Miss McGrory and Miss Cumming want to hear from you during our trip to Freetown, Sierra Leone. You can use this blog to ask us questions, leave comments and find out how we are getting on! We will try and respond as often as we can! Get blogging Eleanor Palmer!
Hello!Are you there yet?
We miss you already!Today, unfortunately,the fire alarm rang just before Maths and we couldn’t do it after!!!
Dear miss mcgrory I hope you have a great time in sierra leone i hope you put some pictures up on are website i miss you already love Lily and Antonia.
How did you find the place where you are staying? Is it sunny in Sierra Leone? What are the children like in Freetown?
We are enjoying working with teachers and children from another part of the world that love learning and school as much as we all do!!
Hi Miss McGrory and Miss Cummings!! It’s Che here!
How was your journey on the plane and have you arrived yet?
If you’ve arrived please let me know how the weather is and how are all the children in our partner school? – I bet they’re really excited to see you both!
Look forward to hearing from you very soon!
Love Che x
That Email was really sweet Che!!! I hope Miss McGrory and Miss Cummings like reading it !? If they do,from then on I will call you…CHE THE SUPER STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We love reading ALL the blog comments! Everyone in Year 2 should be called a superstar – what a great idea Abigail! X
What are you doing?
Hello! I hope you are having fun in Sierra Leone, how are you taking the heat? We are missing you already. Remember to write back and help the less fortunate children! Best Wishes, Taha
We hope your flight was great! Did you get a warm welcome? Have you visited any lessons yet? Xx Ms Stevenson & Year 5!
The children are lovely! It’s so muggy here!
We have been part of and taught a huge variety of lessons including maths, writing, art, reading and outdoor games!
Hi everyone! We are here! We had a six hour flight, a bus journey, a boat trip across the sea and a bumpy car journey but we are finally here! It is humid and feels very different to the wintery weather we left behind. We are so excited to be starting at the school tomorrow and will let you know how it goes! Thanks for all the messages so far! Keep them coming!
Thanks for your questions. We are staying in Freetown. The weather is humid and we think its hot but the locals say its very mild!! We haven’t visited any lessons yet as we landed when school had finished but we’ve met up with some of the Planting Promise staff and had a really great meeting which updated us on things are at the school. We are going to the school itself tomorrow (it will take about 45 mins to drive there because the traffic is SO bad – everyone honks their horns all the time for all different reasons!) We have had a lovely warm welcome from everyone – a typical Sierra Leone friendly welcome! We are s excited about tomorrow and will post as soon as get back! X
Hello Miss McGrory and Miss Cummings – we can’t wait to hear about all the changes at the school – it must be so much bigger than the last time you visited. We miss you lots but Y2 and Y3 are having a great week back at Eleanor Palmer. It’s still raining tho’ and we wish we were in Sierra Leone!!
Can you post some photos please? Take care and send them all my love…Alfred, Mrs Karim and everyone else who remembers me!
Hello Miss McGrory,
How is it in Freetown? I can’t wait to see some pictures. Hope you are having a great time. Lots of love, Ruby
Hi Miss MoGrory how are you doing? What did you do today? we wrote up in neat our sir Francis Drake letters- it was so fun.
p.s can’t wait to see you!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello! We’d like to know what you’re eating and what are the school dinners like at Planting Promise? Are the children noisy and are you having a nice time? love from Finn and Albert.
Hi boys! The children are noisy when they are singing, playing and having fun in lessons but they are very well behaved! They all have packed lunch made at home. We are having a great time! X
Hidv Miss Cummings and Miss McGrory, how things in Sierra Leone? Are you guys having fun? I would like to see more pictures pleeeeease!!! Love Denzel.
Dear Miss McGrory and Miss Cumming,
I hope you’re both having a great time.in school we’ve been writing our Sir Francis Drake in neat; we’re going to stain them with tea bags!
What are school dinners like in Planting Promise and what’s been your favourite food so far?
I can’t wait for you to come back and tell us all about it!
Write soon!
Lilybet xxx
The children bring their own lunch to school. We have enjoyed some delicious local fish!
Hello! Miss McGrory how is it in freetown? I heard you were stuck in the traffic. Is planting promise a BIG school now or is it the same? Miss Cumming did you like it, was it peaceful and nice? I hope freetown is free!
Love Hannah xxx
Yes the traffic is mad here! It takes about 45 minutes to get somewhere that is very nearby!
Hiya to Anna and Nancy, just seen the lovely photos, it looks great, I love the new school uniform, looks like you are well into the swing of teaching. We are working VERY hard as usual in year 3…….. More photos please, I am going to look at the blog every day !!!! Miss you both Linda xxxxx
Everyone remembers you Linda! They all said “where is Aunty Linda?” We miss you all too x
Is my mathsy teacher still there? She had Year 5 when I was there….are the number fans in use? And what about the book bags? Hope you’re challenging all those businessmen and diamond dealers in the hotel! Xxx
The maths teacher that you remember has left unfortunately Ms Frood. However there are so many teachers there who share our love of maths! I think they might even be more competitive than us at maths games!! Everyone remembers you and sends their love!
Dear miss Mcgrory and miss Cumming.
I wonder what you are going to be doing at the new school you are in.
Can you ask the children what colour are the walls in thier school.
Is your classroom big?
Do you have a big playground?
I am in year one what class are you in?
Great questions! The walls are a natural colour really – some are painted but the paint is a bit faded now from the heat. The classrooms are nowhere near as big as ours but the school makes the very best out of the small space it has. Some years have lots of children in (Nursery has about 100 children so they need lots of space) whereas other classes need less space for fewer children. The children do not have a playground. There is an outdoor corridor with a toilet at the end but there is no space for running around. The children do not have a long playtime like we do in the UK. The older children are allowed to go out at lunch for 30 minutes though. We did outdoor games today and we did it in the crowded street with all the local people there! It was such fun but very busy!
Where are you sleeping?
Love Beth
We are lucky to be staying somewhere not too far from the school that is safe and cool during the night so we are not too hot! We sleep under mosquito nets!
Hi Miss McGrory and Miss Cummings. We miss you alot. I’ve seen the photo, very nice. Have a good time in Free town!
Wow the new building looks awesome!! Would love to see pics of the nursery and Y6 kids. Seeing a chameleon changing colour between the grass and bricks must have been AMAZING, we are jealous! We hope you are having a great time and not missing us too much 🙂 Y2 and Y3 are being very well behaved for their teachers! Hugs from Angela, Jude and Theo xxxx
Hi miss McGrory and Miss Cumming
I hope your having a lovely time.I wonder what you have been eating for breafast,lunch and tea love from phoebe. xxx
Hello!! So glad to hear that you’re having a wonderful time already! The pictures look so great! We did some Ping Pong yesterday in Maths too and I even threw in some very tricky ones- I just can’t catch the year 2’s out! The class have been outstanding this week – you would be very proud Miss McGrory! Can’t wait to hear more about what you’re up to over there. Best wishes xxxx
Great news Miss Hickman! Keep up the good work Year 2! I miss you all! X
Is the wifi working and if so when will you Skype us?
The wifi at school has been set up but it’s having a few problems! We will try to get it working tomorrow and we will try to Skype everyone in assembly! X
Are you having fun? What are the main diffrinces?
We are having a wonderful experience and learning so much! The difference are huge in so many ways but what is the same is that the children love school and their teachers love teaching them! We have been keeping lists of similarities and differences to share with you all!
Hi what are you up to and are you ok and have you had fun!!!!!
From Evelyn.
Hi teacher what are you learning and are you having fun and another thing were are you living
Hi miss cumming and mcgory is it fun at sieralion
What are you enjoying at Planting Promise?
We are enjoying working with teachers and children from another part of the world that love learning and school as much as we all do!!
Hi miss Cumming and miss Mgrory are you having fun teaching the children in planting promise
Love from Raffy
Hello miss McGrory and miss Cumming. I hope you have a fabulous time in sierra leone. Is their class more different then our class(I like the pictures you sent us.) From Sandro.
Morning Ladies, how are you both? We are all well back here. From your blog it seems you are both having a great time out there. All of us miss you Ms McGrory and can’t wait for you to come back. The children have been producing excellent work in your absence and can’t wait to show you when your back. See you both soon
That’s fantastic news Mrs Bradley!! I miss you all too! The children here are so lovely – you would love them! Have we done the weekly maths quiz yet? Hope we beat our PBs PB! X
Hello Miss Cumming and Miss McGrory. Are you having fun teaching planting promise, what sort of pack lunch do they have?
From Elodie
They totally vary! Some children have sandwiches with these big bread rolls while other children bring things like rice in little tubs. The children are allowed to buy food from street stalls as well during the day which is so different to London!
I can see by the photos they love using the new colouring pencils we sent over! Are the children enjoying writing about themselves on the people? Xx
They love doing the people! We strung some bunting up today in Year 6 so those photos are going to be on the news page! They love everything we have brought over and are so grateful to everyone at EP x
Hi Miss McGrory and Miss Cumming, we hope you are having fun.We miss you a lot. we have had a lovely week with a lovely supply teacher. We have really enjoyed maths this week because we are learning about 2D and 3D shapes.We learnt that a nine sided shape is a nonogon!we also learnt that a polygon is a 2D shape with only straight sides. A 3D shape that has only straight sides is called polyhedron!We also did our seven times tables test this week. Do the children in Freetown learn their times tables too?
They do indeed learn their times tables! We gave the letters out today and guess what Rosalie?! The little girl who read yours has a sister called Rosalie!! How amazing! Very pleased you are both working hard! X
Hi Miss Cumming and Miss McGrory.We hope you are enjoying your visit to Freetown?This week we did a big spelling test and Ms Wykes was so impressed at how well we all did! In maths we made our very own paper 3D square based pyramids and cubes. It was a bit tricky sticking it together but it was awesome!!We miss you so much!
Well done on your spellings! We have been emailed about how well you have done! X
Hello Miss Cumming and Miss McGrory. We hope you are having fun. This week I’ve been helping Angela to make worksheets on which their/there/they’re to use(this is very tricky)Macey. Guess what Miss Cumming, I spelt ‘because’ right in Ms Wyke Suffolks spelling test-Eddy.
Hoooooooray!! That’s BECAUSE you are a superstar! Well done Eddy! And well done Macey – let’s use those worksheets in class! X
Hi Miss Cumming and Miss McGrory, I hope you are enjoying Freetown. On Tuesday we finished adding detail to our Viking, now we need to work on the Viking ship. I made my own 3d shape. It was a cube. We have been making our very own Icelandic leaflets, we can,t wait for you to see them.
Great news William! I can’t wait to see them either! X
We have been working with our groups every day,we had a lovely walk to swimming in the sunshine today
Hi Miss McG and Miss C, I hope you are having a WONDERFUL time in Sierra Leone! Everyone misses you so much. Can’t wait to hear more about it when you get back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Say hello to my pen pal for me please. xxx
Yes Ms McGrory maths quiz all done, marked and stuck in their books!! You’ll be pleased to know we haven’t got to do the playground run this week! But there has been an improvement this week. We have also had a lot more STAR spellers this week. So all in all it’s been a great week. Yes, I’m sure I would love the children there, may be I’ll go and visit one day! Xxx
Phew! The weather at the moment would make the playground run VERY hard! 🙂 Great to hear about improved scores though – well done Y2! Miss you all xx
hello!what is your favroite kids name you proberly dont have a favroite i love all
love hannah
xxx
I have met a little girl called Anna and I think her name is BRILLIANT!! There is such a variety of names – lots of traditional West African names which we think are very beautiful x
Hi, Hannah and I have just been looking at the lovely photos. I especially like the nice school uniforms, but Hannah noticed that you were playing Don’t Make 10 and she said that she really loves that game. Enjoy the rest of your week and keep sending pictures and updates.
Do they celebrate Valentine’s day in Sierra Leone? I said I think they do but mum doesn’t think so!! Happy Valentines day to both of you 🙂 Love from Theo xx
Great question! Yes they do celebrate it! On the sides of the streets there are lots of stalls selling plastic roses and teddy bears etc! Apparently in the place we are staying they celebrate it lots! We will to take some pictures for you xx Happy Valentines Day EP! X
Dear Miss McGrory and Miss Cummings,
Happy Valentines Day! I hope you’re having a great time.
I’d love to know what sort of books do the Year 2 children read? Are the stories very different to ours?
And have you seen any wild animals?
I can’t wait to read my pen pal’s letter and hear all about them!
Lots of love, Lilybetxxx
Dear Miss McGrory, you will be amazed at how I did in my spelling test with Miss Crean and Angela. I went to the dentist and had fillings, they are white so you can’t really see them. My Aunty gave me £5 for being brave and good. I super miss you and can’t wait for you to come back. From Chanelle xx
Well done Chanelle! I am so excited about seeing all of Year 2 in a few days! X
Happy Valentines Day!!
How are all the children and teachers?
I hope you got a valentines card!
Sending big kisses.
Love Che xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Miss Cumming and I both received a lovely plastic rose from the children. I will post a picture up! X
hello i’m Bettys younger (and older!) brother are you in africa ? im missing you when are you going back
Hope youre coming back soon,
Louis And Zed
Do they celebrate Christmas in Sierra Leone?
Good question! Yes they do celebrate it as many people in Sierra Leone are Christian. Many are also Muslim. It is very different over in SL at Christmas time though – it is not cold and they don’t eat turkey! X
Hello Miss McGrory..i hope you are having a lovely time..can you tell me a little bit about some of the children you have met in Sierra Leone are they like us in year 2?The tree in our garden fell down last night because it is so windy in England.I can’t wait for you to come home.Love Bessie x x
The children are WONDERFUL Bessie – just like at EP! So lively and fun and full of energy and willing to learn! We heard all about the weather in the UK. Sounds horrible! It’s much warmer in SL but there is a breeze that blows a red dust called the Harmatan wind which sometimes blows over Freetown at this time. X
Miss mcgory I hope you are having a lovly time . I am going to Sylvie’s birthday part this afternoon and I will eat pizza and cake. What are you going to have for dinner? Love from Clio xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
We have eaten all sorts during our time in SL! As well as some delicious Sierra Leone specialities like groundnut stew and cassava stew, there is also lots of Lebanese food which has been yummy! X
Hello! How are you Miss McGrory and Miss Cumming? Is it very hot in Sierra Leone because here it is terribly flooded around parts of the country! It is also VERY windy!
We are back now and so we are back in the wind and rain! SL was much warmer but at times it was just TOO hot! Hard to believe I’m sure! X
We are home safe and sound everybody! We can’t wait to see you all on Monday and tell you all about our partner school Planting Promise! We have had such an adventure! Thanks for all your comments! Enjoy the rest of your half term and see you Monday! Xx