School in a box – Sevenoaks School Outreach Programme goes global

FOLLOWING the successful launch of it’s school Outreach boxes locally, Sevenoaks School has gone global with its students taking the equipment on world wide school trips.

The Outreach Programme loans equipment or provides stationery, etc to schools that may not have access to these resources themselves.

During a recent Geography field trip, 19 Sevenoaks School students took the initiative to Morocco. The Sixth Form students and staff visited a women’s association just outside Zagora in south-eastern Morocco. The association supports women who have recently been widowed or divorced and require refuge. The women collaboratively work together to grow food, look after children and teach each other craft skills that can lead to employment including weaving and textiles.

The Sevenoaks students took ‘school in a box’ bags to hand out to the children. The brightly coloured bags were full of stationery, such as pencils, maths sets and calculators, as well as workbooks, stickers and toys, providing them with the tools they need to continue with their education.

The school in a box bags are an extension of Sevenoaks School’s Outreach Box programme, which was launched in September 2017 and provides fun and specialist learning resources for primary schools in the school’s local network. The bags are a new venture, enabling Sevenoaks School to share the initiative globally.

Sevenoaks Geography teacher Gareth Willis said: “We hope that next year’s field trip to Morocco will be able to build on the links established with the refuge and play a small part in improving the life chances of children living in this challenging desert margin environment.”