Friends of Kajendere Minutes

30th April 2014

Present:

Wendy Holmes, Paul Holmes, Lorna Simm, Barbie Kemp, Sheelagh Tannock, Jenny Fox

Quiz Night

  • Well done and thank you to everyone who helped to organise, took part on the night, or donated money toward this event. It was a massive success- great fun and raised lots of money. In total we made £679.50 profit. Thank you all!
  • Approx £200 from this has been sent to Starfish Malawi to pay for the container (Total cost was just over £600. The rest was paid with money raised by Paul and Wendy Holmes, and by Steve Fox- Thank you).
  • The remainder of the money (around £500) is currently being held by school.
  • The group decided it would be useful to open a bank account to keep the money in. Sharon Hellaby has kindly agreed to be treasurer for the group and will explore options of opening an account. The Friends Group would like to have a majority vote whenever money from the quiz is to be used.It was thought not appropriate to use the money for things directly for Khetase (e.g. a smart phone, clothes, etc.). Instead we will try to get hold of these things through other sources. (see below)
  • Suggestions for ways to spend the money:

-door and lock for the ‘sewing room’ at Kajendere. (to be discussed with Khetase/ Samson- see below)

-as starter money for children to raise money for uniforms. (see below)

Khetase’s Visit

  • Friday 13th – Monday 23rd June. In school Monday 16th –Friday 20th.
  • Khetase is a female teacher in her 20s, who has taught at Kajendere for around 3 years. She has a young son called Raymond and has not been to England (or anywhere similar) before. Khetase is link co-ordinator for Kajendere School.
  • Khetase will be staying with host families while she is here. Current possible outline:

-Julie Sear 13th-14th

-McGlewfamily? 15th- 16th

-Simms/ Jamesons/ Pypers? 17th-19th

-Jenny Fox 20th- 21st

-Wendy and Paul Holmes 22nd

This is not set in stone and could change! If there is anyone else who is keen to host, please do get in touch.

  • Lorna Simm and Paul Holmes have agreed to collect Khetase when she arrives on Friday. She is likely to be tired from a long journey and rather overwhelmed.
  • We agreed it would be helpful for her if we provided a welcome pack, with items such as shower gel, deodorant, flannel, etc. That she could use throughout her stay. It was also suggested we collect good condition clothes in a suitcase (Lorna has this!) and offer her whatever she would like from it, with the rest to take back to give to the Mother’s Group to distribute.
  • Carly had agreed to cook rice for Khetase every day to go with the meal for that lunch.
  • Jordan said one of the things he struggled most with was that he awoke very early (as is the norm in Malawi) and had no-one to talk to or nothing to do. Can we think of ways to overcome this with Khetase?
  • This is our proposed outline for the weekends:

-Trip to London on Saturday 14th June. Arranged by Starfish Malawi. Most of the visitors from Malawi will go. “The plan is to meet at Charing Cross station at 10:30 AM, and walk over to the other side of the river, past theLondonEye, up to the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and back to have a late lunch. We should be through by 3:30 PM”. Khetase and Jenny will be going, we plan to get the 9.01 from Cowden, returning there 4.53. Anyone is welcome to join us!

-Church at St. Mary’s Hartfield on Sunday 15th June (8am and 9.30am). A walk in the local area, e.g. to Pooh Bridge, on Ashdown Forest, to the Tea Shop/ Pantry in the village.

-Spend time in Tunbridge Wells during the day on 21st June, exploring the Farmers Market in the Pantiles, and maybe go to the top of town. Other suggestion- day at Broadstone Warren with the Cubs.

-Starfish Malawi Fundraising Dinner on 21st June evening. Please see the attached information and let Jenny know by Monday 5th May if you would like to go. (If you decide later do still let me know, I expect we will still be able to get tickets!)

-Church Café Sun 22nd June (9.30am). Then a day in Eastbourne.

  • During the week the majority of time will be spent in school, observing and teaching lessons. It is Maths and Science week- lessons should link with this. Other suggestions for during the week tbc with Khetase, Samson and Andrea.

-Trip to Hever Castle (with Larch and Cherry to tie in with topic On Our Doorstep?)

-Waterbabies swimming lesson with Sheelagh Tannock Wednesday Morning

-Bounce and Roll on Thursday with some of the mums and tots (similar ages to Khetase’s son).

-Coffee morning (Erica Pyper has offered to organise) for Khetase, parents and anyone else to chat!

-Visit Hartfield Playschool

-Visit Lingfield NotreDame School (independent school for children aged 2-18). Barbie Kemp teaches in the nursery here. She has offered to take Khetase there and show her around on Thursday.

-Visit the Briars to see the tree planted by Jordan and children last year

  • Best of British Celebration Friday 20th June for Khetase’s last day at school.

-Invite members of community.

-Tie in with Maths and Science week?

-Stoolball

-Maypole dancing

-Morris dancers?

-Traditional British food e.g. cream teas, cucumber sandwiches, fish and chips, toasting muffins, bbq, etc.

-Sponsored Balloon release (Sheelagh is finding out about this) Or could happen at beginning of week so that balloons would start to come back while Khetase is here?

-Bunting/ flags

-Games

-Music

-Fireworks

-Should this be extended in to the evening?

  • Suggestions for evenings during the week:

-Malawi club on Monday (see below)

-Shelter building with Beavers and Cubs on Tuesday at Broomlands

-Netball club on Tueday

-Tennis club on the croft, Wednesday 4pm/ 4.45pm

-Staff meeting on Wednesday- planning future links with Kajendere?

-Friends of Kajendere meeting, maybe a 'bring and share’ dinner on Wed?

-Sew-a-thon on Friday?

-Meet with staff/ governors

-Visit an allotment

-Have tea at other families houses (where Khetase is not staying)

Shoesday Tuesday Boxes

  • Agreed to do this again, both to collect things for Khetase to take back and to collect things for next year’s container. Wendy and Paul are happy to store things again.
  • Jenny to speak to Tracy to check she is happy to co-ordinate again.
  • Begin Tuesday 13th May.
  • Need to put up posters and send letter/ email to parents.

Days for Girls Packs

  • Suggestion to arrange a Sew-a-Thon during Khetase’s visit.
  • Wendy has a hand sewing machine that can be used to demonstrate to Khetase how to make the liners and the bags.
  • Need to find out about support in Kasungu for people at Kajendere to make the packs with the sewing machines sent in the container.
  • Need a safe and secure place to keep the sewing machines. Is a door needed? (See above)
  • Does any material need to be got hold of?

Uniform Fundraising

  • Uniforms have been bought with money got from sales of old electrical things donated by parents and taken to Malawi by Jenny in October. See photo attached.
  • Lorna is also holding around £70 raised for uniforms throughout the past few months.
  • Previously Jordan suggested it would be better for money to be spent on cloth which could be used to make the uniforms, rather than the uniforms themselves. Is this still the case?
  • Each uniform costs approx. £3.
  • We would like to involve the children in fundraising for uniforms. Suggestion to give them a challenge linked with Compassion- our value this term. Could each child raise £3 to buy a uniform for a child at Kajendere? Suggestion to provide children with £1/2 to get a money raising venture off the ground. Suggestion to give a prize to the child who raises the most money.

Container

  • It has reached Malawi!!! Still needs to get to Kajendere school.
  • Many thanks to Wendy and Paul Holmes who spent so much time organising everything and delivering the boxes to the container. Also to everyone who donated anything, spent time packing things in to boxes or helped pay towards the containers shipping costs. A great job was done by all!
  • For next year it would be useful to have all boxes the same, to enable easier stacking in the container. Jenny to ask Carly if she can start saving boxes now, if we get one every week or two we should have plenty by January!

Malawi Club

  • We would like to start this in Term 6. Monday after school? Jenny to check with Andrea.
  • A different theme each week e.g. Art/ cooking/ jewellery making/ finding out more about the country/ dancing/ material printing, etc.
  • Ask Khetase to lead the session while she is here
  • Different adults to offer support each week

AOB

  • Notice board in corridor needs updating. Suggestions: Background in style of Malawi Flag; current ‘linking’ news, e.g. curriculum areas we are working on, Khetase’s visit, upcoming events, fundraising challenge, container news, photos from both schools, etc. Any other suggestions? Jenny will do in half term.
  • Signs in school by taps along the lines of ‘Malawi has no water’ should be removed before Khetase visits.
  • Send a letter home to parents asking if anyone has a smart phone we could give to Khetase. It would make communicating with her when she is back in Malawi much easier.
  • Would Khetase like to see the Parachute being used in a lesson here? Kajendere have a parachute, and Wendy sent instructions of games that could be done with it. Need to find St Mary’s parachute!
  • Toys will be collected at Playschool too- Sheelagh to co-ordinate
  • Do Kajendere need more test papers typed and printed to return with Khetase?
  • Page on School Website needs updating- Jenny to ask Jo
  • Any other ideas, please do get in touch!

Next meeting agreed for Wednesday 21st May at 7.30pm.