make this page your home page and use it whenever you search the web. It does not cost us, or you, a penny so please use it to support PEAS. everyclick - search the web and benefit charity! | September 2006  |
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