So this was the day that our fantastic experience would end. Over breakfast, both of us commented on how we had felt that we had spent a lot longer than 6 days in Jordan. We had managed to pack such a lot of experiences into a short space of time that although we were amazed by what we had seen, we were sad that we couldn't see any more of the country and were definitely hoping for a volcanic ash cloud to keep us here longer!

Over our last feast of a buffet breakfast we wondered what could be in store for us today.

The previous day, we had missed assembly because our driver had been late. We were disappointed with this as it was one of our highlights seeing the range of student lead activities that take place in front of the whole school. Today, we made it!

This was an assembly put on entirely in English after the flag raising, passage from the Koran and the morning exam announcements. It featured students from Grade 4 - Grade 11 putting on quizzes, songs and performances in English. We had 'I'm a good Muslim Girl' and 'Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' from the younger students and some One Direction, a poem about King Abdullah II and a quiz from the older students.

Finally, we were treated to another Jordanian Folkloric Dance performed to a song written by the students in the school that had won a national competition.

This was the highlight for the whole school. 1500 people crammed to see the girls perform this dance, which made it quite difficult to film. I managed to capture all of it with the occasional head in the way. This gives Sian another string to her bow in choreographing another Jordanian dance.

After this we returned into the school and I was given more Teacher files to appraise and comment on. These teachers loved their jobs and were incredibly keen to learn. Each teacher's file was the size of a trainee teachers file and they started a new one each year.

Another teacher was desperate for us to see her teach some Arabic poetry and the students had yet more presentations to give us about their school.

The students ran many community initiatives including safer traffic and picking up litter schemes where they would go out into the wider community and liaise with local people. This really created a family feel to the school in which everyone was so proud of.

Then commenced the two lessons in Arabic. The first lesson was run by a teacher who was explaining Arabic grammar. She had been one of the quietest teachers of the trip but suddenly exploded with passion and gusto at the thought of Up and Down (the equivalent of masculine and feminine I think) words and where to put the commas and accents. At first, the children did repetition of the rules and then without warning the teacher suddenly lept into life like the conductor of a huge orchestra.

She started a song with the rules involved and then conducted her students with arms flailing and pointing to invigorate their learning. In between all of this, she would slip in a question and the students arms would shoot up in with the answers flowing from their mouths.

Just as soon as the explosion began, all was peaceful again. The students politely applauded the teacher and she became as quiet and as modest as before.

The second lesson was as equally innovative with the use of a drum to highlight the rhythm and different meters in Arabic poetry. This was a place where I could give something back and was able to do a brief lesson on Iambic Pentameter in Shakespeare's poetry. The students knew of Shakespeare but found the language difficult (a common problem across all countries) but after we had mapped out the rhythm within the poem they were desperate to find out what the poem meant. We looked at Shakespeare as a painter with words and they soon saw the linked images in the poems and worked these out for themselves.

All through our time in school, students were sitting exams but many of the students who took place in classes and workshops had given up their study time to take part risking losing marks that could affect their progression into the next year.

Our last treat was some staff inset. What a difference this was from our experiences. Sometimes our staff session can be seen as tick box exercises for OFSTED or the County Council and lacks any relevance or benefit to our students. Here we witnessed a session led by a particularly strong member of staff on the use of games within lessons. It was attended by enthusiastic members of staff whose only purpose was to improve for the benefits of the children.

Again, I feel that in the UK we can become precious about our teaching believing that the highlighting of any weakness is a personal affront rather than a way to improve student experiences. There is a lot to be learned from the way these teachers approached their practice and is the best illustration to any teachers as to why becoming reflective practitioners was drummed into us during our training years.

Lastly we played spin the bottle... I know - not something you'd expect but this was a tool used not for adolescent experimentation but to decide who would talk, reflect and share their experiences as a teacher. This led to some very open conversation about challenges; about highlights; about low points and about good practice. This reflective session is one that is run on a monthly basis just to keep teaching fresh. We do share a lot of the same problems of overly prescriptive and often unnecessary paperwork but for them it is still important to set aside this time to keep focused on the reasons they had become teachers.

As with all Jordanian experiences, we finished with a feast! Each teacher had brought in a dish of their own and this was laid out in front of us. The teachers explained that to cook for and experience others' satisfaction in their cooking was one of their little pleasures in life. Most of these teachers had husbands, many children and often grandchildren to cook for. For us though, this meant a large number of teachers desperate for us to try and enjoy the dishes that they had prepared. Again my earlier loss of 3 kilos must have turned into a net gain.

Here, I must say a word for our host and the head teacher Kholoud. She only had been at the school 4 years but in the eyes of her staff, had turned the school around completely. She is moving on to a promotion within the Ministry of Education and by all accounts this is well-deserved. However, it is clear that her staff and students will miss her dearly. She has tackled education with passion and energy keeping the students' development at the heart of the school. This is apparent everywhere you went in the school with the smiles on both staff and students' faces. She has also routed the school at the heart of the community by ensuring that parents are key parts of the learning process too. We must have seen parents in double figures drop in for a chat or discuss a students' progress or ideas for the future of the school. The door was always open, no appointment needed, just drop in and talk. By all accounts, this wasn't an easy atmosphere to create, but she persevered and is now reaping the rewards.

This experience has certainly invigorated mine and Sian's passion for teaching and confirmed to us our philosophies on teaching are the right way to go. At the end of the day, we deal with people and their feeling valued is the way to our success.

We left the school heavy hearted with some wonderful memories of enthusiasm and generosity.

By the time we were back in the hotel, the pen and paper was out and we were already brainstorming ideas on how to ensure that our students have the same experiences as ours. It would be a huge waste of our partnership if we don't transfer these experiences to our students. To follow the philosophy of the Daheit Al Rasheed School, the students need to be at the centre of this partnership and should have the best experiences.

We'll set the bar high and aim for them to have a better experience than we have had.