On Monday 5th July myself and Mr Spurgeon made our 3rd trip to Canterbury, Kent to take many more boxes of old textbooks and reading books to Books2Africa. It was the final trip in our trusty old minibus as the new one was delivered the next day.

As always it was a pleasure to visit and the team there were most grateful. We were shown around various areas of the centre and it was very busy as they now try to catch up on the backlog of sorting donations and preparing shipments caused by the pandemic and The Suez Canal block.

We look forward to finding out in the future where our textbooks end up and as always I will keep you updated.

Brief information below for anybody who missed previous editions of PressTales.

Books2Africa was founded in 2012 by 4 African students at the University of Kent as a student project (they collected more than 11,000 books in their first year and stored them in their student flat) and they became a UK registered charity in 2013.

This small charity deserves recognition for their work and if you are interested in volunteering or donating then please find more information on their website books2africa.org.

Miss Clarke

Whilst Covid 19 has forced a number of grants to be suspended during this academic year, a number of organizations have worked tirelessly to support schools through existing or new grant-giving processes. Presdales has been successful in securing more than £140,000 of this grant funding, 97% of which has been spent on long-term capital investments.

Presdales’ sports provision has benefited significantly. Support from EdufundUK has enabled the purchase of new PE mats improving trampoline and gymnastic safety. Funding from Ware and Hertford Town Councils, the Tappenden Charity and Cllr Kaye assisted with the purchase of netball court floodlighting, the installation of which is now complete. The significant increase in court rental revenue already achieved will have far-reaching and long-term impacts across the whole school.

Further applications to the OSFF have also secured 100% funding for safer, socketed netball posts and new tennis nets and posts. The icing on the cake for the court refurbishment!

Football fever has not been limited to the Euros, as Presdales has seen an increase in its play in school. An application to the Football Foundation for funding for goals was successful but required further top-up funding. Through the Government’s Opening School Facilities Fund, Presdales was able to secure the necessary top-up funding, meaning we now have 100% funded: 11, 9, 7 and 5 a-side goals due for delivery within the next couple of weeks. Football is coming home to Presdales!

STEM has also seen considerable support. In December 2020 Presdales received notification of a successful bid to the Wolfson Foundation for funding to support the refurbishment of its two Chemistry classrooms. Requiring match funding, this is a significant project and within the past two weeks more good news was received: a STEM bid to EdufundUK Ltd had been successful in securing funds for fume cupboards within the classrooms and prep-room, supporting this project further. The support from EdufundUK in this and earlier this year for our Textile department is greatly appreciated.

Other STEM successes saw full funding from the Institute of Physics for a coordinated class set of electrical components improving the teaching and learning of electrical circuits for KS3 students. Also for KS3 learning, the Ogden Trust provided funding for a set of Solar Cars that were used this week for a Year 8 Enrichment Day. This exciting day will become an annual event and provide Science and Maths cross-curricular learning, as well as lots of fun and problem solving.

This has been a difficult year in so many ways but Presdales would like to thank all of the organizations that have been so generous in their support.

Essay competition success for Oyin Adewale

Well done to Oyin Adewale in Year 12 who won second prize in a History essay competition organised by the Foundation for the History of Totalitarianism. Oyin wrote a very impressive essay which greatly impressed the judges of the competition. She attended the prize giving ceremony at the Polish Embassy in London. The awards were presented by the Polish ambassador Professor Arkady Rzegocki. Well done Oyin, what a fantastic achievement!

“Over the Christmas holidays I wrote an essay about Witold Pilecki, a Polish soldier believed to be the only person to voluntarily enter the Auschwitz concentration camp. He entered the camp to report the behaviour of the Nazis back to a secret resistance organisation that he co-founded. Pilecki was selfless to the point where the freedom of his country was worth more to him than his own freedom. Writing this essay caused me to reflect on my own values and whether I could be a greater help to others.

I met many interesting people at the Polish Embassy; I even spoke to someone who had written two books on my EPQ subject! COVID was still very much present, we had to take a group picture with our masks on, which made it quite difficult to look happy. The History of Totalitarianism is holding another essay competition this year and I would encourage anyone in year 12 or 13 to enter.”