times398

VISITING ROYALTY

On our return from half-term, I was delighted to receive an invitation to meet Prince Charles at Clarence House, next week, for an official Reception. This is a great honour and it is very good to know that all the excellent practice in our school is being recognised by the powers that be! I shall feel extremely honoured to represent the school on behalf of pupils, parents and staff.

TOILET IMPROVEMENTS

As I outlined in an earlier edition of Sweyne Park Times, now that we have improved our ICT facilities, the next major area to improve is our toilets. We are very lucky to have such excellent resources and facilities at Sweyne Park, especially given how old the building is. However, our toilets are long overdue for a makeover and I am pleased to announce that work will begin on refurbishing the first of our toilets during the Christmas holidays.

Although we had originally intended to build a separate toilet block, this has not proved practical and therefore we will instead completely refurbish our existing provision, having secured funding for this from Essex County Council. The refurbishment will be carried out on a rolling programme, and should take between nine and twelve months to complete. Watch this space!

STAFF TRAINING DAY

A reminder that tomorrow, Friday 9th November, is a staff INSET day, when school staff will be working with a renowned speaker, Dr Barry Hymer, on issues relating to Thinking Skills and Motivation. Please can I remind pupils, however, not to visit their local primary schools on this day as, although it is tempting for pupils to visit their old teachers, in practice it can be very disruptive to their lessons.


Last week we held our annual One World Week celebrations. This is always a popular week with our pupils and staff and one in which we invite different people to share their experiences from around the world. During the week we were also joined by pupils and staff from Eijkhagen College in the Netherlands as part of our first Anglo-Dutch exchange. Year 7 pupils took part in `World Carnival' presentations while other pupils enjoyed international inputs from visiting speakers and taking part in the `Trade Game Project'. We even had a different cuisine from around the world each day to eat for lunch in the school dining room. A brilliant week!

Last week Sweyne Park hosted the first Anglo-Dutch exchange. Twenty Sweyne Park students from year 8 and 9 hosted visiting students from Eijkhagen College in The Netherlands. It was a very busy week which included a trip to Southend Planetarium and a blustery walk along the pier. It was a beautiful day and the students turned to their creative sides to sketch the coastline. We also spent a day in London to show our visitors some of the many famous sites, including a river cruise along the Thames to Greenwich. Our students were eager to show their partners what everyday life at Sweyne Park is like, involving them in lessons and enjoying the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Production.

Overall, the week was fantastic fun. The students learnt a great deal from each other, building friendships that will last many years. We are all very much looking forward to returning to Eijkhagen College next year.

Alexandra 10CRe reporting

Throughout half-term and the week afterwards, I went to stay with my Chinese exchange partner May and her family in a large city called Kunming which is located in the Yunnan province of China. Throughout my stay I was able to experience school life for a Chinese student and also visit all the famous attractions in . I was amazed at how different life is for May, especially at school. The school days are longer and students even have to go to school on a Saturday! I really enjoyed observing the lessons and also participating in the morning exercises.

In China, we were able to taste local food using chopsticks, it was absolutely delicious! We were also able to buy many cheap goods and bargain with the Chinese shopkeepers! The whole experience of the trip was absolutely amazing. In the future I hope to revisit China with my family and meet with May again. I had the opportunity of a lifetime that I will be able to remember forever and I made some fantastic friendships which will remain and never end.

On Tuesday several pupils were selected to take part in the Mongolian Art Experience. Jenny Samways brought in several artefacts from Mongolia and told wonderful stories about the time she spent living and working in that mysterious eastern country.

Pupils tried on genuine local costumes, created their own artworks based on Mongolian examples and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. Pupils even erected a typical Mongolian `tent house'.

As part of One World Week Year 8 participated in the Trade Game. Pupils were put into groups and each group became a country. The object of the game is to make money! In order to do so countries need to trade with other countries to get the resources they need to make their produce, which then gets sold to the world bank for money. The more they make the more money they get. Is world trade always fair?

Bradley 8CHo - it made me think about what goes on in the world.

Rhianna 8RGo - it made me think that some countries don't have what we have.

Beckie 8JBl - It was a good way of showing how hard other people work for thier money.

Andrea (Dutch exchange student) - I think it must be hard for countries to have to work like that. I enjoyed working as part of a team.

It was a busy and exciting week of presentations for Year 7 during their One World Week carnival. Each tutor group had spent several weeks researching a different country and putting together a presentation to show to their peers.

We were informed about a variety of countries such as: China, Portugal, Australia, Greenland & Egypt.

The presentations were varied and entertaining: some groups used a news report style, others bought in yummy homemade Portuguese cakes, some dressed up in local fashions, others performed a puppet theatre to explain how Chinese celebrations came about, some groups opted for PowerPoint presentations, some added music, fashion shows and a snap-shot of school life. All presentations were informative and reflected the creativity, hard-work and determination of the pupils.

A big thank you to all pupils involved and to their tutors.

"We put a lot of effort into One World Week and it really paid off" Kathryn, 7AGo

"I thought if was a great experience to learn about another country" Michael, 7AGo

On Friday we welcomed Phyllis Ellis into school to share some of her experiences as a governess to the Saudi Arabian Royal Family. Groups of Key Stage 3 pupils heard fascinating stories of life with members of the royal family and what it was like to live and work in royal palaces in a totally different country and culture. As a woman in Saudi Arabia Phyllis was not allowed to show her face or hair to men at any time and had to live to a strict Islamic code. - Very different to British life.

MARIAH MUNDI AND THE MIDAS BOX

By G P Taylor

Mariah Mundi has a new job. He's a magician's assistant and gets to live in the Prince Regent hotel _ but not above ground where the guests stay. Mariah has to live below ground, with the slimy, green-dripping walls and all the magic show equipment . It's here that he discovers a dark, mysterious and dangerous secret….

This is the exciting new book G P Taylor shared with us when he visited last month.

CALLING YEAR 7 READERS…..

Would you like to join us each Thursday morning registration to Talk About Books?

We're judging the six books on the Essex Book Award.

Which one do you think will win?

Which one is your favourite?

Which is the worst?

Last year we even got to meet the winning author,

Morris Gleitzman.

Come and join in the judging!

See Mrs Waghorn for more details.

Congratulations to Dannii-Ella 7AGa and David 9LWo who both receive a prize for being the first two correct winners of last week's competition. The correct answer was France.

This week's clues:

Where in the world am I?

Answers to Pupil Services by Wednesday lunchtime. The first two correct answers picked out of the hat each win a prize.