Sixteen English grammar school teachers have posed nude for a calendar to raise money for a school in South Africa.
Dr Peter Holding, the principal of the Sir William Borlase grammar school at Marlow in Buckinghamshire said on Thursday: ”The calendar was the brainchild of the school’s headgirl, 17-year-old Charlotte Longstaff, and the pupils have formed a company to handle sales.
”We have a four-year commitment to link up with the Siyele Junior Secondary School in Soshanguve, near Pretoria and we hope to raise £10 000 (about R125 000) for them from the sale of the calendar,” Holding said.
Asked if the teachers were hesitant to strip, he said: ”Not at all.”
”They were very enthusiastic, in fact we needed only 12 pictures but ended up with 16.”
The calendar, which went on sale on June 26, costs £8 (about R100) including postage and features, among others, Melanie Macfarlane the music teacher playing cello in the nude, the maths teacher, Andrew Howland, protecting his modesty with a crash helmet and John Stebbings, who if he wasn’t a biology teacher, would be a marvellous male model.
”I suppose you could describe John as a ‘hunk’, ”but he is an excellent biology teacher and the pupils have a new respect for the teachers who were brave enough to bare all,” said Jenny Stacey the secretary at the co-ed school.
Jane Blane, a geography teacher who was born in South Africa, said: ”Our children are here from 11 to 19 and when they are 13, they learn about a culture other than their own as part of the syllabus, so our links with South Africa will cater for that.” – Sapa