Company Directors and Charity Trustees Alan Seager & Julie Seager and Martin have returned from their recent visit to The Gambia following which they are pleased to be able to report on significant progress as follows;

1. The school was opened on September 24 2012 and the prime objective was to ensure teaching standards and requirements were being met in accordance with criteria set out by the trustees and teachers before the school opened. Mrs Jallow (Head Teacher) reported that Forebel and Montessori methods of teaching continue to be applied, she was happy pupils and teachers alike are at ease with the system, and learning had progressed in line with the charities requirements. All pupils including both those transferred from the old school and those new intakes who started last September could now count and read and write to an acceptable standard.

2. When the current first year has finished on July 26 Mrs Jallow will prepare a full year end report for charity trustees to review during their next planned visit in July. The report would cover in more detail the progress to date and planned objectives for the following year to commence on September 23. It is anticipated that during the summer holiday, teachers will meet to discuss both their methods and practices to help improve teaching processes at the school. In particular, focus will be on how performance can be measured when reviewing individual pupil and teacher performance.

3. Bakering Ceesay our least qualified teacher continues his training out of school at the University of Gambia (UOG). It is hoped that by July he will be qualified to the same level as our other teacher Marie Sambou. Mrs Jallow would include details on Bakerings progress within her year end report. If Bakering qualifies in July it will mean the charity has achieved another objective in training a teacher to qualified status. This will mean that two teachers and the Head Teacher will be qualified to the standards set by the Gambian Ministry for Education.

4. Charity trustees expect to meet with representatives of the UOG during their end of term visit in July. In addition to reviewing the progress of Bakering, it will also be an opportunity to discuss training opportunities for Philomen Badjan who currently works at the school as a cleaner, and as a child welfare and teaching assistant. The charity’s aims become twofold ……. Developing children and teachers alike for public benefit and to allow children the opportunity of having free education they would otherwise not receive. This is therefore an advancement of education, to ultimately help the prevention and relief of poverty in future generations.

Future Plans

The location was chosen because the board of trustees found out most children in Sukuta are not attending school due to financial constraints. The school was built in Sukuta so children can have access to early childhood education at no cost. In the future as the charity’s funds grow, trustees will locate other deprived areas that would benefit from free education so that the same model can be introduced.

Project manager and co-trustee Alan Seager said “I am very proud of the significant progress achieved in such a very short time, we are pleased that all concerned are working well together for the good of the local community. We urge all our sponsors where possible to continue their generous support. Without their support this project would not have happened.”

FORTHCOMING FUNDRAISING EVENT

The annual BASIG golf event, the Charities prime source of funding, is nearly upon us and will take place in May on Friday 17^th. The Trustees can report all team places now full with 32 teams (128 players) participating during the day and a further 30 supporters attending evening presentation and dinner. It is hoped the event will secure enough funds to put the school on a safe financial footing and cover running costs for at least the next two years. Report and progress will follow on this news page soon after the event.

For more information please visit the Build A School in Gambia website.

Charity Costs

100% of all BASIG donations go to towards the building and running costs of the school, no profit generated or donated is spent on charity administration or travel costs. We are very grateful to all of our generous sponsors who have helped the project evolve thus far.