Clanfield Junior School

- twinned with -

Bukorwe Primary School, Uganda

Clanfield Junior School is part of a cluster of schools that are involved in a Queen Elizabeth Parks Project, which involves connecting classrooms through global learning.

We are 'twinned' with a school in Bukorwe, Uganda, which is very close to the Queen Elizabeth National Park there.  For several years, our schools have communicated and shared learning experiences.  In July 2021, two of our teachers were due to take part in a reciprocal visit to Uganda to share global learning ideas.  Unfortunately, this trip had to be postponed, however, in the meantime we have been busy finding other ways to connect!

In January 2022, the CJS Eco-Council began the first part of the process to create an African key hole garden.

We started collecting bits of wood that we could use to build the border of our garden.  All the children got a chance to assist with the build, which was hard work! We then had to mark out the area we wanted to use. This showed us where we needed to dig. We all had a go at using the spade and trowels. Luckily, we'd had quite a bit of rain so the ground was quite soft!

We then moved the wood into place and made sure it stayed upright. Our next task will be filling it with compostable materials and compost.

Our friends in Uganda will be building one too, as well as some other local schools that are part of the QE Park Project. 

CJS' African Keyhole Garden

The very first teacher exchange visit, funded by the British Council, took place in August 2012.

This visit successfully established a working relationship with our twinned school at Bukorwe with the provision of a laptop, donated by Southern Electric, for the staff at Bukorwe Primary School, and a number of solar charging devices, purchased with monies raised by the children at CJS. Later that year the deputy headteacher from Bukorwe, Mr Vicent Ndajigimaana, came to Clanfield for the reciprocal visit.

Although communication between the UK and rural Uganda is sometimes difficult, with these devices we have been able to maintain the relationship between our two schools.