Whitehouse Common Primary -

Day 2 Erasmus+ project meeting - Spain

Today has been another busy day in Cartagena, with two main themes - food and history.

Food first of all. At breaktime this morning Señora Stevens and Mrs Harding were treated to La Castañera, the festival of the chestnut which similar to harvest festival for us but involve eating roasted chestnuts (as in the Christmas song!) The Parent's Association had set up in the school playground with special pans and lots of chestnuts, and the younger children had dressed up too in special aprons, headscarfs and berets. They looked great, and everyone got to eat the castañas. Both Señora Stevens and Mrs Harding were rather fond of them and managed to get a second helping too! 

Lunch and dinner both featured traditional dishes like caldero, a rice dish made with fish and tortilla con trufa, a Spanish omelette made with truffles. Both delicious dishes and both served by lovely attentive staff who were interested in finding out about our project.

On to history. The older children started the day by working with the visitors, explaining the festival of the Romans and Carthaginians. Some of them had dressed up and paraded through the school patio. Some very impressive costumes and marching! CEP Antonio de Ulloa are fortunate enough to be a five minute walk from the Museo Arqueológico where there are artefacts from all through history discovered in and around Cartagena including fossilised bones, Greek, Roman and Carthaginian urns and vases, and mosaics, ceramics, metal work and implements used in day to day life. Later in the day the group visited another two museums where they learned about the Roman buildings found in Cartagena including the Roman baths, the forum, houses, a temple and lots of mosaics. Finally there was the visit to the Roman ampitheatre which was very impressive. 

Apart from this, there has been a project meeting at which everyone voted for a logo from the winning entries. This will be revealed when Señora Stevens and Mrs Harding return from Spain. And there was also a SKype call with a class at VS Wildbach who sang songs and played the accordion. 

Here are some photos of the day. There are more on Twitter too.

¡Hasta el miércoles!

Day 1 Erasmus+ project meeting - Spain

Señora Stevens and Mrs Harding have just returned to their rooms in the hotel that they left 14 hours ago after a very full day in Cartagena.

After breakfast they went to CEP Antonio de Ulloa, the host school where they were greeted by the headteacher and staff. Along with the teachers from VS Wildbach (Austria), 10th Primary School of Elefsina (Greece) and Bahattin Ozyadici Ilkokulu (Turkey) they were led into the playground where the school were all lined up waving flags to greet us. Following speeches from the Headteacher, Rocío, a representative of the Ayuntamiento (town hall) and a representative from Europe Direct as well as Gonzalo and Irene, pupils at the school. Then the children sang a welcome song in Spanish and English and cheered a lot. All the visitors went and danced with the children, and were thronged by them. 

Inside the school Señora Stevens and Mrs Harding visited a maths class, looked at typical crafts from the area (bobbin lace making and pottery) and shared typical snacks from the partner countries. At breaktime they went out to play with the chilren in their very big playground that goes right around the school. After break, they had a project meeting at which each school shared a presentation of their school as well as a little about themselves. The Whitehouse Common presentation was very well received; the teachers loved the photos of the school and thought that Aine Alys and Lily were excellent guides and ambassadors who showed great passion for their school. The teachers were also treated to singing from a very talented young man called Miguel, and they all snag a song in five languages written by one of the Greek teachers, accompanied by some marvelllous chime bar playing by Señora Stevens!

Lunch was at a typical local restaurant in the middle of nowhere, and was huge! The meal wasn't over until 5pm and there was then a visit to a windmill which was followed by a game of Bolos, a typical game only played in Cartagena. Mrs Harding was better than Señora Stevens but what they lacked in technique they made up for in style and grace! More food at 730pm was followed by a visit to the Casa Folclórica where local culture is preserved by enthusiasts who rebuilt a cultural building and teach traditional arts such as music dance and storytelling to preserve it for future generations. It was fascinating! 

A very full and very busy day, and both Señora Stevens and Mrs Harding are now very tired. 

There are some photos below and more on Twitter. More photos will follow soon but it's very late and there are so many of them...

Watch Twitter for more updates tomorrow. ¡Hasta mañana!

Excellent Work (Week Beginning 11/11/19)

Space Camp 2019

What an adventure we all had last week!

Children arrived and excitedly unpacked their things into their tent.

Once unpacked, Mrs Goode took the register and told the children which team they were in. Children were split into four teams, Team Aldrin, Team Jemison, Team Peake, Team Ride and Team Armstrong, and then rotated around five activities.

Children created nebulae pictures using chalks and pastels.

Looking at the stars with a telescope from Warwick University and then outside using our iPads.

Moon Rock cakes were very popular!

We enjoyed designing our own space suits with different NASA logos.

Mrs Clark and Mrs Cowdery were on hot chocolate duty! We enjoyed a hot chocolate and cookie while watching 'Space Chimps' before bed.

Some children slept well and they all enjoyed breakfast in the morning before clearing away the tents.

Erasmus+ project Let's get Cultural

Over the next two years, Whitehouse Common Primary will be working with four schools from Greece, Austria, Turkey and Spain on a project entitled Let's get Cultural.

This project is funded by Erasmus+ and will see each school hosting a meeting to explore and discuss culture - what it is, how we express it and how we can share and celebrate it.

There will be two meetings this academic year; in Spain in November and at Whitehouse Common in March, then three next year, culminating in the final meeting in Greece as they are the project leads.

It looks to be an exciting two years that we will document on this blog. 

Waxth this space for more news soon!

Newsletter 15th November

Please [click here] to read the newsletter

Premier League Maths and Spelling Game!

If you love football then this is the game for you ! Brush up on your Maths and Spellings skills at home with this Premier League Primary Stars game. Click on the image below to go straight to the game - it is tablet friendly too!

Change for Life Festival

Well done to all the children who represented our school so well at last night's Change for Life Festival. Enjoy your hard-earned medals!