UNRWA School Abu Dis

Starting to use this blog again

2011-12-27T05:07:00.000-08:00

Two CADFA volunteers from the UK, Summereen and Joe, have been working for the past three months at the UNWRA school. They have done lots of good things with students there and had a great time.
In January, there will be more volunteers going from UK to Abu Dis.... We hope that they will start to use this blog so that people at SCCS and Maria Fidelis and the UNWRA school can stay in touch!

SCCS International Evening

2010-03-26T05:55:00.000-07:00

SCCS International Evening 26th March 2010

Tonight SCCS will be hosting its International Evening. We will be celebrating the links that we have with our partner schools, including the UNRWA School in Abu Dis. We will be listening to Palestinian music, eating Palestinian food and painting our faces with the colours of the Palestinian flag. We're also going to be making badges showing the Palestinian flag. Watch this space for more photos!

Greetings from Maria Fidelis

2009-05-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Maria Fidelis School to all our friends at the UNRWA School in Abu Dis. Thank you for all your written messages, they are on display in both our staffrooms.

Thank you to all the staff and students I met during the day I spent in your school. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly. I enjoyed the day very much and learnt a great deal from all, especially how important education is to all Palestinians.
A special greeting and thanks to Nader and his family for the wonderful welcome and hospitality shown to me when I visited his home for lunch and got to meet his beautiful children and new born baby. The photographs of them are much appreciated and enjoyed by my family.
Since returning back to Maria Fidelis I have shared with my colleagues and students all I heard and saw whilst in Palestine . I have shown my students photographs of the wonderful things to see in Jerusalem , your school and Abu Dis. What has shocked them are the photographs of the huge and ugly wall that surrounds Adu Dis and dominates all your lives. They were shocked to hear how the wall prevents you having access to your families, land and work, and how your travel is restricted and you can not get to the Holy Places in Jerusalem .
I hope you enjoy the photographs of my students preparing their greetings to the students of UNRWA School and of the UNRWA students who worked with me on sending their greetings back to the students of Maria Fidelis. At the moment a number of my colleagues and myself are looking at ways we can strengthen the links that have been established between our two schools. We are keen to work alongside South Camden School and hope this joint blog will help us make regular contact so that all three schools can learn from each other and share what is good in Camden and Abu Dis.
Looking forward to hearing from UNRWA school and especially Nader.

Mike

Ahmed Visits SCCS

2009-05-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Ahmed from Abu Dis visited SCCS. He came to a School Council meeting where he talked to students about the forthcoming youth visit in July. Safiyyah, Zaynab and Maha are the students from SCCS who are taking part in the Youth Visit. There will also be other opportunities for people to get involved over the course of the week. The week is going to culminate with a performance in the theatre at SCCS on Friday evening.

Following the School Council meeting Ahmed went to meet with some Year 7 students who asked him lots of questions about life in Palestine. They wanted to know about education in Abu Dis and about the difficulties facing young people in their daily lives. Ms Gil and Ms Robinson showed them some photos from their recent visit. It was a really interesting and informative session and the students all asked whether Ahmed could teach them every week!!

CADFA Conference

2009-04-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the annual CADFA conference was held at SOAS in Central London. One of the highlights of the day was the feedback from the recent teachers' visit to Abu Dis. We looked at photos and discussed what had been learnt from the visit. We also began to think about the next steps and how we can take things forward. We all agree that communication is the key and so I'm going to make a determined effort to keep this blog updated!

Back in Camden, missing Abu Dis!

2009-04-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

Reme Gil and some of the UNRWA Girls

Spray painting on the separation wall to show how much we like the link between SCCS and the UNRWA School in Abu Dis!

Abu Dis to Camden...
So the SCCS teachers have been back at school this week and have been telling colleagues and students all about their time in Abu Dis! We have lots of very good photos and are preparing to create a display outside of the main hall. We also have the lovely messages that the UNRWA students recorded and we're looking forward to listening to them with our students.

We're beginning to think about our next steps and this week three local newspapers have agreed to publish a story and pictures about our visit to Palestine. The National Union of Teachers has also agreed to write an article and publish some photos in next month's edition of their magazine.

It is the CADFA Conference on Saturday which will be a good opportunity to report back to others in Camden and to think about our plans for the future. We'll let you know how it goes!

Teachers' Visit 2

2009-04-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

The second teachers' visit from Camden has just arrived back in the UK. A fantastic week was had by all and we hope that we've managed to continue strengthening the links between SCCS, Maria Fidelis and the UNRWA School. Pictures to follow very very soon!!

Photos from the Camden teacher's last visit to UNRWA school October 2007

2009-01-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

These photos were taken when Charlotte and Fiona were based in the UNRWA school for the Camden teachers' visit to Abu Dis. Sirat and all the teachers were so welcoming and hospitable- it was a pleasure to meet all the teachers and children and to begin to find out about the Palestinian education system in the UNRWA School and other Abu Dis schools.

I am hoping that you can get my powerpoint presentation by using the link in the title here. Please let me know if it works/does not work! Rather a large file- so will take a little time to download.

2008-10-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

Sarah (Maria Fidelis) organised an evening reception at Maria Fidelis for Maria Fidelis and Abu Dis teachers to meet each other.

We all enjoyed our meetings and conversations- Maria Fidelis teachers feel that it was of great interest to meet and talk to our Palestinian colleagues, and that we learned a lot by our meeting.

We hope that we can keep in contact and make links between our two schools, teachers and students.

Thank you for visiting our school and helping us to start to understand how life is for Palestinian schools.

Abu Dis teachers' visit Oct 08

2008-10-14T16:02:00.000-07:00

There are many more pictures to follow of the Abu Dis teachers' visit to Camden...

On 14th Oct, Nader from the UNWRA School was one of the teachers from Abu Dis to visit SCCS and Maria Fidelis.

Visit to Maria Fidelis, June 2008

2008-09-14T06:28:00.000-07:00

UNRWA links with Camden

2008-09-13T19:39:00.000-07:00

There have been strong links between Camden and the UNRWA School Abu Dis since 2005, when the first Camden Abu Dis group visit went to the school. This photo was taken back in 2006, on the day when the internet was put into the UNRWA School, thanks to the efforts of Camden Abu Dis Education Links. Since then there have been many contacts and many visits in both directions – teachers, volunteers and students as well as other visitors from Camden who have admired the UNRWA School.

Now (in September 2008) we are looking forward to special links between the UNRWA School and South Camden Community School, and also between the UNRWA School and Maria Fidelis School.

School council at SCCS

2008-09-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

A really interesting meeting of the SCCS School Council with the Abu Dis visitors from the UNRWA School, June 2006

Camden and Abu Dis girls

2008-09-13T18:11:00.000-07:00

UNRWA girls at Maria Fidelis

Maria Fidelis, June 2008

2008-09-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

Camden and Abu Dis girls at dance class in Maria Fidelis, June 2008

SCCS Year 10 Assembly

2008-09-13T17:49:00.000-07:00

Girls from the UNRWA School, Abu Dis, singing in an assembly at South Camden Community School in June 2008