IMPACT OF GIVING FARLEY FONSECA SCHOLARSHIP THE FARLEY FONSECA SCHOLARSHIP WAS CREATED IN 2020 BY ADRIAN FONSECA AND NANCY REARDON-FONSECA, TO ASSIST A FEMALE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT FROM NEW SOUTH WALES WITH FINANCIAL NEED TO COME TO COLLEGE. WE SPOKE TO THEM ABOUT THEIR CONNECTION TO ST ANDREW’S, THEIR PASSION FOR EDUCATION AND THEIR PHILSOPHIES ON GIVING.
Philanthropy Report 2021
Adrian and Nancy, could you please tell us a little bit about yourselves and how you came to be connected with St Andrew’s College?
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We live in Bellevue Hill in Sydney and have three fantastic children – Alex, Sophia and Olivia. We lived overseas for nine years – four years in London and five years in Singapore. After returning to Australia in 2012 we established Oxanda Education – a child care and early education operator in NSW, Queensland and Victoria. Adrian attended Ormond College (thanks to philanthropy) and as a result of our involvement with the education sector are passionate about education generationally and how it can change lives. St Andrew’s College and Ormond College are sister colleges. We’ve donated to Ormond College but as we live in Sydney wanted to establish a relationship with a Sydney residential College and St Andrew’s was a perfect fit. Together you own and operate Oxanda Education, where you work to deliver outstanding childcare and early education services. Nancy, you also founded Paths to Purpose, an
organisation that offers a series of equine assisted learning programs to assist individuals with life skills including communication, leadership and teamwork. Education is clearly an area that you are passionate in creating a positive impact in. Could you share with us why you do what you do and where your passion for education comes from? Education created opportunities and pathways for both of us and opened many doors. We are where we are today thanks to those who sacrificed and gave generously so that we could be well educated. Our children and generations that follow will benefit thanks to the generosity of others. We are passionate about delivering leading edge early education centres. Our mission is to instil in children a passion for, and love of learning and secure early learning gains that stay with children throughout their learning journey and into adulthood. Child care used to be about child minding, but today is about so much more. Today there’s a real focus on philosophies relating to development of the whole child.
Our vision is to deliver an environment where children can develop and grow and take those learnings forward and through what we do feel confident, skilled and inspired. Creating that change and delivering that impact is what we’re here to do and being involved in that way fills us with a lot of joy. Nancy’s area in particular creates seismic shifts. Through this work and thanks to her programs, children (a number with learning difficulties) are able to connect with their passions, be more centred and find their calling. The changes that ensue are really quite extraordinary. So the passion comes from what we can know is possible. What drives your philanthropy? What motivates and inspires your family to give? A strong sense of pay it forward. As we said, we’ve both benefited from generosity, sacrifice and philanthropy. This inspires us to give back / pay forward / do the same. We encourage it in our children so that they may do the same. It gives us a lot of pleasure to be able to do so, create impact
