A school in Africa is to get its very first flushing toilets thanks to Bo’ness Academy.

The Academy has been involved in fundraising activities to help raise £6,000 so that its partner school in Gambia can have a concrete toilet block.

A group of 16 pupils and staff from Bo’ness will travel to Gambia next month and visit the Sukuta Upper Basic Secondary School, which currently has no running water supplies.

Catriona Reid, deputy head teacher at Bo’ness Academy, is organising the trip on February 29 and said that the pupils are very much looking forward to the adventure.

She said:  “They’re all so excited and have been writing letters saying a bit about Bo’ness and the school.”

The building of a new toilet block, complete with plumbing, topped a request for ways in which Sukuta’s Scottish chums could help.

 Catriona said: “There are almost 1,800 pupils at Sukuta Upper Basic Secondary School but they don’t have any toilet, which is actually quite common in the Gambia.

“Once we established the link with the school, we asked what we could do to help them.

 “They had a fire and their library had burnt down so we thought maybe we could rebuild it for them and we had already donated some books.

“We asked them ‘how can we support you?’ and they said ‘well, what we really need is help with finance towards a toilet block.’”

The aim is for the block to be completed before the start of the rainy season, which starts around May and lasts right through to September/October.

The Academy hopes that if it can raise about three quarters of the £6,000 target, the work – carried out by a Gambian company – could soon start.

Catriona said: “If it’s completed before the rainy season that would be ideal.

“Some of the work could commence before we go out and the pupils could be involved while we’re there.

“A lot of the buildings there are made from the traditional mud and straw bricks but that’s quite short-lived.

“When the rains come in, parts of buildings can be washed away.

“The toilet block will be a proper structure with running water - something that is going to last a very long time.

“With the current economic times though, it’s very difficult.

“A number of companies and organisations have helped out but really, the financial support is difficult to come by.

“Unlike most schools whose funds go towards the school, all the fundraising we do is going towards the toilet block.

“We’ve got new events coming up in February and we’re hoping that they can raise about £4,500 or maybe more.”

Fundraising events in the pipeline include a battle of the bands, a Valentine’s transition disco and bag packing.

There are also plans for a sponsored swim, cycle and row lasting six hours to represent the distance between Bo’ness and The Gambia.

Bo’ness Academy’s link with Sukuta stems from a chance meeting between Catriona and a local Gambian family during a personal visit to the country 10 years ago.

 The family could not afford to send their 11-year-old son to school, so kind-hearted Catriona sponsored the boy to receive education at Sukuta Upper Basic.

She said: “I’ve built up a relationship over all these years with this boy.

“Education’s difficult in The Gambia - you could still be 25 and at secondary school because your family could run out of money, then you have to go back much later.

“Sukuta was the secondary school this boy wanted to go to.

 “I’ve been in the school a number of times and I’ve met the head teacher so we’ve got a strong link with them.”

And it’s not just Bo’ness Academy involved in the Gambian project – schools throughout the town have had a taste of some African culture.

Grange, Blackness, Kinneil, Deanburn, Bo'ness Public and St Mary's Primaries have all taken part in a transition project about The Gambia.

Catriona said: “We had them learning the Bongo drums in the music department and we used Mandinka – a tribal language as a teaching aid.

“They’ve also been looking at religious practices and making African masks, which is part of maths because it’s all about dimensions and symmetry.

“We’ve had assemblies about what The Gambia’s like and the pupils cooked their own Gambian meal in home economics.

“It’s very much bringing it to life for them and they’re all very much involved.

 “It’s not just about a school trip it’s very much a whole school initiative embedding it into our whole curriculum.”

To donate to the toilet block fund, contact Bo’ness Academy on 01505 822028.

To view photos and videos of Bo’ness schools’ involvement in the Gambian project, click here.