Atorkor, Ghana - Summer 2016

To sum up our trip to Ghana is no easy task. It is hard to articulate how much of an overwhelming, enlightening, and life-changing experience it truly was.

It enabled us all to grow a great deal and we came away feeling extremely privileged and grateful for the life that we are so fortunate to lead. From luggage falling off of our mini bus, to the shower stopping after you had just put shampoo in your hair, we quickly learned that life in Ghana is very different and it did not come with the luxuries that we have grown accustomed to. 

Atorkor, where we stayed, was a relatively small, poor village and daily life there was rather basic and simple. However, this by no means lessened the locals’ spirits, for they were bursting with energy and passion, whilst their constant smiles were truly contagious. From the very moment that we arrived, they made us feel extremely at home, with a wonderful welcoming ceremony of dancing, singing and drumming. This introduction to Ghanaian culture gave us an initial insight into the joyful, upbeat and positive rhythm of life that the we were soon to live by, and this was only the beginning! 

We were soon to discover how great a role these people would be playing in making our experience in Ghana something we will never forget; particularly the children. Every day, without fail, the street outside our house would be teeming with smiling faces, all awaiting the chance to hold our hands on the walk to school. Our main role at the school was to organise and run the holiday camp. The day would be divided between sport in the playground, games in the ICT room, board games in the library, and their favourite activity: arts and crafts. The process of inventing a new craft activity each day certainly tested our creativity skills, but seeing the children use their imagination was truly magical. It was amazing to observe how a simple feather and a handful of glitter could bring so much joy into a child’s life – although they did seem to prefer putting the glitter on their faces, rather than their drawings! They also marvelled at our ‘bubble writing’ and we quickly learnt that once you wrote one child’s name out like this, there would be a rapid queue of about twenty other children wanting to do the same. This holiday camp was to become a highlight of the trip, because it gave us the chance to spend time with the children, learn their names individually and bond with them.

Speaking of names, we also got to learn our local Ewe names, which are assigned according to what day of the week we were born. Additionally, we got the opportunity to learn basic words in the local Ewe language so that we could communicate with our partner girls. This proved to be more difficult than we expected however and, as someone who learns two languages at A-Level, even I was struggling to grasp the pronunciation! To enhance the cultural aspect of the trip, we were also lucky enough to learn how to drum, batik, cook African cuisine, and dress in typical Ghanaian fashion. Some highlights however may have been our rainforest canopy walk and our trip to the local baby clinic, where we were able to weigh the babies ourselves, whilst some of us even learnt how to carry them on our backs!  

Perhaps though, the greatest experience of all was the significant and lifelong friendships that we forged with our partner girls. We spent most days together, during which they taught us how to cook, wash our clothes, and speak the language, as well as showing us their homes. In return, we taught them to swim in the lagoon, make friendship bracelets and read English in the library. At their Prize Day, we watched them be awarded for their academic success and we were then invited to try what would come to be known as the ‘chicken dance’. In return for their hospitality, we decided to share a glimpse of our own talents with a breath-taking gym routine and a rendition of our school hymn; which we sang in true RMS style, Reverend Quill will be pleased to hear! 

These moments are only a mere snapshot of our trip, but they all culminated to a very special bond with not only our partner girls, but the other children and the village itself. It is safe to say that leaving this behind was very emotional and many tears were shed, even by those of us who apparently never cry! On behalf of everyone on the trip, I would like to say a massive ‘akpe’ (thank-you) to Mrs Baron, Miss Tarbox and Miss Reidie, without whom the trip would not have been possible. We feel extremely privileged to have had such an eye-opening and humbling experience and I think I can speak for everyone when I say that Ghana will always hold a special place in our hearts. 

Katie, Year 13

You can view a full gallery of images from our trip to Ghana here

Harrow International School Exchange - March/April 2016

Day 1
Today was our first day in Beijing. We were all really excited. I still can't believe I'm actually in China. Here's a brief summary of what we did today-

We got up at 8 in the morning and went down to get breakfast. Jennifer and I had some toast, fried eggs, and these 'steam points', which are like spongy dumplings...I liked them...   At 10:30, we took the bus to Tiananmen Square, a popular shopping place... We looked around the square, and visited a tea shop, where we tried some tea...     After that, we visited a Chinese art gallery and bought stuff from the shop.

We had a packed lunch outside the Forbidden City.    We then visited the Forbidden City, built in the 1400s to house the emperor, and make sure no common citizen saw him. According to legend, it has 9999 rooms. If a newborn baby were to sleep in a different room every night, it'd be 27 years old when it runs out of rooms.

To get a good view of the city, we went to Jingshan Park. We encountered the Beijing Opera, a group of friendly people performing classic Chinese songs. They sang a song especially for us as a welcome. We had to climb loads of steps.  We took the subway back to the hotel. We were given 30 mins of free time before we left again for dinner. We ate at a hot-pot restaurant; the food was really good. As we ate, there were a few solo performers entertaining us: a man in an intricate blue 'dress', a ribbon dancer, And a noodle person.

To conclude, I enjoyed today. We're all a little nervous about going to school tomorrow...

Day 2 

Today was our first day at Harrow International School.

We started our day by a tour of the school and met our buddies for the trip - they were very friendly and welcoming . Then we did some activities with them to get to know the groups properly and had some lessons . At the end of the school day, we all went to our extra curricular activities - some of us did sport like badminton or running, and some did computing club. Once we had finished our school activity, we went to dinner at a traditional Chinese restaurant near the school which gave us a chance to try the unique foods they had to offer. We all thought it was delicious!!

We're all enjoying our trip so far - look out for our next installment!

Day 3Today was our third full day at Harrow International School, Beijing.

We started off our day with a House Assembly led by one of the six school houses - Curie. Then we went to our first two periods before going off to break to buy some drinks and something to eat. Then we had some more lessons and lunch, which is very nice for school food! After that, we had two more lessons but today did not do our LIAs (compulsory extra curricular); instead, after our last lesson, which for most of us was Mandarin, we went to get changed and then headed off for the Olympic Park.

When we got there we walked around for a minute and looked at the different buildings whilst the teachers bought us our tickets. Then we headed into the track field stadium and looked around and took some pictures. This was a very good experience for most of us as we had never been here before (apart from the HISB students).

Then we went to Watercube which has a very large inside water park which looked very fun but was not open, sad for most of us. We looked around for a short time and went back out then headed to the shopping centre. The four schools split up to eat in our school groups then meet up afterwards and met back at 7.30pm.

After a good and hard four or five days of traditional Chinese food (which tastes very different to our takeaways back home) we thought it would be great to have a break and settle down with a lovely McDonalds for all of us RMS girls - which looked like the case for the John Lyon boys aswell. After food we could walk around and do some shopping for as long as we had left.

While most people were out looking round many different shops, Freya and I decided to spend our time at ONE shop, a small phone case stall where Freya would tell me what cases were nice or not and us two trying to get the man to lower the price from 200 yuen. It worked, obviously! After that we headed home after a long day out and ready for school tomorrow.

Day 5
Today we visited the Summer Palace.

It was first built in the 12th century as an imperial palace for the King and It is the largest imperial garden existing in China. It was very beautiful.  After that we went to the Beijing Drum Tower and we watched a show. It was really good, but very loud! After the Drum tower we went shopping in Hutong, it was very busy but there was lots of cool things to buy. We went to dinner at a dumpling restaurant, it was delicious. We came back to the hotel by train.

We had a very fun day, we are all very tired

We started off the day off by going to school as usual.

However at 2:00 in the afternoon we got off the bus and went to the lama temple. The bus dropped us off just outside the temple, we got our tickets and went inside. The temple was colourful! There was loads of beautiful and interesting statues of The Buddha. One of the statues we saw was made out of one tree and it was massive!

After we left we went to make our own dinner! We made dumpling with a little help with our cooking teachers. They tasted great! After a long day we made our safe journey home back to the hotel.

Day 6Today was Saturday which meant we could finally have a lie in :) At 10 O'clock we all left the hotel and headed straight for the shopping center!! We all found the shopping center was quite expensive however this did stop us from buying clothes, sweets and presents to bring home.

After we had finished our shopping we all got back on the bus for an hour and a half coach journey to the Great Wall. When we arrived we walked through a street market selling lots of souvenirs, then we decided to take a lunch break at 'subway' only to find after queuing for 15 minutes that 'Subway' had ran out of bread. Luckily there was a pizza restaurant next door.

After lunch we got on another bus which took us to the cable cars. The cable cars had an amazing view of the mountains and the Great Wall. When we got of the cable cars we walked up a few stairs and then onto the wall. We took lots of pictures including the view, the wall, selfies and 'High School Musical' jumps. We walked a little bit longer than a mile across the wall before finally arriving at the toboggan slide. Unfortunately we had just missed the last ride of the day, so we took the chair lifts down which were just as fun.

When we got back down to the bottom we took the bus back to market street where we had 20 minutes of shopping time to buy souvenirs. For some of us, this was our first attempt at bargaining which was very successful for all of us and really fun. We bought lots of fridge magnets, toy pandas, chopsticks, key chains and 'I love Beijing' t-shirts.

Then we got back on the bus which took us back to the hotel. We dropped off our bags in the room and then headed out for dinner. We all decided that we hadn't had enough Italian food today, so we went a Italian restaurant and ate lots of pasta, cheesecake and tiramisu.

Day 9

 When we arrived at school this morning the girls were directed to the Theatre.

As it was international women's day the school held a breakfast for all the girls and their mothers. It was very interesting listening to the point of views of different women and we all learnt a new fact about women and girls. After this we went to our lessons. Our first lesson was Maths and second English. In Maths we were creating presentations in groups to explain what we have done in Maths these last two weeks.

In English we were creating a comic strip in groups as well as designing a super hero and a villain. After break I had art which I really enjoy at this school. We were drawing two totally different objects and turning it into one design.

My fourth lesson was Biology and we were learning about the effects of smoking. In pairs we had to design a poster explaining the effects of smoking.

Once we had eaten lunch we all got on the coach and arrived at The Temple of Heaven. The temple was very pretty and it was really interesting to hear about the history of the building. Some of the trees around the temple were around 800 years old there fore they are some of the oldest trees in China. We made our way out of the temple of heaven and made our way to the market. You could get anything in the market but if you made eye contact with someone on a stall they would drag you in and make sure that you bought something from them.

We then made our way to a Kung-fu show at the Red Theatre. It was such an amazing show and there was not a second where I was bored! We then headed home and went to bed, ready for engineering day.

Day 10Today at school we had Engineering Day. In our houses we had to design and build things from set materials.

The first was a Rube-Goldberg machine to pop a balloon. A Rube-Goldberg machine involves a series of chain reactions to accomplish a simple task at the end. The winner was the house that popped the balloon with the most steps. Only two houses managed to pop the balloon so they came first and second.
After break, we had to build a raft. This was harder because there were so many completely different ideas and we had no way to test them. We had four bottles and there planks of wood and we need to get someone across the swimming pool(while staying dry!). We chose a triangular formation for our raft, as did some other groups. Others chose a different idea. Although we got someone across the pool, we did not do it fast so we lost.

We had lunch and then we went back for our final project. We had to build a timer. We had to make something that gave a signal after 60 seconds. The winner would be the ones closest to that time. People had different ideas, using water, fire and salt to measure the time. Curie and John Lyon drew for first, both with a time of 1 minute and 1 second.

After school we did Chinese drumming, which made everyone deaf. We learnt how to drum, but the room was very loud. Afterwards we had a spare hour before going to dinner with our buddies. We went to a     restaurant where the duck was really good. Afterward we went back to the hotel

Art and Textiles Trip to Barcelona - February 2016

On 13^th February 2016 Art and Textiles students ventured to the inspirational city of Barcelona.  We arrived in sunny Barcelona and without haste we explored the city. The Textiles students first visited Museu du Disseny, which was truly remarkable, whilst the Art students visited The Museum of Contemporary Art.

After a much needed nights sleep, the next day we headed to Figueres to see the Dali Theatre Museum. We were able to explore the town and the culture, visiting patisserie shops, souvenir shops and local cafes. That evening we headed back to La Rambla to try the local cultural tapas.

On Day Three we set off early, stopping at the local market. Here we experienced speaking Spanish and the amazing variety of meats and fruit.  

Later that day we went to Park Guell, which had amazing mosaics, filled with such bright and bold colours. This inspired us all so much as we were lucky enough to have time to sketch. The interesting building shapes allowed us to relate them to our own projects.

Later on all 30 of us got on the metro to go to La Sagrada Familia. The breath taking views when stepping off the metro shocked us all.  As we went inside we saw the amazing stained glass windows, which projected light across the floor in a variety of different vibrant colours. To finish the day we went to the Hard Rock Café

On our last day, we visited the market again to collect our lunch for the day ahead. We were then all very happy to know that we were allowed to go shopping around the Spanish shops!

Once we all re-joined we set off to the aquarium, walking along the scenic harbour. At the aquarium we were able to see tropical fish and penguins. After an exhausting day all 30 of us headed to the airport unhappy to go back home.

We were all extremely grateful to the staff who took up their time to come with us, we had an amazing time and hope to visit again soon.

View some photos of our trip here http://bit.ly/RMSArtBarcelona

Atorkor, Ghana Trip July 2014

This summer, 16 girls and 3 teachers experienced the cultural scenes of Ghana on our unforgettable trip to Atorkor. After spending the night in the capital, Accra, we travelled to Atorkor, a local fishing village. Here we visited the local buzzing market where we were constantly recognised as ‘yavus’ translating to foreigners! The village was 4 hours away from the capital but our arrival was met by the smiles of the local children and a huge ceremony followed to welcome us into their village. Our first moments in Atorkor were mesmerising as we were surrounded by the locals performing the local drums, children clutching onto us and dancing to l

ead us to our home for the week; the chief’s house. On arrival, we were paired with our partner girls from the Atorkor Basic School who were to teach us their traditional values as well as the local Ewe culture and in return we were to teach them about our way of life.

Our days in the village consisted of running the Summer School, where we taught the children a selection of arts, sports, ICT and library activities. These activities allowed us to interact with the children of the village and made us aware of the basic facilities they have at their school to educate the pupils. It was particularly rewarding to see how a game of football could enthral and captivate so many children whilst reading continuous Mr Men books fascinated many of the younger pupils!

Along with the Summer School we also learnt many traditional textiles techniques like batik, tie dye, kanti weaving and basket weaving. The tie dye and batik were taught at the Atorkor Vocational Centre and so we were offered the opportunity of seeing how many young adults benefitted from the village facilities.

After a week in the village, we packed our weekend bags for a trip to the Cape Coast. After another long coach journey, we experienced the Canopy Walk in the rainforest, which certainly lived up to its name as we were all absolutely soaked by the end. The following day, we visited the Cape Coast Castle, a slave castle built by European traders. The tour we had was truly captivating yet moving, listening to past stories of the slaves and their treatment.

Our weekend break was completed by a stop off at Accra where we visited the craft market and where we were able to practice our haggling skills. Most of the girls and teachers came back with numerous Ghanaian crafts and gifts for friends and family back home.

Once we returned to Atorkor, we realised our days in Ghana were drawing to a close and before long we would be homeward bound. Luckily, the fun continued, as we were invited to the Prize Day at the School where many children we had taught received prizes for their efforts at school. The day concluded with a walk on the beach where locals explained they spent their Saturday’s catching fish for the following week. The last days were filled with equal enjoyment and entertainment by getting involved in the traditional dancing and drumming sessions. Additionally, we took our partner girls to the Lagoon where we could enjoy their company away from their everyday surroundings of the village,helping them to swim and seeing their delight and enthusiasm whilst relaxing with us.

Our time in Ghana was also a culinary education, trying new foods like yam balls, red red, banku and fufu. The nights in the house enriched our enjoyment of the trip as we became a Ghanaian family by living together whilst sharing thought provoking experiences. Our final goodbyes were unquestionably emotional. We became so attached to the village children whilst developing a better understanding of their challenging lives. I will take away so many wonderful memories from Ghana and undoubtedly the children’s smiles and engaging nature will remain with us all forever.

Thank you again Miss Brown for organising such a rewarding trip and Miss Hughes and Miss Simmonite for accompanying us.

Ski Trip to Sunday River, Maine December 2015

As soon as the Christmas holidays began a variety of girls from years 10-13 and 6 members of staff set off to the Sunday River Ski Resort in Maine, Boston. 

After an extremely long journey, we all managed to wake up early the next day for our first day of skiing. Despite the lack of snow, we were able to ski most of the runs that were open and keep ourselves entertained with the banter within our various groups. 

In the evenings we were able to relax in the pool as well as take part in a variety of activities such as the DJ led bus ride by Mr Dichlian to the bowling alley, and an intense evening of a RMS school quiz, a treasure hunt around the hotel and an awards ceremony. Once the skiing was over, we headed back down to Boston where we stopped off for some serious shopping at a variety of malls until we reached our hotel in the city centre. 

On our last evening we were treated to dinner at the Hard Rock Café in true American Style. Our last day consisted of an excellent self-tour guide around places such as Harvard and Quincy Market before we flew home for Christmas. 

On behalf of all the girls, we would like to thank Mr Dichlian, Mr Broome, Mrs Eccles, Miss Simmonite, Mrs Baron and Miss Boddey for giving up part of their holidays to take us on an unforgettable trip! 

Operation Wallacea Biodiversity Expedition to Mexico 2015

During the summer of 2015, 12 very lucky students got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to embark on a biodiversity and conservation trip to Mexico.

After months of planning and preparation, the day of departure finally dawned upon us and we were all excited about the adventures that lay ahead. I was slightly daunted by the prospect of being away from home for two whole weeks, however everyone managed to quickly hit it off and it was clear that we were going to have a lot of fun together, which was reassuring to know.

During the first week of our trip, we resided in Calakmul, where we stayed at a jungle camp, named ‘kilometre 20’. Luckily for us, this was a slightly more ‘luxurious’ camp compared to others we heard about, which meant we had the privilege of flushing toilets and even a shower! These basic conveniences that we are so used to became sacred luxuries and I, for one, certainly savoured every second of my showers. After acclimatising to the more basic lifestyle in Calakmul, we were catapulted into the daily routine of activities that were on offer. Led by the scientists, each an expert in their own specific field, we helped out in at least three surveys per day. Those that involved animals included bats, birds and herpetofauna. With the animals that we found, we recorded data by measuring their features, identifying their gender and weighing them. Everyone’s favourite part seemed to be tagging the bats, as it involved painting their toe nails; not something many people can say they have done before!

Elsewhere, we also participated in habitat surveys, mammal trails, camp survival and daily lectures, which were equally enjoyable. After our week in the jungle, we set off for the coastal town of Akumal, bidding farewell to our tents we had come to love, as well as the insects and copious amounts of rice, beans and fresh mangoes. However, people did not remain disheartened for long, as we were soon standing on the idyllic beach that would be the setting for the next week’s scuba diving and surveys. Everyone’s feelings of contentment may have been somewhat derived from the fact that we also had access to Wi-Fi as well!

In the duration of this final week, some of us started doing scuba diving surveys, whilst others completed their PADI course before joining everyone else. The coral and sea life was extremely interesting and it felt bizarre to be swimming alongside real fish! Some of us were even lucky enough to see a dolphin, a nurse shark and a few turtles, which was incredible. Furthermore, we learnt about the impact of tourism on Akumals’ ecology, including how the products we used on ourselves wash down the drain and subsequently end up in the ocean, affecting the coral. This heightened awareness for the environment extended to when we took part in a beach clean-up as well.

As the trip drew to a close, everyone felt sad to be leaving such a vibrant and lively community as Akumal. We took advantage of the local market and shops which sold a vast range of handmade goods, such as bracelets and pottery. On our final evening, we went to the local ‘Wi-Fi Café’, as it had come to be known as, and we shared our memories about the trip together. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that Mexico 2015 was a truly incredible experience and one which none of us will ever forget. On behalf of everyone on the trip, I would like to say a huge thank you to Mrs Timoney for organising such a mammoth task and to Ms Weatherston and Miss Tarbox for accompanying us. You were a great support and we hope that you enjoyed yourselves as much as we all did!

By Katie B, Year 12

Year 7 and 8 French Trip to the Opal Coast

On Tuesday the 5th of April, 36 year 7 & 8 girls got up really early to arrive at school for 6:40. We were all excited because it was the day of the French trip! We prepared for a three hour long coach journey, saying our goodbyes and promising to see our families again in four days’ time. The bus left and the adventure began. More than half the coach spent more than half the journey on their phones or ipods. When we finally arrived at the ferry, we were ready to stretch our legs and proceeded to leave England bound for Calais. 

Upon our arrival in France, we went to a ‘boulangerie’, or as it is more commonly known in English, a bakery. As we split into two groups, the second group looked a bit nervous, for a man with a big, heavy stick led them to learn about criossant-making. Meanwhile, the first group was taken to see how to make bread by hand. As a thank you for coming, each girl received a pain au chocolat or a croissant to take back to the hotel.

There we learnt who we would be sharing a room with. Some were pleased, others not so much!  Soon we went down for dinner, as we had a dining room exclusively for RMS girls. Dinner that night was chicken curry and chips, followed by a game of lotto (or bingo!). Then we went to our rooms, where we changed into our pyjamas, brushed our teeth, had our phones collected by the teachers and went to bed.

 On Wednesday morning we ate traditional French croissants for breakfast and packed our lunches. We then went to the coach and set off for Montreuil-Sur-Mer where we split into two different groups, Mrs. Roberts and Mrs Baron or Miss Lavelle and Mr.Hogg. I was in Miss Lavelle’s group so we toured the town and filled in our booklet. After we had gone round the town we swapped and did our language workshop. I found the language workshop fun, we created role plays in French.

We then settled down and ate our lunch. In our lunch there was a French sweet, it was like toffee but rock hard and it stuck to your teeth! 

Once everyone had eaten their lunch we played Chinese Whispers, Miss Lavelle would say a short sentence in French and we’d see what it translated to by the end it reached the line. It was really funny to see what people said at the end. Afterwards we got on our coach and drove to the goat farm! The goats were really cute and one even jumped up on the bars of the pen. We then got to hold the goats and bunnies! After we watched the process of cheese being made, we were shown a week old, a month old and 6 months old matured cheese. Afterwards we travelled back to the Hippotel where we went to our dorms and had fun with our friends.

Later we went to have dinner and afterwards made crepes. My crepes were pretty much burnt. After we had all made crepes we had a quiz on French TV and foreign languages, then all went to bed after a busy day.

On Thursday every girl awoke with a smile.  We were going to the chocolate factory! And we were scheduled for a trip around Boulogne, which included shopping. After a breakfast of cereal, we made our lunch and our beds and climbed aboard the bus. “Alright girls!” Madame Roberts began. “There has been a slight change of plan. The chocolate factory is closed.” There was some discontented murmuring among the students until Madame Roberts laughed and admitted she was joking. When we arrived at the chocolate factory we were met by the owner and taken to a room where there were literally waterfalls of melted chocolate.  It smelled delicious and the small sample we were given tasted even better. 

After hearing about the chocolate making process and buying a little chocolate, we proceeded to the aquarium. We split into 4 groups and began to explore. We saw turtles, sharks, seals and even a crocodile or two. We ate our lunch and got back on the bus. Finally, after dinner, Madame Roberts told us why she had bought coloured toilet roll. We had to make a futuristic outfit and a historical outfit for two people in our dorm. It was weird seeing half the trip covered in toilet paper!

On Friday we all packed our bags in the morning. We then went down to breakfast where we ate croissants and packed our lunches for the last time. Then we got on our coach and headed off to Calais. There we filled in a sheet about the town. After eating lunch we were given spare time to have fun with friends. My friends and I looked around the town and bought the last of our gifts for families. Kitty and I shared a giant candy floss and we all tried a Diablo menthe. It was disgusting!

After we had gone round the town we reluctantly got on the coach and headed to the ferry. We then sailed back to England where we got back on our coach and headed back to school. we really enjoyed our trip to France and would like to thank Mrs Roberts for organising it, and all the staff who came with us.