Gambian Schools Trust

A Certificate for the charity from the first Graduation Ceremony At Njalal SambaI if you would like any more information about the work we do please contact us through this page or the website www.gambianschools.org

In 2021, thanks to a generous legacy from Carolyn Williams we were able to build a whole new school at Njalal Samba in the Central River Region. The original makeshift building was replaced with four classrooms, a kitchen, a library, teachers quarters, toilets and a perimeter wall. Extra classrooms were added in 2024 enabling the school to cater for nursery education and all six Lower Basic grades. This year they have held the first graduation ceremony To lots of excitement and great achievements. The staff and head teacher have worked tirelessly to improve the quality of education making this school one of the most successful in the area.

Lovely weather for the carboot this morning at Yeadon. A great mix of things to sell thanks to our lovely supporters. Find us this Saturday 25th July at Bradford Industrial Museum car boot sale and Sunday 26th at Ilkley Cricket Club. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us!?

Day 4 and back home after visiting Wassu stone circles.
One of the main tourist attractions in the Gambia. An exciting trip for all the pupils, most of whom have never been outside the village.

Day 3 of the trip. Visit to the National Assembly (Parliament) and the National Museum in Banjul. They have all taken exercise books to record their trip.

Day two of the trip. kachikally crocodile park. Abuko nature reserve, and the airport!! Busy day. Where their school is situated, aeroplanes do not fly over that part of the Gambia. This is the first time they will have seen an aeroplane, or a hyena although we have heard them in rural Gambia.

And they are off!! 48 pupils and 5 teachers on a tour around The Gambia. Most of the pupils have never been out of their village, Njalal Samba. They stopped at their first visit today at GRTS which is the National Television Company. Bear in mind that these villagers still live without electricity this was so exciting for them.
More visits tomorrow.

Fabulous donation from Christ Church CE VA Junior School, Sowerby Bridge. A huge number of dictionaries, reading books & maths text books will be given a new lease of life out in The Gambia later in the year. Thanks to Miss Embleton for arranging it all.

Special thanks must also go to the mega enthusiastic Year 6 pupils who helped load the van in double quick time.

Two more success stories. Fatim at Jamwelly who was one of the first pupils when we opened the school in 2012 is now training as a teacher and hopes to return to the school when she is qualified. Maimoona from Loumen who has qualified as a teacher and is now at University learning History and Human Resources.

We are often asked if the work we are doing has any effect. These are some of this years success stores. We are thrilled to see so many girls from the villages going on to further education and work instead if marrying in early teenage.