Headteachers do some remarkable things in their communities, but not many become honorary commanders in the US Air Force. Jan Oldfield’s duties encompass social rather than military engagements, but she is used to contact with the armed forces. Parents of nearly half the children in her school, Beck Row primary, work at the American air base at Mildenhall.

This feels like a typical East Anglian market town, but the American accents and cars reveal a large community, here since the 1950s, of 4,400 air force personnel with 6,700 family members.

Some are on the move, doing two or three-year postings in many countries. Others are established in the community and have married local people. Many of them live off-base, buying or renting homes in the surrounding villages, and sending their children to the local schools.

The American children “put a different dimension on the school”, says Jill Harrison, headteacher of Riverside middle school. Some have been educated in America, some in schools on the bases, and some in other countries altogether.

But a common language doesn’t guarantee good communication. The clash between British and American English can trip up the uninformed, so American pupils at Riverside have produced a booklet that advises on some of the pitfalls of vocabulary.

An American child who sees chips and pudding on the menu might expect to be served with crisps and custard, after which he may need the bathroom but find that it’s called a loo. Monkey bars could catch on as the name for a climbing frame, but asking for the blacktop could cause confusion if your playground doesn’t happen to be covered in tarmac.

American parents want their children to experience another culture, says Jill Harrison. They are frequently active on the PTA or may become governors. They tend to like school uniforms and assemblies, and generally approve of our starting on literacy and numeracy a year before they do.

But some parents are puzzled by our reporting of pupil progress, which is more qualitative than the approach in the US, where pupils undergo a battery of tests followed by a report at the end of every nine-week semester.

In order to minimise the confusion, every base has a community relations officer who is British and liaises between the parents and the schools, advising the schools on the dates when children arrive and leave, answering parents’ concerns about our school system and acting as the first point of contact for both sides.

Staff in both communities can meet through a forum for British and American teachers chaired by Jill Harrison. They can learn about each other’s curriculum and teaching methods, or hear about the educational psychologist’s work with children whose parents are away in action.

And whether or not their children are in local schools, USair force personnel can work with the local community, organising tours on the base, sending out the band to play in concerts or taking communications equipment into schools at Christmas for the children to “talk to Santa Claus”. Many personnel have also volunteered to help build playground equipment and refurbish classrooms.

But however good the channels of communication are here, one mystery is destined to remain impenetrable to the visiting culture. In the sports section of the Riverside pupils’ booklet, the authors offer the following definitions: “Netball - a bit like basketball; Rugby - a bit like American football; Rounders - a bit like baseball; Cricket - not like anything else at all!”