Mrs Cooper and I landed back in Newcastle today after 6 days in Bangladesh.  We have worked closely with Md Runendu Dey and the schools in the Cox's Bazar district to strengthen the school partnerships.  All the head teachers and students put on magnificent assemblies for us and welcomed us into their schools. 

We visited over 18 schools and spoke to the students, who all aspire to be fluent in English.  Through discussing dreams and aspirations they could see that children in our school have similar views despite the massive differences in our economies and schooling systems. Class sizes and conditions are very different in Bangladesh with parent's having to pay for each child's education, meaning that many children engage in work from a Primary age. 

The area of Cox's Bazar is not a popular place for white people to visit. We made the front page in 5 newspapers and people were very surprised to see us! You will see on the pictures we were photographed constantly by the locals and Headteachers were keen to make links with Durham schools.

Over the forthcoming weeks we will be teaching the children more about our partner school in Bangladesh. Please have a look at the photographs in the Gallery sections (under children).

Mrs Lakey