Our Learning Development Centre at Sifoe Senior Secondary School ends this year on two high points.

World Wide Web
Our Centre, headed by jole rider Gambia Director Mr Saidu Gbla, is now connected to the Internet.
jole rider's Gambian and UK partner schools will use this connection to work together on joint curriculum projects.
They will also use it to exchange stories, photos, ideas and much more in the year ahead. 

Institute of Physics Partnership
In December jole rider and the UK's Institute of Physics conducted a series of training workshops for Gambian science teachers.
The Teacher Development workshops were hosted at our Learning Development Centre and Sifoe Senior Secondary School.
The training comprised the first phase of the IOP's Physics for Development programme in The Gambia.
This programme dovetails with the Gambian Education Ministry's objectives to place a much needed focus on science teaching.

The workshops, delivered to more than 30 science teachers from more than 15 schools, were led by:
Laurie Mansfield, IOP International Coordinator 
Steve Atyeo and Saidu Gbla of jole rider and
Jide Johnson, Head of Science at Sifoe Senior Secondary School

The training was reported in the Gambian media
We will have more news on this story in the New Year.

 

On 06 March 2006 jole rider loaded its first sea container of 303 bikes for school children in The Gambia. 
We had no thought, then, as to what jole rider would be doing 5 years on.

But 5 years on, jole rider has expanded its involvement with bikes, literacy and education. 
This month, jole rider will have delivered more than 8,500 bicycles, enabling thousands of children to access education in Africa.
Children also have chairs to sit on, books to read and, as a result, better life chances for themselves and their families. 

“We cannot believe we have sent 25 containers,” director Helen King explains.
“But we regard this as a reasonable start – and, with enough help, the next 25 shouldn’t take as long!”