Monday 13th February 2023

I set off with Singkoguls at 08:30, as he drove me in the school tuk-tuk to Hatton, where Donald's father, Anton, then took me the rest of the way to Maskeliya. It is a journey I never tire of, as the views on the way, particularly of the reservoir, are simply stunning, and I made sure we stopped at the most appropriate places to admire the view and make sure I got some good photographs of it.

Anton dropped me off at Riverside, where I was met by Nilanga, the son of the family that runs the place, which as well as having two guest rooms (soon to be three), also runs a small shop on the same site. I just dumped my stuff, crossed the bridge to say a quick hello to Ananda and his family (where I stayed last year), then headed into school, where I knew I would be very busy from the outset.

I arrived around lunchtime, which was lovely, as I was able to greet everyone, and I then got stuck into my planned activities for the afternoon. For the fifth lesson of the day, I talked to the 'interns', who are the group who completed the Main Diploma last year and have stayed on to do the Higher Diploma this year. There are 20 'interns' - all ladies - but only 13 of them were in school today.

For the sixth, and final, lesson of the day, I was tasked with talking to the teachers about lesson planning - fortunately, a topic I know rather a lot about. It turned out that they knew rather a lot about it too, and I was very pleasantly impressed with how well they responded to my input about lesson planning, and how good they were at answering my questions. They appear to be a very good group of staff.

Today's photos have two pictures of the journey from Hatton to Maskeliya, my first sight of the school as you approach it from the main road, and the lovely group of 13 'interns' I worked with in Lesson 5 today.