CHARITABLE sixth-formers are heading to Ghana this week to help rebuild classrooms at a school as part of a community development project.

Nine students from Ulverston Victoria High School and Barrow Sixth Form College will work alongside local builders to create new classrooms for the Maranatha School in the tiny coastal village of Ada Foah on the Atlantic Ocean.

Barrow Sixth Form's geography tutor, Malcolm Halsey, will be leading the expedition with his wife Jeanette - a teacher at Ulverston Victoria High School.

Malcolm, who has organised past trips including last year’s visit to Ethiopia, said the students were prepared for lots of new experiences – and a few surprises.

"We will be living in primitive huts as part of the community during our stay," he said. "That includes hot sunshine, hard physical work and bucket showers. It also means the unique, warm hospitality of African people."

Staff from the sixth-formers have donated nearly four suitcases full of Premier League and national football shirts and a new library of books – including Harry Potter, Dr Seuss and The Gruffalo – to help the students perfect their English skills.

The students – Danny Nixon, Maisie Bartlett, Bethan Reeve, Isobel Mapstone and Andrew Macauley from Barrow Sixth Form College and Florence Dobson, Megan O’Donovan, Adam Bartlet and Ben Jenkins from Ulverston Victoria - arrived in Africa on Friday, July 10.

"Our students have said to me that trips like this put their own lives into perspective. It shows them even when they haven’t got the latest gadget, they can be entirely happy because it’s about the people they are with and they have a wonderful community," said Malcolm.

During the two-week visit, they will also get to explore the unique wildlife during a rainforest canopy walk, sample the cuisine, take part in a drum-making workshop and experience the customs of the West African nation.

Danny Nixon, who has just completed his A-Levels at Barrow Sixth Form, said he was looking forward to going back to Africa following the visit to Ethopia last year.

He said: "It is such an incredible experience, life changing in some ways and it gives you a perspective on the developing world which is more than you see on TV - you get to talk to real people and find out how they live. When I got back last time I said I definitely wanted to do it again."