ROMSEY students spent their Easter half term volunteering at a school in Ghana.

Eleven pupils aged 13 to 15 from Hampshire Collegiate School took part in the project at the Shalom School in the district of Keta.

The students made bricks which will be used to build classrooms at the school, and they also worked as teaching assistants.

The pupils taught a variety of different subject based activities including maths, science, art and PE to children aged from three to 16 years old.

The trip was arranged alongside the help of the charity African Adventures.

They work in partnership with the Young Shall Grow International Charity, which gives orphaned Ghanaian street children a place to live and provides them with an education.

Each of the students had to raise £2,000 over 18 months to finance their trip.

Hampshire Collegiate School teacher and expedition leader, Ailsa McLean, said: “The experience exceeded everyone’s expectations. It was a challenging two weeks of volunteering but our pupils learned a lot about themselves; it helped build a wide range of skills including teamwork, self-confidence and resilience. The pupils worked tremendously hard and were amazing ambassadors for the school.”

After a day of brick building and teaching the pupils also got to learn the local language and visit local villages and markets.

The pupils dressed in local handmade African clothes and talked to members of the villages, answered questions and shared their experiences from the trip.

As a mark of gratitude, local pupils put on a show of dances from different Ghanaian regions and the pupils were presented with a poem.

A spokesperson from the school said that “all the pupils plan to keep in touch in the future”.

Pupil Oakley Sparshott-Thompson said: “What can I say? It was amazing and it gave me a chance to see life on the other side. It was a real eye-opener.”