Monday It’s the first Monday after the end of term, but I’m in school by 8am. Piles of papers, photographs and artwork are scattered around my Nairobi classroom - the school magazine in embryo. I have spent the term badgering colleagues for sports write-ups, photos, accounts of trips and outstanding examples of children’s work. Now it is up to me to collate it.
Tuesday Last year I had to edit the whole mag by myself - almost a month’s work - but this year each colleague has been responsible for a particular section, collecting and typing items, checking them and selecting photos. The head of science has laid out the pages - fun but time-consuming. It’s made my job easier.
Wednesday My responsibility is school trivia and the introductory pages. Some of the work is on floppy disk, some on paper. I’ve cut and pasted together several pages of Year 2-4 work with a photo of every child ready for scanning. More than 30 pages are ready and I phone the printer to see if he can take them in advance.
Thursday The printer takes one look at the class pages and clutches his hair - he says it will be difficult to produce them to an acceptable standard. I have three options: make the whole mag into a superior scrapbook, leave out the attractive class pages, or find an alternative publishing house somewhere in Nairobi. I go home with a heavy heart.
Friday The head goes for option three. A quote comes in which is within our budget - and allows for colour pages. I spend the rest of the day sorting the articles, checking text and writing instructions for the printer. My work is not finished as there will be many visits to check the proofs. But the burden is off me at last - for another year.
Angela Pollard
Angela Pollard wrote this diary when she was head of RE in a Nairobi secondary school. She now teaches in Warwickshire
