My name is Alett Levington. I purchased this school on the 15th of August 1998. This school only had 35 children on the register and was not very popular due to its condition.
At the time I was unemployed and I came to the school for an interview. During the interview I found out that the creche was up for sale. That night I told my husband about this school and the children I saw. He knew that this had been a life long dream of mine. We were in the process of wanting to buy a house and my husband said to me that I had to decide between the two. Well you guessed it, I could not let this opportunity slip through my fingers for I knew that with hard work and dedication I could make a difference in the lives of a lot of less fortunate people and children, after all this is what I have always dreamed of.
This school was very run down and neglected and it was heart breaking to know that people had to leave their children here and go off to work. The children did not have any toys, good food, or education what so ever. I called a meeting with the parents and introduced myself. I made a promise to them that I will do everything in my power to give the children what they deserve and change this place into a home away from home. My husband and I then put all our money together and with the help of family and friends, began working on our dream. We held raffles and shows with our children in order to try and raise funds to make all the necessary changes.
We soon realized that it would take far too long to do bit by bit and we could not have the children here while we continue to build and break. We applied for the necessary finances in order to speed up the process. We ripped out carpets and tiled the entire school. We plastered and built walls, we replaced ceilings and lights, plugs and cupboards, cots, toys and then even the entire roof. We basically, eventually rebuilt the entire school. We changed the menu and employed dedicated staff from within our own community.
Through out the past ten years the creche has grown to full capacity, including aftercare children. 30% of the pupils attending our school are children from disadvantaged homes, which cannot afford the bare necessities let alone an education. Although we ourselves struggle we try and accommodate each and every child and parent to the nest of our ability. At least we know that any child attending Fairyland will have at least two full meals before they leave, including sweets. We try to keep our fees as low as possible to accommodate the community; therefore we have to rely on the families who can afford to pay fees and anyone who can donate clothes,food or anything else we can use to assist the less fortunate.
We continue to try and organize functions in order to raise funds to achieve our goals, which is to give our children a fair chance in life and lay their foundation in concrete in order for them to have a brighter future and for them to grow up with confidence and determination to become self reliant and successful.