Proof of the pudding

After my rather dismal performance in the 5 km race held at the school recently, I lost some faith in my running ability. When faced with what I considered a failure, what to do? Give up? Or double down? I decided to give myself a new challenge: I entered the 5 km race being organised…

One of the ways which Lesley and I help around the school is to provide dorm cover for the Titchie Boys’ Dorm. This is a group of nine 8 to 11 year olds, who are boarding at the school whilst their parents are working elsewhere in Africa. Each dorm has a pair of Dorm Parents,…

Lesley has returned to Germany to meet our new grandson, Miles, and provide some support for his parents, Tim and Elli. She will also spend some time in the UK visiting Alice, Chris and Everlee. I will return to Europe for the Christmas holidays, and then we will both come back to RVA at the…

We have made it to half-term (or mid-term, as they call it here). Six weeks of teaching done, and now we have a few days break. On Wednesday this week, all my classes had a test on Unit 2 of the curriculum. Thursday was a compressed timetable before the students leave campus, and not the…

As a teacher, I spend a lot of time in my classroom. I am fortunate that all my lessons are in the same room, and I don’t have to share it with any other teachers. The classroom was previously used for Computer Science, so has large desks connected by wooden platforms which were used to…

Last weekend Lesley was busy helping with the Titchie Field Day (a sports day for the primary/elementary school). Parents of some the youngest pupils (up to Year 6) were visiting the school for the weekend, and she was helping organise egg-and-spoon races, upholding proper primary school traditions. On the same day we were invited by…

Rift Valley Academy is in the second year of a four year set of themes, around which many aspects of school life are centred. Last year the theme was “Absolute Surrender” (to Christ). This year the theme is “Balance”. The following years’ themes will begin with C and D, but I don’t know (or can’t…

The Rift Valley Academy school sits on the outskirts of the small town of Kijabe. Lesley and I ventured down there to do a spot of shopping. This is our local shopping centre: From left to right, there is the Superduka (or supermarket) run by Sarah, where we were able to buy various groceries, and…

This week has seen a faculty meeting, a Maths department meeting, a school-wide staff meeting and a Professional Growth in-service training day. I have finished my lesson preparation for the period up to half term, and loaded all the information into Schoology, the school’s Learning Management System. Today saw the arrival of the first pupils…