Chatteris Funding

Initial Funding (1990-2003)

When Mrs. Margaret Kwee and Mrs. Evelyn Fergusson, now trustees of Chatteris, set up the Foundation in 1990 funding came through their personal finance or general fundraising with friends and the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Government Funding (1995-2003)

From 1995-2003, Chatteris received funding from the Hong Kong Government Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) and the Hong Kong Government Quality Education Fund.

Schools that joined the Chatteris English Development Programme with the full-time placement of an English Language Teaching Assistant (ELTA) were only required to pay a small fee as the majority was covered by the Government.

During this time, Chatteris had to allocate and spend the funding according to a confirmed funding proposal under the supervision of the Government.

Transition from Direct Government Funding (2003-2007)     

In 2003, for the long term development and the sustainability of the programme, Chatteris upgraded from recruiting English Language Teaching Assistants (ELTAs, school leavers aged between 18 and 19) to Chatteris Native-speaking English Tutors (CNETs, university graduates). All of the schools that join the Chatteris English Development Programme have to pay the full amount for the comprehensive services provided which include:

1. the full-time placement of one or more CNETs
2. the recruitment, training and support though out the year to the CNETs
3. staff and curriculum development
4. consultancy on the English development of the school

 

Community Enterprise 2007- Present

From September 2007, Chatteris balanced the budget and successfully moved from being a government funded project to a “Community Enterprise”.

Most of the Chatteris programme schools’ funding now comes directly from the Government. A small number of schools are funded by parents or other sponsoring bodies. This shift in funding has allowed Chatteris to become more accountable to individual schools and better able to cater for the needs of the students and individual school development.

In 2011, approximately 50% of funding came from the Vocational Training Council (VTC), 35% of funding from the primary schools and the remaining 15% from the secondary schools.