Northiam special college forms partnership with African school

Frewen College is now partnered with Chitiwiri School in Malawi and joins more than 50 British schools that work with charity Starfish Malawi.

The school was chosen due to its existing links with Northiam and it is hoped the partnership will help the children with specific learning difficulties learn about different cultures and countries.

Northiam resident Sally Bickersteth has been heavily involved with the African school and charity, visiting Chitiwiri eight times and on a recent trip she delivered sunglasses Frewen staff, pupils and parents had donated.

Head teacher of the prep school at Frewen Sally Welch said: “We had a fantastic response back from the introductory pack that was personally sent to Chitiwiri School introducing our pupils and their lives at Frewen.

“In reply, we received over 100 letters back from the students in Malawi and each one contained eagerly awaited answers to the pupils’ questions about what life is like in Africa and the interests and aspirations of the students.”

Starfish Malawi works with a number of schools in Malawi, which is among the poorest countries in the world, and Frewen wanted to get involved.

Sally has done lots of fund-raising in support of the school in the past and her work helped to foster the link and the sunglasses were a big hit.

Frewen pupils were delighted to receive photos of the Chitiwiri teachers wearing the glasses and to get feedback that they are making a difference.

The letters were also greatly appreciated as one Frewen student Taylor said: “I love the fact they play football just like we do.”

Frewen College will be holding an Africa Link School Week from Monday, June 13.

Pupils will be responding to all the letters, sampling a typical meal from Malawi and enjoying activities to encourage them to identify both the similarities and differences of life in the UK and Malawi.  

This is expected to be the beginning of a relationship that will last for many years, and perhaps for the duration of many of our pupils’ time at Frewen.

For more information about the college, the next open morning is Saturday, June 11, or visit www.frewencollege.co.uk.

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