The children's Art Project Christmas Cards have finally arrived in school and will be in book bags this evening.  Please see below a message from the company responsible:

A Statement from the CEO of Art Projects for Schools

As the CEO of Art Projects for Schools, I take full responsibility for the distress caused during this

year’s Christmas Card Project and recognise that I have let many children down. No amount of

apologising can compensate for that. However, all outstanding orders and schools will have been

delivered by the end of the week.

My staff, both permanent and temporary, have worked tirelessly going above and beyond in their

efforts to fulfil your orders. We are continuing to recruit as many staff as our infrastructure will

allow, in order to help us fulfil your orders and deal with your enquiries as quickly as possible.

The negligence of our software supplier caused the postponement of the online shop. We take full

responsibility for this, as it is our duty to choose which suppliers we work with and in this instance

we made a clear error of judgement. We then had to re-build a complete production system

including late orders, returns and invoicing. As a result of this, our communication with you has

suffered, something which we recognise is totally unacceptable. My regular attempts to keep you all updated were genuine forecasts made with the information at hand. As a business we firmly believe in the principal of transparency, so whilst the news I have delivered has often been bad news, it has always been honest and a truthful representation of the situation at the time.

At Art Projects for Schools, we recognise that your trust in us has wavered. However, we will work

tirelessly to regain your trust. All organisers will have received an email detailing our proposals for

refunding parents who have not received their goods, as well as plans to compensate schools for the general distress caused. After all, this is why we are here; to encourage children to be creative and express themselves through art, as well as raising vital funds for schools. We will not allow school fundraising to be compromised by the mistakes we have made!

We have a year to prove to you that, we have and will continue to learn from our mistakes. All

organisers will receive regular updates on our progress, as well as receiving the full report from our

independent auditing into this year’s project. We will also offer the opportunity to test any new

system we put in place, which is something we have taken on board from your comments.

Twenty years ago we started Art Projects for Schools. Since that time we have raised over £4

million for schools across the country and beyond. Many companies have followed our lead and as

a result, millions of children across the UK now have the opportunity to celebrate their creativity.

We will continue to provide that opportunity, building on the lessons we have learnt this year, with

more desire than ever to continue to promote the importance of creativity in education and raise

funds for our schools.