We were invited to light sparklers for Diwali in the Meridian School playground.
We were contacted by the Principal of Meridian, a local English-medium Primary School (a very expensive one, with real classrooms and a playground and very high educational standards) and 20 of our children were invited as guests to their Diwali celebrations. They also sent one of their school buses for us. The show was wonderful, and lunch was simply amazing.

  This is the November 2010 newsletter to all our MSF School sponsors and supporters to thank you for your help. Please write back to us and tell us what you think.

The visit of Laura Johnson of Institute of Education, London, was a great success. Quite apart from her generous help for the school (she is a sponsor AND also makes donations to our bursary) she was clearly popular with our children and was impressed with the efforts we are making towards becoming an English-medium school.

All our nursery and early classes are learning roman/english letters as well as telugu letters, and numbers are always in 'english' because in India almost all numbers are now written that way.

Last Newsletter you saw that we went to the theatre of Ravindra Bharathi. Before taking the bus back to school we saw a public park with swings and roundabouts, which is a very rare sight in India.

The children pleaded with Lavanya mam to try them because they had seen them in pictures but never been able to use them. The teachers also had never used public swings. So, they were also able to join in the fun.

     
For those of us who have grown up with swings and roundabouts it must be difficult to imagine the astonishment and joy of seeing them and using them for the first time. Even the sight of so much grass in the public park and to run around and play on it was a pleasure. Another reason for amazement was that they saw their teachers also using the swings and playing with the children. Indian culture is very strict about 'honour' and 'respect' and that means that adults do not behave in an unseemly way.

Introducing Sofiya: My full name is Ruksana Sofiya and I am teaching Hindi in the school. I am now 18 and I was taught to Intermediate (age 11 to 14) and now I am a teacher and enjoy it because Lavanya Maam is our Principal and she is very friendly.

In the evening I learn about computers which will help me get other jobs. My wish is to work in an Orphans Home because so many children have no education and financial problems and food problems, so I want to give them better facilities and especially education.

We bought a very good Indian microscope for only £50 gbp so that the children could see things they have heard of but never seen; yes <shock/horror> small children in India sometimes have lice in their hair, just like small English children!

We shall buy a few lice combs soon and go a-hunting. In the meantime we hope to set up a science project to look at the water of the Yellammakunta, the reservoir near us where many mothers do their dhobi or collect water for washing. You can see a picture of it at http://msfoundationschool.org/gallery
Have you got a colour printer? Why not print a couple of copies of this newsletter (just hit Control-P) and pass them to your friends and relatives? Even if they don't wish to help the school directly, they will surely be interested to know what you do.