Second time round

Arrived back at Turi on 23rd August, having stayed the night in Nairobi and wangled a lift on the bus collecting the new staff. There are quite a number of new faces, as turnover at the school is high. I enjoyed being back in the UK so much this summer (see the pictures of Wales!), there is no doubt for me that I will be returning after the two year contract. Coming here continues to feel like the right thing to have done, and I will continue to do as much good as I can here, but it will be great to return in July.

Pembroke coastal path

As last year, I am teaching English to two sets of Year 7 pupils (11-12 year olds, 18 pupils in each set), PSE to the whole of Year 7, Maths to Year 8,  and I have a tutor group of Year 8s (the same tutor group as last year). My impression of the English sets is much more encouraging than last year and I've got to know my tutor group over the last year, which helps.
This weekend is my weekend off. Next week will be a duty weekend with running or supervision of activities as well as checking on children while they have their free time around the school. Quite a lot of their weekend time is spent in organised activities, but they also have free time for playing on computers, swimming and so on.
The weekend after that will be the first 'viso', when the parents visit and can either camp in the grounds or take their children out for a night or two. There is often a large event to coincide with this, the first of which will be Running with Altitude, which I wrote about last year. This is probably the most important event for the school because it is attended by all the independent schools in Kenya. Yesterday after lessons, the whole school ran the various routes, according to the age of the pupils. Nobody was excused from this one! However, a team will be chosen for the big event in two weeks. It will be a very busy weekend for all.
A friend and I have a trip to Masai Mara planned for half term. That will be very interesting, especially if we manage to see the wilderbeest returning from their migration, and a good chance to try out my new camera (compact, but with a good zoom!).

Whitesands, Pembroke