The beginning of a partnership
For the last 15 years, I’ve led my school's partnership with another school in South Africa, enjoying experiences I never thought possible in teaching. Travel in general is important to me, but remembering to stop and look around, to take in my surroundings and to appreciate what’s there, is vital. When I’m free-thinking like this I hope to understand more of the place I’m in – which is what happened when I was in the staff room in 2009, listening to a passionate speech from Protus Sokhela as he thanked us for our hospitality.
Protus was headteacher of Shea O’Connor Combined School in Nottingham Road, KwaZulu Natal in South Africa, with which my school had been paired and to which our headteacher and a PE teacher had travelled as part of the UK’s bid to host the 2012 Olympics (we were to help to improve sports access for girls at Shea; funding covered reciprocal visits and a small project). Protus and Wellington, his deputy, were due to leave the next morning and I formed a quick plan: to understand more and to appreciate his school more, I needed to go to PC World.
So, £70 of my Citizenship budget and 24 hours later, Protus was on his way back to South Africa with a pair of computer speakers, a microphone, a webcam and my email address, along with a promise that we’d Skype and stay in contact. A real difficulty with international work is ensuring the depth of a partnership, as teachers may be focused on more than one project at a time.
This was the start of what has now become the longest-running partnership from this initiative. As a school, we are very proud of this. I can still see the fascination students had when chatting to students in South Africa in 2009 and the countless realisations of how connected our world can be and how we can engage with communities beyond our country’s borders.