A Dorset educator is taking part in an arduous challenge this weekend to raise money for the groundbreaking Teach First programme - and says she has high hopes of the programme's expansion in Weymouth.

Swanage resident Helen O'Connor, a former teacher of religious studies, ethics and philosophy at the Purbeck School and Lytchett Minster School, will be walking 106 kilometres around the coast of the Isle of Wight this Saturday and Sunday, May 5 and 6, along with three Teach First colleagues.

Working in partnership with universities, the Teach First charity trains bright young graduates and places them in schools in low-income areas. While it is partly government-funded, Teach First also relies on donations and corporate sponsorship. As such, Helen and her three colleagues - Louise Cook, Sarah Shreeve and Sarah Deverill-West - are undertaking the tough feat in the hope of raising £3,500 towards the programme.

Speaking to the Echo, Helen recounted that the group had been training for the challenge with hikes along Purbeck's coast and through its hills. "I was worried about the weather, but it now looks like we'll have plenty of sunshine," she said, revealing that alongside her sun-hat she had packed plenty of insect repellent and tic remover in her rucksack .

Helen, the charity's director for the South Coast and South-East, said the work Teach First did was vital in closing attainment gaps between different areas.

The programme, she said, has 'transformed' opportunities for students in some poorer parts of London, and she hoped to see it do the same for what she described as 'areas of deprivation that cling to the coast'.

"Coastal communities can be quite cut off, quite isolated," she said. She stressed, however, that her vision of social justice was not simply about enabling brighter children from modest backgrounds to leave behind their homes and communities, but about ensuring they were able to achieve their potential. "In places like Portland and Swanage, children don't see people in high heels, going to off to their high-flying corporate jobs," she noted. "How well you do in school should not depend on how much your parents earn. But unfortunately, that's still the case in the UK today."

Teach First currently has three participants placed in Portland's Atlantic Academy, and Helen says some Weymouth schools would also qualify for the programme.

"We want to see more highly-qualified teachers, capable of solving problems," she stated, adding that she invited any Weymouth school interested in the programme to get in touch. She noted that more than 60 percent of Teach First participants stayed on in the profession after completing the programme.

Helen taught at the Purbeck School for several years, leaving in 2009 to work on programmes at Lytchett Minster and Highcliffe Schools while undertaking a doctoral degree, before joining Teach First in 2014. She was involved with the establishment of the Swanage School, a free school, in 2013, and remains on the board of governors.