Juliet's Kenya Days blog

Letter from Graham to David 7 Jan 1977 –

For over a week I have been working spasmodically on next term’s timetable. We have ten weeks to do before the Easter holiday. This is the term with the maximum amount of sunshine – it won’t rain much for three months or more. I arranged to have no teaching on a Friday afternoon and Saturday morning so perhaps we can go away for more weekend trips.

Diary entry by Juliet 10 Jan 1977 –

Today was the first day of school. I got to school quite early and was told to go and look on all the Form III doors for my name. I found out that I was in the same class as my two best friends Shameem Kassam and Cheryl Green. I am sitting at the back of the class with a Dutch girl called Alice Erkelens. We do five periods a week of Physics and Chemistry as I chose to do Sciences instead of Arts. We have 3 periods of swimming per week and do tennis, hockey and netball.

Diary entry by Juliet 11 Jan 1977 –

Today is Fiona’s birthday. I made her a skirt and Helen made her a set of bedclothes for her dolls Moses basket. Fiona also starts school today. She goes to St Austins School which used to be called Jack and Jill (and still is by us). Helen is now in Standard 6.

Diary entry by Helen 13 Jan 1977 –

The people we were going to school with’s car had broken down so we came in our van. I was scared because I thought class could have started by now, but it hadn’t. In RE too I was shaky because Sister Monica told me to get a bible and Mum & Dad would not get me one. But now Mum said she would get me one so I am happy now.

This is the only reference I can find in our archives to the religious aspect of being at a convent school. In fact, we found Loreto remarkably tolerant; it was accepted that students had different religious beliefs and so secondary level students went to RE classes appropriate to their religion eg Muslims had an Imam to teach them, Protestants were taught separately from Catholics etc. However, we were all obliged to conform to convent rule by taking part in saying the ‘Hail Mary’ prayer at the beginning of each lesson (in French or Swahili in language classes!) and, on some occasions, the Lord’s Prayer. Students were expected (though not forced) to attend Catholic Mass once a week which Helen and I did from time to time.

Diary entry by Helen 14 Jan 1977 –

This morning we went to school with Dad. Assembly had just started but I was glad it had not finished yet. I like hockey. We did some bullying which is what you do when you start.

Letter from Judy to Grandma & Grandad 18 Jan 1977 –

Fiona goes to school all day now so feels quite grown-up especially as she is one of the older children at the school. It is very good for her as she is still the ‘baby’ at home. Juliet and Helen have settled down well in their new classes. Juliet is now specialising in Physics, Chemistry and Biology in preparation for O level and I think enjoys it, though in many ways she is more suited to the ‘arts’, being interested and quite talented at writing and drawing. However, as she is at Loreto for only 2 terms more we didn’t think it useful to interfere with the school’s plans for her. She will be starting this year’s work again in September in England so can choose exactly what she likes then, and specialising in science will certainly give her a useful experience to decide whether she wants to continue with it or not. Graham has started teaching again but has a very easy time this term as the Form 5s don’t come until next term and a student teacher is taking some of his classes (under Graham’s supervision of course). Graham has grown a beard which for some reason suits him well – I have never liked him with a beard before. The boys think it is very funny – one of them told Graham he looked just like Jesus – this tickled Graham immensely of course !

Diary entry by Helen 13 Jan 1977 –

I was glad I brought something to school for the Science Table but I couldn’t for What’s News because we never buy newspapers. From my new seat I can see Juliet in her classroom.

Letter from Helen to Grandma & Grandad 20 Jan 1977 –

Happy Birthday Grandma ! I am in Std 6 now, and our teacher is very nice. She is called Mrs Van-der-Velde. She is American and says some words differently. Our classroom is above our Std 5 one and you can see right over the tennis courts. We have hockey now so I borrow Juliet’s hockey stick. In science we had some interesting experiments to do. Tonight after I finished my homework it started to rain very hard, then it started to hail. Under our umbrellas we went outside and collected some. Mum put them in the freezer – they were bigger than peas!

Diary entry by Helen 20 Jan 1977 –

Today in class I was looking at Juliet in her class and when I started frowning she couldn’t help laughing so I was laughing too !

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 2 Feb 1977 –

Although now well into term time, we have still got a holiday feeling as Graham is only teaching 18 periods a week so has a great deal of free time. We worked out that this means he is earning something in excess of £7 for each 40 minute period he teaches ! With Fiona at school all day Graham and I are enjoying our leisure and doing some swimming, walking and climbing and a great deal of sitting around in people’s gardens, sunbathing and chatting. Fiona is coping with a full day at school very well and this week they started providing hot lunches which is an excellent thing for the children. With breakfast at 6:45am and supper at about 6pm it’s a long time for little ones to survive on a few sandwiches. Juliet and Helen seem to manage well enough with packed lunches but their capacity is greater and also their organising ability so they can spread their food over morning break, lunch and afternoon break. Juliet’s timetable has been rearranged so that all her sport is during the school day which she much enjoys – previously she had to miss most of it because of the difficulty of fitting in with school runs. Because of the lack of seasons she does tennis, hockey, netball and swimming all year round. Helen continues to be as studious as ever and we shall be thankful to get her back to an English primary school where 9 year olds are still expected to have time for a few leisure activities. She routinely works from 6pm or so through to her bedtime at 8:30 or 9pm. I started letting her play outside until it got dark at 7pm but then she was never finished by 9pm and she couldn’t sleep because of her brain still fretting about unfinished work. As Helen is one of the quickest in her class I hate to think what the slower ones do – probably like Juliet they are perfectly happy to scrape by on the absolute minimum necessary to keep them out of trouble ! It is certainly an encouragement for Bristol’s free and easy primary school methods that both Helen and Juliet can keep up in classes most of whose members are several years older than them and who have been subjected to constant pressure of formal lessons and homework since they started school.

Diary entry by Helen 2 Feb 1977 –

I knew it was going to be a chaotic day. It started when Juliet forgot her packed lunch and had to run back for it while we went and picked up the other children (for the school run). Then we had to go back to our house anyway because Dad needed 100/-. Mrs Vander-velde (Helen’s teacher) was bad-tempered but I don’t blame her because I was too ! When she said I had lost a house point I felt angry with her and did not answer any questions. We were kept in because of not doing some geography but in the end she let us go. I went quickly in case she changed her mind.

Diary entry by Helen 4 Feb 1977 –

In maths our teacher was telling us to put our thumbs in our mouths if we couldn’t stop talking. It was funny seeing everyone with their thumbs in their mouths.

Diary entry by Helen 9 Feb 1977 –

We had a horrible day sitting on the floor in another classroom because new boards to pin up pictures were being put up. We had to keep our books in our laps and sit on the floor to write.

Letter from Judy to Grandma & Grandad 2 Mar 1977 –

Juliet is very busy at the moment reading ‘Lord of The Flies’ by William Golding which is her English book for school. She is also reading ‘Gone With The Wind’. As it has over 1000 pages it is keeping her occupied a little longer than her usual books.

Diary entry by Helen 2 Mar 1977 –

At lunchtime I forgot to take the tennis racket to Juliet and suddenly I remembered one period afterwards. I asked Mrs Vandervelde if I could take it and she said yes but was rather annoyed. I was scared Juliet would say something horrible but she just said “next time bring it at lunchtime” !

Helen’s list of girls in her school year of 50 students split between three classes. This shows the big mix of nationalities. The teachers were just as diverse; some were nuns, but many were not. This was very different from our experience in England where I don’t remember any non-English students or teachers.