Corn dollies, bread making and French conversation – the first day for Year 5s in France.

What a fun and a sunny first day we’ve had in France! After a heroically early start, we plunged beneath the Channel with great excitement. Before we knew it, we were in belle France.

Our first stop was a wheat farm where we made delicious bread and learnt to weave corn in the traditional way. We had a fabulous crepe lunch (savoury for the main and sweet for dessert!) and enjoyed the fabulous sunshine.

After that, we settled into the Hardelot Centre. This involved the children making their own beds – quite a feat for some! This was followed by a wonderful three-course dinner before playtime in the woods.

The children are now listening to a riveting Mr Huxley story time and will be heading to bed shortly.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

STOMP!

On Tuesday, we had a great time stomping around our local area to raise money and awareness for the charity Health Poverty Action! Every pupil brought in £1 which will be used to support health related projects in less developed areas of the world – have a look at the photos ( a bit blurry but these stompers move fast!) for our stomping!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The School Stomp is a sponsored walk for the whole school to raise money for the world’s poorest children to give them the essential health care and futures they deserve.

Be the change you want to see in the world – Micawber Class Assembly

Well done to the pupils of Micawber class for their thought provoking assembly on the history of India and the role of Gandhi in leading its independence. Pupils did an excellent job of telling the life story of both country and Gandhi through drama including freeze frames. We learnt about the role that salt played in this tumultuous time and the close links to the history of the USA. Fascinating! Thank you Ms Alcock and the Micawber class adults for your support.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

School Council Protest Parade @ WHY Festival – Celebrating Children’s Rights

Today, the School Council joined many other schools at the Southbank Centre to participate in the WHY? Protest Parade. This was part of a wider festival celebrating the rights of children and young people: ‘WHY? WHAT’S HAPPENING FOR THE YOUNG’. The School Council made their own placards and chanted songs on the demonstration.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Vive La France!

Tomorrow is Bastille day and the Tour de France is in full swing. Charles Dickens Primary School today celebrated all that is great about France and spent a whole day learning more about French culture. Everyone tried very hard to practice their French speaking and listening skills. We were also lucky enough to welcome two extra children ( the French cousins of Louis and Amelie) who joined us for the (perfect) day and gave the children extra motivation with their French speaking.

Here are a  few pictures from the start of their busy day!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Read below to find out a little more about what we all learnt!
All the younger children spent some time contributing to the enormous ‘VIVE LA FRANCE’ and ‘BASTILLE DAY” with collage and decoration. They all took part part into an Eiffel Tower making competition. Lots of classes interviewed very nice French ladies called Fatima and Valérie; they asked  them about life in France. It was so interesting learning how French people live !

Year 1 and 2 played a French playground game and made love locks at the end of the day, writing about what we liked best about our French Day!

Reception were prevented from taking part into our mini Tour de France by the rain so this will be happening on Friday morning on our little bikes!

Key Stage 2 also had great French Day.  First thing in the morning they decorated buntings and hung them in our classes. Then they took part into 5 different activities: they learnt about Bastille Day with Mr Oxenham and Ms Alcock by playing by a  board game – each child was a character (commoner, someone from the clergy or someone from the nobility). The children soon realised how unfair life was at the time when when they had to pay in taxes to both he clergy and nobility! Not fun!

They also learnt about French singers with Miss Rhys-Evans, playing a memory game with vinyl and QR codes to swipe, songs to listen to and facts to read and match.
They rode the Paris metro in Barnaby class with Mr Windle, going from landmark to landmark, learning about all the treasures Paris has to offer! 
They also learnt about the Francophone countries with Mr Huxley –  the countries’ languages and currency, their national dish and their flag. They designed their own flags from Francophone countries with Mr Vanson. With their class teachers there was a chance to take part in a quiz on the Tour de France, watching a very interesting video and answering questions.

Finally, they played boules or petanque, French playground games and wrote on our ‘love locks’ at the end of the day what we loved the most about out French Day!

As if that wasn’t enough, a little group of children came to watch the movie Ernest et Célestine at the end of the day, they really enjoyed watching the movie in French.

Story Telling

Early years have been treated to some fabulous stories from around the world told by the storyteller Helen Macdonald. Little Dorrit found out about the origin of stories from a  lovely Ghanaian tale about  Anansi spreading the stories around the world. In Gargery the children heard a caribbean tale about Anansi having a party which they all joined in with singing and dancing. Trotwood were also transported to the rainforests in Brazil where they learned some capoeira moves and songs.

image image (3) image (2) image (1)

 

J’aime Paris!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

*En une journée, ils ont accompli tant de choses, y compris la commande déjeuner en français, en marchant toutes ces étapes du Sacré Coeur, visite du Louvre, en suivant les indications et acheter des souvenirs. Il n’est pas étonnant ils sont tous endormis dans le lit depuis des heures!

*In a day, they have achieved so much including ordering lunch in French, walking up all those steps to the Sacre Coeur, visiting Le Louvre,  following directions and buying souvenirs. It isn’t any wonder they are all fast asleep in bed hours ago!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A German TV Star!

photo (12)

Last week, Ella (together with a couple of classmates from the German Saturday School  in Croydon) took part in a Children’s quiz TV programme called “1, 2 oder 3″.

The topic was “Water and sea world”. It looked like a draw between the German, the Austrian and the British team…until Ella’s team answered the final master question, winning the game! Well Done Ella! We are all very proud of you!

Would you know the answer to this question: “What is an underwater rugby ball filled with?” The correct answer is “water and salt”.

It was an amazing experience, both taking part in the making of a television programme and looking behind the scenes. The show will be broadcast on German TV in September.

Meeting Bill Clinton

bill clinton

 

On Friday afternoon , Mrs Buchanan, Mrs McKay and Mr Huxley were invited to a panel discussion on global education which was chaired by  Bill Clinton. The discussion, hosted by GEMS education centered on how to improve outcomes for pupils around the world by training teachers well.

As we plan our next project with Iponga School, Malawi, it was serious food for thought and it confirmed to us that supporting other Southwark Schools to build capacity to improve teaching and learning was be most effective type of outreach work.

In the words of Mr Clinton

‘talent is evenly spread across the world and so are dreams!’

 

 

Eastington visit!

Our friends from Eastington joined us for the day on Tuesday and spent their time catching up with buddies, making new friends, exploring the school on a treasure hunt (thank you to Year 5 who made it) and tucking in to a school dinner (they only have packed lunch at their school). For many of their children it was their first time to London and they loved travelling around our city and seeing where we live and learn. We are all looking forward to seeing them again in October when we travel to Gloucestershire!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.