Teacher heads for The Gambia
Tristan Thomas, a year four teacher at the Bouncer's Lane School, is travelling to West Africa to forge links with a school in The Gambia.
The 37-year-old, who flies to Banjul on Tuesday, says the project has "huge potential" to broaden the scope of education for pupils at St Mary's.
Mr Thomas said: "It's very exciting. We're hoping to set up a partnership with a Gambian school to help us learn more about their culture.
"It's vitally important for our young people to learn about different ways of doing things. The potential for the project is huge.
"Hopefully as a school we'll be able to start up a series of fundraising activities to support our Gambian partners.
"I'm starting off by taking out old mobile phone handsets and chargers, which they are very short of out there.
"If anyone has any going spare, it would be great if they could drop them by at the school on Monday."
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