Teaching assistant to help Thai orphanage

A teaching assistant from Hartlepool is to spend time this summer at an orphanage in Thailand, working with children who have lost parents to aids.

Annabel Gibson, an assistant at the High Tunstall College of Science, is stumping up £1,000 of her own cash to fund the trip, reports the Hartlepool Mail.

Pupils at the school are taking part in fundraising events to buy supplies for the orphanage.

But Ms Gibson revealed to the newspaper that she was unsure of exactly what to expect when she arrived at the orphanage, which packs up to 80 kids into a single room.

But she added she was determined to help those less fortunate than her: "It will be an eye-opener, but I think it will be a good eye-opener. Sometimes you need to learn about all these things.

"I have had quite a privileged upbringing and I would like to go and make a difference."

The latest Ofsted report on the High Tunstall College said the school was "satisfactory and improving".

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