Mystery donor hands £10,000 a year to school

Published on Friday 13 February 2009 08:58

A MYSTERY benefactor is to donate £10,000 per year to a city school to take children on outdoor team-building courses to help boost their self-esteem, confidence and leadership.

Gracemount High School will take its first group of pupils to Loch Eil, near Fort William, later this year thanks to the cash.

If the project is successful, 10,000 will be given to the school for the next three to five years to take its pupils on the Outward Bound Trust's residential courses.

The "significant" cash promise came as a surprise to the school, which could not afford to send pupils on these courses due to its tight budget constraints.

The school was approached by the trust to say that "a member of the community" wanted to provide the donation to allow youngsters to take part in the residential courses.

Headteacher Jim Cassidy said the money is giving pupils a huge opportunity which they otherwise would not have had.

He said: "We were approached by the trust as being a school the benefactor would be interested in working with.

"10,000 to a school is an awful lot of money and it will go a long way if we use it wisely to give a fair number of students a positive experience.

"We're absolutely delighted."

The pupils will decide themselves who should go on the Outward Bound courses, basing their choices on who would get the most out of it.

They will also decide which activities and challenges they would benefit from taking part in, and a planning group made up of nine pupils has been formed to get the ball rolling.

Chris Wyllie, principal teacher of social subjects and citizenship, said: "For some of our kids, getting out of the city and realising they can cope beyond the confines of the city is a huge thing.

"Also, they will learn the importance of team work and working with people they have not worked with before and how they can support each other."

Ann McLaughlan, fundraising executive for Scotland, said: "A lot of schools are finding Outward Bound a huge advantage.

"When they return to school, they are more confident and concentrate more on their school work."

&#149 www.theoutwardboundtrust.org.uk