Mount St Mary’s College has strengthened links with its partner school in Africa during a special 10-day trip.
The Mount’s Director of Chaplaincy, Father Simon Ellis, and Miss Szalai, Teacher of English and Religious Education, travelled to the Jesuit Canisius High School,
During the trip, they met many of the school’s 700 pupils and taught RE, Physics and Maths.
Fr Simon said: “The trip was fantastic. It made me feel positive about what we’re doing here at Mount St Mary’s, but I also learnt a lot about the culture in Zambia and the way they do things.
“There were some highly-motivated children there and I was very impressed by the initiative they took in setting up their own voluntary extracurricular activities. There was a debating group, a chaplaincy group and lots of different voluntary sports.”
Following the trip, Mount pupils have been inspired to start a study on rainfall in Zambia as part of their geography lessons.
A pen-pal scheme between the two schools is also underway after Mount St Mary’s and Canisius pupils exchanged letters, delivered each way by Fr Simon.
He said: “It was amazing to see the looks on the pupils’ faces in Zambia when we gave them the letters. They were so excited, as were our own pupils when they received replies. “
Following the success of the visit, teachers from Canisius High are planning a trip to Mount St Mary’s in June. As links between the schools strengthen and evolve, Fr Simon hopes another trip to Africa will be possible in the near future.
He said: “We would love to take some more staff and hopefully some pupils over to Canisius next year. It would be a wonderful thing for our pupils to see first-hand how another Jesuit school on the other side of the world works.
“I think the pupils from both schools can really learn a lot from each other and I hope this bond continues to develop in the future.”