sparrow schools foundation

Sparrow Schools Foundation is a small charity run entirely by volunteers. Since 2000, we have raised over £750,000 and, because we have no overheads and extremely low running costs, we know that virtually every penny of this has gone to support the children at Sparrow. We have funded sports facilities, art materials, a library and have helped to build permanent premises for the school in Sophiatown, Johannesburg.

In addition we provide funds to enable the Sparrow children to have access to therapists, special needs teachers and educational psychologists who help the children to deal with their difficulties and make the most of their abilities

Over the past ten years, with our help, children from Sparrow have visited the UK on sports, music and drama tours. This widens the horizons of all the people involved, including their hosts in the UK.

We believe that the amount of personal contact that SSF friends and helpers have with the teachers and pupils in South Africa means that the benefits to everyone are much more than just those associated with financial help. This is why one of our main areas of activity has always been to send volunteers out to work in the schools. Over the past ten years 33 people have gone out to Johannesburg including Gap Year Students, retired people and those taking a sabbatical. For more information on volunteering please go to the 'how can you help?' section of this website.

young pupils

"I think that the little ones love any extra attention they get. They are always giving us hugs and wanting to hold our hands and I also think that they benefit from a more creative outlet, especially the ones with more severe learning difficulties. Music and dance is so important in their culture that it generally comes to them quite easily even when we are playing them classical music."

A volunteer