While I still nurse a desire to go back to study further I won’t be waxing lyrical about that this time. Today it’s something totally different that took me back in time and I’d like to share that with you.  Last week the kids’ school had parent-teacher conferences and because of the daily radio show on East FM I was unable to take yet another day off to deal with school matters so I got in touch with the school and scheduled a one-on-one meeting early this week.

I went to the school on Monday and joined the school for morning assembly as I had requested if I could speak to the school on the importance of wearing the school uniform. I must say I was a bit nervous to stand on the stage and address the children despite having interviewed Raila Odinga! The kids were more daunting. Anyway, the short talk went very well and after that I met with Googlee’s teacher and then Dream Girl’s. (Not their real names but close enough)

Dream Girl has just started a new academic year and has a wonderful teacher. All her teachers have been great with her keeping in mind she’s gone through s bit of trauma in her very young life but Mrs Muchiri has been exceptional with her and also Dream Girl really looks up to her teacher a lot.

So we had what I thought would be a quick short meeting but I spent a quality amount of time with her instead. She went over everything with a fine tooth comb and relayed to me that she would take extra special care of Dream Girl because of the mishaps that had happened with her. I was beginning to feel that Dream Girl’s levels of studying might have started dropping and I was right.

In all this I must say that I really enjoyed the way the headmaster and the teachers get so involved in your child’s life. They are literally an email or a phone call away and actually keep the parents in the know with every little bit that is happening. Maybe it’s just me who went to school a long time ago but I can’t seem to remember such interaction with the teachers at all. I remember Open Day when Mum & Dad came to pick up school reports (bloody dreaded day!), then the sports day and the swimming gala and perhaps the Parents Day or something where we’d put up a play or dance or something.  Primary school memories aren’t as vivid as the high school ones but then again high school was just a jail for us! Watch this space for more on that at a later time.

Anyway what I am trying to say is that I’m so happy the way the schools and the teachers deal with your child in school. The attention given to the slightest behaviour change is picked up quickly and dealt with before it becomes a full blown problem. The school also offers a counselling service and I know I sound like I’m a sales rep for this school but I’m truly grateful that the teachers who spend most of the day with my children in school are so aware of everything that the slightest change in your child is picked up straight away and you are informed of it right away.

While I sat with Mrs Muchiri talking about Dream Girl I was so wistful about how nice she was and the way she was handling the problem at hand that she made me want to be back in Year 5 and have her as my teacher.  I now realise why, when we were kids, grown-ups would say make the most of being in school. Those were, truly, the best days of my life…