Fundraising
The Academy is an independent charity and relies on fundraising for important parts of our work. The day to day costs of running the Academy are largely funded by the local authorities who place students at the Academy. However, if we wish to improve the teaching or residential accommodation, or start new projects that improve lives of deaf people in the south west, then we need to raise funds to do this.
For example, this year we are looking to start three projects which all require fundraising to get off the ground:
We want to redevelop a courtyard area into a play space which will be shared between the pre-school and the primary school. There is no outdoor area specifically for this group, and the courtyard provides a safe and accessible place to create a play area which is partially covered so that it can be used throughout the year. This will cost about £50,000.
We are also looking to improve the support we give families of deaf children. As 95% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, it can be very difficult for families to learn how to communicate with their children. We want families to have better access our BSL training and to provide additional literacy support, counselling provision and training on managing behaviour and accessing our video conferencing facilities for peer support. Again, this will probably cost about £50,000 for the first year.
Thirdly, we want to record on video the life histories of ex-pupils and turn these life histories into exhibition materials and educational materials , to raise awareness of deafness and society’s attitude to it. The exhibition will be displayed at local companies and the curriculum materials will be developed both for our own students and for deaf and hearing students from other schools. This will enable children to learn about deafness and its impact, and how people have treated deaf people over the years. The total cost of this project is about £40,000.
If you want to help, then there are various ways you can do this. You can send us a donation now, take part in a sponsored event, or join our PTFA which organises fundraising initiatives. We now have collecting boxes for you to use at home and if you have foreign currency left over from your holidays, you can bring this in and donate it to the Academy.
You can also raise money for us without it costing you a penny, just by using Easyfundraising and Easysearch on the internet.
If you would like more details on any of the projects we are currently working on, or if you would like to find out more about ways in which you can get involved with fundraising for the Academy, please contact Amanda Denham on 01392 267089, e-mail: adenham@exeterdeafacademy.ac.uk