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Welcome to Under Tree Schools
We are a charity that gives financial support to a school for girls in South Sudan, the newest country in the world.
Our aim
We aim to help girls get the education they need to be able to take up careers.
Until 2005 girls were not given the opportunity to go to school in what became South Sudan.
The founders of our charity wanted to give a lead to its Government for others to follow.
They were determined to offer a good education for girls who had until then always been expected to be homemakers from a young age.
Gathering stones for the foundations
We are a charity that gives financial support to a school for girls in South Sudan, the newest country in the world.
Our aim
We aim to help girls get the education they need to be able to take up careers.
Until 2005 girls were not given the opportunity to go to school in what became South Sudan.
The founders of our charity wanted to give a lead to its Government for others to follow.
They were determined to offer a good education for girls who had until then always been expected to be homemakers from a young age.
Gathering stones for the foundations
Our school
The school started in 2009. Unlike all other schools in the area it is for girls only: parents feel more comfortable sending their children to an all girls school. It has proved very popular: each year 500 or more girls from the local area want to attend. Children, from age 6 to 15, are taught in 8 year classes, by 20 teachers, who follow the South Sudan national curriculum.
The school is a private school, so they can decide how it is run (although teachers do receive basic wages from the state). To help families to let their girls attend we provide a free uniform for each girl each year. The children get a hot lunch every day. There are opportunities for sports, including netball and football.
As well as the state academic curriculum the school advises girls on personal health and hygiene and teaches vocational skills, including agricultural techniques important for those who live in rural regions. We have been teaching the older girls sewing skills, a possible career for some of them. And a number of girls receive computer and IT lessons.
We are delighted that the school is highly thought of in the country, being seen by the South Sudan Government as the beacon for good education that we want it to be.
Our achievements
This is a work in progress, as with all schools. But each year some girls complete the top year of our school and go on to secondary school in the nearest town. We fund their secondary school fees to help them do this. In the last couple of years the oldest girls, finishing secondary school, have gone on training for careers, including teaching and nursing. Over ten years ago this would have been impossible for them.
How we support the school
We send the school funds regularly to top up the teachers’ wages and to pay non teaching staff for managing and protecting the school.
The school gets basic food for the girls from the German Charity Welthungerhilfe, but we provide extra funding so that the girls can be given meat in their diet. Our funds also provide for maintenance of the buildings that all schools need.
Our supporters
A huge thank you to the committed individuals, churches and schools - in England and beyond - on whom we depend to provide the funds needed to keep the school in being.
We are also so grateful to a strong group of supporters in Switzerland, the Swiss Association of Under Tree Schools, Schulen unter Bäumen. Contact them here.
Donations
Could you join our supporters, and help keep this school alive? See our Donations page
The school started in 2009. Unlike all other schools in the area it is for girls only: parents feel more comfortable sending their children to an all girls school. It has proved very popular: each year 500 or more girls from the local area want to attend. Children, from age 6 to 15, are taught in 8 year classes, by 20 teachers, who follow the South Sudan national curriculum.
The school is a private school, so they can decide how it is run (although teachers do receive basic wages from the state). To help families to let their girls attend we provide a free uniform for each girl each year. The children get a hot lunch every day. There are opportunities for sports, including netball and football.
As well as the state academic curriculum the school advises girls on personal health and hygiene and teaches vocational skills, including agricultural techniques important for those who live in rural regions. We have been teaching the older girls sewing skills, a possible career for some of them. And a number of girls receive computer and IT lessons.
We are delighted that the school is highly thought of in the country, being seen by the South Sudan Government as the beacon for good education that we want it to be.
Our achievements
This is a work in progress, as with all schools. But each year some girls complete the top year of our school and go on to secondary school in the nearest town. We fund their secondary school fees to help them do this. In the last couple of years the oldest girls, finishing secondary school, have gone on training for careers, including teaching and nursing. Over ten years ago this would have been impossible for them.
How we support the school
We send the school funds regularly to top up the teachers’ wages and to pay non teaching staff for managing and protecting the school.
The school gets basic food for the girls from the German Charity Welthungerhilfe, but we provide extra funding so that the girls can be given meat in their diet. Our funds also provide for maintenance of the buildings that all schools need.
Our supporters
A huge thank you to the committed individuals, churches and schools - in England and beyond - on whom we depend to provide the funds needed to keep the school in being.
We are also so grateful to a strong group of supporters in Switzerland, the Swiss Association of Under Tree Schools, Schulen unter Bäumen. Contact them here.
Donations
Could you join our supporters, and help keep this school alive? See our Donations page
St. Peter's Chapel |
School Flag |
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