In February 2009, Miss Stanley and Mr Brougham travelled to Senegal in West Africa to visit our link school. The school is called École Elementaire de Donaye 1 and is situated in a small town called Podor in the north of the country. Podor is famous around the world for its music and culture as it is the home of one of Africa’s most famous musicians, Baaba Maal. The school has 600 students aged between 6 and 14 years old who were all very excited about our visit!

Senegal is a poor country and 54 per cent of the population live on less than 70p per day. According to the United Nations, the average life expectancy is just 48 years and the average person in Senegal earns just £50 per month.

It is compulsory in Senegal for all children to go to primary school for a total of six years. Education is free but parents have to buy any books and equipment that is needed. Many parents cannot afford to do this and prefer to send their children out to work and earn money instead. This means that only 50 per cent of children actually complete their six years of primary education, and less than half of the population (40 per cent) can read and write.

Secondary education is not compulsory in Senegal and only 23 per cent of girls and 30 per cent of boys attend secondary school. Parents often prefer to educate boys rather than girls in Senegal as it is expected that girls will stay at home and look after their family.

Miss Stanley and Mr Brougham flew to Dakar, the capital city of Senegal, before starting the hot and dusty 12 hour drive to Podor. When they arrived at the school, they were greeted by Moustapha Maal, the Head Teacher, and a huge crowd of people: students, teachers, parents and other local people. The school had organised a fantastic welcome party and they were greeted by everyone with smiles, waves and handshakes!

The mayor of the town made a speech to welcome them as the first official visitors to the school from abroad. There were lots of other welcome speeches and then Miss Stanley and Mr Brougham were invited to make a speech (in French) and present the gifts they had taken for the school. The party then began with a live band and African drummers, people dancing to celebrate their arrival, women in traditional costume, demonstrations of local arts and crafts, music and drama performed by the students, and some food and drink. What a great start!

The next few days were spent enjoying time in class with the students and teachers at the school. The classes are much bigger than in England, with approximately 50 students each. Most of the students use small blackboards with chalk to complete their work as they cannot afford pens and paper.

They study French reading and writing, history, geography, religious studies, PE, singing and drama. The classrooms are very basic. Most have desks, although some don’t and students have to sit and do their work on the floor, leaning on old water containers. Some of the classrooms have straw roofs which are not waterproof so that when it rains the students cannot have their lessons. There is no electricity or running water at the school.

The school day starts at 8am and finishes at 1pm, when students go home for lunch. The government in Senegal stopped afternoon classes as the temperature often reaches 40 degrees and it is too hot for students to learn. There is a 30 minute break in the morning when students enjoy running around and playing football outside on the large sand pitch. Their behaviour is very good, but if they do not behave well they have their parents called to the school, which is very shameful in Senegal. It is not illegal in Senegalese schools to beat children, and some students who misbehave are beaten with sticks.

Miss Stanley and Mr Brougham enjoyed teaching some lessons with different classes. They taught the students how to play rounders and to speak a little bit of English. They also did some drama, music and dance work with different groups of students.

Before leaving Podor, Miss Stanley and Mr Brougham had several meetings with the teachers at École Elementaire de Donaye 1 to decide some joint projects for students in both schools to take part in during the next year. St Mary Magdalene students will be finding out about some of these projects in lessons shortly and we look forward to welcoming the teachers from Senegal to the Academy in May 2009.