Teachers help Gambia school scheme

Year 5 teacher Katy, who will travel with the group on February 2, said: “I think it’s a wonderful project and I’m very excited about going. “It’s great to be in the position to go to Africa and share our knowledge for such a good cause. It’s very much about finding the best ways we can help the school.” Sharonjit Chahal, Charlton Manor’s international organiser, said: “They will help with teacher training, jolly-phonics – a fun way to teach literacy – and come up with an action plan to build the school from scratch over the next five or six years. “At the moment they are renting a small building for the 28 children who are each sponsored for £100 a year by people from all over the world, including the UK, America and Australia. That number is expected to increase to 40-plus over the next few years. “Charlton Manor pupils are in touch with the children through Skype and we hope to be able to provide them with a laptop soon to make the communications easier in future.” A trainee in The Gambia has completed the first year of a three-year course to become the children’s teacher. She is being sponsored by Charlton Manor through a series of parent-led fundraising events such as bake and book sales. Headteacher Tim Baker said: “The trip to The Gambia for our staff gives them the opportunity not only to see the nursery we support but also the teacher we sponsor. It also allows them to see and take part in the learning for the pupils and understand the differences and similarities of each school. It will be a valuable experience for the staff which they will share with Charlton Manor.” Diane added: “Our goal is to discover what we need to do to help them be able to finally build their own modern well-resourced nursery school and develop a strategy to make this happen.”