Farewell to Kolkata - until next time

It is with great sadness that we say farewell to our friends and hosts from the Heritage School. Today has been a sad day filled with goodbyes but also with many plans for the future.

We spent the day at the school enjoying some yoga as well as a performance by internationally renowned, Swiss eurythmy performers. It's hard to explain exactly what this was except to say that it was a kind of dance where movements were linked to the sounds of words. It was very impressive and it the kind of thing that the Heritage School regularly invites into school to enrich the students' curriculum.

Whitecross students gave their final presentation on sustainability  - they were brilliant as usual. Then it was time for presentations and farewells.

This exchange programme has been going for over seven years. It has become self sustaining as a result of the hard work and commitment of teachers, families and students who live thousands of miles away from each other on opposite sides of the world. This is remarkable. As the exchange grows and evolves a generation of students from both Whitecross and the Heritage have become better global citizens. We look forward to welcoming our friends from Kolkata back to the UK in October.

The final  thank you today must go to our host families without whom this exchange would not be possible. Their care and open friendship should be an inspiration to us all. Thank you.

Global sustainability - Vikram Solar

Today has been fascinating - we've been to see a factory making solar panels. It's not often that we can see things like this so we felt quite privileged. Alas no photography was allowed so you'll not get to see us in our funny hats and shoes, but we had a full tour of the factory floor and got to see exactly how a solar panel is made. 

Before we were picked up in the morning, the teachers had a little tour of New Market, the main market in the centre of Kolkata. Amongst the things on sale were baskets of live chickens like the ones below. They are sold to restaurants and hotels and carried off on the backs of bicycles.

The students of Whitecross and Heritage outside the Vikram Solar factory

The factory insisted on feeding us in their staff canteen. This is what we had - proper Indian food!

The journey to the factory took us through some beautiful countyside and we stopped at the Falta River where we saw boats being repaired.

We're back in school tomorrow for our final day in India - time has gone so quickly!

Mime, maths, sport and study - a busy day at the Heritage School

A busy, busy day in school today. Students sampled a range of lessons with their hosts before heading to the mime studio for a lesson with renowned mime artist Suvendu Mukhopadhyay. Then we were off to the sports field where we tried our hand at rifle shooting, rock wall climbing, basketball and football. We even managed to fit in a bit of serious work on sustainability ready for our big presentation on Friday.

 Here's Owen attempting the chilli challenge for breakfast!

 Hard at work on our presentations for Friday

 No swimming for us unfortunately - they're repairing the pool during their winter season. At 26 degrees they regard it as too cold!

 Looking around the gym. We had a tour of the school which has around 3,000 students from the age of three to around 19. They study for International Baccalaureates, International GCSEs and soon you'll be able to take a degree at the Heritage School

 Celebrating the mime lesson!

 Martha scales the climbing wall - she later went on to prove she was an amazing shot with an air rifle.

Our Heritage hosts with their Whitecross prefect tops on!

The city tour of Kolkata

We've been out and about today on a tour of Kolkata. Amidst all the hustle and bustle of the chaotic streets of the city are many oases of calm. We were lucky to be shown a few today as we were expertly shown around the city by students and staff from the Heritage.

 This is on the steps of our first stop - a Jain temple. It was exquisitely beautiful.

 After lunch we crossed the Howrah bridge - no photos allowed but we got this from inside the bus!

 Some of these for school perhaps?

 At the Princeps Gat memorial

The new bridge across the Hoogly River

More on our first day at the Heritage School

It's been a very interesting day for us all here at the Heritage School. After the formalities of the assembly and the walk to the local village we had some time to try out a range of different sports including climbing and shooting!

The students have just done some work on the threats to the beautiful wetlands that surround the school. Building is spreading fast, destroying the lakes and habitats for all sorts of wildlife.

A few more photos from today:

 Proudly wearing the school council sashes on the walk to the village

 Washing clothes in a lake

About to take the perfect shot!

Our first day at the Heritage School

 We have received the warmest of welcomes at the Heritage School this morning. Here we all are after meeting the Principal, Mrs Sapru and attending our first assembly. The students were made prefects and members of the school council and they have roles to fulfil this week. Whitecross students will be on duty supervising other children when the school day ends and the buses arrive to pick them up.

 We went to see a local village a few minutes walk from the school. It is quite poor but some of the villagers have concrete houses. They mostly make a living from fishing in the large pools that cover this part of the edge of Kolkata. The Heritage School provides a free education service for the children of the village.

This is one of the large swampy pools where the villagers grow and harvest their fish. As you can see development is heading their way - these tower blocks did not exist a year ago!

We are touring the school later today before heading off to see a small local primary school. At the moment the students are busy cooking Indian food and then it will be lunch time.

A busy and exciting day!

Sunday in Kolkata

The students have been with their families today having all kinds of fun. We teachers took some time to wander the streets of central Kolkata. We were also given a guided tour of the Victoria Memorial. As you can see we travelled in style right to the steps of the entrance!

Here are a few pictures of our day:

Kids playing cricket in the street

The ever present Kolkata taxi

The fish market was open for business this morning

A water pump near the fish market

The Victoria Memorial

Our thanks to the Ministry of Culture!

Waiting for the train......

Not the finest photo but this is everyone in New Delhi station (platform 10 if you're interested) having just been told our train is going to be two hours late!

We've arrived in Kolkata!

Hello!
We're here - it's very exciting and we've had a few adventures on the way. We couldn't get the blog online in Delhi so all our hilarious tales of arrivals and form filling will have to wait. We had a great day in Delhi though - rickshaw rides were probably the highlight. Waiting two hours for the train at New Delhi station was probably the low light. The train journey was brilliant apart from taking four hours longer than planned.

We received the warmest of welcomes in Sealdah station in Kolkata and the students went off with their host families full of smiles and expectation.

We'll update you more tomorrow once we've showered and had a proper sleep!

A little thank you before we go...

As we get ready to fly off around the world on our great adventure, now might be a good time to reflect on all the hard work that has gone into getting us ready to go.

Firstly there were all the host families - people who selflessly gave up their time and often their bedrooms in order to welcome and care for our Indian guests. Some of these families are sending students to India - some are not. I am always humbled by the generosity of spirit of our students and their parents and without them the friendship and care that underpins this exchange would never exist.

Then there have been the organisers. Mrs Leonard has been the leading light in maintaining this programme and that has been a tough job at times. Her passion for the unique experience of India has kept us all going. Of course it goes without saying that the exchange could never happen without Mrs Rees. She is the one who has organised everything and made it work! She has been the one chasing paperwork, booking flights and all the other myriad of tasks that have to be done. I don't know how she's managed.

Mrs Rees we salute you!

I was speaking to one of our former students the other day. Now 22 and at university studying international management, she came on the first exchange visit in 2008. We were talking about that distant visit and how apprehensive we all were going for the first time! I asked her what going to India back then meant to her now. She said, "It changed my life,"

Heritage 2014 here we come!

We're little more than a week away from setting off on our next visit to India - it's very exciting. The final packing is being done, passports and visas are all in order and everything looks set for what will be the sixth year of our student exchange. We are so proud of every student who has taken part in this great adventure, travelling across the world to explore a culture very different from our own.

We hope to keep this blog up to date with words and pictures during our visit. You can also check out twitter: @WhitecrossIndia