Keith in Sri Lanka

I left Kurunegala at 08:00 this morning after one final breakfast at Razeena's next door! I felt a great sense of satisfaction as I left - a recognition of a job well done, which Tim commented on in yesterday's blog. He said that: 'It sounds as if this part of your visit has been really successful', which indeed it has been, but no less so than the first half of my visit this time, where I had an extremely productive time this year working in three of the Tea Leaf Trust Centres. The two types of voluntary work that I do in Sri Lanka are a huge contrast. My generic skills working in education over the past 45 years, including my leadership and management skills, serve me very well working with the Tamil people at the Tea Leaf Centres in the Hill Country, whereas that skill set is even more ideally suited to supporting the majority Sinhalese people at the Royal International School in Kurunegala, and both settings are very important to me. As Yohan drove me to Colombo, ar...

I have arrived at the final day at the Royal International School, and it was basically one long wrap-up session, firstly with Lalanga, who brought Priyani to my office, as they wanted to present me a gift of two books and a thank you card, which was extremely kind of them. I then had my final session with Lalanga, where I went through the Eisenhower Grid with him in order to give him a very clear strategy for time management, as it was a tool that I found helpful as a Headteacher. I then had a long debriefing session with Ravi, Buddhika, and three older guys who act like consultants for the school, with two of them taking over the mentoring roles for Priyani and Lalanga from next week. Having to review all that I had done with them was very self-affirming for me, as I was astonished how much ground I had covered with them over the past four weeks. I know that I have had a positive impact at the Royal International School, which is most reassuring. It was back to the apartment then for...

It all gets a bit manic at the end here, as I am trying to tie up lots of loose ends, whilst also sorting out very practical stuff. For example, I had to fit in a final clothes wash yesterday, and I also spent time writing thank you cards to various people who have helped me. I completed the ironing of those clothes today, and I also delivered the thank you cards in person, including, of course to Razeena next door who has provided me with breakfast and an evening meal on weekdays. I had three meeting today - two final discussions with Lalanga and Priyani, the Sectional Heads I have been working closely with. This was followed by another meeting with the Managing Director that again turned into a further scrutiny of students' books to address concerns about them. I will get the opportunity to have a proper meeting with him tomorrow where we can discuss the outcomes of the work that I have done this time and whether I will return in 2027. I have particularly enjoyed working closely ...

I continued with my 1.5-hour training sessions with a new senior member of staff at the school, with my first one covering 'Embracing accountability as a class teacher - how to train your teachers', which was another wonderful opportunity to share the knowledge and skills that I developed over the past 45 years as an educator. It was one of the tasks that I have most enjoyed out of everything that I have been asked to do during this period of time at the Royal International School. Sandwiched in between my two training sessions today was a scheduled meeting with the Managing Director, which became a task-orientated one where I supported the scrutiny of the marking of books in one of the sections of the school. It turned out to be a crucial task, so I was very happy that I was deployed in that way, although the outcome of the work scrutiny has repercussions that will ripple through long after I have left the school. My second 1.5-hour training session today covered 'Differen...

I had a rather late start this morning, which was lovely, as I got a few things done in the apartment. My first appointment today was a meeting in my 'cabin' (they call offices 'cabins' here) with Lalanga, where we particularly looked at the use of behaviour charts (similar to a 'report card') for students whose behaviour was becoming increasingly unmanageable. I believe what I shared with Lalanga could have a big impact at the school. My next appointment was with a new senior member of staff at the school, where I had a 1.5-hour training session with him on 'Effective classroom control and mastering effective classroom management', which was a wonderful use of my leadership and management skills, which have developed over the past 45 years, since I first completed my Postgraduate Certificate in Education in July 1981 at The College of Ripon and York St. John. I absolutely loved the 1.5-hour training session, and I have two more lined up with the same ne...

It was a sweltering hot day today, as I began my final working week at the Royal International School in Kurunegala. I started with a session on behaviour management with Lalanga, the Section Head for Grades 7 and 8, and it was a very practical session as we dealt with an incident involving a group of students (inevitably boys) in Grade 7 - the mystery of the chewing gum on the teacher's chair that we didn't quite manage to get to the bottom of! I was frustrated last week at being unable to meet with the Managing Director to provide him with feedback about my work, so he kindly scheduled regular slots for me to chat with him this week. The first one of these was due to take place from 11:00 - 12:00 this morning in his office, but it was cancelled due to him having another meeting, the irony of which was probably not lost on him, and certainly wasn't lost on me, as I have such little time left here now. I had a good discussion with Priyani today about the key issues that she...

I had breakfast at 09:00 again. The weather has been very unpredictable, although it is looking far more likely that you can predict rain, so I decided to head back this morning.  It suited both Nilanga and me to drive back to Kurunegala at 10:30, and we got back at almost exactly 12:00. It had been lovely to see Nilanga and Radha again, and I was very touched that Radha had been up during the night producing some beautiful hand-made flowers and a lovely poem for me. I decided to go into Kurunegala for a final shop - mainly to buy a couple of gifts for people, so I took a tuk-tuk to one of the major stores - Thilakawardhana - where I found a few T-shirts for my granddaughters and other friends, then I decided to see if Selyn was open, so I messaged Sandra, before making my way back into the centre of the city to shop at Sriyani, where I purchased another couple of items before Sandra drove out to meet me. Sandra was visiting a close Buddhist monk friend who is in his 90s and has re...

I got up fairly late today and had breakfast at 09:00. I was supposed to climb the Lion Rock this morning, but it was very cloudy and due to rain, so my plan got scuppered, but the alternative was still delightful. I went to Dambulla with Bawan by tuk-tuk and visited the Dambulla Cave Temple, which is a World Heritage Site, and well worth the huge number of steps that you have to climb to get to the entrance to the caves, as they really are rather spectacular. It was a wise decision not to try to climb Lion Rock this morning, as the heavens did open and we would have been drenched! It remains something on my Sri Lankan bucket list for the future - maybe even next year if the weather is better! After our visit to the caves, the tuk-tuk driver took us to a lovely place to eat, where we enjoyed a buffet lunch. We then tried to visit a few shops but quickly abandoned that idea and just went back to Nilanga and Radha's place. I rested for a very short while before walking into Sigiriya ...

There was no great rush today, as my first lesson observation wasn't until 09:30, so I had a late breakfast, then made my way to the sports field to take a few photographs of the Grades 5 and 6 Sports Meet, which looked to be going well. Madam Sandra was addressing the parents as I arrived. Events at the Royal International School seem to be extremely well done, and they go to much greater lengths than we would for our Sports Days in UK schools. It felt like a very relaxed day today, as my commitments in school were very light, with just a couple of lesson observations in Grades 5 and 6, where the classes were small because of students involved in the Sports Meet. I then had a couple more lesson observations in Grades 7 and 8, although the second one of those got cancelled, as Nilanga arrived rather early to take me away for the weekend, and it was an ICT lesson that wasn't a high priority for me. Nilanga arrived, and Radha, his wife, was with him, as she is from Kurunegala, so...