Well done everyone, Green Park has once again gained the prestigious ‘International Schools’ award!
Thank you to all those who gave their feedback and helped us to showcase our international work.
ISA 2011 – 2014
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A Danish Visit!
On Friday we welcomed Lars, our Danish partner, back into school for the morning.
He was on holiday with his family, and he wanted them to see our school so his wife Mette, daughter Julie, and sons Rasmus and Mikkel all arrived at 9am.
After a tour of the school, we sang some songs – I think Mr Rafferty and Mrs Reed impressed them with their version of ‘There’s a hole in my bucket…’ and of course we sang our Eurovision schools winning song ‘I like the flowers’.
Rasmsus had a great time after play joining in with the Reception and Nursery activities, and so did his mum! Julie helped out with the little ones, and made a little book, and Rasmus made lots of new friends during an ICT session in Y4.
Mrs Ocego cooked a lovely lunch (Rasmus was having so much fun that he wanted to stay in Y4, but Jordan and Charlie persuaded him he was hungry!) and then the family went off to Anfield for a tour.
It was great to see Lars again, the children enjoyed seeing a familiar face and meeting the family, and Mrs Hains and I were able to speak to Lars about some future plans…
The Comenius project finishes in July… But the friendships go on.
When Lars gets back from his holidays I will ask him to send some photos for this post.
A Message from Navia
On the last visit of the Comenius Project to Navia, Spain, Mrs Shotton, Mrs Hewitt and Mr Rafferty introduced World Box Day to the spanish children and teachers. The activity went really well and Natalia, the project coordinator, said that the boxes would be used as part of an end of term exhibition for parents. Well, she kept her promise and wrote the following letter as well.
Hi Green Park,
I am sending you the pictures about the boxes exposed in our Cultural week. They look lovely!
About your lesson in our school, it helped our students to be more confident about themselves, because they were able to understand you quite well. It also helped them because they could listen and meet English people talking in English, and that was really new and good for them. And the best part was doing the boxes, of course. They do enjoyed it.
About our visit to your school, it allowed us to see, in first hand, how it is organized an English school. It helped us to realize the differences between the countries, talking about schools’ organization (headteacher, students, teachers, timetable, canteen…) It was very helpful because if it wasn’t through the Comenius Project, it would be more difficult to have access to a so direct observation.
Well, I wish you really really nice (and deserved) summer holidays. I hope you could do everything you are expecting to do.
Keeping contact.
Un abrazo muy fuerte.
Natalia
World Box Day Exhibition on PhotoPeach
A message from Dame Ellen MaCarthur
One of Green Park’s famous europeans is Dame Ellen MaCarthur. Because of the information on our blog, and the brilliant connectivity of Twitter, Ellen sent a message to everyone involved with our World Box Day project.
It is wonderful that such a busy, internationally known person, take the time to look and comment. Thanks to Ellen and to everyone who made the project such a brilliant, collaborative event.
Our final Comenius Adventure
Asturias is a region in the North of Spain.
We met some lovely, friendly people and had a wonderful time.
We managed to be understood in Spanish, even though there is a language called Asturian which is a little bit different to Spanish.
The children were also able to understand us when we spoke in English, which was fantastic, and they had the confidence to speak to us in English too.
We received a warm welcome and here are a few highlights of our trip, you will already be familiar with many of the faces and places because Mr Rafferty has done such a great job of blogging!
Thank you to all of the teachers, parents and children who made the trip possible.
Spain from Mrs Shotton on Vimeo.
The Song of the Comenius Project – I like the Flowers
The song that became quite popular on the spanish part of the Comenius Project was “I Like the Flowers”.
The United Kingdom version recieved “douze points” !
Glitter in their Eyes
Once upon a time, in the land of Y1, World Box Day started. It was a way of being artistic, creative and fun with the easiest of tools and everyone could join in.
It resurfaced in Y4 when the children who were in Y1 that day reminded their teacher of the original day and so it became World Box 2. The following year, the children on the new Y4 nagged a little about doing the same thing and it was scheduled for before Christmas but with the busy times that Christmas is(was) it didn’t happen.
Then the europeans arrived in January and Year4 were asked to present a lesson about their famous european, Dame Ellen MacArthur. Well we had a great time and all the Bulgarians, Danish and Turkish joined in and we produced some great boxes.
World Box Day on PhotoPeach
Then. as part of the sharing ideas bit of the Comenius Project we were asked to present, to a class of spanish children in Spain, a lesson all about James Cook, William Shakespeare and Ellen MaCarthur.
Well, it seemed that World Box Day was the ideal solution, cutting, sticking, finding out, talking, glittering, taking part, joining in, being artistic,creative, learning and being sociable across counties.
The activities went down very well (although I’m sure that the spanish children found it all a bit strange to begin with!) and Mrs Shotton was overwhelmed with the reaction of one little girl whose eyes lit up with the sight of a brand new, bag of unopened glitter!! (Not to mention the midget gems we shared with the children!)
The coming together of the different countries was emphased with an email from Natalia, the spanish Comenius co-ordinator, who wrote to say that in the CRA Villayon school’s end of year presentation to parents, the boxes that were made in the lesson are to be featured as part of the childrens’ work. We really felt that the children had glitter in their eyes.
Glitter in their Eyes on PhotoPeach
A visit in a box of pictures
One School in Three Different Sites
At the top and half way down on PhotoPeach
CRA in Villayon is one school split into three different sites. This is because some families live miles away from each other and to make sure everyone has a good education the teachers each day travel along precarious and dangerous roads up amongst the mountains to teach in the 3 schools, and then return home at the end of the day.
The Comenius partners went on that journey and travelled for an hour and a half from Navia to the smallest of the three sites and met the seven children (all boys), looked at their tiny classroom and saw their work. It is quite difficult to appreciate how much hard work and dedication goes into making sure education takes place.
The next part of the Tuesday journey took us down the mountain and towards the village of Villayon. The stop off point was the second of the three sites. A much bigger school, nine children (from ages three to eleven, two computers, a brand new interactive white board, one teacher, one classroom assistant and a long way from the school at the top of the mountain!
After this visit we headed down towards the main school at Villayon to meet with the teachers, the press and the local mayor to discuss and talk about what we had seen and experienced during the first part of the day.
After a sort break it was off to see the Angel waterfalls.
The schools on the mountain and beautiful waterfalls on PhotoPeach
Pictures of the school at the top of the mountain and the one one half way down
At the top and half way down on PhotoPeach