Who is Involved:
• The University of Nottingham - Architecture Dept.
• Education Africa Charity.
Funders already involved:
• Anglo Gold Ashanti
• The University of Nottingham.
Education Africa
James Urdang (Project Representative)
(Office)Pine Place, Randburg
Johannesburg
Gauteng
2194, South Africa
No: 011 888 6043
E-mail: james@educatonafrica.org
Contacts:-
Student at The University of Nottingham
Laura Gaskell
1 Chapel Court, 325 Castle Boulevard
Lenton, Nottingham
UK (NG7 1HP)
No: (UK Mobile) (0044) 7762 811182
E-Mail: layblg@nottingham.ac.uk
Architecture students at the University of Nottingham in collaboration with Education Africa are planning to build a new Nursery School in Jouberton, Klerksdorp, a township near Johannesburg, South Africa in April 2009. A group of 36 students led by qualified architects, the Education Africa team and local builders, will both design and build the new nursery for 80+ children ranging from an age of 8 months to 5 years old. The students will be flying to South Africa at their own expense to begin the build at the end of March 2009.
‘Education Africa’ has a mission to help deliver Africa's education renaissance in South Africa.
Current Facilities
The facilities at the moment consist of a corrugated steel shack (right) that is used as the kitchen, storeroom & classroom. Their playground is situated outside of this shack, which is not shaded from the sun.
They have very limited use of the town church next door, which can only hold a maximum of 20 children. This isn’t suitable for 80+ pre-school children to develop in a safe and comfortable environment. The design of the nursery school is in its final stages at the moment and a drawing package is due for completion this week. The school is designed with the use of local materials, skills and the environment. This project will fulfill an important social requirement in the area. As mentioned above, the current site and care facilities are inadequate for the amount of children that need schooling within this area of Kerksdorp.
The new nursery/day care centre has been designed to cater for 150 children (allowing expansion of students) with designated teaching and learning spaces. This will provide the children with a modern, clean and safe learning environment. By enabling more children to attend school and gain an education, we hope to give them a better start in life and greater opportunities in the future.
The school will also have a secondary function as a community centre outside of school hours. The space could be used for adult education or community functions. For a detailed design of the school, please visit our website at www.projectjouberton.com for progress reports, blogs and drawings.
Details of Project The project will be under construction for six weeks from the end March to early May. The students taking part in the build have been asked to raise £25,000 to contribute to the total budget. To make this project a success it needs support from many sources including companies that are willing to make a donation. Nottingham students have been setting up fundraising activities, but to reach their target other help is needed. We are looking for donations to help towards the success of this project. These do not necessarily need to be financial. The project requires tools, machinery, building materials and after construction – educational materials. For example, cement, bricks and solar technology would all be very useful. Even contributions such as jungle gyms, slides, sand pits and toys would be welcome. Your generous support or donation will be mentioned on any publicity the project receives locally and internationally as well as on the project web page http://www.projectjouberton.com. This can be a potential for advertising yourselves in many ways internationally. To donate please either send a cheque made out to ‘The University of Nottingham’ (address above). Or visit:
http://www.justgiving.com/jouberton_nursery
