Kolkata 2026 Blog
Sunday 18th January
We were up at 5am today for a collection at 6am to go to the airport. What a memorable week we have had! Can't wait to share it all with you in person.
Saturday 17th January
Today was sports' day. Mrs. Barnett was in charge of organising the event for all the CRS schools which the team of teachers had worked alongside this week (320 children). The event started at 10am and finished at 2pm. There were traditional English school sports such as an egg and spoon race, sack race, 3 legged race, relays with a large ball moving under and over and a standing long jump. In addition, we had parachute games, skittles, throwing and catching, cups and saucers game using cones and finally a traditional Indidan game called coco (which is a cat and mouse type of running game).
The schools moved around the sports field in a carousel of activities with their English and Indian teachers together. They spent ten minutes on each activity before Mrs. Barnett blew the whistle to indicate that it was time to move on.
At the end of the activity carousel, the children all came together to perform the dance which Miss. Ayling had taught. It was fantastic!
The afternoon continued with entertainment from a magician which everyone enjoyed. Finally, lunch was served...a KFC. Most of the children had never eaten anything like that before. Their faces illuminated whilst they were eating it and having a drink of Coke. The children left with their teachers in their trucks.
Our team of English teachers returned to CRS for one last time. For those who wanted, we were able to have henna, head massages or a hair cut from the women who were supported by CRS through the women's empowerment centres (Nari Dana meaning women's wings).
Our last dinner was at another rooftop restaurant, overlooking the cathedral (see photos).
Friday 16th January
We spent the morning in school for our final teaching sessions today.
We sang songs related to the 'Bear' stories again including teaching the children and staff a new song to the tune of 'The wheels on the bus'.
The children tried really hard to learn all the words. They mastered the actions quickly. With the older children, we practised the sports day dance and made something to bring back to school for each class (wait and see!). In the afternoon, we had our final Teams call to St. Andrew'.
Later that afternoon, we walked to the Victoria Memorial Park. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to go inside as had been planned. It was a public holiday and the queue to buy tickets was too long.
We visited Newmarket next for any final bits of shopping. We managed to buy an outfit for our India box at school which someone will be lucky enough to wear on India day for our wedding celebration. We had dinner at a rooftop restaurant, overlooking Newmarket (see photos). What a great view!
Thursday 15th January
We spent two and a half hours in school today. The younger classes used puppets to recall the events of the story from yesterday and then made face masks. They really enjoyed the activity. With the older children, we asked them to recall the order of events using ordinal numbers. Then, we used pictures from the story to retell it in our own words. The older children were very good at this and were able to learn and use the story language quickly. Following this, we practised the dance which Miss. Ayling will be leading alongside the G.B. Lane children at sports day on Saturday. They had practised without us on Wednesday and had remembered the moves.
We had a river cruise on a tributary of the Ganges during the late afternoon and video called St. Andrew's to show the staff and children the sights from the boat.
You will be amazed to read that we actually saw three dolphins in the river!! The river is terribly polluted, but somehow they survive. We saw a traditional fishing boat too (see the photos). We had snacks and a meal during the river cruise (see photos).
At the half way point of the river cruise we visited a temple. It was very busy and inside we sat and listened to and watched a prayer session. It was very meditative. We had never been part of anything like that before.
Wednesday 14th January
We visited a CRS project in the countryside today, called Geonkhali. CRS support the women of the community to become skilled seamstresses by teaching them a sewing syllabus where on completion of the course they will receive a qualification certificate, enabling them to work in the sewing industry. This is called women's empowerment. CRS also support the children of the community by providing coaching support for their school work (like additional tutoring). The children also receive nutritional supplements and their health is regularly checked.
The community warmly welcomed us through the presentation of flower garlands and petal confetti. Different members of the community gave short performance of Indian dances and poetry recitals. The women showed us their sewing samples and we were wowed by the beauty of them. They must put a lot of time and effort into their sewing.
The people of Geonkhali and Kolkata have been most welcoming to our team. It is truly love and kindness behind all that they are doing for us.
Tuesday 13th January
We went to GB Lane school for three hours today where we taught songs, rhymes, stories, new vocabulary and a dance. The work was based on the book 'Bear Snores On' by Karma Wilson. Classes 1 and 2 were mixed together so that we could teach them the same things. They speak very little English and so we spent a lot of the time singing with them and learning the different animal names of the characters in the story. They loved following the actions for each one. Next, we taught classes 3 and 4. Miss. Ayling taught the sports day dance which we had performed at our St. Andrew's sports day last year. The GB Lane children will lead all the children from CRS schools in the dance at the end of sports day, in Kolkata on Saturday. Following the dance, we taught from the same book as classes 1 and 2 had, but as they understood a little more English we were able to work faster and use the vocabulary and actions to start a drama retelling of the story. The children were able to order the animals from the story too.
After lunch, we visited The Mother House, the home and work place of Mother Teresa. She devoted her life to the service of helping the sick and orphaned children of Kolkata. Mother Teresa's tomb is now there and is a very peaceful place for prayer and quiet reflection.
We visited the market before dinner and we bought a beautiful hand sewn wall hanging for school...I can't wait to see it on display in school! We also managed to buy something for dressing up (wait and see!).
Dinner was at the Dosa House. See the photo to identify a dosa.
Monday 12th January
The children are only just returning to their schools this week after the holiday. The children at GB Lane will be back on Tuesday, so we will be there to teach them.
After we had spoken to the whole school today, during worship time we met with our Kolkata CRS teachers and created some shared planning for the week. We are really looking forward to meeting the children!
Later on, we were taken to the pottery quarter to see the skilled potters and craftsmen at work. They were busy making statues of the Hindu Goddess Saraswati for the upcoming festival on 23rd January. We were told that they are used in India, but also exported worldwide. When the festival is over the statues are returned to the rivers to return the clay ...true recycling!
Friday 9th January
We (Miss. Ayling and Mrs. Barnett) departed from Birmingham airport a little later than planned on Friday 9th January 2026 due to snow. When we arrived in Dubai, we discovered that our connecting flight, to take us to Kolkata, had been moved and would mean staying a night in Dubai in a hotel (very unexpected).
We managed to have a few hours sleep before breakfast and then continued our journey through Dubai airport and departed for Kolkata at lunchtime. We landed in Kolkata airport at approximately 6pm (India time) on Saturday 10th January.
Sunday 11th January
We, alongside the other members of the team, attended the Sunday worship at Kolkata cathedral. We were welcomed during the service and invited to stay and share drinks and biscuits afterwards.
Following the service we went to visit a charitable centre (Udayan) for the children affected by leprosy. This is a treatable, bacterial disease. The children may be sufferers of leprosy themselves or it may be their parents that suffer. The centre provides a home for the children and ensures they attend school. It takes care of their medical needs and provides additional activities around sport, music and theatre. The children can live there until they are 28 years old. The majority of the children do very well in school and are able to get jobs to support their independent living once they leave the centre. Please take a look at the photos.
