Teachers

by Ruth Jolley

Education Reporter

A GROUP of Bolton teachers are jetting off to Cape Town to find out how their South African counterparts are tackling the subject of citizenship.

The teachers will spend their February half-term holiday visiting 10 radically different schools based in and around Cape Town to see how they are dealing with issues such as prejudice and discrimination.

Tracy Ellis, a teacher at Rivington and Blackrod High School, said: "We will be visiting five primary and five secondary schools in really different areas.

"We will visit schools in small townships that have very few resources and also schools that are well funded with facilities that are on a par with or better than the schools in Bolton."

The 11 Bolton teachers who are going on the trip, which is being sponsored by the Specialist Schools Organisation, will look at how the community is involved with schools, how pupils relate to each other and how they resolve conflict between themselves.

They intend to pass on what they learn in South Africa through their schools in Bolton and also share some of their experiences with Cape Town teachers.

The teachers plan to do a presentation based on their visit when they return to Bolton.

Miss Ellis said the teachers are collecting photographs and souvenirs they can give to the South African schools as momentoes of Bolton.

Claypool School in Horwich is sending tea towels imprinted with pictures of its pupils, and numerous photographs of Bolton schools will also be taken to Cape Town.