Category Archives: General

AGM THURSDAY 16 JUNE 2022 – NOW BY ZOOM ONLY

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Our 2022 reunion will be held in the crypt of Saint Mary’s Church, Upper Street. Islington, London, N1 2TX. After coffee at 11am, we will be starting with the AGM at 11.30, followed by lunch at 1pm and tea later in the afternoon. During the afternoon we hope to have talks as usual by members who have recently visited Ghana. If you would like to give an update on a Ghana school project you have links with, please contact me to book a 10-minute slot. A projector and screen will be provided. The charge for attendance will be £35 per head. If you would like to add to that sum a donation to GSA, that would be particularly welcomed. Please contact me by email by Monday 6th June at the latest if you would like to attend. We plan to establish a Zoom link, for which there will be no charge, but we will need your email address in advance.

My email is [email protected]

I look forward to hearing from you.

Your shopping can raise funds for GSA !

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We can raise money for GSA when shopping.

Ghana School Aid is registered with the on-line shopping fundraiser Give as you Live. There are two ways to raise funds through Give as you Live.  First, you need to register with Give as you Live (www.giveasyoulive.com) . This will cost you nothing.

The first method for fund-raising while you shop is for you to log on to the  GiveasyouLive website, you can then access one of the contributing merchants, eg. Tesco, M&S, Ocado, Aviva insurance, EasyJet, Europcar, Hotter shoes, the RSPB shop and many, many more, and a small percentage of what you spend goes to GSA.  Whenever you wish to purchase something online, it is worth checking if you can do so via the GiveasyouLive website.                                                         

The second method is to purchase in-store shopping cards from Give as you Live.  The cards are sent to you and can be reloaded at will. For example, if you buy a £100 shopping card for Tesco, you will raise £2.00, for M&S  £3.00 and for John Lewis/Waitrose,  £1.50.  When you go to the store, you simply pay using your Give as you Live card for that store.

As you can see, a community of GSA supporters all contributing in either of those ways, could provide a useful small income stream for us. “Many a mickle makes a muckle!”

 Please do have a look at Give as you Live if you use the internet and whether or not you do, please consider recommending it to friends and family who might be interested.

Report of committee meeting, 7.5.20

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The committee held its meeting via Zoom as coronavirus restrictions meant it was not possible to meet in person.  We were very pleased with the way Zoom worked, especially as one of our representatives in Ghana was able to attend!

We decided to use Zoom to conduct our AGM at 2pm (British time) on 25th June this year, and I am contacting all our supporters with that information.  We hope to have a really good “attendance”!  Since the AGM is open to the general public, if you would like to join it, please contact me via our website and I will send you the link nearer the time.

Among the topics discussed at our meeting were fundraising, the imminent publication of our Newsletter, reports from school in receipt of grants.  We noted that the coronavirus pandemic has delayed the transfer of some of the funds already granted, but we understand the transfers will soon take place.

Although we had cancelled the March application window, for technical reasons three outstanding grant applications were discussed at our meeting, and I am pleased to announce approval of grants to Enyankwaa D/A Primary School; Hiakose Abodease RC Basic School; and Chief Nimpadu Ntiamoah Memorial School, Endwa.

The next application window will be 1st to 31st October, with the theme SANITATION, and the first 2021 window will be 1st to 31st March, with the theme CLASSROOM FURNITURE.

“WINDOWS” FOR GRANT APPLICATIONS

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In order to enable us to properly assess the great numbers of good grant applications we are receiving, we are introducing specific periods during which we will accept applications.  We are very sorry, but we will not accept applications outside these “windows”.  The next “windows” are as follows

  • 1st October to 15th November 2019  – water and sanitation projects
  • 15th February to 31st March 2020  – no theme decided on at present

Those who regularly consult our website will notice that the 1st October to 15th November 2018 window has been removed.  We are very sorry about this, but it is our only way of addressing the large number of applications we have received.  We have some 15 applications in hand that we have not yet been able to consider, and these will be addressed in January 2019.

We have decided to adopt a themed approach.  For certain windows we ask for applications that only fall into a particular category.  We are restricting the October to November 2019 window to projects involving water and sanitation.  Ideas for future themes include “teaching resources” and “sports facilities”.

Please also bear in mind our priorities:  education in the Northern regions of Ghana, and the education of girls.

Safeguarding policy concerning children, May 2018

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In accordance with new EU legislation, and as a condition of receiving a grant from Ghana School Aid, recipients will be asked to sign agreement with the following:

  1. the welfare of the child is paramount

  2. no child or group of children must be treated any less favourably than others in being able to access services which meet their particular needs

  3. all children without exception have the right to protection from abuse regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or beliefs

This policy will be reviewed, approved and endorsed by the Executive Committee annually or when legislation changes.

This policy applies to all GSA trustees, to our representatives in Ghana and to all the schools and colleges that we fund.

Every recipient of a grant from Ghana School Aid will be informed of this policy and asked to agree to the principles set out in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 above, before any funds are dispersed to them.

Data protection policy May 2018

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Ghana School Aid is a charity which funds small-scale educational improvements in Ghana.  Its supporters usually have a personal link with Ghana and are wonderful in giving donations and legacies to enable the committee to continue its work.

GSA retains a list of postal addresses and email addresses of our supporters.  We also have some telephone numbers where these have been freely given. The two committee members who hold copies of the lists are in continual contact with one another, ensuring the lists are kept up-to-date.

We use these lists to send out the annual Newsletter and the AGM documents.  We may occasionally need to make an additional exceptional mailshot, and we may occasionally need to contact individual supporters about matters concerning them.

We never share these lists with any other organisation.  If ever in the future we deemed it advantageous to do so, we promise to consult everyone on the lists first.

You have a perfect right to opt out of receiving communications from GSA.  We will update our lists in accordance with your requests to us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

To:  Penny Sewell, GSA, 4 Windermere Road, London N10 2RE

 

I (we), ……………………………………………………………………………………………….(your name/s),

wish to remain on the Ghana School Aid address lists, until further notice.

 

Signed ……………………………………………………………………………….     D