School-to-School Links
School Partnerships
We currently have 14 partnerships, so this means there are 28 schools across our two countries that are getting this experience.
These are
Sacred Heart RC Primary – REC Hastings Primary
Christchurch CE Primary Academy – Kankalay Islamic Primary
All Saints CE Junior Academy – Edest Nursery and Preparatory
Battle and Langton CE Primary– REC Jui Lower Primary
Claverham Community College – Huntingdon Junior Secondary , Kola Tree
Guestling Bradshaw CE Primary – Maynard Primary
Battle Abbey Senior School – Kelly’s Secondary and Vocational
St Leonards CE Primary Academy – Baptist Model Primary
St Mary Magdalen RC Primary – Beckley Preparatory
St Paul’s CE Primary Academy – REC Kossoh Town
Hollington Primary Academy – Jui Upper Infant and Primary
Ore Village Primary Academy – St Mulumba RC Primary
Sedlescombe CE Primary – Glory Primary
New Horizons – Christ Standard Primary
(REC stands for Regional Education Committee, much like our County Councils)
In both countries we continue to have regular school meetings during term times, where we discuss progress of projects, communication successes and problems, and what we plan for the future. We coordinate with Francis Mason in Sierra Leone, who leads the schools group there.
In both countries we have an International Pupil Council where pupils discuss projects and plan for future activities. Last year, we managed to coordinate an IPC meeting and connect through Zoom, where the pupils actually saw and talked to each other for the first time. Mandy Hinxman leads the IPC coordinating with her colleagues in Sierra Leone.
We have been working on the project ‘Protecting Our Future’ in both countries over the last year, with a focus on planting trees. The teachers groups and the IPC are currently deciding how we will take this forward into 2025, with individual school and group activities. One of these will be a beach clean in the spring. We are also always looking for ways to recycle as much as possible.
The most powerful way of developing our partnerships and understanding of our countries is through exchange visits. Yvonne Johnson and/or Yvette John have always accompanied our UK visits to SL, for which we are forever grateful. Francis Mason has often accompanied Sierra Leone teachers to UK. See School to School Links: Looking back at the 2023 visit in the Recent Updates section for more details.
I have so many teachers that have told me since that this was an experience of a life time for them.
Our plan now is to invite SL teachers to UK.
However, we do have a problem now. Until 2020 our exchange visits were always funded by British Council grants. Now they have stopped giving grants and the British Council offices in Sierra Leone have closed down. And the price of flights has escalated as I am sure you are aware. When we visited in 2023 HSLFL gave one teacher on each school £600, they fund raised money at their schools, and we got a small grant. This just about covered costs. However, we are really struggling to raise the funds to bring Sierra Leone teachers back. Again, HSLFL will donate £600 per teacher, and schools will do fundraising, but this will not cover the costs. We are applying to charities but so far without success. So currently we are still looking for a funding source that will allow us to continue these valuable exchange visits, and hopefully we can find one to plan for bringing the teachers to UK in June 2025.
Meanwhile, we continue to keep in close contact with our friends in SL and we all continue with our joint projects.
School Farms Project
Have you ever heard of a project where £9 turned into multiple school farms? The School Farms Project is just one of Hastings Sierra Leone Friendship Link projects that has brought success to our Hastings partnerships.
In 2020, teachers from UK visited Sierra Leone. They took a £200 donation from Battle Horticultural Society to buy seeds for schools. Twenty one schools were given £9 each. Over the next 4 years these small beginnings have grown into a School Farms Project, where 30 schools are now growing crops for school dinners, to give to the local community, to buy resources for the school and to buy seeds for next year. The pupils are learning practical agriculture and cooking that will give them skills for life after education. All led by a local Project Manager Jeitta Kanneh and Assistant Manager Suffian Kamara, working for free. Francis Mason, our Schools Coordinator in Sierra Leone also plays a key role, providing training facilities and communication links. These farms are now sustainable. This dedication has inspired our schools in UK to start their own allotments. Just one of the exciting projects that has brought our two Hastings closer together. And it all started with £9.
This unique and creative initiative supports many of the Sustainable Development Goals – Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-Being, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Responsible Consumption and Production, and Partnerships for the Goals.
The objectives of the project have developed over the 5 years of the project. However, these are the long term aims/objectives and outcomes for the School Farms.
- To become sustainable – 26 schools now have seed banks to use for the following year.
- To involve the local community – 10 schools now have close ties with the local community.
- To develop practical agriculture skills for students and staff – all 30 schools have now achieved this
- To provide the school and local community with crops for food – all 30 schools now provide food for school meals.
Here’s how it works and is being achieved.
HSLFL donated £1000 a year over the last 4 years. The School Farms Manager decides how that money is allocated in discussion with Assistant Manager and Schools Coordinator for our link in Sierra Leone. Schools are invited to a start of year workshop, where funds are allocated and objectives agreed. Schools then develop their farms through the year, and managers visit schools and write reports. These are fed back through regular Zoom meetings to the management team. Headteachers have regular meetings through the year and share their successes and problems. They also share skills, for example one teacher taught others how to grow rice, the staple food in Sierra Leone. In November there is a celebration of the harvest through a community held Exhibition.
Positive changes
30 schools are now maintaining farms and growing huge areas of crops. The group of schools has come together as a community, learning from each other as well as developing a support network. Those schools that are nearer to achieving the objectives help with ideas for other schools who are still working towards them. The managers give advice about creative ways to overcome difficulties, eg fencing by using waste materials, care of tools so that they last longer, and how to involve the local community.