Life Education Centres West Sussex

About Us

In the UK, LEC sees over 800,000 children a year, through the use of 82 mobile classrooms, partly supported by charitable donations and Local Education & Health Authorities.

Established by the Australian Rev. Ted Noffs in the late 1970s, LEC was introduced to the UK in 1986 by Jill Pearman following a suggestion by HRH the Prince of Wales.

Life Education in West Sussex was set up in 1997 through the support of the Rotary Clubs of Arundel, Bognor, Hotham, Chichester Harbour, Chichester Priory, Littlehampton and Midhurst & Petworth.

After a four week pilot scheme in June 1999 in which thirteen schools and nearly 2000 pupils took part, the LEC West Sussex was officially launched with an extremely positive response from professional visitors, teachers and children.

Project Funding

LEC West Sussex owes its thanks to many corporate and trust donations from the West Sussex region and the local Rotary Clubs who have all helped raise funds to cover the on-going costs of this programme. Each mobile classroom with its on-board equipment costs around £55,000 and running costs for the first eighteen months amounted to around £100,000.

In 1999, the Countess of Arundel consented to become the Patron, and the Initiative became a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity in its own right in 2000.

Up and Running...

Philip May was appointed the Educator in 2000 and commenced training in January 2001. The first mobile classroom was delivered in March 2001 and began service at the commencement of the Summer Term.

The programme has since been expanded and includes Chichester & Arun and the Weald & Horsham districts.

A special thanks to the following supporters of our programme:

The LEC West Sussex Patron - the Duchess of Norfolk.
The LEC West Sussex Vice Patrons - the Countess of March, the Viscountess Cowdray, Lord Egremont, Derek Bell MBE, John Beynon, David Bowerman, Dr. Melissa Bracewell, Sarah Cavanagh, Christopher Doman, Graham Ferguson (High Sheriff of West Sussex 2001/2), Tim Loughton MP, Nick Gibb MP, Guy Harwood, Dr. Brian Marien, Councillor M Shone (Mayor of Chichester 2001/2), Jane Thorpe, Andrew Tyrie MP, Dr. Ann Wallace, & Mark Wrey.

A special thanks to the following sponsors of our programme:

Milestones Garage, Felpham, Bognor Regis, for support and servicing of our towing vehicle.
Accuracy Business Supplies, for loan of office equipment.
The Page Group.
Nature's Way Foods, supporting Sidlesham School.
Harwood's, Pulborough for short-term loan of vehicles and supporting Pulborough School.
Kerry Type, Midhurst, for fantastic support with any printing required.
Southern Paper - supplying our printing paper needs.