TEACHERS from a Southall school are flying out to South Africa today as part of a project to link schools in the UK and the third world.

Greenford High, in Lady Margaret Road, has linked with Kaluluma School in Kasungu, Malawi, as part of charity education project Plan-ed School Linking.

Students at the school will have penpals at the Kaluluma school, and will take part in lessons aimed at teaching them about life in that country.

The schools have also been taking part in video conferences with the children every half term.

Andrew Day, deputy head teacher, said: "We have an equal partnership between schools.

"The idea is to explore curricula links, looking into what type of things children do in Africa and their aspirations, compared to what our child want to aspire to here.

"They will work on joint projects, such as examining how global warming may affect Malawi and the UK. Our main aim is to let the children learn about other parts of the world."

The Southall school already has links with schools in China and South Africa.

Mr Day and four teachers are flying to Cape Town today to visit some of the deprived areas and encourage parents to become assistant teachers to help improve their children's education.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has praised the Southall school for joining the world classroom' and for forging ties with a school in need of support.

The Plan-ed School Linking project has already been adopted by over 25 schools across the UK and 65 African schools from Kenya, Malawi and Sierra Leone have put themselves forward for the scheme.

More information can be found at www.planschoolslink.org.