In September last year, we embarked on an exciting new venture, which links us with partner schools in four European countries. As part of the European Union Comenius scheme, St. John’s is now working with schools in Turkey, Ireland, Germany and Iceland on a common project entitled “Respect: Think Globally, Act Locally”. Competition for a Comenius award can be fierce and St. John’s is proud to have been selected and to have the privilege of displaying the Comenius plaque on the front of the school.
In October, in order to establish the project, Mrs. Sarll, our Comenius coordinator, travelled to the Schillerschulle in Wiesloch,Germany, where she met teachers from all the other partner schools and participated fully in the school’s busy programme. “We had a fantastic welcome” says Mrs. Sarll. “The pupils had hand-painted chairs for each country, bearing the appropriate flags. They were far too pretty to sit on! We were also given a warm welcome in the Town Hall, by Wiesloch’s mayor, whom I persuaded to don the Welsh flag. Very fetching!” After observing lessons each morning. Comenius seminars were held in the afternoon, when the aims of the two year project were discussed. Mrs. Sarll also had the opportunity to teach some Welsh in a variety of classes and to stun all pupils into silence by writing Llanfair PG on the whiteboard, in full!
In January this year, St. John’s was very proud to welcome all the partner countries to our school. We decorated every available space in preparation, designing display boards on each country and Miss Oram hand-painted some pebbles as gifts for all the visitors. Pupils from Germany and Turkey stayed with host families in Porthcawl and were integrated into school life. Our pupils staged a vibrant, entertaining concert one evening, which was commended by all. We introduced our visitors to the delights of Welsh cuisine-taking them to Le Raj Indian restaurant in the evening! During the day, there was a plentiful supply of Welsh goodies, including one of our most famous national dishes -fish and chips! Thank you to all our hard-working kitchen staff for the fantastic supply of fresh Welsh cakes and cawl, both of which were devoured with relish. All our visitors were full of praise for St. John’s and said that we had “raised the bar very high” for the coming Comenius get-togethers.
In June, Mrs. Sarll, Mrs. Price and Mrs. Bessell accompanied 4 of our pupils-Amy Collins, Alys Pritchard, Chloe Atkinson and Bethan Williams on a Comenius trip to Gaelscoil Philip Barun in Tramore, Southern Ireland. They received a fanatstic welcome as they arrived on the first morning, with all the Irish pupils wearing flag hats, showing the five partner countries. Other pupils played the drums, which resulted in a very lively, rousing spectacle. A concert was held outside, overlooking the beautiful shoreline and everyone was treated to a feast of song, drama and Irish dancing. A particular treat was seeing the school’s very own champion dancer, who performs on the international stage. Our pupils and staff observed an typical lesson, which was rather a challenge for all, as the school teaches through the medium of Gaelic. Mrs. Sarll was thrilled to spot a Gaelic word which related to English, French and German – “chorp” means body, which is very similar to our “corporal”, the French “corps” and the German ”Körper”. ”I felt quite chuffed” says Mrs. Sarll. “At least I know one word now in Gaelic!”.
In the afternoons, our St. John’s pupils joined the Irish pupils in football and hurling matches, the latter being a totally new sport for our girls. Both staff and pupils enjoyed their trip enormously and found it highly educational. Our pupils sang “Ar-lan-y-Mor” to the Irish pupils, which was very brave of them! At the end of the visit, pupils and staff were presented with a hand-painted clay starfish, bearing the Irish and Welsh flags and also a box of delicious Irish chocolates, from Galleways, to sample during our Comenius Day. Alys presented the school’s headteacher with a wrought iron Welsh dragon. Mrs. Sarll gave him a book about Wales and one of our hand-painted Comenius Club salt dough lovespoons. The whole school was given tag rugby kits, hand-made books marks and some salt dough Welsh ladies (also made in Comenius Club).
On July 5th, we held our first Comenius Day in school. Pupils and staff worked together, in classes, to provide food and interesting facts about each of our partner countries. Recitations , musical items and quizzes on each country were held in the Crampton Hall. The day was introduced by a very special visitor, our very own version of Czech educator and philosopher, John Amos Comenius, who told us all about his philosophy of lifelong learning and education through play. He looked remarkably well for someone who was born in the 17th century! Everyone was interested to hear his beliefs and of the way they relate to our education today:
Quote…
“much can be learned in play that will afterwards be of use when the circumstances demand it”
“If, in each hour, a man could learn a single fragment of knowledge, a single rule of some mechanical art, a single pleasing story or proverb( the acquisition of which would require no effort) , what a vast stock of learning he might lay by”
Just before lunch, we were treated to a wide range of European melodies from Dr. Jones and his accordion band, which had everyone tapping their toes and clapping their hands.
In the afternoon, Mrs. Mead produced some wonderful Shakespearean plays, which were performed on the bandstand and all pupils had the chance to taste our specially baked Comenius loaf(thank you to Mr. Davies. This was followed by football and rounders tournaments in teams representing the five partner countries. The day was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
This October, 10 pupils and 3 members of staff wlll travel out to Iceland to visit our partner school. Preparations are already underway and the excitement in school is palpable. In St. John’s, prior to the visit, pupils will be working on activities linked to respecting their friends and will perform some of their work during European Day of Languages in September. We will also be embarking on an inter-schoolm project to collect handprints from pupils in our partner schools, to incorporate into a map design, showing how all the five countries are blinked.
“The Comenius project is enormously enriching” says Mrs. Sarll. “Much information and knowledge is gained through the visits, but the project goes beyond that and aims to include all pupils in all of the schools. Our Comenius Club has already extended from one lunchtime to two and I have been very impressed by the pupils’ commitment to learning about our partner countries and their different cultures. Respect is a wonderful theme and one from which we can all learn some lessons. I feel that our first year of Comenius has been a huge success and I look forward very much to the way it will inspire our pupils further in the coming year”.
Our Comenius year was rounded off with the fantastic news that we will be joined by a Comenius in St. John’s for a year from next September. May we take this opportunity, in advance to extend the warmest welcome to Miss Stefanie Marie Huber, from Vienna. We are sure she will enjoy her time at St. John’s and that her cross-curricular work, teaching and helping in all departments, will be very much appreciated by staff and pupils alike.
Twiiger 