Tigoi Primary School, Kenya

We have had a link with Tigoi Primary School in Western Province, Kenya, since the year 2000. Pupils and staff have been in regular contact throughout this time, with teachers visiting each other's schools to work with the pupils and to plan activities for the pupils to share. We have also had visits from secondary school pupils from Masana, Kenya.

We were part of a Three-year British Council-funded Global Curriculum Partnership programme linking local schools in the two countries, and have continued this work for several years since, without the invaluable funding we received initially. We studied an environmental theme of "Living Sustainable Lives" working with secondary and primary pupils and sharing expertise. This covered themes of waste, water, food and transport as well as human rights and peer tutoring. To find out more about the work, follow the link below.

Tigoi Primary School is a school of about 500 pupils in Vihiga District, some 7 miles North of Kisumu, and about three miles North of the Equator. The school is situated about 300 metres off the main road from Kisumu to Majengo.

The teachers from both schools have met to plan curriculum links and activities for the children that will enrich their lives.

They discussed teaching methods and the demands of the curriculum.
Since the introduction of free primary education, the classes in Tigoi school have become much larger, with more than 60 pupils in each class. Pupils stay in the primary school until they reach Standard 8, which is approximately when they are 14 years of age, but this depends upon when they started school.
Over the past few years, the classrooms in the school have been improved - with new roofs, windows, to make the classrooms secure, and the Government issued the schools with money for textbooks, which was a great improvement. Our school's fund-raising has helped in this improvement process.
As part of our sustainability project, each school in Kenya was provided with a cow. This has enabled them to teach agriculture practically, as well as providing them with a source of income, through selling excess milk and dung for fertiliser.

The Tigoi cow has produced two calves so far, one bull and one heifer.
Children of Tigoi Primary School One project involved the children rewriting traditional tales and exchanging them. Three teachers from Ashcott visited Tigoi as part of this project.

These are the Reception teachers at the school with their class and some of the many teaching resources they have made from seed bags.