“It was very strange for me, but my mum says I settled very well,” explains the teenager, with a smile. “I think it was because I came here, and it made all the difference.”
“I learned English very quickly, which helped,” says Martyna. “I came to the school originally because my mum wanted me to learn Polish, it was the language we spoke at home.She adds, smiling: “It was inspiring, and it has actually made me want to be a teacher. The teachers here were like my second parents, they helped me so much. I would love to be that person for someone else.”
“We have great support from the school and Brenda Menzies, who has been the janitor here for 10 years, is an amazing part of our team too,” she says.“I have a tartan flower, with a Polish flag at its heart,” she explains, smiling. “It is a symbol of the special relationship between Scotland and Poland.”
“I started volunteering here at the school, then I became a teacher, and now I am headteacher. I love it here. “It is a song about how important grandparents are in a child’s life, it is about wishing them love,” explains Pawel. “Singing is so important for language.”“Our boys speak Polish at home, and when they are talking to their cousins back in Poland, so it was important to us that they learn the language - and here they can be around other Polish children and learn about their country,” he says.