Sixty four beds, boats from the four eastern islands on Sunday morning, and the pairing arrangement for every student who is new to boarding.
The hostel reopens on the Sunday before term begins. Boats leave the four eastern islands that morning and students should be at their own jetty an hour before the published time, because a boat that leaves without a student on the first day is a bad start to a year.
What to send. Bedding, a mosquito net, a padlock for the locker, washing things, shoes for the laboratory that close over the foot, and stationery. Uniform as on the list. One bag that a student of thirteen can carry themselves, which is worth thinking about when packing.
What not to send. Anything valuable, anything electrical beyond a telephone and a charger, and money beyond the week's pocket money. The hostel keeps a small amount for students on request and there is no reason for a student to hold two hundred rufiyaa in a shared room.
The first fortnight. Every student new to boarding is paired with a student from their own island in the grade above, and that pairing is made before they arrive rather than on the day. Roll is taken at seven, half past one, six and nine. The gate closes at eight in the evening.
And the thing we say to every family with a thirteen or fourteen year old. The first two weeks are the hard ones. A student who is homesick very often tells nobody, eats nothing and answers every roll call. That is exactly what happened in the hostel's first fortnight years ago, and it is why the kitchen staff now report any student who is not eating and why roll is taken at six in the evening rather than only at night.
So please telephone in that first fortnight, more than you think you need to, and tell us if a call home worried you. And come on a Saturday in the first term if you possibly can. A student whose family has seen the room they sleep in settles differently, and about three quarters of families manage a visit each term.
The warden's number is answered at any hour and is on the sheet given to every boarding family. Use it.
