Bursaries for the underprivileged

by St David's Foundation

 Gauteng, South Africa  Education

Different Donations
Direct Donations
R 240,000
Funded to date
R 240,000
Goal

This project will provide two full bursaries for underprivileged students to attend St David's Marist Brothers School in 2019.

This year the St David’s Marist Foundation is supporting 14 young men on bursaries, with a further 36 supported directly by St David’s Marist Inanda. A bursary covers fees, school uniforms, textbooks, stationery, IT requirements, sporting and cultural equipment, meals, extra-curriculum tuition, school camps and tours and transport. Potential Bursary candidates are identified through an assessment programme, working in partnership with local Primary schools and with organisations such as the Student Sponsorship Programme (SSP) and the Alexandra Education Committee.

In order for the Foundation to continue, flourish and support even more bursary candidates we rely on the continued generosity of donors and organisations who identify with our vision and values and with to partner with us in changing the life of a young boy and his family and community.

"I don't want my start in life to define my future"
(Response from a young bursary applicant - St David's 2017 interview)
St David’s Marist Inanda, based in Inanda, is an African school preparing boys to take their place in society and to build South Africa as enquiring, well-balanced individuals aware of their social responsibilities to the wider community and ready to respond with compassion and justice to the realities of society. This year St David’s will celebrated its 77th year of existence. 1 300 boys attend St David’s, from the Mini Marists Pre-School through the Prep School to the College (High School).
Although St David’s is an independent boys’ school mainly comprising middle to upper income families, the ethos and values are finely tuned to the broader socio-economic environment and the many pressing needs that exist within it. St David’s works closely with schools in Alexandra (with boys and staff offering tutoring and mentoring) and St David’s feels a strong sense of responsibility to make an impact into the community and sensitise the boys through direct engagement and interactions with these communities in need, as well as realise their ability to make a difference to them. We believe that there are also tremendous learning and growth opportunities for our boys through these relationships and engagements and that often the greater impact will be on our boys in terms of changing their perceptions and lack of awareness.
St David’s works with the boys with the aim of forming men who will become the ethical and moral backbone of our future society whether as leaders, businessmen, sportsmen, artists, community leaders, social entrepreneurs, husbands and fathers. St David’s believes that a quality education, based on sound values and an ethos of integrity, is imperative in transforming the lives of our youth and in building our country into an ethical, equitable and fair society.

St David’s provides a challenging learning environment which enables boys from diverse backgrounds to realise their potential and develop their unique talents, preparing them to take their place in society and to build South Africa as enquiring, well-balanced individuals of integrity, aware of their social responsibilities to their families, community and country and ready to respond with compassion, justice and proactive action to the realities of society.
Community initiatives and volunteering programmes that our boys are involved in include tutoring learners from Alexandra (both at St David’s and in Alex schools), the Alex Soup Kitchen, the Sandton SPCA (on the borders of Alexandra), Princess Alice Adoption Home, Queen Alexandra Old Age Home, tree planting and school food garden initiatives in Alexandra and collaborative efforts between our Grade 11 ‘Hands of Champagnat’ Service Group with organisations such as Gift of the Givers and Habitat for Humanity. At the end of 2017 the Grade 11 group built their first house with Habitat for Humanity in Hospital Hill in the South of Johannesburg, and they have worked with Gift of the Givers for the past three years including rebuilding homes destroyed by fires in Zandspruit in 2015 and rebuilding a school in Vuwani, Limpopo, after it was burnt down during protests in 2016. All boys at St David’s are required to complete a certain number of community service hours per year, with the Grade 11s taking part in a major Service project as part of the main focus of their year.

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Project activity

Funded to date:

R 240,000

Funding goal: R 240,000
NGO: St David's Foundation
Start: 17th January 2018
End: 31st October 2019
Field agent: Fiona
buddf@stdavids.co.za