THE children at Ben Rhydding Primary School spent an incredible afternoon with the Singing Children of Africa who are visiting Ilkley from Jolaurabi School in Kenya.

The children performed an assembly with songs, music and a short presentation about themselves. The singing and drums filled the school hall and the children were mesmerized. The Ben Rhydding children were amazed to hear that the Kenyans went to school from 6am to 6pm and some walked miles to school; their houses had no electricity and they slept on the floor. Yet their smiles melted everyone’s hearts.

In the classrooms the Kenyan children joined lessons in geography, art, English and science where they had a fantastic enthusiasm for learning. Finally, the whole school joined together for a playtime cementing friendships.

The children spent time in year 6 learning about the differences between Africa and the UK in physical and human geography. "I learnt the African children’s lives were very different to ours; they live in houses that would collapse if it rained," said Sophia. Fellow Year 6 pupil Seb added: "When the African children came to our class I really enjoyed it and didn’t realise how hard they had to work just to get a small quality of our lives."

Classmate Matthew said: "The thing I was most surprised and shocked to learn about was how their school day was from 6am to 6pm."

The school is now planning to raise money for the charity “Educate the Kids” who have set up the Jolaurabi school and orphanage.