You know you're at Bingham Academy…

When you wake to the call to prayer from the mosque and the Orthodox Church.

When the first car arrives at 6.45 to drop children off for sports practise.

When you hear the Ethiopian national anthem sung by a child from the government school next door every morning and amplified to distortion.

When no one reacts when the electricity stops working.

When everyone stops for recess (for 25 minutes).

When reprimanding a child for anything is a really rare occurrence.

When you have to tell a child to stop their lively game as they really do need to take time to get a band aid.

When it rains, and you have to shout to be heard in the library.

When popping home for something takes only a couple of minutes.

When children do PE in their socks in the Gym and often prefer to do sport on the field bare foot.

When you get to ‘move it move it’ between lessons (instead of a bell or buzzer that song is played to signify a lesson change).

When personal language tuition is part of the timetable and you need to remember to practise.

When children are comfortable washing their hands using a jug of cold water.

When nearly everyone eats lunch in the open air.

When neither the canteen nor the school are closed just because there is no water for a few days.

When even the younger children know how to bucket flush a toilet.

When children look forward to assembly (chapel).

When school maintenance workers pass your classroom carrying anything from an axe to a collection of eight foot poles (as there is always a major project taking place somewhere on campus).

It’s getting harder to think of contrasts with a UK school as the above are all beginning to feel rather normal! The similarity between schools is that time passes at break-neck speed – but maybe that’s just an age thing.