School number 5

School number 5 is a primary school for children with varying degrees of learning difficulty. However, it was not equipped for children in wheelchairs. The CCP paid for ramps, wider doors, adapted toilets and provides an adapted minibus and driver to ferry the kids to school: without this, many of them would not be able to attend. More recently, the CCP made the sports hall wheelchair-accessible.

The teachers need to be trained in how to care for, and interact with, the kids. The CCP brings over British trainers experienced in teaching kids with a range of disabilities, and shares this knowledge with the Belarussian teachers. The CCP also funds trips for Belarussian teachers to visit British facilities to see first-hand what has been learned in the UK.

We visited quite a few different classes. It was clear that there were kids with very different learning levels within the same small classes, and they each seemed to be enjoying their own individual activities.

I'm not very technical where kids are concerned, so I shall divide this very simply into younger kids ...

And older kids ...

I tend to shoot a mix of colour and black-and-white. However, for these charity projects, I know that they mostly need colour photos, so there were shots I would usually have converted to b&w that I left in colour. However, when you have a bright orange sleeve in the foreground ...

I also reverted to b&w in a dance class in one of the gyms - with coloured walls and a generally cluttered background, it was definitely necessary to simplify.

I attempted to setup the classic 'star' shot, with all the kids laying on their backs, heads in the centre, legs out, shot from above. The logistics of this proved too complicated, but it at least produced a few good shots.

The CCP is aiming to raise enough money to offer the same support to other schools so that more children in wheelchairs can attend.