Our informal school in Azraq Jordan, for Syrian refugee children has now existed for nearly 2 1/2 years since it's inception in the summer of 2014.

For those new to our school I will very briefly recap it's development.

Together with Catherine Ashcroft, the founder of a Jordanian charity for Syrian refugees, "Helping Refugees in Jordan", (HRJ), and with some inheritance money, we set up an educational project at the invitation of, and in the compound of the Women's Center in Azraq, Jordan.

Initially our aim was to help Syrian teenagers in Azraq gain some vocational skills. (Among other projects we set up a sewing course for young women). However after meeting young children who had no opportunity to get into school due to Jordanian school overcrowding our focus changed to trying to give some of these children an educational opportunity.

Initially we increased the local Jordanian school capacity by 60 spaces by providing 2 portables for which the Jordanian government provided teachers. But we still met with children who had not been able to enter school, some not for over 3 years which makes them permanently ineligible to enter any Jordanian school.

In response we set up a small classroom for such children. This has now grown into a small school of about 100 children divided into 4 regular classrooms and a large community room which houses our fledgling library, and our IT equipment.

Our Keep-Up Catch-Up school.....a brief history

The school is thriving!

Martine Stilwell