Kilwa Trip

Every year, as a part of our Geography and History curriculum, we take our Year 8 students to the ancient ruins at Kilwa. It is rich in the history of the Tanzanian coastline and at the same time, a lovely place to spend a couple of days. Our hosts at Kilwa Dreams, who have been working with us for several years, provided a safe and tranquil environment to enjoy the beach and engage in numerous activities to encourage strong bonds between our students.

The coach journey there and back is a long one but the students were a credit to themselves and to the school. We travelled to the island of Kisiwani by boat and the students managed the 5km hike around the island in fairly hot conditions. The island has a number of significant historical remains and I was really impressed by the questions that they raised with our guide.

I would also like to add how respectful they all were to protocols concerning removal of footwear when entering religious buildings in compliance with tradition and further, not leaving a trace of our visit by securing their own rubbish. This was also true on our bus.

The girls proved significantly formidable on the beach football pitch only to lose by a narrow margin. This was probably due the fact that they had spent more time swimming in the sea and watching the jellyfish.

Our host provided some splendid cuisine and we enjoyed a couple of great evening meals followed by a beach bonfire. Our students roasted marshmallows, sang along and enjoyed a wonderful skit that will be reprised at their assembly, to follow in due course.

Finally, there was a birthday celebration to be held. Then we danced.

So hats off to our Year 8 students, they are a wonderful group and I would like to think that they are now an even closer knit group of individuals.