For many poor children in Nepal quality education is an inaccessible dream. Intelligent children from the small subsistence-farming villages high in the Himalayas have no chance to go beyond a basic primary education.

Shamrock School was set up to give these children an opportunity to continue their studies and complete high school.

Shamrock is an English medium school following the Nepali national curriculum with local teachers and visiting international volunteers. The School seeks to highlight all that local culture has to offer but also gives the children the chance to learn about the world beyond their mountainous borders.

These children aspire to be doctors, engineers, nurses and teachers and work hard to fulfil their ambitions. Our work is to give them the opportunity to be successful.

Some of our students are disabled, some are orphans, all come from financially poor backgrounds. ALL want to learn.

So many of you want to help people in difficult situations. With so much need and many good causes, it’s difficult to know where to donate.

A donation to Shamrock comes with zero administration costs. Both the UK and Spanish charities are staffed entirely by volunteers. Every penny goes directly to the School and so those people in need.

The children at Shamrock School are selected from villages across Nepal. The enrolment criteria are twofold. First, the children must score well above average in an intelligence test and second, they must come from financially underprivileged backgrounds. Some of the children are orphans, others have parents who are too old, too sick or too poor to afford a decent schooling for these gifted young people.

Civil war, earthquakes and a struggling economy left Nepal a difficult place for young people to see any future for themselves. Then came the Covid 19 pandemic and the collapse of tourism, one of the country’s few reliable sources of income.

At Shamrock we have a motto (borrowed from Winston Churchill) which is “NEVER GIVE UP”. Our children don’t give up… let’s help them make their dreams a reality.

100% OF YOUR DONATION GOES TO THE SCHOOL AND IN A SMALL SCHOOL LIKE SHAMROCK ANY AMOUNT MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE.

THE PRESENT GOVERNING BODY

A Board of Governors has been established comprising 3 members from each charity and 3 members from the operations team at the school. 

Board of Governors  – ENTITIES & MEMBERS

SCHOOL: Shova Gurung, Suraj Hazare Dahal, Madan Shrestha

SET (UK): Andy Ryder, Michael Newton, Lauren Costello

ASOC (SPAIN): Mary Palmer, Andrew  Richards, Julie Harris

RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• To attend meetings & be updated and be part of the running of the school
• To provide transparent procedures and reporting regarding ’the running of the school’

A – POLICIES & PROCEDURES

• WORKING PROCEDURES – teaching standards
• FINANCES – Standardized accounting and permissions to manage funds
• CHILDREN – welfare, rewards and underperformance support, attendance /withdraw rules
• PARENTS – communication, increased involvement

  B – MEETINGS

• FREQUENCY – quarterly, minimum attendance 2 members from each entity
• GOALS – to ensure that the school is being run in accordance with the expectations of the charities’ donors

C – FUNDRAISING

• FREQUENCY – quarterly, minimum attendance 2 members from each entity

MAIN GOAL – to ensure that the school is being run in accordance with the expectations

AROUND THE WORLD
Many volunteers regularly run fundraising events and coordinate visits to the school via the governing committee. With the rise in e-learning we also have volunteer students who provide online academic assistance to the children with their studies.

Shamrock Education Trust – Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy
(Related policies – Staff Code of Conduct)


The contents of this policy have been authorised by the trustees of the Shamrock Education Trust (SET). It should be displayed at any school supported by the SET and issued to all visiting staff and volunteers. It should be updated biannually.
Its procedures apply wherever staff, trustees or volunteers are working with pupils even where this is away from the schools site. e.g. an educational visit.


Every pupil should feel safe and protected from any form of abuse. SET is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.


SET will take all reasonable measures to:

• ensure that we practise reasonable measures in checking the suitability of staff and volunteers (including staff employed by others organisations) to work with children and young people.
• be alert to signs of abuse both in Shamrock and from outside and to protect each pupil from any form of abuse, whether from an adult or another pupil. (See list at end of document.)

• deal appropriately with every suspicion or complaint of abuse and to support children who have been abused.

• design and operate procedures which, so far as possible, ensure that teachers and others who are innocent are not prejudiced by false allegations;
• be alert to the needs of children with physical and mental health conditions;
• operate robust and sensible health and safety procedures and operate clear and supportive policies on drugs, alcohol and substance misuse;

• teach pupils about safeguarding, for example through use of online resources, through the curriculum and PSHE, together with guidance on adjusting behaviour to reduce risks including the safe use of electronic devices and the internet, building resilience to protect themselves and their peers, and information about who to turn to for help.

• consider and develop procedures to deal with any other safeguarding issues which may be specific to individual children in the Shamrock school or in the local area.

Types of abuse


1. Abuse is a form of maltreatment of a child. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm. They may be abused by an adult or adults or another child or children.


2. Physical abuse: a form of abuse which may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.


3. Emotional abuse: the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate


4. Sexual abuse: involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. As well as sexual activities they may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet). Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children.


5. Neglect: the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment); protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger; ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-givers); or ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.


6. Child sexual exploitation: involves exploitative situations, contexts and relationships where young people receive something (for example food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, gifts, money or in some cases simply affection) as a result of engaging in sexual activities. Sexual exploitation can take many forms ranging from the seemingly ‘consensual’ relationship where sex is exchanged for affection or gifts, to serious organised crime by gangs and groups. What marks out exploitation is an imbalance of power in the relationship.
If any member of staff or volunteer has any concerns about any form of abuse or potential abuse at Shamrock school they should inform the principal. If the concern involves the principal or senior member of staff then the trustees of SET (Shamrock Education Trust) should be informed.


D Faulkner
Shamrock Education Trust
April 2016

SET realises that children in Nepal are in a potentially vulnerable position. Professional standards of vetting of staff are non-existent in comparison to procedures in Western schools. At Shamrock school the children are potentially more vulnerable with a large turnover of staff and regular visitors coming through the school and boarding environment. Some of the pupils may also be from a challenging home environment and have little stability in their lives.
The following guide is to help staff and visitors understand what are reasonable levels of behaviour in their interactions with pupils.
All visiting staff should be made aware of this document and sign a copy.
• All staff and volunteers are expected to uphold the ethos, culture and traditions of Shamrock and to maintain the standards, which it represents in all circumstances.
• At all times staff and volunteers are expected to set an example in the way that they conduct themselves and in their relationship with other adults and with pupils. Staff and volunteers are expected to set an example of appropriate conduct and behaviour.
• Members of the teaching staff are expected to exercise discretion and integrity, reflecting in their own manner of dress, appearance and behaviour the principles, which apply in our expectations of pupils.
• All staff and volunteers have an individual and collective responsibility for maintaining good order and discipline. Staff have an obligation to one another, as well as to the pupils for whom they are in loco parentis, to be vigilant at all times and not to ignore casual or unacceptable behaviour in any circumstances.
• Staff and volunteers are under a professional obligation to get to know well all pupils whom they teach. Pupils should be valued as individuals and their talents, interests and developing personalities recognised, acknowledged and appreciated. Wherever possible, the positive aspects of any pupil should be emphasised, and any criticism should be constructive, and designed to enhance their feeling of self-worth and not to dispirit.
• Sexism, racism, other forms of prejudice, discrimination or bullying behaviour are not tolerated among pupils or staff and volunteers, Everyone should ensure that their own actions cannot in any circumstances be interpreted or misinterpreted by pupils as bullying.
• Staff are expected to play their part in ensuring the smooth and efficient running of the school and assisting their colleagues in completing necessary administrative and clerical tasks.
• Particular care must be taken by staff and volunteers to keep their professional role distinct from other friendships that exist with pupils and their parents.
• Staff should not promise confidentiality to pupils. Such an agreement, whilst seemingly appropriate or helpful at the time, can lead later to considerable difficulty if the conversation turns out to contain a particularly problematic revelation.
• Staff should take great care not to inadvertently divulge to pupils information of a personal nature regarding colleagues.
• Staff and volunteers should endeavour not to be alone with pupils in the confines of a classroom or sleeping accommodation. To do so raises the possibility of suspicion, even if there was an innocent explanation.
• Staff and volunteers must respect the personal space and accommodation of female pupils in particular and not enter unannounced or unaccompanied.
• Staff and volunteers should not be going off site at the Shamrock school accompanying a single pupil.
• Staff and volunteers should be careful not to show favouritism to certain pupils and to maintain an ‘emotional distance.’
• With the large ‘wealth divide’ between visitors and the pupils staff and volunteers should be modest with their spending of money and display of possessions when in the confines of the school. Expensive items should be used judiciously and not left lying around.
• Staff and volunteers should not be buying gifts or entertaining pupils without the express permission of the principal. Any ‘donations’ however well meaning must also be directed via the SET or direct to the principal or school manager (the SET representative at Shamrock).
• Staff and volunteers should not be contacting pupils via email or social media. Any such communication or message should be directed via the principal or via official Shamrock social media outlets.
D Faulkner
Shamrock Education Trust
April 2016