School raise funds to send 38 children on Language trip to Germany!

Sep 21, 2011 No Comments by Rayburn Tours

It’s no mean feat taking 38 students out of the classroom to experience the triumphs and challenges of language learning, but this didn’t put Amanda Harper of Bennerley Business College off. She was so sold on the benefits of language learning, in fact, that she was determined to give all her students an equal opportunity of joining her upcoming German trip to the Rhineland.

There is no denying that current times are financially tough for many families and finding the money to send your child on an educational trip abroad can be hard – that’s exactly why Amanda decided to fundraise for her trip. The money raised would allow her to reduce the price for those students who otherwise may not be able to join the trip.

Here Amanda tells us how she went about it:

“It all started at the school with my colleague, Tina Barnett. Tina is responsible for enterprise at Bennerley Business College and is in charge of allocating a small fund that exists for cultural experiences. She mentioned that there was some funding available for a cultural experience which related to language learning, so I approached her to put forward the case for a German Language trip. Much to my delight it was accepted and our ‘fundraising pot’ had started, right here at the school. I knew that to help out as many families as possible I would have to go outside of the school gates and decided that contacting local businesses was the best place to start.

There’s no doubt that we will be fundraising for our French trip to Paris this year!

I wrote a letter to Chris Tilley, Community Champion at a local Tesco store. He was surprised to hear from a secondary school promoting language learning abroad and when he heard more about our plans, he was happy to help. They made a very kind contribution to our fundraising pot and allowed our students to return to the store at a later date to pack bags for customers in exchange for a small donation. It was extremely fulfilling to see all students rally together to raise money which would give everyone the opportunity to travel to Germany.

I contacted a couple of other local businesses who were happy to help and I organised another fundraising event in the school in the form of an international food day.

Not only did the fundraising lead to us being able to help four families send their child to Germany as well as contribute to the theme park entry for all students, but it also gave the students an opportunity to bond with each other. There’s no doubt that we will be fundraising for our French trip to Paris this year!

Would I recommend fundraising to other schools in a similar position? Absolutely!”