Staff at Embassy

Fundraising at Embassy London

Lisa Evripidou, from Embassy London, writes:

Students sold St. Valentine's cards and flowers last month, and I can now report that we raised £211.52.  This will be doubled by Embassy to £423.04. This is a fantastic achievement for the charity committee and great for the students who volunteered their time. See photos on our Facebook page.

Secondly, the money raised from the Football Tournament has not yet been counted yet but is over £400, which will be doubled to £800 by Embassy. Another fantastic achievement!

On Friday 18th March it was Wear Jeans Day which meant staff were allowed to wear jeans for the day.

On the same day, we held International Food Night in the canteen for staff and students. 18 countries took part. Students could come and buy food typical of these countries. The students who cooked the food were very excited about sharing their favourite dishes with everyone. All money raised will be going to charity.

That brings our running total to £16,570.19 raised for Building Futures, the dedicated Embassy charity.

 

Christchurch earthquake fundraising at Embassy Auckland

Nicola Conway, from Embassy Auckland, writes. TIP: double-click on any word to see its meaning.

The Christchurch earthquake has been a terrible tragedy with great loss of life and destruction.  Our thoughts are with the people of Christchurch at this difficult time.

In order to help the victims of this terrible tragedy, Embassy Auckland students have managed to collect over NZ$1400 for the NZ Red Cross Earthquake appeal, and staff have donated directly to the Red Cross. Food and essential items are also being collected to donate to people in the worst affected suburbs.

Anyone who wishes to donate to the NZ Red Cross appeal can do so online <a href="http://www.redcross.org.nz/donate" target=_blank">here</a>.

Building futures

You may not know that Embassy language schools are one branch of a large global education company named Study Group. Study Group has many schools and colleges, including Bellerbys, Taylors College, and International Study Centres in the UK and USA - so it is a big company!

And big companies can achieve big things... which got us to thinking. We recognise that, as our students are benefiting from a great education, and in turn, our company is benefiting from your investments, that we should share that good fortune with those who need it most.

So we set up a company-wide charity initiative.

Charitable contributions

Education is our business, so when we were deciding which charity to support, Plan International was a natural choice. With Plan International's help, Study Group build schools for developing communities around the world.

You may have noticed references in our blogs and school news pages to charity events. Every school has regular money-raising activities; in addition, staff in all our offices often run marathons, jump out of aeroplanes, or (less energetically!) put on cake or book sales to raise money. For every penny that is raised, Study Group donate an equal amount, meaning staff efforts are doubled.

All the staff here at Embassy love to hear about the new schools as they are built. We enjoy looking at the photos and learning a bit more about the region.

Our achievements

To date, we have built schools in:

• Aceh, Indonesia
• Zounzounkanme, Benin
• Codó Nova, Brazil
• Liu Shu, China
• Van Han Commune, Vietnam

Schools benefit not only children, but the community as a whole, because educated kids grow up to become skilled adults.

The projects often also bring water and sanitation to the region; and as well as the building works, the charity provides educational materials, computers and teaching staff.

The latest school

Here are some images from our latest completed school, in Van Han Commune, Vietnam:

Study Group staff and children from Van Han Commune crowd around the foundation stone.

 

The new school in the background, with the kids who will benefit.

It's so great to see images like this, and realise that our small actions and donations are actually making a massive difference to children and their families across the world.

Aga's last cake sale

Peter Madams, ICT teacher at Embassy Oxford, writes:

A special mention must go to our departing Accomodation Manager, Aga Kaleka, who has been our most active fundraiser in her time at Embassy Oxford - her speciality has been fantastic cake sales.

Aga is leaving us to study to become a teacher, and so this was her last cake sale. She is pictured here, in the middle, flanked by summer student activity leaders Ruth Otiotio and Romas Sostakas.

£60.80 was raised, which will be doubled by the company, and this goes towards the charity Building Futures via Plan International.

We'll miss Aga, her cakes and her good spirit. Good luck.

Recent news from our Embassy schools

Here is a round-up of news from our various schools around the world. As you can see, there is a lot going on!

• A major project is currently underway to refurbish the library at Embassy Cambridge, and also revitalise some of the classrooms.
• After a year of testing and development, Smart Express classes started last week in New York, Boston, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Cambridge. Will you be on the next Smart Express course? 
• We have lots of special offers on Embassy courses and accommodation at the moment - you can get a bargain if you can be flexible on dates! 
• At Boston Merrimack, students participated in the College's Global Village - an annual event in which students showcase their country’s culture, traditions, clothing, music, and food. We had 12 countries including: Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, China, Japan, France, Spain, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, El Salvador..., & Brazil. Students took great pride in presenting their countries to the campus community.
• Recently, in Seattle, students headed to the trendy Queen Anne Neighborhood for an “Amazing Race” competition. Working in groups of three, students were given a list of tasks to perform and questions to answer in a period of two hours. They had a great time learning and exploring Seattle alongside their classmates!
• 10 new interactive whiteboards have been installed at Embassy Melbourne, meaning every classroom in that school now has access to this fab technology.
• Embassy Brisbane has a new student residence:  it's just seven minutes from school by bus; has inclusive broadband internet and utilities; and best of all there's a great social community.
• Meanwhile, Brisbane students have enjoyed trips to farmers markets, a table tennis tournament, a pizza & board games day & a sausage sizzle. OK, who knows what a sausage sizzle is? ;)
  
• Embassy Perth has a new Director of Studies - Andrew Foster. Andrew joins us after working for over 10 years with GEOS, and more recently as Senior Director of Studies for GEOS Oceania, where he was responsible for the academic management of 11 schools. He has worked as an English Language Teacher, a Teacher Traine...r and as Director of Studies in Australia, Japan, England and New Zealand.
• On Sunday 14 March, 12 teachers and staff from the Auckland campus took part in the annual Round the Bays fun run in aid of the Study Group ‘Plan Haiti Appeal’. Students and staff managed to raise $624.90 for the Plan Haiti Appeal. This amount will be matched by Study Group, so Auckland will be contributing almost $1,250!
• Embassy Sydney now offers 3-day trips for activities such as surfing camps, snowboarding weekends and tours to Melbourne and Canberra.
  

News from Embassy Oxford

Peter Madams, ICT teacher at Embassy Oxford, provides a few updates of recent school activities:

Traffic lights!

Accomodation Officer at Oxford, Agnieska Kaleka, (perhaps our most active fund-raiser, pictured in yellow) would like to say a big 'thank you' to all of you who took part in the last Traffic Light Day at Embassy Oxford. The idea is simple - wear red, green or orange/yellow clothes for a day around college, and try to collect donations for the charity.

As usual we took some funny pictures and raised £42.83 which will be doubled by Study Group so the final amount is: £85.66. Congratulations everyone!!! This money will go our chosen charity 'Building Futures'.

Games Night

Embassy Oxford is now open late on Tuesdays for a games night in the common room. Fabio, our social activities organiser, will be running the evening. Students can stay in the building until 8.30pm and play chess, Texas Poker, dominoes, or other board games.

The first night was a great success - lots of people came. It's a great way to relax, meet new people, and learn new games after a hard days studying.

Embassy Oxford 'Turns Traffic' in Creative Fundraiser!

The staff and students at Embassy Oxford school gathered recently for a fundraising event in aid of our chosen charity - Building Futures. The theme was to dress only in traffic light colours - red, yellow and green.

The event itself was a photo shoot in the common room of Boswell House, Oxford. Some members of staff collected money for the whole day, others just came for the photo taking. Several students donated money in order to be able to take a picture!

It was a nice event in general; lots of joy in doing something together. The event raised £57, which was doubled by Study Group to make a total of £115. Definitely a success, but the organisers have one plea, "If we do it again we need more yellows!"

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