What is school like Term 1?

I came across some musings I had written in a journal when we had been here just a few weeks and I’m glad I found them – I honestly cannot remember what our first impressions were; 3 years here have totally influenced how we view our life in Blantyre. This is what I wrote;

“We’ve been here 5 weeks now and it’s flown. The children are settling well at their new school, despite some ‘blips’. They are doing amazingly well, actually.

Steve began his Senior Teacher work almost immediately after landing, but he is enjoying it. What is even better, is seeing his confidence coming back already, with his enjoyment of the new job. I can recognise my ‘Cotswold School’ Steve again; the one I fell in love with over a decade ago; only this time is even better because this is ‘Steve in Africa’ and I have never seen this side to him before. [What’s more, unlike Botswana, Steve is in Malawi with his wife beside him and two happy children running around the garden!] He is starting to believe that he can do a very good job in this role, alongside the others on SLT and the self-esteem eroded by the previous job, is starting to return.

As for me, I am happy here. I enjoy family life, with Jeffrey helping in our home and Francis in our garden. I am doing a little bit of teaching, covering for absent colleagues the first week of term, and now teaching one Year 8 French and one Year 13 Business class (the Deputy Head was short of a teacher in these two departments, the ones I happen to have a degree in!) One 70-minute lesson per day is keeping my mind occupied and my identity as a teacher satisfied – to have a small role outside the home. I had worried that I would experience boredom, coming out here without paid work for the first time in my adult life, but I seem to always be busy (I find that small tasks I expect to complete quickly can take me half a day, or a whole day, or even several days together – everything happens at a slower pace here: there is no rush).

When the children are at school, I am taking an online course in Mindfulness through Monash University and I am finding it very interesting. How to ensure that you are really ‘present’ and aware of each moment? The meditations and exercises in self-compassion are very helpful; as a person who has always had very high expectations of self and others (unreasonably/unhelpfully so), it is really benefiting my psyche and my marriage. The children and I are even finding time to meditate together; we might light a candle, talk about a story or listen to a song, share our thoughts or worries, then pray together – it’s a lovely way to bring family far away into our home, to remember them together in what we are calling our ‘Sacred Space’.

And I am enjoying spending more time with the children and as a family. I have the time to be there for Izzy and Piran, to listen, to play, to just ‘be together’ without so much rushing around. We enjoy campus living; having neighbours we actually see; the children have playmates on tap – they can play without arranging ‘playdates’ days in advance and without any chauffeuring required. The children are all safe within a gated compound where they can walk to friends’ houses alone – it feels like giving them the kind of childhood we enjoyed in 1970s/1980s England.

The children’s new school, Phoenix International Primary School, being international, had children from many different countries. Their classes were small; about half the size of their classes in England. In fact the two schools could hardly be more different! There were contrasts in size and wealth and curriculum (Rowanfield was twice as big with 50% free school mealers and driven to maintain its 3 times Ofsted ‘Outstanding’; Phoenix is fee-paying, smaller and intimate, with the freedom to build the curriculum of its choosing, without inspection) . Phoenix is made up of two halves, called Lower School and Upper School. Each is based around an intimate courtyard, with classrooms coming off and with pillars, plants, play areas and trees all adding character and charm. We were very impressed with the school pool too.

As October approached, the incredible Jacaranda came into bloom and filled the school with purple blossoms – breath-taking beauty I had never before beheld. Then to my amazement, as the lilac petals were beginning to fade, they were overlapped by the vibrant, vivid reds of Flame Trees – both a treat to behold. And as we were struck by the warmth of these October colours, so the warmth of new friendships struck us also. Truly, we were living in the ‘Warm Heart of Africa’.