26^th August 2019

As part of relocation, children knew they would have to change schools of course, letting go off their friends and leave the safety net of a place they have managed to settle very well to in year 7, the first year of a high school. We are all hoping they will go back to year 9 to the same school they left, Emilka into Shipston High and Misa to Sibford.

We had researched which school to choose for them, and the best suited for both of them was he British School in Colombo; following the Cambridge Curriculum it gives an easier transition than for some other schools, but also importantly the vast majority of the pupils and teachers are Sri Lankan, and of the others Brits are in the great minority; if we wanted a British bubble we wouldn’t have come. When we were in Sri Lanka at Easter, despite the terrorist attack, which shut schools and basically stopped normal life for people for about a month, we were able to meet the headmaster and he was happy for them to be accepted into new academic year 2019-2020. They had to sit an entrance exam once back at school in the UK to set up a benchmark where they are with their abilities for year 8. Together with GSCE and A level students they sat three adjudicated tests via a web portal.

We kept in e-mail contact with the school registrar to start the ball rolling, and once we were in Sri Lanka, we went to the school to collect the admission packs, to be able to fill all the appropriate forms and most importantly, and to buy uniforms.  A white shirt with logo and a grey trousers or skirt, purple tie for special assembly – very smart indeed. I was sewing their woven name tags one afternoon, feeling good what an investment these name tags have been, as I purchased them in Reception, I and my mum have been stitching and unstitching them ever since using them over and over again, good traditional English quality. Both are using their school bags and PE kit bags from last year and new shoes were purchased in England before we left.

First day of school, UK bank Holiday Monday 26^th August. We had a relaxing last on Sunday, their last day of holiday, with unlimited time on computer and pizza hut delivery! We tried to get them to bed earlier, but despite being in bed just after 8pm, Misa took early 2 hours to fall asleep.

We knew, that getting to school in a busy city for 7.25am line up meant to leave the apartment at 6.50, makings sure we are on site in plenty of time, security check and just to feel calm to have enough time to soak it all in. My alarm went off at 5.55 with five minutes spare before getting up to make a coffee myself and a tea for Steve, get dressed, cook Misa’s porridge and get cereals ready for Emi (I thought I will be nice to get breakfast ready for them the first week, while they are settling into a routine), made them lunch boxes, quickly moved Misa’s button under his neck loose as it was too tight and it was strangling him when he put a tie on, Steve booked an Uber taxi and we were in the car at 6.55am. Unknown to me, Misa’s bottle was leaking and as we got into the car and he put his school bag on an angle on his lap, he got wet patch on his front and we just couldn’t stop laughing. Good job it was only water, the trousers are made from synthetic material, so by the time we reached the school 15 minutes later (traffic wasn’t too bad), he was dry.

They both walked to school with heads up high, managed security bag check as it will be their everyday routine, had a hand shake with the headmaster (Leicester supporter who has been at the school for seven years) and went to the canteen when they waited to be summoned up by prefects to line up at the courtyard to go to their forms. We waited for them to get out of our sight, had a chat with Head of secondary school and his deputy (both smart English men with families, coming from Doha after working there 3 years together) and slightly emotional left the school premises. We have to go to the security office on the other site of the city to apply for school parents pass.

Traffic was horrendous, so we decided to walk towards our apartment to pick up the taxi avoiding part of the traffic jam. We walked about 1.5 km to Jetwing hotel (Steve stayed there on several occasions so knows the layout) and had a lovely impromptu breakfast as a childless couple with Steve going to work later on.

I was thinking about them all day, hoping they will like their adventure with children of many different nationalities and was envious and wished I was the one starting new school. Steve was able to come and pick them up from school with me, when they finished at 2.30pm. We got dropped off by tuk tuk by a big fashion store to get a black belt for Misa’s trousers as part of his uniform and walked down the main road to the school. I saw at least 500m long queue of cars (some parked, some with engine on) in the left hand lane with a big cards with name/names placed on dashboards and realised, that these cars are waiting for access to the school to pick up the children, one by one. I had to queue on the other side of the armed entrance door and waited for a member of staff calling the children names into the microphone letting the kids know someone is waiting for them at the gate and they walked up to me. Emilka’s bag was probably 7kg heavy with all the books and notebooks they were given, and apparently, she is still two books short! Misa’s bag was surprisingly light, he left the books in a locker, so he is not lagging it around! We had a chilled afternoon with some computer time, swimming as our every day fix (it was cold today as the weather has been rainy and cooler) and listened to some first impressions from their day.

Misa:

• He is part of a small group of 3 foreigners
• Everyone’s handwriting is so neat, Misa’s is illegible (he needs lots of practice!)
• He is not the tallest in the year
• Everyone talks so fast and with their accents, he constantly says “pardon”, which is embarrassing, as he can’t understand
• He has no “buddy” and had to find his own way for lessons on his first day
• Chairs are so uncomfortable to sit on, tables are far too small for his tall body
• Classrooms are too small to house 25-28 children, that some are standing or kneeling during some lessons
• Aircon in rooms does not seem to be working effectively

Emilka:

• She has got English lesson every day and her teacher is new staff, a nice English lady from Blackpool
• She has made at least 3 friends today and one new Japanese girl has given her a small hand sanitiser
• She has been given a buddy to take her around
• She is pleased everyone is talking fast so no one will be urging her to slow down
• She is already planning her English homework –5 facts about Shakespeare!

Rennie