A group of 23 Lower Sixth pupils and seven members of staff from Dauntsey’s have recently returned from a visit to the Romanian town of Cernavoda to support Nightingales Children’s Project. Over a period of 10 days the pupils worked with local street children and orphans, ranging in age from six months to 24 years, to run a week-long play scheme. On some days there were as many as 120 children attending the scheme.
The Dauntsey’s team provided a real treat for the local children with craft, sports, drama, dance and team-building activities as well as parties and themed days. Most of the children live in poverty and have hugely complex emotional and sometimes behavioural problems. Some are quite severely disabled and many have HIV.
To ensure the trip was a success, the pupils started their fundraising in January. They managed to raise more than £10,000 which financed the week’s activities as well as the renovation of the orphanage’s sports area. In the past, pupils have chosen to fund a local Romanian girl through university, create a community café, build a play park at the community centre and sponsor girls for the ‘Girls at Risk’ programme.
This year the money was raised through a range of initiatives including a “Night at the Races” auction, car washing and a very popular Nightingales Cookbook developed by the pupils and staff.
Elise Chambers, Teacher of Drama, Dauntsey’s said:
“The Nightingales Children’s Project has been a long standing expedition for Dauntsey’s pupils and holds a special place in our annual calendar. Set up several years ago by Old Dauntseian, Lizzie MacGeagh, it presents one of the biggest emotional and physical challenges to the sixth formers who sign up.
“The pupils have done a wonderful job of raising money for this year’s trip and it was very rewarding to get back to the orphanage, see for ourselves how our past efforts are paying off, and decide how best to spend the new funds.”