Project Gambia

Every year, our Sixth Form head to The Gambia, supporting our sister school, the Daryl Arkam School & Greater Together Football Academy, Brikama.

Aims

Project Gambia aims to support the provision of education at the Daryl Arkam School and to benefit the community of Brikama through fundraising and resource provision. It also benefits students from The Grange School by enhancing their understanding of the development of other cultures and fostering appreciation for situations that are very different from their own.

Background

The project was originally established in 1998 by Paul and Vanessa Buckley, who were staff at The Grange. The project began when they visited the Kunta Kinteh School, a school without a base where teachers voluntarily taught to ensure that the poorest families received an education. Working alongside Alagi Bojang, the partnership has developed from there.

Resources

Staff and student time are an essential component of Project Gambia, with three members of staff working alongside approximately 20 Sixth Form students each year to raise funds and resources for the project.

Critically though, the success of Project Gambia is the generosity of our whole wider school community. It is one of our nominated school charities, supporting the fundraising efforts of the team. Inspired by the team, the whole school community are encouraged to contribute items for Daryl Arkam School or the community based projects.

Impact

Grange School staff work alongside Alagi Bojang to ensure that the project evolves over time to benefit the Brikama community:

·         The Daryl Arkam School has found a permanent site and with the committed help of our recent students, they have completed the build of two classroom blocks and an additional classroom. The current focus is building a new school block for older students to continue with their vocational education (up to the age of 15).

·         The Greater Together Football Academy (who refuse to let players play unless they have full attendance at school that week) have won local tournaments in 2018-19. Project Gambia support the academy through the provision of sporting supplies.

·         Local clinics benefit from the provision of medical supplies.

Recently the project started a sponsorship scheme. The Grange community supports approximately 15 students through their schooling.

Pupil Involvement

Sixth form students are eligible to play a leadership role in Project Gambia and travel as part of the project but all our pupils know about it and are actively involved in the fundraising.

Frequency

This is an ongoing activity and will continue for the foreseeable future.