Paying Attention to Every Child’s Needs

We build upon what we have done in previous years, without letting go of previous achievements. In past years, we have spent money on creating an environment to learn in and the teachers who have the skills and resources to teach and inspire, to help students to excel in exam results. As jobs are scarce, qualifications really matter. In the last few months, we have added more focus on the less able, the vulnerable and the poorest of our children. We started with a new at-risk register to identify who needs more support.

Arya joined Nursery in November. We had donations to buy her an electric wheelchair, which gives her independence to move around whilst at school. Eifion Trust – The earth is one country and humankind its citizens. will build us extra girls’ toilets with one suitable for her. Her path from home to school is a huge challenge: a family member carries her on their back, and at home she has no aids. We are exploring how we can be of most help in her life. Please give us advice and Donate | Q • Learning Nepal Trust CIO

Dental Camp – Volunteer Dentists from Kathmandu

7 dentists from Kathmandu gave advice, checked, filled, and extracted teeth at our schools – for 262 children, 24 teachers and many parents and grandparents. As you can see, they worked with little equipment, using mobile ‘phones for torches. Every child will be given a toothbrush and encouraged to brush their teeth after tiffin/lunch. This is part of our healthy eating strategy, which sees us growing food, providing a canteen and banning junk food.

Healthy Food, Clean Clothes and Showers

We have plans to turn some land at the Montessori School into a garden to grow vegetables etc so that some children can be fed at tiffin (lunch). Menus will include Khichadi (carbohydrates, protein, fibre and potassium made with rice, lentils, vegetables, ghee and spices), Poha Pulau (which is a probiotic made with rice, herbs, lemon juice, peanuts and vegetables), Kwati soup (a mixture of various types of bean sprouts, rich in protein and fibre) as well as some loved by children such as Halawa (milk pudding) and Kheer (a combination of carbohydrates, proteins and fats). 30 children will be the first to benefit, as we have limited money for this, and it will mostly be for those struggling with long walks of over 2 hours each way to school. For those who arrive dirty, we are installing a washing machine for clothes, and they will have access to spare uniforms and the newly built shower.

Game-changing Resources which Help us Give a 21st Century Education

Home – Turing Trust has a vision of ‘a world with technology-enabled education for all’. Having received 30 reconditioned laptops from them (as well as 4 from mentors and supporters) the challenge is to get them all to our students. If you know anyone who is visiting Nepal, please ask them to help. We send to where you are and collect from anywhere in Kathmandu. Contact Lesley.warburton@qlearningnepal.com With Scratch and Python installed, we would love volunteers who can teach programming.

Boxhill North Primary School in Australia Sent Money for a Library

We have 140 children at our Early Years’ Montessori School for children aged c4-c9 in 5 classes. With the new building, came a joint library and computer room. Imagine our delight to receive £1,000 to buy 500 books, from a primary school so far away – Boxhill North Primary School raised the money over some years in a project initiated by Best Online Learning Platform For Students & Teachers | Upschool We bought entire reading schemes in English and story books. We cleared out the bookstore of children’s books in Nepali too. They arrived from Kathmandu by a 24-hour bus journey and a tuk-tuk.

Soniya Wanted to See What the World Looked Like

In a letter to her mentors, Soniya mentioned going to the library to look at geography books. But our libraries, in either the Montessori or the senior Yellow School, do not have non-fiction books. So Andy at Home | Heartwood Publishing sent us maps and guidebooks to countries and cities around the world. And Sarah at Philip’s | The home of non-fiction publishing sent us lots of school atlases. They all travelled to Delhi and Kathmandu and then by that 24-hour bus to Taplejung and onwards by tuk-tuk to our school. Soniya was thrilled, Apsara our librarian immediately wanted to put up maps everywhere and children have been popping into the library to see where their mentors live. The children – and some teachers – were amazed that Britain is surrounded by sea. They compared land-locked Switzerland with Nepal and could see the differences in the guidebooks.

Competitions Play a Large Part in our Schools

Spelling Bees in English and Nepali are part of every class’s timetable. Speech-making is highly valued – here is Anjana (Head Girl last year and now at Kangchenjunga School in Taplejung) showing off her certificate for winning the inter-school’s area competition.

Speech-making is highly valued – here is Anjana (Head Girl last year and now at Kangchenjunga School in Taplejung) showing off her certificate for winning the inter-school’s area competition.