In the February half term Mr Bownds was invited to South Africa to support a team from the One by One charity. The invitation came from Matt Murray who alongside his wife Becky founded One by One.  Matt is the school’s residential independent visitor, so has regularly visited the school over the last 2 years.

The team were delivering ‘The Dignity Project’ which works in schools to educate young people about human trafficking, while developing understanding of sexual exploitation and some of the methods traffickers use. All 900 of the girls reached during the week were given a Dignity bag with information, underwear and reusable sanitary products which will allow each of them to stay in school throughout the academic year. Girls in the townships often miss a week of school each month due to their periods, meaning they lose a vital part of their education.

The boys in 9.3- Regan, Drew, Cameron, Kyle, Charlie, Joe, Harvey and Leon welcomed Bri and Katie from One by One into school where they engaged in a lesson about the project. They asked questions and expressed a desire to help the charity directly. As a result a fund raising day was organised which allowed the boys to present Matt and Becky with nearly £100 as a donation. This covered the cost of 10 Dignity bags!

While there Mr Bownds presented one of the schools with letters from the boys in 9.3 and taught a lesson. The class teacher promised all 200 boys in the class would send a reply!

So many thanks to all of 9.3, Mrs Proctor and Mr Thomson for their efforts in raising the profile of the charity’s work and being so caring and generous.

Link to The Dignity Project homepage