CHILDREN at a Prudhoe school will get an insight into life in the desert as they prepare to share a once in a lifetime experience with one of their teachers.

Rebecca Forrest, Year 4 teacher at Adderlane Academy, will be taking part in a trek in the Sahara Desert at the beginning of November.

The week-long adventure will see her take on two intense days of trekking, reaching a total of around 50km, and also learning skills such as setting up a Berber tent, cooking bread in the sand and collecting water.

She will also spend time in Marrakech where she will spend time helping community projects, whether it’s building work, decorating or gardening, to help vulnerable families there.

But not only is she taking on the challenge herself – the children back at school will be getting involved as much as possible too.

“It will be such a good opportunity to teach them about the big wide world around us,” said Rebecca. “It’s somewhere some of our children may not have even heard of, never mind thinking about what it might be like.

“Before I go we will be learning about the desert and what it’s like – it’s a different country, a different religion, and we will be teaching them about what the culture is like.”

Rebecca is taking part in the trek to raise money for St Oswald’s Hospice, a charity close to her family’s heart as it’s where her grandma spent time before she passed away.

Teaching the children about the charity will also be part of the work in school around her challenge.

“It’s the week after half term, and while I’m there I’m hoping to be able to get access to Facetime so I can talk to the children. They will be doing things like writing letters as if they are writing to me, to get them involved as much as possible.”

You can donate to Miss Forrest’s Just Giving page at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/becky-forrest1