UK mobility to Spain

 

Comenius Report      

Jerez, Spain

May 2014

Tuesday

In the morning we visited El Membrar School. The school currently hosts approximately 300 pupils from 3-8years old, however the school develops each year and in 3-4 years will be a fully established 2 form entry primary school with children aged 3-11 years old. Each class has between 20-27 pupils and teachers have the opportunity to stay with the same class for a maximum of 2 years. The school is only 5 years old and uses whiteboards and exercise books to support the learning. There are some children that need additional support and this is given in the form of out of class interventions. These interventions are run by 2 teachers that do not have their own classes. It is the decision of the class teachers to decide who needs intervention and in what areas.

       

The children were waiting in the playground to welcome us. Both junior classes and infant classes had prepared English songs for us. Each visitor was presented with a calendar and a hand painted fan. We then visited a range of classrooms to look at displays and some examples of work.

There are a number of Comenius displays situated throughout the school. In the junior section one display related to superheroes and super villains which the children had created - fighting for and against the protection of the planet.

         

Other activities related to recycling are;

-          Creating PE equipment from used plastic and cardboard containers. This modelled how to create something fun out of household items.

-          A variety of bins have been placed around the school to meet different recycling needs, I.e. paper, plastic, batteries.

-          Gardening activities are part of lessons, children help plant and weed a vegetable patch.

       

The school then put on a performance for us, this included a traditional flamenco dance routine and a celebratory Moors dance. The school had recently celebrated 200years since the territorial battle.

After the performance all the visitors discussed progress so far, future visits and next steps.

In the afternoon we had a tour around the ‘Tio Pepe’ museum which was part of a working winery. Tio Pepe produces well known international sherry.

          

Wednesday

We accompanied 2 classes on a school trip to a Bee Centre, ages 4 and 5.

       

Here the children learnt all about how honey was made, the different types of bees including the workers, the drones and the queen bee. The children also learnt about how to react around bees, how to care for bees and the importance of having bees as part of the ecosystem. The children also had the opportunity to explore the different areas of the Centre which included a farm area. The school visit was used as a way of introducing a new topic of Bees to the children.

          

We were then given the opportunity to dress in bee keeping outfits, aka protective gear, and visit a working beehive. We were taken alongside an older group of children from another school to see a working beehive. The Centre employees first smoked the bees as they makes the bees hungry, which therefore causes them to eat and results in them becoming drowsy. The staff then opened the hive and showed everyone a section, explaining what the different colourings meant and what the bees were doing.

           

In the afternoon we visited Cadiz. To get to Cadiz we drove from Jerez to Puerto San Maria and then got on a catamaran to cross the bay. Cadiz is a beautiful historic city that is split into two, old and new. The city has markings to help visitors navigate around the city. We visited two castles on the coast of the island.

         

Thursday

In the morning we accompanied the eldest children from the junior part of the school than outdoor adventure Centre 1hour away from Jerez. This visit was not part of a school project but a chance for the children to explore nature as the school and surrounding areas are very urban.

       

Both the children and adults thoroughly enjoyed climbing and clambering around the assault course wearing harnesses for support. The staff at the Centre were supportive, encouraging and enthusiastic which made the experience even better. The Centre is less than one year old so this was the first visit by the school but will definitely not be the last. The teachers have decided that they will take the eldest children from the school once a year to the Centre as one of their school trips.

In the afternoon we were taken to some of the most beautiful beaches that could be found along the coast, approximately 1 hour from Jerez.

Future visits

Sweden:  Activity days Sun 12^th, Mon 13^th, Tues 14^thOctober 2014

          Arrive Sat 11^th & leave Wed 15^th October

Spain:  Activity days Wed 4^th, Thurs 5^th, Fri 6^th March 2015

          Arrive Mon 2^nd/Tues 3^rd & leave Sat 7^th March

          Equestrian & Flamenco shows - Thursday & Friday

U.K. :  Activity days Tues 19^th, Wed 20^th, Thurs 21^st May 2015

          Arrive Mon 18^th & leave Fri 22nd  May

Activities to date

France – Celebrated Carnival and taken photos (to email UK to put on blog). One class has had a visitor to explain/show how to not waste food.

Spain – All countries given a report of all activities undertaken to date. Posters shared last mobility. Spring activities on blog.

Sweden – All activities have been put on blog.

Future actions for everyone

-          All countries agreed to share resources prior to international days etc to support teaching and learning.

-          Sweden, Spain and France to learn Comenius song and upload onto blog or email to UK to add to blog.

-          Sweden, Spain and France to complete agency reports

-          Homework/ scrap book. Sweden suggested how they are going to do it; send one page home per child with short description of what children need to do (stick photos/draw pictures/write information) and ask them to bring it in to school (after holidays) and make class/scrap books.

Then share these books at Sweden mobility.

-          Posters: all schools to have their  competition and then every school to email photos of three winning posters to gemma@cvis.org.uk including short explanation of what poster shows

Closing date 2^nd October

Title ‘Our Europe’

UK governors to judge and winners announced at Sweden mobility

-          All schools to start thinking about Traffic Survey for October – could include how local authorities/governments are improving/reducing traffic congestion and pollution.

http://oureuropewecanmakeadifference.blogspot.co.uk/