Berkshire primary school befriends Thai orphans

Pupils and staff at Holy Family Catholic School in Langley, Slough, are joining together to raise funds to sponsor three children in Thailand. The youngsters are from the Pattaya Orphanage, the Pattaya Redemptorist School for Blind Children and the Sot Pattaya School for Deaf Children .

The sponsorship initiative was the idea of Ev Coyne, a teacher who is part of the Religious Education team at the school. Ev first became aware of the work of the Pattaya Orphanage Trust through fundraisers for the charity who had been door knocking in her area.

Ev said: "I had been looking for a charity project that the children could work on for some time and sponsoring a child was an idea that really appealed to me. Once I had spoken to the fundraiser about the possibility of sponsoring a child my mind was made up."

Ev arranged for Ruth Flanagan, a schools liaison officer for the charity, to come to the school and talk about the work that the charity does. Both pupils and staff were impressed and the sponsorship idea was approved. Ev continues:

"We have supported lots of charities at the school in the past and the children and their families have always been very generous. We were really attracted to working with the Pattaya Orphanage Trust, as sponsoring a child is something that we have not done before. It's great for the children to learn about Thailand, and it's so fantastic that they can keep in touch with the children that we will be sponsoring."

The Pattaya Orphanage Trust provides homes, education and a future for over 1,500 children by supporting projects throughout Thailand. The various projects help orphans, children with HIV/AIDS, street kids, refugees and children with disabilities.

The school already has several fundraising ideas in mind including a 2p Tuesday and 5p Friday where staff and children will bring in spare change.

If you are interested in sponsoring a child or to find out more information on the Pattaya Orphanage Trust, see: www.pattayaorphanage.org.uk