Primary School Number 1. Where St Trinian's meets the Truchbol Academy

 Once a month I teach English Vocabulary in a Polish primary school.

 I really enjoy theses mornings - its a change of scenery, a bus ride away, they have a state of the art bean to cup coffee machine including a milk frother !!! and I really enjoy the added variety it brings to my working week.

The classes are aged 11-14, so academically it would sit closer to the secondary school system in the UK, but as children don't go to school until they are 7 they tend to be quite young for their age. The first time I taught at the school I was really shocked, it felt like a mix of St Trinian's  and Matilda's Truchbol Academy. 

 Each year group has its own classroom all on the second floor of the school and the children move freely in and out of all the classes and the landing where there is a hand football  and other games during the 10 mins between each lesson. There are only 12-16 students to a class and the tables are laid out in rows 4x3 or 4x4.  They have a really clever trick in that the row  of desks and chairs at the back are 6/8 inches taller than the ones in front  - genius!!

The children are very free and easy, shoes on, shoes off, odd shoes on some children I haven't worked this one out - there seem to be too many for the ingrowing toenails or foot injury to be the cause,  but equally there aren't enough for it to be a fashion trend also the children seem really remarkably unconscious of fashion.   During the lesson the children play with toys at their desks, not just the odd mini skateboard of fiddle gadget but a full blown Lego or  mini creatures set is under construction or being used in battles. In the top class, during my first visit there was a knot of children doing some really super crafting of miniature paper flowers and origami stars. 

After my initial visit I have relaxed into the style of the school. Many of the children seem to have a fascination or compulsion to put things in their mouths - not just a pen lid really big plastic things to have a chomp on, I mean so big that their mouths are distorted and they can't speak. I try to encourage them to put them in their bags - after all who knows where they have been before!!

I discourage children who open up their lunchboxes and don't just take out, but start assembling  multi-layered sandwiches and I strongly draw the line at scissors; along with the plastic chewing they are constantly trying to cut things up with proper sharp scissors, one child in the top class has drilled a hole through his desk with a pair of scissors - one inch wide!! Fair play - it must have taken some time!

Having said all this they are delightful children, really well behaved, generally enthusiastic and keen to learn so I'm left wondering if having a more child like environment for tween- and teenagers to learn in is more conducive to  happy engaged children.