The trend internationally and in South Africa is for schools to establish a Foundation office which works at ensuring ongoing funding for capital projects as well as the development of programmes within the School.

This is where St Mary's and in particular Meg Fargher and the Board have been proactive and established the Foundation Office at the beginning of this year.

Funding is required to sustain St Mary's as an institution abreast of the 21st century and to remain at the forefront of girls' education in South Africa and indeed the world.  By developing infrastructure we ensure adequate facilities for current pupils and for future generations to enjoy.  By funding Staff Development, Outreach, Pupil Scholarships and Bursaries we make a valuable contribution and social investment in South Africa and in the future leaders and shapers of our economy.

St Mary's has become one of the top independent schools in South Africa and is comparable to the top girls' schools in the world.

In countries like the United States, the top girls schools and universities receive a large portion of their income from gifts made by Alumni, primarily in the form of bequests.  St Mary's and other Independent Schools in South Africa will have to rely more and more on individuals with the foresight to make a social investment in the future of our youth.

The Foundation Office will oversee and coordinate all the fundraising activities at the School to ensure effective and efficient solicitation and management of donors and corporate sponsors.

Specified Gifts

An endowed gift is money specifically given for the purposes of the principal amount being preserved and the income derived from the capital amount used to fund various projects at the school. The funding derived from the endowment can be allocated at the School's discretion or specified by the donor for a specific project at the School.

Endowments to the School may also be made in memory of or in honour of a loved one or friend.

A donor may offer to contribute funds for the naming of a particular building, room, space within the School or an item for use by the School. The name would have to be acceptable to the School.

In order to receive naming rights the donation should form a significant portion of the total cost of the building or facility.

The donor funds may also be used to establish a significant endowment for the operating costs of the facility.

In the case of a corporate donor, the naming rights could be granted for a number of years and be renegotiated at the end of the set period. These donations/sponsorships would be subject to Board approval.

It is essential that St Mary's keeps up to date with infrastructure development to ensure a world class school for its pupils.  To this end the School has, after careful consideration of the feasibility and benefits, embarked on the following projects:

The Aquatics Centre

One of the benefits of living in South Africa is that we can offer our children the opportunity of learning life skills through sports. A school like St Mary's would like to have outstanding facilities for all sports. Rowing, Hockey, Squash, Tennis and Netball have excellent facilities.

The current swimming pool was constructed in 1950 and has served the School well.  The time has come for St Mary's to be able to undertake the project of creating an Aquatics Centre with top class facilities for completion in the last quarter of 2008.

The Aquatics Centre will contain an Olympic size pool with a touch pad timing facility, a bulkhead which creates a water polo pool and a short course competition pool as well as 5m, 3m and 1.5m diving boards.  There will be change rooms for both genders and shaded grandstands for spectators as well as a refreshment pavilion.

Hence, the new Aquatics Centre will allow for participation in swimming, diving, water polo and synchronised swimming.

This facility will be enjoyed by our girls and in turn their daughters.

The new Aquatics Centre - June 2008

The Education Centre - Project Edge

St Mary's provides a balanced education and excels in many academic, sporting and cultural arenas. Cultural activities, such as Music, Art, Dance and Drama are firmly entrenched in the curriculum to afford a truly holistic education to its students and the surrounding community.

St Mary's is in urgent need of additional classroom space for its music, art, dance and drama department and for the language department.  In addition to teaching space, the School lacks the capacity to house scholars and parents together for academic presentations.

The School has decided to undertake a much needed expansion to its current Music, Art, Dance and Drama facilities to provide additional Music, Art, Dance and Drama teaching and practice rooms as well as additional classroom space for the language department.  The centre will house a concert hall and an auditorium with a capacity to seat 530 people.  The current school hall falls far short of this capacity.

The new classroom space will enable the school to reconfigure some of its existing facilities to provide expansion in the Junior School Grade 3 classrooms.  The Junior School will benefit from the creation of a Drama teaching classroom, art rooms and more frequent use of the existing Senior School Hall. 

It is well known that there is a shortage of venues in Gauteng that offer capacity for 500 seats.  The venue will allow for choral rehearsal space, instrumental groups and theatre space for use by the community.  The facility will have a sprung floor for dance and this will double as an experimental theatre space.

In addition to being aware of developing the broader community, the School is also cognisant of the environment and has decided to ensure that the facility is as much a "green building" as can be afforded.

Teacher Development

To ensure top quality education St Mary's requires the highest calibre teachers.  To attract such teachers St Mary's must offer better than average teacher remuneration and development programmes to ensure teachers remain at the forefront of their respective field of expertise.  To this end St Mary's ensures teaching staff are able to attend enhancement programmes.

Scholarships and Bursaries

Because education inflation is higher than general inflation it is going to become essential to supplement the fees of more and more academically capable individuals within the next decade or so.

Currently St Mary's offers two Scholarships for academic excellence.  These candidates sit for an open scholarship examination and the award is made purely on academic excellence.  From time to time additional scholarships for general excellence are awarded on account of the generosity of givers who would like to contribute to the advancement of girls who are gifted in one or more areas of achievement but could not ordinarily attend St Mary's School.  These scholarships usually last for the duration of the recipient's high school career.

The School also has a bursary programme for students who are already in the school but owing to a change in circumstance their parents are unable to meet the demands of the fees.  Parents are required to fill in a needs' analysis form and a bursary committee sits to assess the needs of the applicant who may then be granted financial assistance.

St Mary's was the pilot School for the Student Sponsorship Programme (SSP) and many successful graduates have emerged from this wonderful initiative.  The Student Sponsorship Programme (SSP) which emerged from the USA, seeks to find both sponsorship and mentorship for selected students to attend schools which will enhance their natural academic talent and provide them with a future.  Corporate sponsors contribute half the School's tuition fees and the School and parents make up the other half of the fees.  Schools provide books, stationery and uniforms and SSP links the student to a mentor to help guide them through their high school years.

St Mary's Social Responsibility

St Mary's Outreach currently offers 140 students from five high schools in Alexandra and the Schools in the surrounding area - Waverley Girls, Highlands North Boys and Northview High schooling in Maths and Science on a Saturday morning.

These lessons take place at St Mary's and are taught by teachers from St Mary's.  In addition to the Alexandra High Schools Project, pupils from Waverley Girls attend Music, Singing, Rhythmic Gymnastics and Desk Top Publishing classes.  Scholars from H A Jack School attend weekly drama classes at St Mary's.

The outreach programme has been very successful with the 2007 pass rate for Science being 97% and 80% for Maths.

In Conclusion

Our girls have all benefited from the selfless generosity of the benefactors before us, and it is now incumbent on us to give something back to St Mary's.

Contact

Please do not hesitate to contact Gillian O'Shaughnessy at the Foundation Office on 011 531 1803 should you wish to discuss your donation to St Mary's.