Gambia Link

Castlemorton CE Primary has been linked with a partner school in the Gambia since 2003. Sustaining and continuing the partnership is important to us and the whole community work hard to make this possible.

We have now embedded Gambian life and culture into our curriculum, with all classes using it as a stimuli for learning and teaching. We focus on similarities and feel priviledged that the children have a real and active global dimension to their curriculum.

We have established a link group of interested community members, parents, staff, govenors and another neighbouring school. As the partnership has developed it has become clear that sharing best practice and keeping extremely clear about how the global link develops is a high priority. Therefore the link group have devised an action plan and continually reviews the developments of the partnership.

Headteacher visits have taken place each year providing valuable insights for the children.

Resources have been purchased and many photographs have been shared.

Boraba Lower Basic School is on the south bank close to the main town of Janjanbureh on Macarthy Island. It is in an extremely rural setting and serves nine villages. The children walk a good distance to school for their lessons and are provided with a mid day meal.

This year Mrs Adsett will be visiting Boraba during February half term with Mrs Sharp from Callow End Primary, Mrs Smith and Mrs Worthington. We have received a grant for the Seeds for Africa Campaign to build a fence around the garden. We will be handing over a cheque for £400 to the community and are looking forward to seeing the garden develop and grow.

Mrs Adsett and Mrs Sharp have also received a teaching and learning grant from the British Council for travel expenses. The project entitled ‘Capturing the Colours of our Environment’ will focus on weaving. Children at Castlemorton, Callow End and Boraba will contribute and will share their ideas and finished pieces with each other. Sporting activities will also be a focus of our visit. We will be teaching them Quik Cricket and hope to bring back some ideas with us.

Fund raising efforts over the years have been overwhelming. Parents continue to find extra funds to support our continued partnership. This year we will be continuing our support by providing materials for every child. Sira and Tida are the nursery teachers and they are in the middle of their part time training course at The Gambia College funded by the Boraba Fund. Uniform and other resources have also been provided and are always very much appreciated by everyone involved with Boraba.