Visiting Westside School

Today was another nice day here in La Linea. I was awoken at 6 am to go prepare the breakfast for everyone because I was "backis" and therefor on duty, although at the time I was definetely wishing to sleep in. The morning went by as usual and before we knew it it was 8 am we were standing on deck ready to start the day.

Today there was a visit planned for us girls to go to an all girls school in Gibraltar, so at 8.30 we made our way by foot to Westside School. The boys stayed onboard Gunilla to guard the ship until we would come back from our trip. It was about a 40 minute walk, made longer by the fact that Tore got us all lost on the way there, but we eventually arrived at the our destination. Once there we were greeted by the headmistress and were seated in the library to wait. She told us a little bit about the school and its students, and she told us how the school focuses lot on mental health and wellbeing. At Westside School, every wednesday there are activities held at breaktime to spread awareness about mental health and all the different aspects that play into it, like eaing healthy and staying hydrated for instance.

We sat and chatted with some senior students in the library for a few minutes before the bell rang and we split up into smaller groups, each group joining a junior class (the seniors were studying hard for exams). My group went into a year 10/11 geography class first - they were learning about earthquakes and tsunamis and watched a movie on the 2011 Japan eartquake and tsunami.

Then after break, which was again spent in the library, we joined a different class, for my group that meant going to a year 9 art class. All over the school there were hanging stunning, impressive artworks, all created by students. This school seemed to be focusing lot more on practical subjects like art, drama and music, than swedish schools do. The year 9s were making pottery designs inspired by animals they had seen at a visit to the local animal sanctuary.

Westside school is a for the most part all girls school, although there are a few boys in sixth form, and the school is planning to go completely co-ed in 2 years. The students themselves seemed to be overall happy to go to an all girls school; like with most things they thought there were both positive and negative sides to it. The school also has compulsory uniforms; maroon for the juniors and navy blue for the seniors. I thought the visit was very interesting and informative, and it was very nice talkig to all the students!

After our visit we went back to Gunilla to eat lunch and then my guard, port, had free time for the rest of the day.

Janne Schilling, Port (Babord)