Green Pastures School

Introduction

Green Pastures School was started in 2000. We have a current student population of 167 students and 14 teaching staff. The grades catered to range from Crèche/Nursery level to Junior Secondary school level.

The school premises are situated in the outer suburbs of Accra in Awoshie, approximately 45 minutes from town (Accra) and the international airport. The area is lower middle class with unsealed roads and poor drainage.

Palm and papaya trees decorate the otherwise barren streets; and despite it being the city, goats and chickens wander about everywhere. The area is relatively peaceful and quiet for Accra and is accessible by ‘tro-tro’, the local transport.

All the 14 current teaching staff have been sponsored by the school to undertake part time teacher training in order to develop their skills and flair for teaching.

The teaching staff (from left to right): Mr Abakah, Mrs Margaret Halm, Miss Dzifa Comfort, 0r Eben Hutchfull, Mrs Effia Hammond, Mr Olympio, the Headmaster, Mr Martin Dossah, and Miss Gladys Amartei

The premises consist of 9 classrooms, a kitchen, and concrete courtyard with play equipment, established gardens, urinals and toilet blocks, a snack bar, secretary’s office and caretaker’s room. The school is currently expanding to accomodate for JSS. All classrooms have a permanent blackboard, individual chairs and tables or desks for the children and a desk and chair for the teacher.

The Ghana Education System

In Ghana, children access crèche/ Nursery for 1 year, Pre-School for 2 years (called KG1 and KG2), Primary School for 6 years (Class 1 to Class 6), Junior Secondary School for 3 years (JSS 1, JSS2 and JSS3) and then Senior Secondary School for a further 3 years (SS1, SS2 and SS3).

Children may start nursery school from 3 years of age to 6 years; progress to higher education levels only occurs once the required standards of achievement have been met. Therefore you will often find children of varying ages in the same classroom.

The school academic year starts in September and terms are as follows:

Term 1:September to mid December
Term 2: Early January to early April
Term 3: Start of May to mid August

There is a 1-month holiday break in August and again in December; and a 3-week holiday break during Easter (April) to separate the terms.

Accommodation

Accommodation for up to 2 volunteers is available in the proprietor’s family home within close proximity to the school (It takes roughly 40 minutes to walk there).

One large bedroom is available in a semi-detached area of the house- separate from the proprietor and his family. The family will cook meals for you. You may have to share a room, depending on the number of volunteers present.

Your Job at Green Pastures

You will be engaged to work as an assistant teacher in the classrooms, from crèche/nursery level to Class 6. Classes range in size from 4 to 35 children. Your appointment can be arranged on your arrival and will depend on the current teaching/class needs and your preferences. You will work at the school from 7.30 am - 3 pm Monday to Friday.

Before you come, you may wish to do some fundraising. We have deisgned a special brochure here that you may print off to try to attract sponsors to support some of the needy students in our school or to sponsor the school as a whole. Please click here to download: Sponsorship document (346 KB)

Who do we need?

You will need to love working with children and have a creative flair. If you are keen to teach on your own, this can be discussed with the class teacher. Volunteers of either gender are welcome- there are currently 4 male teachers and 8 female teachers at the school.

Project Manager

Green Pastures School is currently managed by the proprietor Mr. Mensah. He is currently 62 years old and a retired surveyor of the Ghana Water Company. His goal is to expand the school to the Junior Secondary Level and Senior Secondary Level. This is currently in progress.

Eliana Ritts, from the USA, is the volunteer coordinator for this project.