King David Linksfield Juniour School - Outreach
The following projects have been undertaken by King David Junior School this year.
- Weekly contribution of lunch parcels contributed by the children and delivered to Emfundisweni Primary School in Alexandra Township every Wednesday.
- Woolworths Linksfield Square agreed to co-sponsor this project and contribute foodstuffs every week. The additional food is being distributed to Aids orphans at Emfundisweni. An educator at Emfundisweni has identified the children most in need and is responsible for distributing the food accordingly. Woolworths have agreed to deliver the food during our holidays as the Gauteng Schools follow a different timetable.
- The Grade 2 pupils under the direction of their teachers and our computer and art teachers, embarked on a project aimed at providing conversational aids for the teaching of English as a first additional language at Emfundisweni. Each Grade 2 class has contributed at least five boxes of pictures covering a wide range of topics. Mrs Walford typed flash cards to accompany the pictures and Mrs Lalou encouraged the groups of children to paint their show boxes in the art class. The boxes will be a valuable teaching resource and will supplement the library project that was co-sponsored by Exclusive Books and King David Linksfield Junior School in July 2006.
- King David Linksfield Junior School responded generously to the appeal for clothes, blankets, and foodstuff needed for victims of the xenophobic violence this year.
- The Wits University study opportunity was offered to teachers at Emfundisweni again this year. There are presently three staff members from Emfundisweni in their second year of study and a further four staff members who applied for their first year of study this year.
- An interactive sports day is planned for the fourth term on the same model as the 2007 event. This will be co-ordinated by our sports instructors David Flax and Tammy Bragg. They will be assisted by the teachers, the two co-ordinators of the outreach programme and members of the PTA.
Outreach co-ordinators: Noreen Menachemson and Dianne Shapiro
Interact
Interact is a service organisation that is affiliated to Rotary International. King David, Linksfield has a very active Interact Club with several on-going projects.
Every second Friday afternoon a group of street children from the Kayelitsha Shelter in Hillbrow were bussed to the school. Our pupils arranged activities for them and spent the afternoon interacting with them and getting to know them. These children come from very difficult backgrounds and enjoyed spending time out of Hillbrow. We organise clothing collections for them and also raise funds to buy food and other necessities for them. One of our highlights is the end of year Christmas party where the children are made to feel very special. Thankfully, these children have very recently been given a home in Roodepoort. We have visited them twice. Several generous families have made donations of furniture and one family is planning to establish a vegetable garden for them. Sadly in the last year we had to pay for the funerals of three boys, two of whom were murdered.
Interact organised two food collections at the Norwood Hypermarket. The first was for the Khayelitsha Shelter and the second was in aid of the victims of xenophobia. We were overwhelmed by the generosity of the public and were able to make significant donations on both occasions.
A group of King David learners visit Sandringham Gardens every Friday afternoon. They help to distribute food parcels and enjoy visiting the elderly.
Impilo is a home for abandoned babies in Glenhazel. Small groups of Interactors visit every week and provide much needed stimulation for the babies. We also fund-raise for them.
Every year we are involved in raising funds for quadriplegics on Quadsquad Day and for people with disabilities on Casual Day.
We also get involved with projects organized by Tikkun.
Eastbank
King David has had a close relationship with Eastbank High School for many years. Once a week two bus-loads of pupils are brought to King David. They are provided with refreshments. Matrics are then given tuition by teachers and many of our pupils are involved with tutoring juniors. This has proved to be very enriching for both King David and Eastbank.
Outreach Committee
The Outreach Committee organises Shabbat Collections every week. Substantial amounts of money are collected for various needy and very worthwhile causes. This committee tries to increase the awareness of our very generous pupils and their families to the plight of those less fortunate than ourselves. In the last year we have organized four successful blood drives.
Our learners contributed to the plight of the victims of xenophobia by generously donating food and clothing. The whole school was involved in making thousands of sandwiches which were delivered to refugees at the Germiston City Hall by a group of our pupils.
The Outreach Committee was approached by Tikkun to participate in a project with the Mitzvah School in Sandton. A group of King David learners together with pupils from the Mitzvah school spent a Sunday re-painting the school. We look forward to many more projects with Tikkun.