Mary Berry, eat your heart out! Staff are doing their bit for the fundraising effort for Gambia by... eating cake!
It's a hard life, but on Thursday 10 April, staff are going to be sampling some Easter delights. Staff are being invited to don their aprons to bake for a fundraising Easter Bake-off & Raffle, all in aid of a school in The Gambia. Staff will be in competition to bake the best and most creative cakes with an Easter theme that they can.
We are hoping that some of the students going on this trip to The Gambia will take on the roles of Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood to judge which bake is best and all the cakes will be sold off to staff to raise money for the Jemus Jungkung Jammeh Memorial Nursery School in Abuko. Remember, we are raising money to buy resources for this very impoverished school, to build an additional two classrooms and to help pay the wages of the teachers.
This Easter Bake-off and Raffle will take place on 10 April, which is a staff development day (so no lessons). We'll let you know how this event goes and post some photos of yummy cakes on here too. Hopefully it will raise lots of money to get our fundraising effort off to a great start.
Staff are also organising a Quiz Night in June and students have lots of exciting ideas for fundraising over the coming months too. We'll keep you updated with that news over the coming weeks and months.
Monday, 31 March 2014
Thursday, 27 March 2014
Meet the Team
So, who is going to Gambia in November 2014?
Four staff are part of Team Gambia 2014. They are:
Janice Hamilton - Vice Principal, The Sixth Form College Solihull
Mike Padbury - Assistant Principal, The Sixth Form College Solihull
Bev Bishop - Marketing Co-ordinator, The Sixth Form College Solihull
Peter Evans - Hamstead Hall School
All four staff have extensive travelling experience. Peter Evans (pictured below) set this project up and is largely responsible for building the Jemus Jungkung Jammeh Memorial School in the first place. He has been back and forth to the school countless times, so not only does he know the school and the people out there, but he knows the Gambian culture too. His experience is invaluable when it comes to negotiating the best price when we are exchanging money for the local currency, and when negotiating a deal for transport.
Janice and Mike were part of Team Gambia 2013, so they have experience of this trip. Bev does not, but is an experienced traveller, including in third world countries, and is a qualified first aider.
What about the students? There are 24 students going on this trip and they are:
Alexandra Atkins
Christopher Bate
Emma Boden
Georgia Bodfish
Maggie Brina
Lucy Buckle
Divyani Chauhan
Neha Chauhan
Noah Coughlin
Lauren Davis
Samantha Evans
Amy Garner
Rory Hayes
Maddie Hill
Olivia Howse
Rea Huggins
Mia King
Samantha Lee
Harry Lewis
Hannah Patmore
Hope Rowe-Hartman
Alex Simpkins
Olissha Tagon
Nicholas Wall
Together we are Team Gambia 2014 and we can't wait for our trip to The Gambia!
Four staff are part of Team Gambia 2014. They are:
Janice Hamilton - Vice Principal, The Sixth Form College Solihull
Mike Padbury - Assistant Principal, The Sixth Form College Solihull
Bev Bishop - Marketing Co-ordinator, The Sixth Form College Solihull
Peter Evans - Hamstead Hall School
All four staff have extensive travelling experience. Peter Evans (pictured below) set this project up and is largely responsible for building the Jemus Jungkung Jammeh Memorial School in the first place. He has been back and forth to the school countless times, so not only does he know the school and the people out there, but he knows the Gambian culture too. His experience is invaluable when it comes to negotiating the best price when we are exchanging money for the local currency, and when negotiating a deal for transport.
Janice and Mike were part of Team Gambia 2013, so they have experience of this trip. Bev does not, but is an experienced traveller, including in third world countries, and is a qualified first aider.
What about the students? There are 24 students going on this trip and they are:
Alexandra Atkins
Christopher Bate
Emma Boden
Georgia Bodfish
Maggie Brina
Lucy Buckle
Divyani Chauhan
Neha Chauhan
Noah Coughlin
Lauren Davis
Samantha Evans
Amy Garner
Rory Hayes
Maddie Hill
Olivia Howse
Rea Huggins
Mia King
Samantha Lee
Harry Lewis
Hannah Patmore
Hope Rowe-Hartman
Alex Simpkins
Olissha Tagon
Nicholas Wall
Together we are Team Gambia 2014 and we can't wait for our trip to The Gambia!
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Memories of the 2013 Gambia Trip
December 2013 was the first time that students from The Sixth Form College, Solihull journeyed to the Jemus Jungkung Jammeh Memorial Nursery School in The Gambia. We joined staff and students from Hamstead Hall Academy for this first trip.
Peter Evans at Hamstead Hall School started the project about seven years ago and he's been taking students from his school out to The Gambia for years. It was great to do the trip with his experience on this inaugural visit. Now we know more about the school and the country, we feel confident enough to go independently and support the excellent work that Hamstead Hall School are doing on this project.
As we look ahead to the 2014 trip in November, it's worth looking back at this first trip in December 2013. Ten students from the College made the trip and it was a life-enhacning experience. They volunteered at the school, spending every morning there for a week, teaching the children, playing games with them and helping to repaint and decorate the classrooms. Many of the activities that the students undertook with the children were very active and visual, such as singing, colouring, word and picture matching and outdoor games such as football.
Check out some of the photos of the great work they did!
The students who went on the trip loved it - here's what some of them said about it:
Student Alec Edwards: “Teaching the children was the most incredible experience; despite the background of poverty, it was inspiring to see the ability, optimism, cheeriness and eagerness to learn they show. I’ve developed an understanding of how a developing culture operates and has different standards, as well as a greater appreciation of the advantages I receive from my own culture.”
Student Katie Mitchell: “The most memorable aspect of the trip was visiting the school. The children’s smiles brighten your day; I will never forget it. It has made me appreciate the little things in life more. And to know I’ve affected lives in an uplifting way.”
Here are some more photos of the trip.
Look out for more news about this exciting project with further posts coming soon!
You can see even more photos of this trip on our Facebook page - Album 1 & Album 2.
Peter Evans at Hamstead Hall School started the project about seven years ago and he's been taking students from his school out to The Gambia for years. It was great to do the trip with his experience on this inaugural visit. Now we know more about the school and the country, we feel confident enough to go independently and support the excellent work that Hamstead Hall School are doing on this project.
As we look ahead to the 2014 trip in November, it's worth looking back at this first trip in December 2013. Ten students from the College made the trip and it was a life-enhacning experience. They volunteered at the school, spending every morning there for a week, teaching the children, playing games with them and helping to repaint and decorate the classrooms. Many of the activities that the students undertook with the children were very active and visual, such as singing, colouring, word and picture matching and outdoor games such as football.
Check out some of the photos of the great work they did!
The students who went on the trip loved it - here's what some of them said about it:
Student Alec Edwards: “Teaching the children was the most incredible experience; despite the background of poverty, it was inspiring to see the ability, optimism, cheeriness and eagerness to learn they show. I’ve developed an understanding of how a developing culture operates and has different standards, as well as a greater appreciation of the advantages I receive from my own culture.”
Student Katie Mitchell: “The most memorable aspect of the trip was visiting the school. The children’s smiles brighten your day; I will never forget it. It has made me appreciate the little things in life more. And to know I’ve affected lives in an uplifting way.”
Here are some more photos of the trip.
Look out for more news about this exciting project with further posts coming soon!
You can see even more photos of this trip on our Facebook page - Album 1 & Album 2.
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Hello Team Gambia 2014!
It's official! Team Gambia 2014 is on!
A group of 24 students and staff will be travelling to the Jemus Jungkung Jammeh Memorial Nursery School in Abuko on Tuesday 18 November 2014 to volunteer at the school for a week. This follows an inaugural trip there in December 2013 (photos of that trip to follow in a future post!).
It may be March now, but just because the trip is eight months away, don't think that we're not already busy; we've got lots of fundraising to do! Students have each been set a target to raise £400 each and staff are doing their bit too.
Why is the fundraising important? This is a very impoverished school, set up thanks to the hard work and dedication of Peter Evans at Hamstead Hall School, who started the project about seven years ago. He's been taking students from his school out to The Gambia for years and 2013 was the first year that the College joined in. We want to help this project for years to come. Our aim is to raise enough money to build an additional two classrooms and to help pay the wages of the teachers at this school. Did you know that it costs just £375 to pay a teacher there for a year!?!
This blog will chart the progress of Team Gambia 2014 and hopefully for many years to come! Come back soon to see photos from the 2013 trip, meet the staff & students heading out to The Gambia in 2014, and to find out about the fundraising events we are putting on.
A group of 24 students and staff will be travelling to the Jemus Jungkung Jammeh Memorial Nursery School in Abuko on Tuesday 18 November 2014 to volunteer at the school for a week. This follows an inaugural trip there in December 2013 (photos of that trip to follow in a future post!).
It may be March now, but just because the trip is eight months away, don't think that we're not already busy; we've got lots of fundraising to do! Students have each been set a target to raise £400 each and staff are doing their bit too.
Why is the fundraising important? This is a very impoverished school, set up thanks to the hard work and dedication of Peter Evans at Hamstead Hall School, who started the project about seven years ago. He's been taking students from his school out to The Gambia for years and 2013 was the first year that the College joined in. We want to help this project for years to come. Our aim is to raise enough money to build an additional two classrooms and to help pay the wages of the teachers at this school. Did you know that it costs just £375 to pay a teacher there for a year!?!
This blog will chart the progress of Team Gambia 2014 and hopefully for many years to come! Come back soon to see photos from the 2013 trip, meet the staff & students heading out to The Gambia in 2014, and to find out about the fundraising events we are putting on.
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