How 4myschools Gives Back
4myschools have been able to provide support to over 2 Million people
Thank you! To all the schools, supply teachers, teaching assistants and support staff who have made this happen.
Giving back
“No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.”
We are proud to have been giving back supporting others from the beginning.
It’s not been easy, but we continue regardless and will do more.
“No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.” Aesop’s Fable: The Lion and the Mouse.
4myschools
Every time a school uses 4myschools, or a teacher registers with us, we are able to give the profits we make back to the community. We give to recognised projects locally, nationally and internationally.
We aim to improve to children’s life chances generally and for this reason our donations are given to causes which are wider than donating to individual schools. In 2013, 4myschools gave a charitable donation of £50,000 to the Essex Association of Head Teachers to support teaching and learning.
In the wider community, 4myschools recognises that educationally disengaged children often live with hard-to-reach families. To raise children’s aspirations, and ultimately educational attainment, this negative cycle needs to be broken. We aim to help schools interact effectively with the families of the children they are educating.
Where appropriate, 4myschools initiates specific projects to enhance the educational experience of the children in schools.
Mount Kilimanjaro raising funds to help disadvantaged people to access education in Tanzania
A long way to go on Mount Kilimanjaro
Simone Payne and her 14 year old son Seb raised a further £1,000 for CCBRT disability hospital Tanzania. CCBRT is funded by donations and helps children and adults in desperate need access corrective surgery or treatment to get them back into education or work, ending the cycle of poverty. The donations went to towards treatment to restore children’s vision
and other surgery enabling school attendance which would have been previously impossible.
“I have just returned from Dar es Salaam, where I saw the impact of your support for CCBRT first hand. The Eye Unit was full of patients like 2 year old Rosemarie, brought to CCBRT for cataract surgery. Thanks to 4myschools, surgeons were able to fully restore Rosemarie’s vision. Eye sight is critical to a young girl like Rosemarie, her future and sight has been restored with no barrier to her education, and it’s thanks to 4myschools.” Alexandra Cairns External Affairs Manager Kupona Foundation
The broader context
To improve the lives of children in the developing world, we work with carefully selected charities. So far the donations we have been able to make thanks to schools and teachers support has benefited over 1 million people. Yes that is over 1 million people getting access to clean water amongst other things. These donations have contributed to the following projects:
We have committed to contribute to projects through Buy1Give1 Business For Good (B1G1) – a collective brand for businesses that share the vision of giving back and making a difference in our world. Access to education is fundamental to the success of children and the societies of which they are a part. No one should be denied the right to learn.
Sadly, in the world today, there are many children for whom education takes a back seat as their focus is on securing their survival. 4myschools works, in partnership with B1G1, wants to address this by providing water for people in the developing world. Every time your school uses the 4myschools service to hire a supply teacher, one person is provided with a day’s supply of water by B1G1.
We have helped over one million people with access to clean water. We have enabled a well to be built in Ethiopia and by contributing through regular donations we have achieved great things and will continue to do much more!
Ethiopian Well built in October 2014
For more details please click here
Children in Crisis
In 1993, UK-based charity, Children in Crisis, was established to give children in some of the world’s poorest countries the education they need to help transform their lives. Its mission is: “Where resources are few, where education is needed to heal the nation, and where it is too remote for others, our aim is to support children to read, write, think, pursue their life goals and contribute positively to their communities.”
Ensuring the education of children is one of the reasons why Children in Crisis exists. It believes there is a moral duty to protect and nurture the most vulnerable and dependent children in society. Through education, children have a fairer chance in life, and above all, can flourish in order to contribute positively to their families and society.
The J’s Hospice provides nursing and end of life care, respite care, psychosocial care and bereavement support. Specialist help is given in the comfort of the patient’s own home. The J’s Hospice has a target to build the first age-appropriate hospice for 18 to 40 year olds in the East of England with life-limiting conditions. The organisation wants young adults to have the best possible quality of life, and live as independently as they can.
“No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.” Aesop’s Fable: The Lion and the Mouse.
Teacher recruitment giving back to Nelson’s Journey
This week Katie and Mandie from our Norwich office visited the Nelson’s Journey Charity to present them with a Christmas donation from the funds they would have normally spent on thank you’ s for our teachers and schools across Norfolk. Nelson’s Journey is an important charity for some of our schools and teachers who have benefited from support with children in their care.
Nelson’s Journey supports children and young people up to their 18th birthday who have experienced the death of a significant person in their life. The support may include one-to-one assistance in and out of school and opportunities to meet others their age who have also experienced a bereavement.
Katie and Mandie were lucky enough to get a tour of the facilities and a chance to meet some of the lovely staff.
Mandie said “I will not forget the wall of thought, which is covered in labels where children have mentioned the one thing, they will always remember their loved one for; it brought tears to my eyes to read their messages”.
We all know how hard it is to cope with bereavement, so the impact and ongoing affect for children can be so detrimental to their life, perceptions and ability to learn.
Katie and Mandie were introduced to the infamous ‘Worry Monster’, a teddy which each child receives during their bereavement journey. The Worry Monster’s mouth can be unzipped, and the idea is the children use him as a chance to write down their worries, place them in his mouth and he eats them away.
Katie and Mandie also learnt about the “Smiles and Tears” gift box which was created by children who were supported by Nelson’s Journey themselves. It contains a collection of small items which the children can use or refer to during their bereavement. They found the ‘emotion magnets’ especially powerful because the children can use them to stick on their fridges at home to express how they are feeling if they struggle to communicate verbally.
Katie said “It has been incredible to witness what an amazing charity is doing for children of Norfolk and we are very proud that our county has access to such vital support.
This year’s 4myschools Christmas donation has gone to a very worthy cause and we thank all our schools and teachers for making this possible.”
If you would like to find out more about Nelson Journey please go to www.nelsonsjourney.org.uk
Pleased to share our latest thank you from Smile Train!
“Dear 4myschools, Smile Train are delighted to acknowledge your gift this Christmas, your generous support will allow us to perform one complete cleft lip surgery.
Our vision is that every child born with a cleft – anywhere in the world – can live a full, productive life and have the chance to go to school.
Smile Train has grown to become the world’s largest cleft charity because of the support we receive from donors like you, enabling a child to receive a life-changing surgery once every five minutes. Friends like you are truly changing the world for the boys and girls whose families cannot afford lifesaving and life-changing cleft treatment.
Thanks to you, these children are receiving new smiles and second chances at life. We wish you could be there to see the children with their new smiles, as it would warm your heart and reaffirm the importance of reaching out to children. Instead, we will send you a photo in a few months of a child who was helped by the generosity of friends like you so you can see the permanent difference you’ve made in a child’s life.
From our staff here at Smile Train, many thanks!”
See this video clip to witness the difference
To find out more about Smile Train visit https://smiletrain.org.uk/stories
Helping children in Tanzania
In March 2015 one of the 4myschools team Simone Payne made a trip to CCBRT (Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation Tanzania) hospital in Tanzania to deliver educational resources donated by schools, teachers and colleagues to help disabled children in desperate need.
Donations collected from schools and supply teachers for children in Tanzania
Simone took suitcases full of stationary and visual learning aids to help some of the most vulnerable children in Tanzania who on the whole are unable to attend school due to their disabilities.
Primary education is free in Tanzania from the age of 7 to 14 years, however, if you are disabled it is extremely difficult to access education and there are very few specialist trained teachers.
The donations were given directly to children and their families at the hospital and to a deaf unit who are funded by CCBRT at a primary school in Dar.
CCBRT give these deaf children an opportunity to receive an education which they would normally not have. 4myschools took visual aids including maps and inflatable globes and colour pencils to make learning easier.
4myschools believe every child has the right to receive an education and we are trying to find a way of working together with CCBRT to help the disabled children in Dar es Salaam.
CCBRT treat many disabilities such as cleft lip, club foot and also help fund community programmes to help deaf children attend school to name just a few. In 2013, CCBRT conducted or facilitated over 11,000 life changing surgeries and have now completed one million cleft surgeries.
Post surgery on the way to a normal life
The difference cleft surgery can make is massive and can propel a child out of poverty and enable them to receive an education.
Many children born with a cleft lip and pallet struggle with eating, and are isolated by society and are typically unable to attend school.
As with a child born with a club foot, they will never walk and play like other children and will not attend school. They are inevitably mistreated by others and spend their life begging on the streets of Dar es Salam Tanzania.
Enjoying a donated game helping him to recover more quickly
Children that are born deaf face a life of little communication, isolation, never attend school and are faced with a life of poverty too.
Cleft lip and club foot are both treatable and rarely seen in the UK, deaf children are helped from birth and the UK has specialist teachers and schools to give them every opportunity to succeed.
CCBRT organised a daily schedule so that we could witness the daily struggle these children face at the hospital and outreach programmes in Dar es Salam and at their rural clinic in Moshi.
Giving the donations to the children in the deaf unit was incredibly rewarding.
Happily making a difference.
More smiles from the donations made by teachers and schools
Giving Back For Supply Teachers And Schools
Giving back to support teaching and learning
Giving back to support teaching and learning has been at the core of our mission from the outset along with our international giving for those in desperate need. We do this without making a great noise because it just seems right to us. However we are often asked to expand on what we do for schools and teachers. To this end we have outlined some of our giving back and comments below:Donations made to schools and teachers
Sponsoring visiting speakers to local schools covering topics including; pupils commitment to their studies, conveying their learning, emotional and social needs to school staff, along with the implications of poverty.
“Just wanted to thank 4myschools for your very generous contribution to The Deanes by subsidising The Real David Cameron and Chris Kilkenny’s visit to Essex. Your offer is exceptionally kind and I very much appreciate what you are doing.” Desi McKeown – Head Teacher The Deanes School “I just wanted to thank you for the very generous 50% subsidy for the Chris Kilkenny and David Cameron session. I heard Chris present with David at the ASHE 
residential; it was a very powerful and thought provoking session. Your support has enabled me to offer the same experience to my staff. Thank you! Much appreciated.” Jason Carey – Headteacher The James Hornsby School During 2013 we made significant donations to the associations of Essex secondary and primary schools who used the donations to contribute to many teaching and learning activities. Since then we have continued to make donations to support events such as those detailed below across the counties of the East of England: Annual New Headteachers Induction Programme (12 sessions) 
Colin Logan SSAT (the schools students and teachers network) “At SSAT we have always believed that teachers make students’ lives. Our mission now is to help them to carry out this vital job even better, more confidently and more professionally than before.” Dylan Wiliams (Assessment for Learning speaker) Improving teacher practice to improve student learning
Al
istair Smith (Alistair Smith Learning) Delivering motivational presentations, guidance on professional development and training. Rob Long (Behaviour Management Consultant) Mike Treadaway (Fischer Family Trust)- FFT Aspire is the reporting and data tool for schools, Local Authorities and Academy Chains. 
FFT Aspire provides key target setting and school performance evaluation information using the latest curriculum and accountability measures to support future planning. Professor Peter Mortimore – Peter Mortimore has been a teacher, researcher and administrator in education for nearly 50 years. Most recently he was Professor of Education at the University of Southern Denmark having previously been Director of the Institute of Education, University of London. He has carried out numerous studies of school effectiveness and undertaken reviews of Nordic education systems. He was an education columnist for the Guardian for four years PREVENT Anti Terrorism Awareness Courses (Cross Phase) 
Primary headteachers conference Estelle Morris and Matthew Syed Author Black Box Thinking: The Surprising Truth About Success gaining an edge in a complex rapidly changing world, boosting creativity 
learning from mistakes and the pursuit of marginal gains. Cluster conference with a focus on maths for all teachers and TAs
Supporting primary and secondary transition for more able students by setting up a Year 6 Saturday Reading Group for students who have achieved L5 in reading by the end of the Autumn Term Class watch: Using mobile equipment to record lessons allowing staff to look back at how personal performance might be improved, generating an impact on quality of teaching and learning and thus pupil progress Donations to schools for supply teachers to release small primary school headteachers to enable attendance at their headteachers conference Better to Best head teachers meeting James Nottingham headteacher’s conference Primary headteacher’s conference sponsored Adam Wright to attend conference and provided The Chimp Paradox book by Professor Steve Peters to all attendees
Primary headteacher’s conference sponsored Andy Buck and provided each attendee a copy of his book to Inspire Leadership Association of secondary head teachers sponsoring the real David Cameron Sponsored Mark Prentice to deliver history workshops at Ipswich festival of education Major sponsor of the Ipswich Festival of Education to inspire excellent teaching practice and attract teachers Primary CPD at Kesgrave Hall Sponsored Matthew Syed at Essex secondary headteachers conference on mind-set and helping children succeed Sponsored The Real David Cameron at two day conference – “For over twenty years, Independent Thinking has been helping schools help young people be even better, both in the classroom and beyond.”
“This is just a quick email to thank you for the outstanding contributions that David Cameron and Sir Tim Brighouse made to the Association of Secondary Headteachers (ASHE) Conference last week. The conference was probably the best residential conference I have organised in 7 seven years of doing this role, but the reason for its success was solely down to David who chaired the whole two days and gave a wonderful presentation. He called his presentation the ‘The Big Finish’ and it certainly lived up to its name. It was like going to a firework party where you leave the best display for last and David lit up the room. David’s passion for education is infectious and he inspires delegates just by being in the room.” The Sandon School CPD pilot, bespoke CPD to support supply teachers including lesson observations
“I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the course yesterday. I really did find it useful and interesting and it was clear that much thought and consideration had gone into making it relevant to us as supply teachers. I wish all my CPD training had been as helpful! So thank you for organising it and making it happen :)” Heading for headship and challenging the more able learner courses Online safeguarding training available free to all 4myschools supply teachers Supported Brentwood Collaborative Partnership by sponsoring Nick Saunders’ motivational speech to encourage pupil engagement with all teachers and support staff in Essex. Future donations
In addition to our international giving, 4myschools continue to support teaching and learning across the East of England through donations for guest speakers, sponsoring conferences and putting on CPD training events for teachers. We continue to give back as a direct result of working with the many excellent supply teachers who are registered with us and the many schools using our supply teacher services. With more schools and supply teachers using the 4myschools supply teacher service the more we will be able to give back.Education or Water in Ethiopia
Education or water not really a choice for many people in Ethiopia
For people unable to access water within a reasonable distance there is no education. For many living in remote villages in Ethiopia this is often the case – 4myschools teachers and schools are making a difference through continuing donations for water enabling many people to now attend school.Ethiopian Well care of 4myschools schools and teachers
Ross Allan of Wellwishers Australia wrote the following: “It never ceases to amaze when visiting a village well site. Be it a well that is hoped for, planned, under construction, just completed or built a year or more ago, the welcome received from the village members is always overwhelming. Sometimes it’s just a few members of the WASHCO (Water, Sanitation and Health Committee), other times it’s a few women and a couple of elders, or it could be everyone in the village with the whole school in attendance. People are just so grateful for clean water. It is a celebration of life for them – a new life; life without water-borne diseases and life that goes past the age of five for their youngsters. In November 2014, three members of Wellwishers Australia were at a village that had had a well completed less than 2 months earlier care of 4myschools UK. The villagers were totally subsistence farmers in an area that was more than 20 minutes drive from the main road – the only vehicles to enter this area are the hydrologist, technicians and REST supervisors (REST is our Ethiopian Implementation Partner). It was a dry, rocky, elevated and very remote area. The villagers met us with cheers, ululating and Ethiopian flags. 
The smiles on the faces of the women, men and children were wide and prevalent. We were taken to the well site which is now a 15 minute walk maximum for the majority of the villagers. 
The protective wall surrounding the well was well built, accessed by a lockable gate. A couple of men played local musical instruments and with lots of hand clapping and further ululating, we all danced together. They asked us to cut a ribbon to “officially open” the well as a symbol of help to the village. There was speech making by priests [all family men], a couple of the women and a particularly heartfelt thank you from one of the elders. The most important things to them are the survival of their youngsters; less cost spent on healthcare and the ability for their children to get to school on time) and to actually now go to school). Time and time again they spoke of the fact that people across the seas care about them – they know they are part of a bigger world. The changes coming to Ethiopia in new road works and other infrastructure are very noticeable. Bringing clean water to rural villagers isolated by lack of roads and electricity, located in deep valleys, far from small towns and markets is a high priority. Great progress has been made, but the need will go on for quite some years. Once villagers have water, it then becomes more and more obvious that water is needed at schools, health clinics and other community facilities. Wellwishers have much work yet to be done. Thank you for helping make clean water a priority.”
