TWO Braintree teachers have given up their jobs to help teach refugee schoolchildren in Calais.

Ginny Parry, former head of RE at Notley High School, and Rory Fox, who was the school’s head of sixth form, relocated to the refugee camp after Christmas to offer their teaching expertise.

Mrs Parry, 35, of Peacock Close, Braintree, described the conditions in the camp, home to thousands of families, as “absolutely terrible”.

She said: “When we first came here, we were watching the rats going in and out of tents. People have even been bitten.

“It’s cold and wet, there’s a foot of mud everywhere.

“All children deserve an education and that’s what we are here to do.

“They are human beings, let’s not punish children for the decisions of adults. We want to make sure children are continuing their education.

“They have had a good education in other countries, but some have been without from six months to a year.

“It’s amazing. As soon as you start teaching them, they are happy, they love to learn.

“I think teaching normalises their experience.

“I have been surprised how similar it is teaching kids here and at home.”

The pair carry all teaching equipment on their back from their base in Dunkirk, as anything they leave behind will be stolen.

Mrs Parry added: “The surroundings are different, but teaching is teaching. I think it will be quite difficult to come home. Some people have asked us to go to other camps.”

Mr Fox, 47, a teacher for 20 years and now living in Cambridge, said: “It’s the conditions here that are really harsh. There’s a lot of rain here.

“We are working out of a tent in a muddy field, which leaks all over the place, in the pouring rain.

“If you imagine the worst ever camp site, it’s soft clay mud and freezing cold.

“We used to have to sit on the floor, there’s no heating and sometimes we are working in sub-zero temperatures.

But he added: “We won’t abandon the children. We have other volunteers coming at Easter if we don’t want to go on longer.

“The children are just really pleased to get back in education. It’s a problem trying to end lessons sometimes.

There’s one student here who would be doing GCSEs but there’s massive holes in his knowledge. He would have got a very good grade but their schools back home have been bombed.”