Wendy's visit to Pulliyadimunai

Thursday Our last day in Batti, and what a day it turned out to be! I was really looking forward to visiting Pulliyadimunai school again after my visit last year. The school had organised a Sports4kids day, inviting 8 other Junior schools to take part in this event. When we arrived the teams were lined up outside the school waiting our arrival with anticipation, there were reporters, teaching staff, and other dignitaries already there. We walked along the lines of welcoming students, and into the area where the sports were to be take place. Each team had an allotted place in the playground where there were chairs for them and once everyone was in the outside playground area students came along and quickly laid out the course. Virtually everything they used was something recycled – water bottles filled will coloured water to use as marking out cones, larger water containers were filled with sand to hold poles upright, which were decorated with balloons and flags. After some speeches the proceedings began. There were different activities for each team to have a go at and at the end of a set time the whistle was blown and students moved on to the next challenge, their scores having been taken by a steward. Mr T was asked to do a warm up to Gangnam style music, and he says he made it up as he went along – but everyone got up to dance anyway. There was a welcome break during the morning when tasty noodles were served. The day was extremely hot, but students and staff alike kept dancing to the music played while the students participated in the activities. While the student teams were waiting to take part in their activity many of them were dancing with our students so all this contributed to the party and festival mood during the day. As the final whistle blew and scores were added and then began the prize giving. Certificates, cups, medals and plaques were issued to all the participating students and CPS came in third with Pulliyadimunai school the winners. The cost of the certificates, cups, medals etc was paid for out of the money raised by the Calthorpe Park School students in their fund raising efforts for OST. The whole morning had run late by this time so we had a very quick lunch at the school before returning to the hotel for a welcome shower and change of clothes. We returned to the school for a talent show in which students at Pulliyadimunai performed many songs, dances and drama pieces. Our students sang a couple of songs together, three of the girls sang together, three of the boys sang and Amy performed an amazing gymnastic routine in sand, which made it difficult for her to keep her footing. At the end of a wonderful and amazing day it was time to say goodbye to the students, which made us all very emotional. We had dinner at the school before returning to the hotel. Everyone agreed that the day had been outstanding and that having to say goodbye to the students had been very emotional making our students realise what an impact their visit had had on the school and the local community. If we had not visited the school, the sports event would not have been organised, the other schools would not have been invited to participate, we would not have met them …………. Time for everyone to have a final evening in Batti and pack before heading back to Colombo tomorrow.