Third school term 1975.

Letter from Graham to Tom & Mary 11 Sept 1975 –

I am now back at work for my third term having narrowly escaped being transferred to a school 100 miles from Nairobi and the children’s schools. It was mainly for the children’s sake the transfer was cancelled.

Letter from Judy to Elaine 13 Sept 1975 –

Graham’s teaching load is relatively light this term because the 4th, 5th and 6th formers are doing external exams. We had a new headmaster at last half-term who is very young and wasted no time in getting on bad terms with all his staff and boys. It is a mystery why he was appointed except that he has accountancy training and it is also rumoured that Gathaiga, our previous head, was given the push because of corruption and fraud with the school finances ! All rumours of course – there are only two possibilities in Kenyan public life – the official government line and rumour, neither of which usually even approximate to the truth. This last sentence would get me on the first plane home if this letter is censored en route – let’s keep our fingers crossed that it isn’t !

Letter from Judy to Jo 30 Sept 1975 –

Everyone is feeling in a holiday mood here – rather like April and May at home – the weather is getting warmer at last and serious work at school only goes on until the 3rd week in October. After that people are involved in invigilating and supervising exams in various parts of the province. There is a ruling that no school can invigilate or supervise its own exams. The results of the O and A level exams in Kenya are so vital to the students and schools involved that this ruling has been made to prevent teacher conniving with pupils to cheat. In fact Graham and one other teacher are staying at Alliance as the majority of their teaching is 3rd year (pre-O level) which pleases him as he doesn’t like his boys ‘messed about’ by other teachers taking over. In any case he loses a dozen or so teaching periods (his 6th form work) so will have an easy time. Many wives also help with invigilating but I didn’t fancy it much – you don’t know where you’ll be sent or how long you’ll have to work until the last minute – also I have other people’s children to lunch and for the afternoon several times a week. Although women working full-time here have housegirls at home to look after their children in the afternoon (there is no afternoon school until age 9), the children always spend their time here, with the result that I have 7 or 8 kids every afternoon. Obviously they do in fact prefer to be with a ‘mum’ even though most of the housegirls are pleasant enough.

Letter from Judy to Valerie & Graham 25 Oct 1975 –

The whole exam system here is iniquitous – the pressure on the boys is enormous, even in a school like this which has sufficient teachers and adequate equipment – what it must be like in an up-country school with no specialist teachers and no equipment I hate to think. There is a lot of talk about spreading trained teachers around more fairly but I don’t see anything coming of it. For one thing the powers that be don’t like to lower the reputation of their ‘good’ schools and for another the majority of expatriate teachers don’t like teaching outside Nairobi or Mombasa, nor do qualified Kenyan teachers come to that. The deputy head here has just lent Graham a document produced by the E.African Universities Council pointing out how badly the present education system is geared to the needs of the country and how they are producing an elite who are increasingly cut off from ordinary people. We were interested that he should have a copy as he appears to be a pillar of the establishment – there is undoubtedly a great deal of discussion and criticism of the present set-up and that in combination with the fact that the money put into the education system will have to get less over the next few years, might produce changes – we shall see.

All the under 9s go to school morning only, so I usually have 7 or 8 of them here every afternoon – just like old times ! The older children get home about 4:30 and by 5pm we seem to have every dog and child on the compound – it’s a good thing we have long-suffering neighbours !

Letter from Graham to Grandma & Grandad Nov 1975 –

We are getting near holiday time now – mine starts on 27th November and lasts until 14th January, but the children’s are a bit different. Juliet & Helen have been doing exams because this is the end of the school year. Helen is having a party at school and has made a lovely paper hat for the occasion.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 3 Nov 1975 –

Juliet and Helen have exams next week but don’t seem to be taking any notice of the fact. I’m beginning to wonder if our campaign to relieve them of anxiety about such things hasn’t been taken to heart a bit too enthusiastically ! However, they both did well enough last term so I don’t think I need to worry ! Fiona is growing up fast and has really got settled into school work. I went to her open-afternoon last week and her teacher seemed to be very pleased with her efforts especially in mathematics. She will be going into Standard 2 class in January but I think her teacher will be going up with her which is nice as Fiona likes her. She is mid-European judging by her accent – Hungarian or something similar. Helen’s teacher is a Goan – they really live in a cosmopolitan atmosphere these children. Juliet has a new girl in her class who can only speak Norwegian and Italian so they are all being extra helpful and she is in the especial care of Juliet’s Italian friend (Ilaria Fasana) who can speak French, English and Swahili fluently. It is quite accepted that even people with only a few years schooling should be able to speak well in 3 languages – their own language, Swahili and English and children from Helen’s age upwards learn French too. Poor Juliet’s struggling hard with her rudiments of French and Swahili, but I’ve no doubt if she went to France for a few months she’d pick it up quickly enough.

From Helen’s collection. We sang the National Anthem in assembly at the beginning of each school day, along with the raising of the Kenya flag. Sometimes we sang in English and sometimes in Swahili – I much preferred the latter and very much liked the tune.

Letter from Judy to Valerie & Graham 18 Nov 1975 –

Term ends next week and Graham is up to his eyes in marking exams and writing reports. He was given 100 odd 2nd year Physics scripts yesterday afternoon and told he must have them marked by today – an impossible request, though he might get them done by tomorrow ! The school had made an error in organisation. However it will soon be done for another term and Graham has managed to avoid being asked to do marking in the holidays.

Letter from Helen to Grandma & Grandad Dec 1975 –

In my school report I got 99 in comprehension, 80 in composition, 98 in spelling, 92 in grammar. In maths I got 71, in history 84, in geography 96, in science 92, in Swahili 51 and French I got 72. I am going up to Standard 5 after Christmas. My new teacher’s name is Mrs Sickmuller she is German and I hope she will be nice.

Letter from Graham Dec 1975 –

My job has been pleasant most of the time. I have been teaching physics for the first time. It was interesting but it was awkward not knowing what apparatus was available and getting it at the right time. The course is quite good and I think the younger boys enjoyed it. In the sixth form the boys seemed completely unable to write a proper report of an experiment but they did the work quite well. I have also taught Industrial Arts – woodwork and metalwork. It was good fun and as it was only for Form 1 boys I was more skilled than the pupils. Mathematics was the easiest subject to teach though I did not know how to do it beforehand. Previously I have taught ‘traditional’ maths whereas this school does a ‘modern maths’ course. Fortunately the pupils are eager to learn and are mostly able to cope with their work.