Science Equipment for Children - Kayak Challenge

Hi, my name is Kayak Paul. Like you I have always found there is one frustrating problem that one way or another, always seems to affect all our daily lives. Yes, you’ve guessed it, funding or more precisely, lack of funding!

Forgive me then for thinking that one area on the planet where funding should never be an issue, would be a child’s education. After all, children are our future and they deserve all the support we can give them! Yes, of course the school receives government funding, however like so many state education schools, the funding received is minimal and only just sufficient to keep ‘heads above water’.

School science equipment and resources are used extensively every day of every school term and enjoyed by hundreds of children. Understandably over time, science equipment and resources, which are already limited to having to be shared between groups of students, wears out, or worse, important scientific equipment stops working altogether. Unfortunately, when this happens there is often little or no additional funding available to replace or repair vital equipment and resources and without these, it is ultimately the children and their education that suffer.

School trips are also essential to enriching students learning, however such trips have become less frequent and almost prohibitive due to rising costs. A typical day trip for a class of 30 students can cost around £2400. This is what some science teachers have said;

“A science trip for Year 7 and Year 8 students would be great”.

“A science trip for Year 9 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) club students and 6th form science students would mean they gain experiences they would not normally get and visit places they may not have been to before”.

Unfortunately, without the necessary additional funding, these activities sadly cannot take place.

To help raise this much needed additional funding for our Science Faculty, I am planning to do an accompanied sea kayaking challenge off the Dorset coast during 2024. I shall be kayaking from Studland to The Needles, Isle of Wight and then on the same day, kayaking all the way back to Studland. This normally one way challenge, is known locally as ‘Chalk-To-Chalk’. I shall be doing the ‘Double’ and kayaking both ways! The distance to be covered is 53Km and will take me around 12 hours depending on tidal currents, wind strength and direction and overall sea conditions on the day!

So why am I committing myself to a risky open sea crossing, over 8 Km offshore and nowhere to stop to get out?

Insufficient government funding severely impacts on the ability of the school to provide much needed essential equipment, resources and funds. I am therefore vehemently determined to ensure that the science teachers always have the best and most up to date equipment and resources and essential funds to take their students on school science trips.

Please donate and help me achieve my fundraising target of £10000.

Thank you.