A SCHOOL exchange project has been boosted by a £2,000 grant ahead of Forest students flying out to visit a Kenyan school.

The Kenya Team at Lakers in Berry Hill landed the bursary from Coleford Town Council for supporting the efforts of local people making a difference to the lives of others.

When Kenyan students visited Lakers, Newent and Dene Magna schools in April, they attended the Forest Factor Final at the Forest Theatre, where town councillors were impressed with the effort being put in by the local team.

The Lakers’ team are now getting ready to fly out to Kenya next month to spend two weeks in Gilwatsi School, around the city of Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria

Lakers ICT manager Richard Hatch will be travelling with the party so that he can use his expertise to help the school establish a fully operational network system and to link the two schools together electronically.

A school spokesperson said: “We are delighted with the generosity of the council and will be proud to be ambassadors for our school and our local community.”

The exchange project is called Tujuane, which is Swahili for “getting to know each other”, and is one of the longest running exchange projects in Gloucestershire having been founded in 2002.