Secondary School - the challenges

The school is relatively new and growing.  It will start to cater for all age groups for the first time in the autumn of 2013.

Examination results, however, are poor.  Hardly surprising, in the circumstances, described below, so we are working to help improve them.

A year ago there were few books for the older students, at the school.  The Book Fund we have established has now provided enough books for all senior students to have shared access to a key textbook in all subjects, in all lessons, in future. We are looking to extend this scheme to the school's younger pupils.

By European standards, teacher skills are low in Sohm.  We have taken steps to address this by supporting teachers on external courses and by facilitating a two-day training session for all the village's teachers, on lesson planning, in February 2013. We are looking to build on this start, in future years.

There are no laboratories in the school, so science teaching is limited. There are few opportunities for practicals and experiments. We are looking for donations of reasonable quality equipment necessary for secondary school science practicals, which we should be able to ship to Sohm, free of charge.  If you have access to such equipment, or know a school that may wish to donate surplus equipment, we'd be delighted to hear from you.

The school does not have mains electricity and only has a small number of, rather dated, computers. There is no internet access in the village. We are looking to address some of these gaps, and prevent Sohm falling behind in a rapidly developing world, by seeking donations of old laptops, with working batteries.

If you are upgrading your existing model, or switching to a tablet and find your current laptop is surplus to requirements - give us a call and we will come and pick it up and ensure it is safely sent to Sohm.  This will aid with your disposal and help young life chances in Africa!

Old PCs need replacing, your upgraded laptop would be a great help

• Schools Report - who goes
• Secondary School - challenges
• Lower Basic School - progress and opportunities

Schools Report - who goes

There are over 500 pupils at the Lower Basic school, including the nursery.  The buildings are more than 30 years old, and many of them are in need of repair and refurbishment.

The Secondary school has grown rapidly from its origins as a Skills Centre, aimed at older teenagers. There are currently over 400 students at the school and this number will rise to 500 in September 2013, as it hosts classes for each age group from 11 to 19, for the first time.

The buildings in this rapidly growing school are in a reasonable state of repair, but there are no laboratories and accommodation is so tight that the school has to run a double shift system of attendance, to be able to cater for all students.

Both schools are co-educational (gender split approximately 50:50) and multi faith (moslem 60%, christian 30%, other 10%). English is the official language in the schools, although the second language for most of their students (after local African languages, such as Wolof, Mandinka, Jola etc).

Boys, girls, Christian and Moslem, from different ethnic and language groups learning together

• Schools Report - who goes
• Secondary School - challenges
• Lower Basic School - progress and opportunities

Our Involvement - progress, to date

• We visited Sohm for the first time in 2011, and began assisting the schools the following year, by donating some books and stationery and teaching materials, to both schools. We found sponsors for a dozen local youngsters, to enable them to receive a decent education.
• We began serious fund raising in 2012, and through the generosity of family and friends raised about £5,000 for the schools.
• We arranged the twinning of Sohm Lower Basic school with Derwentwater primary school, in Acton
• In 2013, during an extended stay in The Gambia, we spent the money that we had raised in Sohm, in ways that you can read about elsewhere on this website.

Sohm Lower Basic school has twinned with Derwentwater Primary school, Acton.
Sandra with Lower Basic head, Gibril Bojang.

• The Jersey Start - early beginnings
• Our Involvement - progress, to date
• All Above Board - our legal status
• Local Ownership - all together

Supported Projects - recent achievements

The Gambian government provides almost free schooling for pupils from the ages of  5 - 11 - but the youngsters and their families still need help with staionery and items like school lunches and uniforms. From age 11, school fees are charged, and pupils have to pay for their own books, equipment etc.

Sohm is a small village, consisting mainly of poorly educated, subsistence, farmers and their families. But they are proud people and desperate to get their young people an education.  This is where we come in - trying to help.

Educational posters supplied for every classroom in the schools

So far, we have:

• arranged for the sponsorship of a dozen pupils, paying their education and some related social costs;
• established a Book Fund, so that all older students have access to key textbooks for all subjects studied;
• encouraged a school twinning project between the Lower Basic school, and Derwentwater Primary school in Acton, London;
• provided teacher training support in English, sports development and child protection for both schools;
• supplied a limited number of laptops, to help with ICT teaching and school administration;
• paid for a school trip for all 150 years 5 and 6 pupils, getting many of them out of the village for the first time in their lives, to visit their capital city, airport, zoo, ancient monuments and Atlantic coast;
• arranged a whole day visit by 50 volunteers from British charity, Football Gambia, to offer sports training for all the village's children, and donate 40 football kits and associated play equipment;
• donated enough educational posters for at least one to be displayed in every classroom;, in each of the schools
• created a Bike Fund, to provide money to repair the bikes of students riding many miles each day, on untarmaced roads, to and from school.

• Introduction - about us
• Supported Projects - recent achievements
• Sohm - where we're at

Who's Who - Partners

We work with a range of partner bodies and organisations in Africa and Europe, in helping to improve education matters in Sohm.

First and foremost is the Jersey Gambia Schools Trust, whose principals, Robin and Carol Mallet, were the inspiration in establishing the Senior Secondary School, a decade ago.

Partners, Football Gambia

We are also working with Football Gambia and Kit Aid to deliver an exciting football training projects in the village.

For the future, we hope to be working with Jole Rider to help acquire additional bikes, as school transport for the expanding school.

• Sohm
• UK
• Partners
• Contact us