Blackpool Sixth welcomes headteacher from Nepal

Pupils and staff at Blackpool Sixth have been showcasing the resort’s education to a headteacher from Nepal.

Mr Bijay Raj Acharya, head of Shubhakamana Academy, spent two weeks seeing the British education system at work.

The visit is the result of a long-standing relationship between Shubhakamana School and the Fylde coast, led by Mr Jeremy Maninno, a former deputy headteacher who is currently a safeguarding advisor for Blackpool Council and a governor at Blackpool Sixth Form College.

Over the past 20 years through the organisation Impact Travel, Jeremy has led over 25 groups of students from St Mary’s Catholic Academy and Baines School on a trip of a lifetime to Nepal to experience the culture and help a small village community by teaching in Shubhakamana Academy. Blackpool Sixth also ran a volunteering visit in 2016, led by head of social sciences, Abby Heyes.

This was accompanied by a large fundraising effort to support the school and followed up by the college sponsoring the education of two Nepalese pupils.

This summer a further 40 Fylde coast young people will be visiting Shubhakamana Academy and its surrounding community. They have been preparing since last September and have so far raised more than £5,000, developing cultural awareness, and preparing to teach English in classrooms in Kathmandu.