Q • Learning Nepal Trust CIO is a team of Western social entrepreneurs. By providing grants and funds to Nepalese schools, we make it possible for children and young people in remote Hangdewa and environs, on the slopes of Kangchenjunga, to have better life chances through education.
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A Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience on top of the World
Welcome To Our School
Take a look inside our school, our classrooms, and our community.
Who Are We?
The Q•Learning Nepal Trust CIO
Q·Learning Nepal Trustees bring a wealth of understanding of good business practices, good governance and global standards of education. This enables us to ensure that 98% of money donated funds schools in Hangdewa and environs and this translates into children who can achieve their potential. We are proud of what they have achieved.
Improvement
Improving the life chances of young people in the Hangdewa region of Nepal.
Sustainable
Sustainably funding and inspiring a quality education and connection to the rest of the world.
We
Believe
We believe that education is the corner-stone to a fairer world and can allow the village to continue its way of life. The Q·Learning Nepal Trust CIO funds a quality education and the villagers, via a Nepal Charity, choose how the children develop so that this harmonious, diverse, and beautiful place maintains its culture and uniqueness whilst lifting itself out of poverty.
What HAVE THE SCHOOLS IN HANGDEWA ACHIEVED WITH OUR GRANTS?
Timeline
2007
- Legal commitment to the villagers of Hangdewa to build a school for quality education (written on rice paper)
- First visit by the founder, Lesley Warburton, to Hangdewa via jeep, lorry, bus and walking (arriving 24 hours late!)
2008
- First volunteers liaise with community
2009
- School with 5 classrooms built for 5-11 year-olds
2011
- All children given uniforms (made by local tailors) and text books (Nepali curriculum)
2015
- 100 children and 10 teachers in the school (many in temporary classrooms)
2016
- Yellow school for 5-14 year olds - upper school completed with 9 classrooms and a staff room
- Toilets improved
- Clean water installed from source at mountain top
- First lap-tops and English books reach the village
- Q. Learning Trust set up as a Nepali charity
2017
- Volunteers teach art, science and chess – and learn to make momas
- Pauline and Laurie Bennet visit from NZ and become major sponsors
- Tarmacked road to nearby Taplejung enables visitors to travel more easily to the village
2018
- Orange Montessori school opens for 60 4-6 year olds – 3 teachers travel to Kathmandu for Montessori qualifications
- Aptitude Software donate 11 computers for the school plus volunteers from UK, Poland and USA to install them and liaise about getting WiFi
- GRID 91 provides two volunteers from Mumbai to examine school safety and security
- Lego makes an appearance for the first time in the village
- First eye-tests and free glasses
2019
- Aptitude Software donate a further 14 computers for the school
- Practical Science starts with a microscope
- ‘Poorest children’ bursaries set up
- Sanitary wear made available to those girls who need it
- New toilet blocks built at both schools
- Undergraduate students enrolled in universities. Alumni include engineers, clinicians, computer studies, teachers, Nepal Army ……
2020
- Rental Villa ‘Kangchenjunga View’ opens for visitors: sustainable tourism to support schools and provide employment
- Playground developed for Orange Montessori School
- 200 children and 15 teachers in schools (4-14 year olds)
- Lockdown support for teachers and families
- UK Charity Commission gives charitable status to Q.Learning Nepal Trust CIO number 1192365
- All teachers engage in self-development for spoken English and IT skills improvement
2021
- Over 40 Ambassadors from all classes learn from their Mentors and Buddies in other countries
- 25% of poorest children receive full bursaries including uniforms, books, glasses etc
- Partnership working with Millfield School in the UK
- School competitions include social essays, book reviews, cookery recipes and storytelling
- Prefects and Head Boy and Head Girl appointed
- Basketball court built
- Cabling brought to the school for excellent internet connectivity
- School extended to Class 8 (220 children aged 4/15)
- First practical science teacher appointed
- First Zoom lessons begin in lockdown
2022
-Practical science room and creative rooms built
-School closures due to Covid minimised by online teaching for older children
-56 Kindles given to the school, each with access to 1,000 children's books
-Sport, art, photography and music lessons added to curriculum - football, volleyball, cricket, soft-tennis, table-tennis, guitar and traditional madal
-School dancers perform in Taplejung for the Taplejung Marathon and Tourism Festival
-First school trip: Class 8 visit Ilam and ride horses and try out boating
-Taplejung Schools' Chess Champion from Q.Learning Nepal School
-Individual desks made for older students (not just benches)
-First Zoom lessons from Millfield School in UK prepared by their students
-Volunteers able to return to the village post-Covid
-Laptops donated by mentors, Attraqt and K3 Business Technologies, prepared by AAG
-237 students aged 3-15
-55 Ambassadors with international mentors
-25% of students on 100% bursaries: tuition, uniforms, textbooks, glasses, sanitary wear
-All new girls given bursaries to encourage equal access to a quality education
2023
-260 students at school (3-14)
-71 school Ambassadors sponsored by international mentors.
-30% of students on 80-100% bursaries (to encourage girls to attend and all pupils to stay at school)
45% girls
-Outstanding success in public exams: class 8 see all pupils across all subjects average 3.6/4.0 or ‘A’ grades.
-14 sponsored to attend Kangchenjunga School for class 9
-Work starts on building 2 new classrooms to offer classes 9&10
-Fridays become extra-curriculum days: music, art, sport
-Boys’ football team win the schools’ football league in the district (20 schools)
-Virtual reality joins other computer and technology lessons
-First cake baked in Hangdewa
-First exhibition: English and Nepali authors, English grammar, science and Limbu culture
-10 minutes reading every day introduced throughout school
-First teacher volunteers from Pangbourne College teach Maths and sport, with singing from Birmingham Conservatoire
-33 students and teachers visit from Millfield School and engage students in projects: art, photography, science and environment, drama, music, sport – and many local trips out such as kite flying
-Class 8’s school outing ‘beyond the mountain’: visit to Darjeeling, India, and the tea growing area of Ilam
-Q.Learning Nepal Trust CIO begin work with Eifion Trust, UK charity sponsoring education in Kathmandu
2024
-Over 300 students at school (3-17).
-Outstanding success in public exams: Class 8 public ‘Basic Education Examination’ results - the class of 14 achieved an average B+ - an excellent result.
-The first of our children arrive in Kathmandu to take up their places sponsored by Eifion Trust at their Charlotte's Haven child centre and nearby school. Seven of our alumni study at Southwestern School supported by Eifion Trust and SW School.
-Practical science now possible in the well-resourced laboratory.
-Online career talks started.
-Class 8 start computer programming lessons.
-Local tailors make uniforms for all our pupils.
-Music lessons provided on-line from Kathmandu.
-New classrooms, office and creative rooms added to the Montessori School.
-Laptops provided by mentors to some alumni to help them with their higher level studies.
-The first exchange visit by children from Charlotte's Haven in Kathmandu. They were involved in music and singing, dancing, volleyball, badminton, table tennis, art, chess and photography. Lots of friendships made between hosts and visitors.
-Our alumni are studying Plus 2s (equivalent to UK A-levels).
-Class 8 students make a school trip to Darjeeling.
-Class 7 begins learning Photoshop.
-Karate added to the curriculum and proving to be very popular.
-Eye testing introduced to ensure everyone can read lessons in books and on the whiteboard.
-The curriculum has expanded and pupils now have the opportunity to practice art, learn musical instruments, practice chess, and play badminton and table tennis.
-Microbit computers introduced for coding lessons.
-Dental checks and treatments provided for the pupils and their relatives in the village by a visiting team of volunteers from Kathmandu including one of our alumni who is a qualified dentist.
-30 reconditioned laptops provided by the Turing Trust taken to the school by volunteers from the UK.
-Girls football team formed.
-A library of 500 books donated by Box Hill North Primary School in Australia.
2025
-The school enabled 290 children aged 3 -15 to receive a quality education without selection (poor and poorer, all faiths, castes and tribe). 50% are girls.
-Gaining Local Authority permission to extend the classes available to children by two more years to include the Secondary Education Examination (SEE) at about 16. In Nepal, only 10% of children pass but we are on track for 100%.
-Funding 14 school leavers aged 15-16 to attend Kangchenjunga School in Taplejung as weekly borders. This years' 14 leavers all passed their SEE with 3 obtaining scholarships to attend the Southwestern State College in Kathmandu.
-Funding 2 students at university: BSC in Agricultural Sciences at Itahari University and BSC in Computers and Software Engineering at Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu.
-Obtaining donations of reconditioned laptops from Scotland (Turing Trust) and EPAM Systems India – we now have 1 laptop to 3 pupils. All pupils from Classes 1-9 have access to practical computer lessons. (Most school children in Nepal have little access to computers, with a ratio of 1/100 being common.)
-By donations of toys such as Duplo and Early Reading Books, we have resourced the Nursery to Western standards, thereby enabling children to learn to read faster, to develop fine motor skills and to play creatively.
-Funding the school's extra-curricular activities including boys' and girls' football, badminton, table tennis, martial arts, chess, piano keyboard, guitar, singing, traditional dancing, drawing and painting.
-Class 8 (aged 14) had a funded school-trip to Ilam and Darjeeling, thereby enabling many to travel for the first time more than a few miles from home.
-The Eifion Trust has continued to provide invaluable financial support. Also, monthly sponsorship by approximately 60 'mentors' has continued and this covers eye tests and glasses for those who need them, sanitary pads for older girls, and requirements for celebrating festivals. Other donors have supported the school’s estate and support for children with additional needs.
-A six-year-old girl was funded to have treatment for cerebral palsy stage 4 at a hospital near Kathmandu, and she has a paid assistant to enable her to attend school and specialist equipment such as an electric wheelchair and lightweight ‘walker’.
-Children needing mental health care have seen doctors and been supported by teachers; two in deep trouble have been given places at the Eifion Trust’s child centre in Kathmandu.
-Volunteers continue to be encouraged: undergraduates in English and Maths demonstrated new pedagogy. 21 students and teachers from Millfield School brought money and books as well as joining in creating a mushroom farm and vegetable garden for ingredients for healthy eating snacks. A specialist teacher in dyslexia was able to pinpoint new strategies for children.
-Huge congratulations to our students who all passed their Basic Education Examination (BLE) exams with exceptional results. Swastika (Head Girl) and Sesang (Head Boy) both achieved over 3.80 (3.88 and 3.81) putting them into the top 1% in the country. 6 of the 17 achieved over 3.65 putting them into the top 5% nationally. Class 8 averaged a B+ (all students, in all 8 compulsory subjects). It is recognised as the best school in the area.
-Further highlighting the school’s academic and extracurricular strengths, the school team won first prize in an inter-school quiz competition and were 3rd overall in sports with gold medals in martial arts and others in badminton and table tennis.
-We have many new initiatives and events this year and so we have created Senior and Junior Prefects to help make these a success.
-For the new school year, we have distributed packs of textbooks to all children for free. New school uniforms provided for all our (nearly) 300 children, with every child measured and fitted by a local tailor. Thank you to the Bennetts for their donation.
-We are trialling a canteen at our schools. We have two mothers who are cooking a nutritional and varied diet for 30 children who have been identified at risk of malnutrition and/or traumatised by parental loss and desertion. Thank you to Comsim for the starter funding, and The Eifion Trust who is funding these meals.
-Maintenance of the school estate has included shoring up the school field with gabions before re-fencing the grounds.
Founder's Story
Hangdewa's Story
Popular Donation Gifts
You can make a difference today by making a donation.
This is one of the poorest regions of one of the world’s poorest countries. Without support, this village would be largely cut off from the rest of the world and the 21st Century – and the children from opportunities to learn, develop and reach their potential.
£5
Pens for an entire class for a year
£15
Child’s books & uniform for a year
£100
School fees for a child for a year
£350
A teacher’s salary for a term
It is truly amazing what can be done if enough people get together and help
I am so excited about our plans and how relatively small amounts of money as donations can bring about enormous change. I look forward to welcoming you as a member of the Q. Learning Nepal Trust family.
Lesley Warburton, Founder
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A Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience on top of the World
Is Nepal on your bucket-list?
Are you ready for an adventure in the big mountains?
Do you have a friend (or two) with whom you would like to travel?
Are you up for contributing to a school with some of the most eager, respectful and playful children you will ever meet?
Testimonials from happy visitors and volunteers
Read the personal stories of visitors and volunteers from all across the world.
I think the kids are the key reasons I have been back twice, although trekking in the countryside is spectacular. They are so innocent, adorable, polite, etc. I also enjoyed the science experiments we did with the boys and girls as they are so smart, eager to learn, and happy to take leadership or join a team.
People there are friendly and hospitable – although they are poor in wealth, they are rich in mind.
Doris Liang
Hong Kong, Visitor
It was a privilege to visit Hangdewa school in its early years. This sunny, yellow school nestles in stunning scenery in rural Nepal. It feels like the end of the world but you can see from the smiles on the children’s faces that this school is fostering a love of learning and is opening up opportunities previously denied to them. It is a hopeful, happy place and deserves support especially when one thinks of how privileged our own children are in the UK to have access to a good education. Well done Lesley and Q Learning – what an achievement
Lynda Haines
United Kingdom, Visitor
I visited the school and village in November 2017 before the local airport became operational. Despite the long journey to get there, I was rewarded by discovering a thriving centre of learning filled with young children, often trekking for hours every day in order to attend, with a hunger for knowledge.
It was clear that the school was the centrepiece of the village with proud parents taking the time to chat to their neighbours as they walked their children to the school gate. The community is proud of their school and the doors it can open for their children. And, by visiting the school, you can see what a difference it can make to these young lives. I hope it continues to expand and continues to offer education to those who might otherwise miss out.
Simon Stevens
Australia, Visitor