Uganda
UGANDA - Immersive learning experience
Who is this trip aimed at and what are the approximate costs?
Who the trip is aimed at: Year 12 and Year 13
Approx cost: £1,500 (including food and accomodation and transport). £50 spending money
(NB: The cost is not guaranteed and will change when the trip is recruited to. This is a guide only)
Since 2018, Finham Park School has been partnered with Viva College School, Jinja, Uganda (https://vivacollegeschool.com/). This partnership has been forged to include quality assurance CPD for teaching staff, links around the curriculum and teaching schemes and International Conferences between Uganda and UK students. We regularly meet online via Zoom (once per month) with staff to keep the links and relationships alive.
Our most recent visit in October 2024 led to pupils leading assemblies in Viva College School with students discussing topics such as globalisation, concepts of justice, the role of religion in society, the place of social media and equality. Students live with and eat with Ugandan students as well as tour the local area, producing a talent show performance together. They are able to learn vast amounts from their peers in Uganda about their culture with the learning experience being reciprocated.
Aims and Outcomes of the trip
- Develop a global perspective as pupils conference with Uganda students
- Appreciation of western privilege and the impact on the developing world
- Support for Ugandan primary schools
We want students to understand privilege, to consider global sustainability and to become more culturally aware. We want to increase students' confidence in public speaking, develop their teamwork skills and improve and widen their understanding of other religions and cultural beliefs. The Finham Uganda ambassadors used what they learnt to feed into our Core Values education programme. They have described their visit to the whole school via college assemblies. One of the students commented: 'My experience travelling to Uganda with Finham Park School was the best week of my life. It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. I have gained confidence and the time I spent with the Ugandan students allowed us to learn about their culture and lifestyle.' The organiser of the activity stated students link the visit to our Finham core values and relate to the global agenda on social justice and character development.'
Students develop a rich appreciation for their own culture. They better understand privilege and global issues that affect others by being challenged about their own worldview. Upon their return, students reflect on their experiences and often change their plans for the future. They engage with fundraising opportunities, celebrate cultural awareness through culture days in school and talk with others about the influence and impact sharing experiences with peers from a vastly different culture can have.
It is exciting to see that the links with Uganda schools, both primary and secondary phase are growing sustainably and have been since 2018, even during COVID. Students from both cultures learn how to co-exist, drawing from their own experiences so that they celebrate differences and diversity rather than tolerate it. This underpins the culture within our ethnically and religiously diverse community within the school.
What is the impact of the trip?
The visits to Viva College and the Jinja International Youth Conference are evaluated at the end of the trip through a self and peer reflection activity. Pupils work together to assess the impact of what they have learned. These reflections are studied by the school and trip organisers so that future trips can be enhanced further. Feedback from students states that the most rewarding and challenging part of the trip is the discussion time during the conferences.
One of the students commented: 'My experience travelling to Uganda with Finham Park School was the best week in my life. It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. I have gained confidence and the time I spent with the Ugandan students allowed us to learn about their culture and lifestyle.' The organiser of the activity stated students link the visit to our Finham core values and relate to the global agenda on social justice and character development.
15 pupils engage in this activity each year. Upon their return, they deliver assemblies, PSHRE and RE lessons to the school to share their experiences and to show what they had learned. This is the start of the recruitment process for the next trip.
The school has visited Viva College six times so far since the start of our relationship. The students are actively involved in the wider Student Council and student leadership teams working on promoting equality, diversity and inclusivity in the school. Fundraising activities have allowed the whole school, parents and members of the wider community to feel involved with the project. Funds raised are spent in Uganda to support 4 primary schools (Joy Primary, Myende Primary and Nuvila Primary).
New link relationships are starting with MM College, Wairaka, Uganda with the possibility of arranging a student exchange program. As part of the cultural aspect of the visit students went to Kome Island Chimpanzee Reserve and local waterfalls.
