Last updated 09:12, Tuesday, 30 September 2008

A beautiful location and working in the only school for miles around – that could be all that is in common with her old life in Cumbria for teacher Alison Birkett, who has just moved lock, stock and barrel to somewhere a little more remote.

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Paradise: Left, Sarah Coverdale lands a tuna. Right, her children on a canoe

Embarking on the adventure of a lifetime, Alison has swapped her 12-year career at Stoneraise School at Durdar, near Carlisle, for a job teaching on Ascension, a tiny South Atlantic island 4,000 miles from the UK which sits off the African coast.

The only school there has just 120 pupils aged three to 16 – just over 10 per cent of the 1,000 residents who live on the island. The majority of residents are Saint Helenians, inhabitants from the nearest island 703 miles away.

The others – around 200 from the UK and 150 from the US – are largely employees of organisations with bases on Ascension.

Alison, 36, is no stranger to the island and in fact will be following in the footsteps of her sister Sarah Coverdale.

And among the new pupils will be Alison’s four-year-old daughter Tamar, who is starting school.

The Birkett family first visited Ascension when Sarah was running the nursery and reception classes in Two Boats School.

Sarah, during her four years on the island, even welcomed royalty.

Prince Edward popped in for a visit to the school as he passed through on his way to the Falklands for the 25th anniversary of the conflict.

Now it’s Alison’s turn, joining the staff as a primary teacher. But as she has been finding out from sister Sarah, it’s likely her skills will be used in all areas.

Sarah recently returned to Ainstable with her own children just days before Alison flew out from RAF Brize Norton with Tamar, two-year-old son Joseph and husband Mike, who has given up his joinery business to become a househusband.

Sarah, who worked at Ullswater Community College in Penrith and James Rennie School in Carlisle before moving to the island, said: “On the school side, Alison is going to love the really small class numbers, you have no more than 14 in a class. She will have a really lovely time as a teacher. The children are so well mannered and they are keen to learn.

“But it isn’t just the school that Alison has to get used to. It is the whole lifestyle change. It is very basic compared to what people are used to here.

“There is only one supermarket on the island and that only gets restocked every six weeks, so there’s a lack of fresh fruit and veg that she’ll have to cope with. You pretty much have to grow your own – but she’ll have plenty of fresh tuna!

“Communication can also be difficult. You can only fly out with the RAF, it’s in and out by military means only and there are only three flights a fortnight. Calls are also about £1 a minute.

“But saying all of that, the island covers only 34 square miles so you’re never more than a few minutes from the sea. Watersports are popular and the temperature is around 25 degrees in the winter.”

Alison is relishing the chance to enjoy a back-to-basics lifestyle and her husband Mike is looking forward to learning to scuba dive.

He is expecting to join Sarah’s husband Ian, who is working on Ascension until next spring.

Ian, part of the island’s lifeboat crew, has helped monitor water wildlife such as hawksbill turtles. He also helped the BBC filming sea-life for Life on Earth.

Alison said: “We sent everything out to Ascension back in June – the kettle, our belongings and all of the children’s toys. Tamar in particular has handled it all well. She even calls it the sunshine island, she couldn’t say Ascension when she was smaller and now it has stuck.

“Mike and I had always discussed a foreign posting and there are good opportunities for teaching across the world so we took one.

“We saw the job come up in the trade press and we knew the island because we’d been to visit Sarah, so we knew it was safe for a family. We knew it was stable and there was a good lifestyle.

“We know we’ll only see a limited number of people but that is part of the fun.

“Everyone has the same 1960s prefab houses and one of the good things is that there is no commercialism, no materialism. It is all about having that freedom and not having to consider things like the rising oil prices.”

Alison, who has a two-year contract, is also hoping to call upon her experience as special needs coordinator and her background teaching citizenship during her time at Two Boats.

“This is something that is going to be really exciting. I know all the parents and children at Stoneraise, it’s going to be all new staff, parents and pupils so that will be great.

“I also won’t want to say goodbye forever. I want to look at ways that we can have the two schools working together.”