Can you believe we are still in school?

Even Mom is ready for school to end. It just doesn't feel like summer with uniforms and packed lunches, and "will we need our sweaters today?". Luckily, 17 July is the last day of class.

The end of the school year has been full of special events like discos, picnics, field trips, and fairs. Both schools hosted summer fayres, or fetes, or whatever you like to call them, on consecutive Saturdays. They are fun, school community parties, so to speak. Both events aimed to raise funds, but I think the main goal is to bring the school families and staff together in fellowship.

St. Alban's Summer Fayre had an international theme. Along with another American family in the school, we put together a display of some facts and snacks related to the USA. The student classes each performed a song or dance. Timmy describes his group's performance:

In my class we studied the ancient Greeks last term. In PE class we practiced our performance. We started off thinking of two things that an ancient Greek might have done in daily life, such as fetching water from the well and putting the water jug on your head to carry it there and back. Then we started getting into partners, and we decided which [actions] we would perform. I picked Aidan as my partner, and we wanted to demonstrate the Olympics, but Mr. Tebbutt (my teacher) told us that we would all be doing the Olympics in another part of the dance. So Aidan and I decided to show how we were getting the stadium ready for the Olympics like carrying a heavy crate and putting it down. The four house teams in the school (Galatians, Ephesians, Thessalonians, and Corinthians) represented different cities for the Olympics. The Corinthians were the Corinthians. The Thessalonians were the Spartans. The Ephesians were the Olympians. And the Galatians (my group) were the Athenians. We acted out wrestling, running, javelin throwing, discus throwing, long jumping, and high jumping. I was the javelin thrower for the Athenians. We also acted out saying, "Good game, good game" to each other. Then we all did our bedtime activities, like having dinner. I polished my sword. When the performance came, it was a big success.


Above Timmy is waking up for his day in Athens. Below, Annie joins her classmates dancing to La Bomba. Annie also participated in Irish Dancing with her after school club.
Following the show, there were games, raffles, and refreshments.

Mike was in charge of the huge inflatable slide.

St. Philip's Summer Fete was held on the 4th of July, which gave us something festive to do on our holiday. Minus the class dances, it was much the same as St. Alban's Fayre. Below, Colin throws a wet sponge at one of his teachers.

Face painting is always a popular activity, and Annie and Colin never pass up the opportunity to put on an alter ego.



Both events were fun, more so because we enjoyed them with many of the friends we have made here over the past year. Our looming departure will be bittersweet.