Mr Leitch and four senior pupils (Morgan Lynch, Heather McCallum, Kate Sutherland and Elizabeth Gentleman) are due to undertake a visit to Malawi on 5 June 2018. They have a couple of extra suitcases booked on the flight so they can take some additional first aid supplies.

Mr Leitch plans to take basic first aid items such as plasters, bandages, antiseptic wipes and sprays, anti bacterial hand gel and so on for first aid kits  which can then be distributed to the Girls Go For Health coordinator.

We’re looking for donations of items for the kits and would ask pupils to donate as much as possible by  1st June at the latest.

If you would like to read more about the work being carried out in Malawi, please click here.

You may be aware that Calderhead High School has been looking to develop a partnership with a secondary school in Malawi.  In 2015 Malawi was ranked the 3rd poorest country in the world with the average income of only £520 per year.  In recent months, Councillor Robertson, has identified and visited a school in Malawi that we have been asked to partner with. The school is Thuchila Secondary and is situated in a rural area of Malawi.

In order to begin developing this partnership we have been asked to collect items for first aid kits to be sent out to the school. We have been given a backpack to fill with items. The next North Lanarkshire visit to this area is the beginning of June 2016 so we would need to fill the backpack by 31 May at the latest. Mr Leitch has delivered assemblies to all year groups on this to seek their support.  We are looking for basic first aid items such as plasters, bandages, antiseptic wipes and sprays, anti-bacterial hand gel etc.

We have also signed an agreement to fund raise £500 per year to sponsor a home school partnership worker in Thuchila. This home school worker will deliver a “Girls go for health” program in the area. The basic items that we provide in the rucksack will enable her to help pupils, especially girls, to continue with their education.

We also plan to identify 2 students, who along with other students from North Lanarkshire schools, would visit Thuchila and other schools in the area for two weeks in June 2017.  They would deliver workshops such First Aid, Dance, Heart Start, Self Defence as well as visiting projects supported by ourselves and other schools.

If you can donate any of the basic first aid items mentioned above then please bring forward them to Mr Leitch and he will put it in the rucksack. If you have any questions or would like any other info about this please get in touch.

Update: on 1 June we dropped 4 bags full of first aid supplies off with the team visiting Malawi . This was more than enough to overfill the rucksack we were provided with and was comparable with the amount donated by schools much larger than ourselves. There was a  very positive response about the appeal from staff and students alike, so  thank you all for your support with this. We plan to hold assemblies for all year groups in the coming weeks to provide more information about the partnership, explain how students can get involved and explore what we hope to achieve as a community with Thuchila Secondary School.