It was the end of the year at the weekend for a rather special local educational facility, as well as the rest of the region’s schools.
The Saturday Polish School is based in Hawick High School and has been meeting since April, 2013.
The project grew from an initial 32 Polish children attending to nearly 50, aged from three to 16.
On Saturday, children, parents and staff met for the last time in this school year to celebrate ‘Akademia’ (Polish end of school year event).
The Polish anthem was sung to open the event, followed by each class presenting a short programme demonstrating how fluent the children are in Polish – despite the fact many were born in Scotland or have spent more time in Scotland than in Poland.
The project co-ordinators at the Saturday School, Kasia Gajewska and Dr Beata Kohlbek, work hard to promote integration and cohesion for the Poles.
Dr Kohlbek told us: “At the Polish school we have a double task – on the one hand to help the children continue education in the language of their parents; to teach them about Poland, its history and literature; on the other hand, to show them that they are part of a beautiful country here in Scotland, where their future lies.
“We believe that allowing the children to grow up as speakers of both languages and being proud of both countries they belong to, will give them better opportunities in the future and make them happier individuals.”