Thursday 8 July at Risley Primary School

Yesterday, I met with Dr Bakari and Mrs Alfa at their hotel for an hour. We reviewed our discussions with Dr Elspeth Page and Mr Abimbola Osuntusa in Cambridge and discussed the programme for the rest of their visit as well as the programme for the DIFN Diaspora Volunteers who will be in Abuja on July 26th and in Adamawa from July 28th. Mr Yomi Oloko (DIFN's Diaspora Volunteers Programme Director) joined us for this useful discussion which clarified the purpose and objectives of the volunteering programme.

At 12.15, I returned to my desk while Mr Oloko took the team to Risley Avenue Primary School.

Visit to Risley Avenue Primary School, Haringey

Based on the report made by Yomi Oloko (Diaspora Volunteering Programme Officer at DIFN)

Risley Avenue Primary School is the largest primary school in Haringey with over 600 pupils. The school is very diverse in terms of both pupils and teacher population with over 50 different languages spoken by the school community.

The visit by Dr Bakari and Mrs Alfa began with a welcome from the Deputy Head teacher with whom the visitors discussed the need for effective recording to monitor pupils progress and the need for teachers to be able to use differentiated learning methods in the classroom to ensure all pupils reach their potential.

Dr Bakari and Mrs Alfa then meet up with the head teacher Mr Robert Singh who took them around the school. During this tour, the visitors saw the school office and how Information anc Communication Technology (ICT) is used to organised and store school records. They also saw how ICT access for pupils is organised in the school by means of a small ICT suite with 30 desk top computers and a pool of 30 laptops which can be wheeled to each class as and when needed. In addition there are a number of computers for the school's teachers to use.

After the tour of the school an informal meeting was held with the head teacher at which he described how the school holds its own budget and has a Senior Management T (SMT). Mr Singh explained the importance of appropriate training for the members of the SMT.