These are pictures of the REC school and Katu Town. The buildings are in a dilapidated state and shows how much more needs to be done 

The local schools in Olney are building up the links to schools in Newton. Olney Middle School is linked to a school in Katu Town Newton, and latest news from the head Kumba Nfalie is that they recently had a sports day which went well, and the year 6 students have recently taken their National Primary School exams.The school will be running "The Day of the African Child" on the 16th June and hopefully they will be sending photographs of this and other activities back to the UK very soon. During the recent visit by Claire Lintern ans Sally Odgers a scrapbook complied by the students of OMS was presented to the school, and the students of Katu school are working on their own version which will be returned to OMS in the near future. The school is working towards the completion of their new classroom, as currently they have to run classes outside. As it is now the rainy season the work cannot be finished soon enough. The school greeted the UK visitors with songs and dances, and they were made very welcome by all.

Olney Infants have been involved for a while, and have their annual Africa Week to help the children learn about the culture and lifestyle of people all over the continent. They have provided financial assistance for the construction of a new toilet block at the REC school in Newton. Here you can see the  toilet block being built and completed. 

A big "Thank you" to Olney Infants School!!

However, the REC school still are using buildings that have been condemned. The roof is rotten and looks ready to collapse, and 2 classes have to share the space. As always, there is more work to be done to help these schools continue to provide the quality of education that is required if the pace of change in Sierra Leone is to be maintained.

The Olney Campus of Ousedale is now also involved in ONL, and have done a range of events to raise awareness as well as funds. They have done fantastic work this term which has meant  that the Ahmadiyya secondary school in Newton can now have a generator. Once this has been received a computer will be suppiled to the school and it can then become a centre for the West Africa Examination Board, as well as improve communication between the 2 schools.

During the recent visit the teachers met with Claire and information was passed on which will hopefully support an application for a reciprocal visit grant for teachers of the link primary schools. The meeting was informative, friendly and should help improve the flow of communication between the staff of the schools. Fingers crossed the grant is successful, and visits can occur in both directions. It was clear throughout the time that Sally and Claire were in newton that education is a high priority in Newton, and the importance of the schools links cannot be emphasised enough. The children made them feel welcome and they wanted to show their pride in their surroundings and achievements. As Claire said "the link is a 2 way learning process, they are so proud of their schools even though to our eyes they seem dilapidated and basic. Yet they achieve so much it puts our schools and attitidues into a different perspective"

Keep an eye on this page- more news to follow!