Parent Teacher Association

The two charities voted by the community at the beginning of the 2022-2023 academic year are: Associazione KIM and Education for All (Amani).

Both of these charities are focused on assisting disadvantaged children both in Italy and abroad. The RIS PTA has been supporting the Education for All project in collaboration with the non-profit organisation, Amani, since the 2015/16 academic. Read more about this initiative on this page. 

For more information about Associazione KIM please visit the website: https://www.associazionekim.it/

Since the 2015/16 academic year, Rome International School's Parent-Teacher Association has been supporting the community project, ‘Sharing our vision: Education for all’. This empowering initiative has a strong focus on education for disadvantaged children, which is closely aligned to the school’s mission to deliver a high quality and rewarding international education.

Project aims and benefits

Initially launched as a two-year project, it facilitates access to a quality education by providing the opportunity for one talented and motivated student of high school age from a less economically developed country facing difficult circumstances, to attend Rome International School. The aims are linked to issues of global significance. Facilitating access to education is recognised by the UN through its Global Goals, in particular, Goal 4 “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong opportunities for all”.

This should not be confused with a scholarship. It is about providing the logistical and material resources for such a student to access RIS. It is also about providing social and cultural opportunities for the successful candidate. It is a project which will have enormous benefits for the student, for their country and for our students by promoting Global Citizenship. This is a new approach to the way the school and the PTA work and we believe that it is the right one to help us play our part as educators and learners in ‘creating a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect’ (IBO Mission Statement).

Organisation and structure

A working group was established during the 2015/16 academic year consisting of PTA members, teachers and staff and a feasibility study was carried out. The group identified a shortlist of four countries - Kenya, Sudan, Malawi, and Tanzania - based on their compatibility in terms of language, needs and transportation. After carefully looking through the requirements and implications together with the help of organisations specialised in this field and with operations in the shortlisted countries, the working group decided to focus on Kenya.

Community fundraising

The fundraising for this initiative has been led by the PTA with the support of Rome International School's parents and staff. Through a variety of activities including bake sales and donations, money was raised to finalise procedures in collaboration with Intercultura, the principal contractor that assisted with the candidate selection process in Kenya, pre-placement tutoring, entrance visa and associated costs and well as selection of the host family in Italy. Fundraising efforts will continue for the 2017/18 academic year.

Project success!

Thanks to the generous support of Rome International School parents, students and teachers, the school community welcomed Melvin to Grade 12 (first year of IB) in September 2016. Melvin comes from Kibera in Nairobi, he has two brothers and two sisters. He previously studied at Upper Hill School in Nairobi where he excelled in English and Mathematics. He also enjoys Science and is a keen basketball player. Melvin would like to become a doctor so he can help transform healthcare in his home country.

The PTA and the School community are proud to support Melvin in his studies for the duration of the two-year IB Diploma Programme and he successfully completed the programme in May 2018.

Project continuation in 2018/19 and 2019/20The PTA decided to continue its support of the "Education for All" project by supporting Melvin in his first year of Medicine at the University of Nairobi. 

In 2019/20, the PTA renewed support of Melvin for his second year of Medicine at the University of Nairobi.

The RIS PTA looks forward to continuing its commitment to Melvin as he embarks on his third year of Medicine - see 2020/21 fundraising update above.

About the PTA's Fundraising Projects in 2021/22:

Terre des Hommes has been working in Ukraine since 2015 to support the most vulnerable children and immediately took action to guarantee assistance, hygiene kits, protection and psychological and psychosocial support for mothers and children.

Our school, like all members of Globeducate, promotes values of peace and friendship. The RIS PTA together with Globecuate schools in Italy, will support Terre Des Hommes Italia in raising funds to support children affected by the conflict in Ukraine. Fundraising will provide basic necessities, medical supplies and shelter for children in difficulty. 

Education for All - since the 2015/16 academic year, Rome International School's Parent-Teacher Association has been supporting the community project, ‘Sharing our vision: Education for all’.

Fundraising results

Following a series of successful bake sales culminating in a Summer Fair, a fundraising total of €10,000 was raised and will be donated evenly across the two charities.

View 2021/22 highlights

The PTA's fundraising efforts during the 2019/2020 academic year were interrupted owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Despite this, our amazing Parent-Teachers Association managed to raise a total of €3,172 from the two events held in October 2019 (Halloween bake sale, see photo below) and the marvellous Winter Fair, organised in December 2019.

This amount has been donated equally to the two charities (€1,586 each) as voted by the school community in October 2019,  "Education for All" (Kenya) and "Progetto Frammenti di Luce" Bambino Gesu Foundation (Italy).  

We would like to thank our community for contributing to the success of this event; from the teachers and students who participated with a stall, to the CAS students who volunteered their help, to the parents who brought in a dish for the food stalls or volunteered their time at the class stalls.  

During the 2018/19 academic year, the PTA voted to support the work of three charities: Adotta un Angelo, MVC Onlus and Amani - Education for all. These organisations are dedicated to improving the lives of children in Italy, Peru and Kenya.

The 2019 May Fair was one of the key events of the year and we are proud to share the highlights below.

#RISEcoChallenge

In collaboration with the Elementary School Eco Council, this 2019 challenge was to make the May Fair plastic free! Thanks to the efforts of the Eco Council and the PTA, the May Fair was a fun-tastic community gathering with a low environmental impact!

There was plenty of entertainment, fun and games for all ages as well as international food stands, sports competitions and used books and toys. A raffle with over 200 prizes was also organised - many thanks to our generous sponsors!

2019 highlights

The school and the PTA would like to extend a sincere thanks to all of the parents, students, staff and sponsors who helped make the May Fair 2019 such a success! A warm thank you to everyone who was involved in the day and who came to enjoy a day outdoors with their family and friends.

Thanks to the generous support of our entire school community, the PTA managed to raise a total of €8.375, which was added to the overall fundraising total of the year.

During the 2017/18 academic year, the PTA voted to support Amani, in particular the Anita Home Project, a shelter for street girls in Nairobi, Kenya.

In addition to Amani’s Anita Home, the PTA continued its support for the project: ‘Sharing our vision: Education for all’, launched during the 2015/16 academic year.

The aims of ‘Sharing our vision: Education for all’ are linked to issues of global significance. Aiding access to education is recognised by the UN through its Global Goals, in particular, Goal 4 to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong opportunities for all”.

RIS and Anita Home project aims

In order to build a tangible bond between our community and Anita Home, volunteers from Amani came to school to meet our students to explain the activities of Anita Home through their stories and videos. In addition, RIS students were invited to write letters to the young girls at Anita Home, thus forming friendships and additional educational opportunities.

Amani and Anita Home background

Amani is an Italian non-profit organisation that over the last 20 years, has been providing crucial support (housing, food, education, health) to hundreds of children and young people in Kenya and Zambia, that are forced to live and survive on the streets of these large cities, in rural areas and also conflict areas.

Established in 1999, Anita Home is located on the slopes of the Ngong hills, about 25 km from downtown Nairobi. It is a shelter for street girls in memory of Anita Pavesi, the honorary judge of the Milan Tribunal, who disappeared in 1998 after over twenty years of extraordinary social commitment.

Twenty-eight, 28 girls live in Anita Home together with two Kenyan families that look after the girls as if they were their own children. It is this model of a community-family which distinguishes this shelter and which guarantees the girls:

• Room and board
• Support of the girls’ families through routine visits
• Enrolment at school including payment of all relevant expenses
• Support of a psychologist and regular medical check-ups

Anita Home continues to cover the expenses of the older girls that attend high school; the staff also hold periodic meetings with the girls that have gone back to their families. The older children are also guaranteed enrolment at school including payment of all related expenses as well as periodic visits from Amani staff to track their progress outside of the center.

Anita Home has a staff of seven who help the girls grow up like a real family. The Anita Home project manager is also a mother herself and has chosen to live there with her family in order to support and guide the girls in their personal development and growth. The second ‘mother’ of Anita Home is a social worker who also lives with the girls. The house also has a full-time cook, educator, two security guards and a gardener who looks after the vegetable garden.

Additional resources

For more information about Amani, visit http://www.amaniforafrica.it/

To learn more about Anita Home visit: http://www.amaniforafrica.it/cosa-facciamo/casa-di-anita or watch: