STAFF and pupils at Garth Hill College got out of their cars and on their feet to raise more than £1,100 to boost a school in Kenya.

Money raised by all the thousands of steps taken at a Walk to School Day has been earmarked for a new community partnership between Garth Hill College and Oloyiankalani Secondary School located just outside Nairobi.

Oloyiankalani is a secondary, mixed boarding school and in the last few months Garth Hill pupils have started exchanging letters with ‘pen pals’ in Kenya.

Garth Hill principal Keith Grainger said: “We felt it appropriate to start our Kenyan fundraising with the Walk to School Day and have been delighted with the response. The money raised will enable some school children from Oloyiankalani School to visit the UK in the future and spend time with us in the Garth Hill College community.

“Discussions with the staff at Oloyiankalani School have been extremely positive and we hope to grow our partnership to provide life- changing experiences for pupils at both schools. “One example of this is the opportunity it will present in terms of helping our pupils to develop their cultural experience and extend their understanding of issues relating to global citizenship and wider international issues.” The fundraiser was part of last month’s national Walk to School Week and is the fourth year the college has taken part.

One group of teachers set off at 5am from Reading for an 11-mile walk to Garth, and repeated the journey at the end of the day. Mr Grainger added: “Our pupil representatives were genuinely excited by the prospect of working closely with Oloyiankalani School and the possibility of perhaps one day visiting Kenya.”