Jambo Lizzy and Ruth

The holidays are here, the term has flown by. James is still in shock to find himself at the end of his first term at school. I don't think that James or I can quite believe that Esmé has completed her first term at school nursery. The fact that she will be going to school next summer really seems to becoming a reality! She has had a ball, Esmé's favourite things at nursery are gym and show and tell. She actually asked me this morning how many sleeps it was till nursery starts again!!!!

I do enjoy my job, but I have to say that the last weeks of a school term always seem a little stressful, as the kids start to get impatient for the end of term. This term has been entirely different. As most of you are aware Websters is linked with Litein High School, in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. Earlier in the year one of the geographers, Richard came for a visit as part of the Global Reciprocal Visit Scheme. For the past 2 weeks we have had Lizzy, an English teacher and Ruth, a History and RME teacher visiting.

They are both fantastic ladies and it has been a wonderful experience having them in school. They have been rushed off their feet visiting classes and groups both within the school and local community. The Home Economics dept. hosted a coffee morning in aid of the link. Which was very successful. Esmé was very excited about going and getting to meet Lizzy and Ruth. The three of them really seemed to hit it off!

I have been involved with the Kenyan link since the start, although mostly as an interested onloooker, Mike has been the driving force within the school. I always believed in the link and felt it would be an enriching experience. We have begun to amend our syllabus to include a study of Kenya, this is part of an enriched task and runs as part of a faculty wide project, working alongside History and RME. I know that Lizzy and Ruth have been working on curriculum development too. We also have a number of pupils who now have Kenyan penpals.

The link has however, bought so much with it, other than curriculum development and greater awareness and knowledge of another country. It is difficult to describe, but suddenly Kenya doesn't seem like a distant land. And I count myself lucky to have had the opportunity to meet some truly wonderful people and dedicated teachers to boot!

I hope that Lizzy and Ruth have lovely last few days in Scotland and have a little time to chill out before returning home.

Happy tattie holidays!