Myy friend and I went to help out in a primary school in Jamaica last year , where the conditions are very basic and the children rarely get individual attention.

We found many of the 10 year olds were struggling with their reading but they generally learnt very fast when given extra help.

However one of the things we noticed that most impeded their ability to learn was the constant noise from the scraping of the metal chair and table legs on the concrete floor. This meant the teacher had to shout to make herself heard and generally made it very difficult to concentrate, for example it was impossible for us to hear children read in the classroom and we had to sit out in the yard for some of the time instead!

As a result after we came back we sent over some rubber chair leg caps for one of the classes which the teacher tells us have really helped reduce the noise level. However she said that the scraping of table legs continues to be a problem. For this reason we have decided to try and raise enough money to put caps on all the chairs and tables in all 12 classrooms if we can. The company that sells them has offered us a very good deal if we buy in quantity. The approximate cost per classroom for the chairs is £60 and for tables £40.

We are going back to the school to work with the children again in a few weeks and it would be great to be able to take the rubber caps with us.

Many thanks.