Back to school

This is the day we have been waiting for, school is back!!! We have survived the holidays. I now have some time to write to update the happenings from here.
Firstly, the good news was that Matthew, Owen and Timothy all passed their PLE and are now officially S1's. We were delighted with the results, not only did they pass, but the whole class did. We are now preparing them for the new Secondary Vocational school. It is the usual rush to get things finished as the official opening of the school is this Saturday, though the students don't start until Monday 13th (the day after we leave for NZ).
During these last few weeks we have been swimming with one of the activity groups (about 30 children) at a nearby pool. It was a great day and, thanks to Marilyn's coaching, many have definitely improved their skills. We were also involved in interviewing teachers for both the Nursery and Primary school as well as the Secondary school. It has been an interesting exercise to say the least. Last week we ran two workshops for teachers, one on Mathematics and one on Teaching Reading using phonics, we will wait and see what effect they might have but they seemed to go well.
Last Friday was the end of holidays disco which was a lot of fun for all.
Today we celebrated the beginning of the school year by giving out new crocs (shoes) to the whole Nursery school and to some of the Primary school children. We hope to complete the Primary school tomorrow. It is a very rewarding task, and we are very fortunate to have shoes to give them.
We are also making preparation for our trip to NZ in less than two weeks time, we are really looking forward to catching up with family and friends. It is amazing how quickly six weeks can be filled up.
Pita continues to make progress in recovery and Piet seems to be now back into full swing again, please pray for their continued progress.
As part of the new year, eight of the babies have moved from the nurses to the toddlers section in the home. Rhode is one of them. It was her first day today as a 'toddler' and when we got her down here this afternoon, she was very tired. She is at a very delightful stage (the pre-2yr old stage), full of cuddles, and smiles and laughs and mimcs words in conversation. We will probably miss her more when we are away than she will miss us. Please pray that she will settle into her new routines.
That's about all for now, till next time
God Bless