A New School Year

Tomorrow (5^th August) the 2014-15 school year officially begins at KISC. It began today informally with a PTA arranged prayer and worship time followed by lunch together as a community so that parents could pray for the staff and the year ahead.

Sam is excited to be starting in Year 1 at KISC tomorrow, and looking forward to meeting more of his class (we have already met a few).

Welcoming new staff on our first staff training day

Dan had to hit the ground running on our return (just one day to get over jet lag) to make sure everything was ready for new staff inductions which have been happening over the past few days and to get everything ready for the students tomorrow. As I write this he is putting the final touches on the whole school assembly he is running tomorrow.

So we have had a very busy start, but we are all glad to be back. In many ways it doesn’t feel like we’ve even been away.

Time to Fly

Well it doesn’t seem very long ago that we were just arriving in England, and now we are pretty much all packed and ready for our return flight tonight.

We have a very excited little boy and a slightly bemused younger sister! They are having lots of fun counting suitcases and climbing over them while we count the kilos and try not to stress!

We have had a great year here in the UK, enjoying family and friends, good food and green parks. We are also looking forward to being back in Kathmandu, catching up with friends and getting back into work at KISC.

It’s just the bit in between that we dread, the goodbyes and the journey, but it’s the shortest bit of this strange life we lead and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We love our two lives in two homes on two continents.

We thank you again for taking an interest in our lives and the work we do. God has been good to us this past year in the UK and we trust in him for his full provision for all our needs this next year in Nepal.

The year passed

It is now just over two weeks until we are getting on that plane. We are all getting excited as well as a little apprehensive of the things we have to get done between now and then (packing). But today we saw these videos on Facebook. A great reminder of what we are going back to. If you have a spare few minutes and want to get an idea of what a great school it is, then enjoy, even if it's just a couple of minutes worth.

The first one is the Secondary school, which includes video of the new site, EQUIP and all the staff as this is shown at the end of year Graduation ceremony.

The second video is for the Primary school end of year assembly and includes a picture of Year K (Reception), the group of students Sam will be joining in August.

Hopefully you can see now why we are so excited to go back...

Getting ready to go back

It is now less than 5 weeks until we return to Nepal. This week we’ve really started going through all our stuff and started the big sort for moving back, including weighing most of it to find out whether we are going to fit and what we need to get rid of.

The whole school

But our thoughts are predominately taken up with what we are going back to. As we’ve mentioned in our last two blogs, we are really looking forward to going back to a place that feels like home and somewhere we’ve missed this past 11 months.

We will be returning to a different situation to the one we left and a situation we weren’t expecting. As we mentioned previously, the CEO of KISC, who has been there 13 years is stepping down at the end of term (which is next week). Dan had been expecting to be working under her as the secondary principal next year. However, the board have asked Dan to fill the role of School Director in an interim capacity from when we go back.

The CEO role is being split into 3 roles, there will be a director of EQUIP (the teacher training branch), a Business Director (who will be responsible for all the non-academic side of things) and the School Director who will have overall responsibility for the Primary and Secondary schools – although there will be a separate Principal of both these.

Because this wasn’t expected, all 3 positions have been temporarily appointed with Interim Directors, with the hope to make permanent appointments in due course. This was to ensure there was a leadership structure in place immediately. Currently there is a Primary Principal for the start of term in August, but no Secondary Principal
.

This has been a difficult time for the school and the step up to Director is a big challenge for Dan. While he’s been on the leadership team for several years now, it’s a big change and a significant responsibility to be taking on. He has really valued the time on the course and is sure there will be plenty of opportunities to put into practice some of the ideas he has read and explored this year. And he’s looking forward to it.

"Home"

As we mentioned in our last blog we have booked our tickets for returning to Nepal. We are looking forward to getting back and catching up with friends there and getting back to KISC. Sam will be going into year 1 at KISC and is super excited to be starting there.

We have had a great year here, we have enjoyed being in England with its yummy cheeses and green space. The children have loved getting to know their grandparents better and we have all had a great time being able to see friends and family over the year.

It has been great, but also a bit weird as we know this is temporary and that life continues in Nepal and that for now that is where our life is. So as we plan to return I find myself telling people we are going home, but then correcting myself. The truth is I am not really sure where home is anymore! I’m not sure I (Becky) ever have, having never lived anywhere longer than 4 years when growing up.

So the conclusion I have come up with is that the old saying “home is where the heart is” is probably true and to be honest I think I have left little bits of my heart all over the place. So for now we are going “home” to Nepal in July, but leaving our “home” here in the UK in order to go and continue our work out there.

Departures

We have booked our flights back to Nepal! We shall be returning slightly earlier than originally planned in mid-July and we are looking forward to it. We shall be returning to the same flat which we have been able to keep on and looking forward to settling back in ahead of the new school year, which starts in early August.

We are starting to sort out our plans for our return and arrange final visits to see friends and family. If we haven’t seen you and you would still like to see us do get in touch as we are filling dates quickly.

One of the reasons for heading back slightly sooner than planned relates to changes that have happened at KISC this year. There has been some changes in the leadership and the governing board are currently working out how to redesign the leadership structure to take the school forward. Dan will have a significant role in this leadership structure, the details of which are currently being worked out and we’ll give you more details before we head back.

If you pray, please do pray for the school, particularly the governing board as they plan and those responsible for taking the school forward next year.

Of course the main focus for this year out has been Dan’s study for his Master’s degree. This has gone well and he is aiming to have the majority of the work done before getting on the plane. There will be some finishing off work to do before the final deadline of his dissertation in September and KISC have agreed to allow Dan the time to work on this as required.

Now we are in the process of gearing up for our return, we will be aiming to return to more regular blog updates and will keep you updated on our preparations and return.

  

Land Grab

The New Basketball court

Last May we blogged about KISC's excitement at being able to finally rent land for play space and we included details in our prayer letter last Autumn when they opened the site. It included a Basketball court and a Futsal (small football) pitch which only opened earlier this month.

However, at the end of last month there was significant disappointment as the Landlord gave KISC notice to vacate the site at the end of this academic year. This obviously came as a staggering blow to the community, particularly the students who were just beginning to enjoy the extra space and especially those staff who had played a big role in bringing about the site.

If you saw an update on Facebook the school was encouraging everyone to pray for the future of the site. There was uncertainty about the landlords plans - he was hoping to build a hotel - that did give hope, but we wondered if our hope based more on what we'd like to happen than on reality.

The opening of the Futsal pitch

Well yesterday we heard the good news that the landlord has agreed to extend the notice period until December 2014. Of course this is only a small extension, but it is a massive answer to prayer. There are still question marks surrounding the proposed use of the site and we will continue to pray that the plans will be shelved and that KISC will be able to remain on the site for several more years.

But this whole process reminds us of the need for security. Our ultimate security comes from God and we trust in Him to always provide for the school, as He always has done. But as a school we are also hoping that we will be able to purchase a permanent site for the school in the not too distant future and we are asking God to provide. Either for the opportunity to purchase our existing sites or for a new site to become available and for the finances to do so.