Our final official engagement is a tour of the new hospital opposite the cathedral and the attached embryonic medical school (which used to be, alarmingly, a funeral home). The hospital is still closed. Denkar tells us confidently that they have reached a deal with Siemens and that it will be opening in September. There is some equipment, in the children’s operating theatres with blue walls painted to look like the sea, there are the theatre lights all ready - waiting for pat

We are proud to have delivered the first Ankawa Education Conference at the Catholic University in Erbil (CUE) with the participants of our summer Training Programme. Our Director, Elliot Grainger opened the conference, and Sally Boya gave a lovely speech thanking everyone and assuring them of the school’s support for their research and what they would like to experiment with as a result. Each teacher has been asked to research and present on a topic of their choosing. We wan

End of week two. We are now powering along with pedagogical improvements. However, today we say good bye to two of our UK teachers, Ewan and Trish. A group photo is of course mandatory; here we are with some of our participants from the course. Who are themselves teachers. Talking to Ewan before he left, it was interesting to hear him reflect on how teaching teachers had really encouraged him to look in more detail at his own teaching style, and habits! Meanwhile, the languag

We have arrived int Erbil for the start of the three week Teacher Training Programme. July in Iraq is hot and dusty, and that is exactly what we have found. With teachers joining us from Shrewsbury School and Highgate School, we are ready to get started. Tomorrow we will be joined by 30 teachers from Mar Qadakh School for three weeks of training, learning, and sharing to help improve the school as it strives to deliver the International Baccalaureate, in English. A high-level