distinctly Worthwhile

distinctly

WORTHWHILE

Local partnership National partnership

Cheltenham Education Partnership TISCA

The Cheltenham Education Partnership (CEP) is an equal partnership of secondary schools from both the maintained and independent sectors. The driving ambition of the Partnership is to expand the horizons of young people in Cheltenham and to help them realise their full potential.

The ChangeMakers event was the biggest CEP event of the year and this took part at Gloucestershire University in July.It involved 16 pupils from each of the CEP schools heading to the Park Campus for a day of talks,interactive lectures and a presentation from each school about their sustainability work that year.It worked alongside the Sustainability Group at Dean Close to present everything that we have done this year to advance sustainability at Dean Close School. For many years now Dean Close has had the privilege of enjoying a Foundation School partnership with The Independent Schools Christian Alliance (TISCA).TISCA aims to support and equip schools and educational foundations with a Christian ethos such as ours,and in return we take pleasure in supporting many of their regional and national events and have traditionally hosted and run their prefect training day for senior schools.

This is a day where we host pupil leaders from schools nationwide,and increasingly all over the world,in order to offer training in all aspects of leadership.What does it look like to discover one’s particular leadership‘voice’as a young man or woman? What does the distinctively Christian idea of servant leadership look like in a school setting? How can pupil leaders best work in teams? What might this early experience of leadership give them as they move on to pastures new post-school? As with every other one of our partnerships,it is in giving that we receive and this partnership is greatly appreciated and what it brings to the Dean Close Foundation.

International partnership

Nyakatukura Memorial Secondary School,Uganda

The Uganda Group spent the year in full fundraising mode,kicking off with a huge bake and coffee sale on International Coffee Day which raised £1,000. The Prep School Charity Fair had a stall from the Uganda Group which took over £2,000 with half going to the Uganda Link charity work. Floss Fridays returned to Dean Close Day House Village with candyfloss and doughnuts on sale each Friday break time,with yet more funds going to the charity.

The Group held assemblies in the Prep and Senior Schools to raise awareness of our links with Nyakatakura. A very creative organiser came up with the idea of splatting Mr Pitt with a whipped cream pie to demonstrate pupils going out of their comfort zone and taking part in something different at school!

As the year headed towards its end,we were delighted to host a visit from the Bishop of Northwest Ankole,a diocese in which the Nyakatukura School sits. Bishop Amos Magezi and his wife Jean were on sabbatical and spent a few days at Dean Close as part of their time in the UK which included being our guests of honour at DCS Speech Day. The Uganda Group hosted the Charity Fair and raffle on Big Field with events like a coconut shy,face painting,hook a duck,beat the goalie and even Turner’s frappacino making.It was a great success and raised close to £2,000 which will be crucial as we head out to Uganda next year and begin to work within the community once again after a five year break due to Covid and Ebola outbreaks.