For a group of our Sixth Formers, Ryde School’s recent visit to Ghana was a truly life-changing experience.
The 2026 Ghana Link trip gave our students an opportunity to teach local children at Nako School, and support our ongoing fundraising effort to build a new classroom block there.
It started with a 36-hour journey from the Isle of Wight, involving a ferry, coach, and three flights, before an interesting minibus ride dodging goats and chickens.
Each day, our students taught the Ghanaian pupils, from number bingo to the Kindergarten children, to the laws of Physics to the Junior High School (JHS) students.
Once the heat of the day had passed, our students returned to paint classrooms and touch up the decorations for the youngsters.
They also made bricks, ready for building the much-needed classroom block, which Ryde has so far raised £8,000 towards.
The brick building was done entirely by hand, using one manual brick making machine.
After eight days in Wa, forming strong emotional bonds with the children of Nako School, our Sixth Formers bid an emotional farewell and headed south to Cape Coast for some much needed rest and relaxation.
However, before leaving, they played the now traditional Ryde vs Nako football match, which ended in respectable 2-0 loss, an improvement on other heavy defeats during recent trips to Ghana.
The trip to the Cape Coast included walking high canopy bridges over the rainforests in Kakum National Park, and a tour of the 17th Century Cape Coast Castle.
“This has been a life-changing trip for our students and while our donations to Nako of clothes, stationary and even a new classroom make a huge difference to their daily lives and future, they still seem small in comparison to the joy and memories that we take away.
“Our fundraising over the last two years has been towards building a new classroom block for the primary school, due to the previous mud based building having deteriorated to the point of required demolition.
“We have raised £8,000, which is enough for the building materials for the foundation layers of the new building, and we have £14,000 to go!”