Now in their seventh year, Holme Park's 'English Language Study Holiday' programmes are going from strength to strength.   From the Easter holidays to the end of the Summer Term we had the very great pleasure of having groups of children visit us from Japan, Russia, Italy and Colombia.  The overseas students come for anything from two weeks to one month and, during their time at school, they form firm friendships with the Holme Park children whilst adding a big cross-cultural contribution to school life.  The children now vie with one another to have a 'meal-partner' allocated to them whenever a new group of students arrives.

During term-time, our overseas visitors are resident in the school dormitories, but have their own programme of ESL (English as a Second Language) each day, with their own ESL staff; they have many outings and activities, but at selected times each week (particularly meal-times and prep) they meet up with their English friends for shared activities and lessons such as Music, Drama, Art, Games and outings which are arranged for the whole school.

Once the school has broken up for the long summer break however, things take a different turn!  The number of overseas students increases as does the number of nationalities represented and the activities and excursions become a daily event, after the regular three hours of ESL, five days a week.   The Holme Park minibuses were to be seen ploughing their way up and down the M6 and in the local area, taking the international students to the Kendal climbing wall, the South Lakes Wildlife Park, canoeing and sailing on Lake Windermere, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, the Sandcastle (also in Blackpool), ice-skating in Blackburn, 'Go-Ape' in Grisedale Forest, Appleby Horse Fair, Bowness and Lake Windermere, York , Edinburgh, Manchester, Chester and many, many other places.   Several two-day excursions to London took place, with trips to 'The Lion King' and 'Fame', as well as the more normal sights on the tourist route.

The children came from far and wide:  Japan,  France, Russia, Germany, The Czech Republic, Venezuela, Poland,  Colombia,  Egypt, Spain and Italy;  the mixture of cultures and languages was amazing, as was the children's enjoyment and detemination to learn and use English with each other, irrespective of age or gender!   

Many of the children were with us for their second or third visit, a sure sign that the programme we provide for this age group is what they want and what they enjoy - roll on next year!

As anticipated, the activities and events of the second half of the Summer Term and the holidays completely overwhelmed the school's intrepid reporter, who is only now able to reflect and review on the remarkable events of that time!

During the week of  the May half-term, our first ever visitors from South America - Colombia, to be exact -  arrived to spend a month with us.  As always, each overseas guest was teamed up with an English 'meal-partner'; friendships blossomed as the Colombians became more confident and the Holme Parkers became more used to listening to English with a Colombian accent!   

Our visitors had their own timetable of EFL lessons and excursions, but joined up with their meal-partners and friends for loads of the Summer Term activities such as 'It's a Knockout', the Family Barbecue, the school visit to Glasgow Science Centre and the iMAC cinema, the Parents' Cricket match, Sports Day and so on, not to mention Prep on a daily basis!

In addition to all the exciting social happenings, the entire school took part in a Charity Concert, held in Kendal Town Hall to raise money for Derian House, the children's hospice in Chorley, which offers care for terminally ill children from Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria.   The evening was wonderfully supported and we would like to thank not only the parents, relatives and friends who came along for their support,  but also Lakeland Radio, The Bay, Radio Lancashire, Radio Cumbria and Prontoprint for advertising the event for us at no charge, in order that all the money raised could go straight to the Hospice.   

The stars of the show, Holme Parkers all, with one or two guests, put on a wonderful evening's entertainment and we were thrilled to be able to forward £1085  (yes, that really is one thousand and eighty five pounds!) to Derian House a few days later.

Regretfully, due to recent legislation, it is no longer possible to take photographs of the children taking part in performances in public places and so for the Derian House evening, and the wonderful 'Celebration of Youth Music' in Grange, in which the choir took part, we have no pictures.

Exam week came and went - with relief.    But the action didn't stop!  Interhouse sporting fixtures continued, Miss Anne-Marie's dance group went to see BRB's production of 'La Fille Mal Gardee' at the Lowry,  the Friends of Holme Park hosted over 130 people at  'It's a Knockout' and the Barbecue and,before we knew it, the school trips to Glasgow Science Centre  ('Gulliver's World for the infants) was over and the first Colombian group, having been down to Manchester to see 'Crazy for You'  for their final fling had left, leaving behind that strangely empty feeling one has when people who have become good friends are no longer there!  There's always next summer .......

The overall interest in Science was greatly stimulated this term, not just by the visit to Glasgow Science Centre, from which certain members of our community had to be forcibly dragged away, but also by a morning of Rocket Science!   Years 5 and 6 put their heads together, with the help of Mr Evans, Mrs Everingham and her assistant from Kirkbie Kendal School to produce - and successfully launch - their own rockets!  The topics of Forces and Friction, with the problems of Elastic and Movement Energy, Reaction and Drag forces, among others, were finally solved;  the Holme Park launch pads were in business ..... 

As ever, the summer term is crammed with activities, social and sporting events and the comings and goings of overseas visitors who join us for much of our extra curricular fun!

Right at the start of term we welcomed our first Russian guests of the year from 'The School Academy' in Moscow.  Sasha, Misha, Lova, Semien and Mitya were younger than our usual guests and it was quite an experience for members of Years 3 & 4 to have meal partners to entertain and share their breaktimes with.  The visitors' English was greatly helped by the friendship and assistance offered by their English partners and it was good to see the way in which the Russian boys, with increasing confidence, gradually took part in the impromtu games at breaktimes.

Year 5 went over to Hodge Howe, on Lake Windermere, with our Russian visitors and, despite the weather, spent a fabulous morning sailing, kayaking and canoeing before being entertained to lunch at Windermere St Anne's.  

Two days later, the whole school - with the exception of Nursery and Reception - were off to Manchester to see the musical  'Joseph and his Technicoloured Dreamcoat'.  It was a fabulous production which had everyone dancing in the aisles at the end of the show (including certain members of staff who would prefer to remain anonymous!)  A picnic tea on the bus served to keep the hunger pangs at bay on the journey home and a good time was had by all.

The choir took part in the Morecambe Primary School Music Festival at the beginning of May and gained a very creditable fourth place in their class.  They are growing in experience with every competition they take part in, and the comments from the floor regarding their performance on this occasion were very complimentary.

A whole new look for girl's games had come on line with the arrival of the HPS logo-embroidered skirt and top which is now available.   First worn by the girls' rounders team for their match against Harecroft Hall, the kit has been voted a huge success by the team and will be regular uniform for all girls in school from September 2004.

Our Russian visitors left, and Open Day came!   The displays in school looked wonderfully colourful and those students who showed our visitors round are to be congratulated on the humour and courtesy with which they regaled their listeners about life on the inside of Holme Park! 

The Cruise

The first 'Friends of Holme Park' event this year was the evening cruise on Lake Windermere, with games for the children on Belle Isle, by kind invitation of Mr and Mrs Lefton.   This is an annual event for parents, pupils, friends and families and is always fun.  The weather during the week leading up to the cruise had been glorious - the forecast throughout the week had been followed with eager anticipation and, as we left Bowness Bay, it looked as if we were all set for an idyllic evening!   It was not to be!  The boat and rain arrived simultaneously at Belle Isle, just in time for a very soggy games session!

No matter!  After the large tea the children had consumed on board they were full of energy and enthusiasm for the cricket and rounders, despite the weather!  Parents - still awaiting their salmon, salad and strawberry supper (and perhaps not quite so enthusiastic) - were nonetheless 'up for it' and were more than rewarded by the wonderful spread which had miraculously appeared on board while they were scoring runs and rounders!  It was a great evening and sincere thanks go to all those who put in so much effort to make it such a success.

Steeplechase

Love it or hate it, this too is an event which happens every year, for all but the very smallest in school! The Steeplechase is part of the house competition between Windermere and Coniston and takes place on a cross-country circuit which includes areas both inside the school grounds and across the neighbouring farmer's fields.  Staff take up their stations round the route to oversee the event and then, age group by age group the race begins.  

Each lap is .75 of a mile.  The youngest run one lap, Juniors - two,  Intermediates -three and the Seniors, four ie: 3 miles!  Despite the moans, groans and accusations of 'skiving' that precede the event, from certain characters in school, everyone gave their all during the races themselves - and felt pretty good about themselves afterwards, as well they might!

The rest of the school is on holiday, but not so for those involved in the world of Dance and Music!

Wednesday, March 31st, saw the girls' dance troupe taking part in the Brewery Arts Centre's 'Dance Platform for Primary Schools'.  Throughout the day, over 200 children, from primary schools all round the area, rehearsed their performances on a stage which, for many - especially our girls - was much, much larger than usual!  

The Brewery theatre was sold out for the evening performance, which was hardly surprising considering the fantastic standard of dance and movement to which the audience was treated!  Our girls,  in their brilliant pink outfits came on third in the first half of the show and looked tremendous against the plain backdrop of the setting.  They danced with enthusiasm. talent and sparkle - to quote Miss Lucy after the performance:  'I am so proud of them, they were magic!'.  Miss Ann- Marie was also there, supporting our dancers in her own maternity version of their costumes - could she be 'thinking pink'?

On Thursday, the choir took part in the Ulverston music festival, competing against many primary schools in the area.  They were entered in three classes and sang a total of five songs during the evening.  Their choices ranged from two beautiful hymns: 'I've got the joy down in my heart' and 'Lord make me a mountain' to their very entertaining version of 'The Happy Wanderer,' the actions to which - judging by the  laughter - were much enjoyed by the other schools!  As the last school to sing, in the final class of the evening,  they performed the calypso 'The Coconut Man' and finished the evening with a great version of 'Lazy Sunday Afternoon Blues', which drew especially appreciative comments from the adjudicator.   They came away with two certificates one for second place and one for third - not what they had hoped for, but nonetheless a very good effort.

Unfortunately, due to photographic restrictions at both these events, it was not possible to photograph the children whilst actually performing.  The accompanying photo of some of the dancers was taken whilst waiting outside the Brewery for the start of the show; The 'Happy Wanderers'  - with one on crutches - are shown performing the song during the 'Children Entertain'; it drew as much laughter that night as it did at the festival!

The weekend before we broke up for Easter saw the arrival of the long-awaited group of 13 Japanese students from Osaka, in Japan, a city of some eight million people!   Their visit was to overlap our end of term, but what a change for them to come to somewhere so green and so quiet!  How they enjoyed it, and how we enjoyed having them with us!

Each Japanese student was allocated a 'meal-partner' whose job it was not only to keep their Japanese partner company in the dining room, but also to take them to lessons when they were to join in with some of our classes, and to be with them at break-times.  Many of the English meal-partners were also keen to 'sleep-over' at school with their friends and, very soon, the names that had seemed so strange to our ears before the group's arrival were tripping off everyone's tongue with ease: Aki, Hitomi, Risa, Reika, Minami, Hinako, Akari and Kasumi soon found that girls' interests are much the same whichever part of the world they live in and Shoya, Shota, Toshinagaa, Takeshi and Yutaka made themselves very much at home in the boys' dormitory.

Our visitors took part in 'The Children Entertain' - teaching the whole audience, staff and English pupils how to count to 10 in Japanese, through a chant which we all had to try out -  and they taught us all how to use chopsticks during one lunch time when knives, forks and spoons were banned and noodles had to be consumed the Japanese way!  No one starved, and there were prizes from Japan for the five best European chop-stick users.

Their time-table of visits, excursions and activities was varied and exciting.  It included things like a day-trip to York, skating in Blackburn, the 'Go-Ape' aerial assault course in Grizedale Forest, White Scar Caves and a further day trip to Hartlepool Quays.  Most fun from our point of view was when the English 'meal-partners' joined in with the evening's bowling in Morecombe and the 'Happy hour' at Gianni's restaurant in Kendal - cementing the friendships which were developing so easily and naturally between east and west during such a fun-filled, interesting final week in school.

As always, the last week of the Spring Term saw the production of our annual event, 'The Children Entertain', an occasion on which every child in school performs in at least one discipline of the perfoming arts - and many of them in several!

Since the inception of 'The Children Entertain', some seven years ago, the popularity of the performing arts in school has gone from strength to strength. In addition to timetabled drama and music lessons for every class, many of the children take individual lessons in music (including voice), dance or elocution.  The choir has taken part in several music festivals this year - with more still to come - and several of the members are also in the prestigious junior Amabile Choir, of Kendal. 

So many of the children now want to perform individually in more than one thing that it has been necessary to have a junior and senior version of the event in order to get through the delightfully entertaining, but growing longer and longer, programme!   The Foundation Stage and Infant department amused their audience on Tuesday morning in an amazing display of young stage craft, which was all the more entertaining as a result of the various un-expected actions, facial expressions and comments to the floor from the performers!  That same evening, Years Three and above showed us just how much talent we have in school, and what can be achieved when children are encouraged by dedicated, enthusiastic staff prepared to give their pupils every opportunity to shine.  They sang, they danced, they mimed, they spoke, they enjoyed - and how they entertained!

As one parent-veteran of this event said on her way out,  'They just get better and better every year, don't they?'   How right she was!

 On Saturday, March 20th, motorists on the A6 between Carnforth and Holme Park might have been forgiven for wondering at the somewhat unusual sight of 15 tons of heavy plant on a low-loader making sedate and stately progress from base to school.  If they had only known of the 'Mega Activity Day' being arranged for parents and children at Holme Park twenty four hours later ........

The grounds at school were transformed into a cycle track for mountain bikers of all ages, a quad and eight wheel vehicle course which wound its way through the woods, offering hair-raising rides for young and old, and a mini-digger site was found for mums and dads to try their hand.  American army jeeps of 1942 vintage zoomed up and down from the main gate with drivers in full camouflage gear and helmeted young passengers, pony rides took smaller visitors on a journey to the South Drive and fantastic team-building rope bridges, swings and challenging balancing situations were set up in the woods for pre-arranged teams of children. Meanwhile, up on the hard surface play area,  a maxi-sized JCB sat waiting, ready to do all sorts of odd jobs which had been lined up for it!   Our Japanese visitors, who had arrived the night before the event, joined in with everything  - despite the jet lag - and made the most of the opportunity to get to know their English meal-partners in a very different-to-normal setting!

A hot-pot and vegetarian Lasagne lunch was hugely appreciated after the morning's team-building fun and then it was back to it for rides of all sorts which continued well past the official stop time.   This was a new venture for the 'Friends of Holme Park' and, judging from the turn-out, it will surely be a requested event for the Spring Term of 2005.  Sincere 'thankyou's' to all those who gave of their time to make this day such a tremendous success!

It is always a great pleasure for staff when pupils they have known from Nursery days succeed with external examinations, sports awards and other nationwide successes. Today, when it was learned that Samantha Davies, who is now in Year 5, had passed her Grade 4 Royal Schools of Music singing exam with excellent marks we were thrilled!  Well Done, Samantha, a great result - and what a lovely sound you make!

The Royal Schools of Music exams are now recognised as having parallel value to GCSE and A level courses, with Grade 5 equal to a GCSE pass.  Next term, Hannah Russell, in Year 6, will be taking her Grade 5 and Caroline Robinson, also in Year 6, but who started her singing career later than Hannah and Samantha, will be taking her Grade 4 - we look forward to further successes from two more of our one-time Nursery tinies!

During a week that saw Kendal, and the River Kent in spate, on the national news, we feared the worst when parents started phoning in to say that they were having difficulties getting through the flood waters to school.  In the Kendal area, many roads were closed by the police and, during the morning, reports started reaching school of odd things like sheds and the occasional car floating down the river ....!  Up on our hill top, school remained un-affected  - and completely dry! - but by lunch time it became apparent that in order for everyone to get home safely we would have to finish early that afternoon. 

Year 6 had an unexpected outing to appreciate for themselves the power of nature and the amazing sight of the River Kent in full flood.  Knowing the centre of town as well as they do, and the usual level of the Kent, to see the river hitting the underside of the arches of the bridges, tumbling along the riverside footpaths and causing the weir to disappear altogether came as something of a shock - and a sight which they will remember for many years.

Fortunately for all, the flood waters seeped away, allowing the contruction of Holme Park's answer to Legoland to take place on Friday.  The whole school abandoned organised lessons for a full day course in Lego building, developing skills they didn't know they had!  The course organiser, a technology wizard, explained the basic principles and within moments the Billiard Room became a building site, as engrossed younsters initially created their own dream houses, then their own dream gardens and 'outside' areas and,finally, their own fascinating town. 

Amazingly, Mordor and Helm's Deep did not look too out of place alongside Pippa and Anna's 5 * hotel, but no sign unfortunately of Gandalf, Frodo, Sam and the others .........!

It was promised.  We waited.  It didn't come.  Disappointment reigned.   And then on Tuesday evening, just at the end of prep, there is was at last - snow settling on diamond hard ground.   Anticipation soared! The following morning Mr Nick and the early arrivals got busy wielding their snow clearers to make the car park and drop-off area a safer place for mums and dads bringing in excited youngsters armed with sledges.

To add to the eurphoria, the snow started again during first lesson. Year 6 tried valliantly to concentrate on their 'The Stranger' stories, but having large white snowflakes floating silently past their windows was just too much of a temptation ...

Break time came and, after hot chocolate all round, the entire school tumbled outside to play:  an army of snowmen started to appear, sledges flew down the bank near the swimming pool, snowballs caught the unwary from all angles - and the sun shone!  What a fabulous day!

This term has seen the amazing arrival of seven new faces to Holme Park, two girls and five boys, as well as two two-year olds in the nursery.  By the end of Week 2 the new arrivals were part of the fixtures and fittings and, judging from the grins, were really happy and settled; indeed three of them, Jordan Dorrington, Chris Weber and Picton Corless had all had a run out with the school's first football eleven, against Hunter Hall.

Asked for their first impressions about school, the following comments were made:

'I like the school 'cos it's quiet, it's fun, funny in some of the lessons - it's much more advanced as well - and I like playing in the forest' - Picton

'It's better than my old school 'cos it's quieter; I like the football 'cos no-one pushes me around - and I like the teachers.' - Jordan

'I like the forest, the football and I like the grounds, the kids and the teachers - and the school cat! The food's OK too!' - Chris Weber, from Budapest, Hungary.

'I think HPS is great, I think the woods are great and playing with my friends is the best thing - but I like the work too!' - Michael

'I like Holme Park because it's fun and people are nice to me. I've got good friends and I like playing n the dens.  I like the work too' - Bobby

'I like the woods and going in the dens.  I like the art lessons and I feel at home here; I like the work!' - Madeline

'It's really good and it's exciting 'cos this is my first day and we went swimming.  I've got some new friends and it's really fun!' - Anna

After two weeks that's what our new students are saying - why not come and see what you think? We would love to welcome you to school on our Open Day: Saturday, February 7th, from 10.00a.m - 2.00 p.m.  Please come along!

On Tuesday during assembly we were lucky to have a jutitsu demonstration from the Lakeland Jujitsu Academy, with a view to running a four-week taster course leading up to half term.  We were shown holds and throws, self-defence against a knife (rubber, in this case) and kick punching before some lucky volunteers stepped forward to have a go!  

Girls against boys, boys against girls with an instructor showing each move, learned to break stangle holds then to deal with chest grabs using a block stroke and chop.  The demo finished with games based on holds, and the whole event was voted a great success.   The list for the first four weeks is almost full and those who stay the course will be able to continue with the Holme Park Jujitsu club every Friday from hereon - who knows where such an opportunity may lead?

Excitement builds fast in the last couple of weeks of the Christmas term, particularly when there are so many extra curricular events to look forward to!  Our wonderful Christmas tree arrived - all 6 metres of it, and was placed, as always, in the curve of the front stairs, reaching from the floor almost to the ceiling.    The Christmas party took place with our pupils and their friends from other schools all enjoying the antics of a magician - and real rabbit - the wonderful spread organised by the parents, and a lot of fun games which Vanessa had dreamed up to keep the fun going!

During the last week of the term the tree was further decorated during the 'Ceremony of the Tree' assembly when every pupil in the school - from the very youngest to the most senior - hung their own hand-made decoration somewhere on the tree. Staff and pupils had been very busy and very imaginative in the making of these lovely ornaments and they are wonderful examples of just what can be achieved.  The theme this year was stars and kings, which perfectly fitted the delightful story which was read about the humble spider which helped the Holy Family to escape from Herod in the days after Christmas.

Two days before the end of term came one of the most popular events of the year - Christmas Lunch!  As always, parents joined us for this event and, although the two sittings meant that lunch went on for at least 3 hours the occasion was as colourful as helium balloons, streamers, crackers, hats and much good humour and excitement could make it.  For many years this event has been a 'wow!' and we are immensely grateful to our cook, Chris, who together with Debbie and Di, makes this a very special day for us each year.

Only 48 hours to go and the whole school, with the exception of the nursery children, went off to Keswick to see 'Sleeping Beauty' at the 'Theatre by the Lake'. For our more seasoned theatre goers in the senior part of the school, this was a colourful and entertaining version of the well known fairy-tale;  for the reception class, taking part in a outing to a real theatre for the first time,  it was a magical afternoon, full of wonder and colour!  Something to remember for a long time!

And finally came the Carol Service.  How many ways can there be of telling the same story, one wonders, yet every year the service at Holme Park is moving and compelling in its innocence and simplicity.   Mr Fleming always manages to bring the very, very best out in all the children and to include every one of them - even our overseas visitors.  It was certainly the first time that we have had some of the Christmas story read to us in Norwegian - undertaken by a very proud Geir Aamlid, with a phrase by phrase translation read by his class-mate, Willliam Papathomas.  Round this basis the carols and Christmas story unfolded in a beautiful and moving way, causing quite a few parents to reach for their tissues - and many for their camcorders!

And so the academic, sporting, performing and social part of this year came to an end.  Here at Holme Park we hope that you have all had a wonderful Christmas and that 2004 brings you all many more blessings than hardships.

SEE  YOU  IN  THE  NEW  YEAR!

On Saturday, November 15th, the choir took part in the Grange-over-Sands 'Competion for young musicians' singing three beautifully contrasted songs, 'Railway Carriage', 'Lord make me a mountain', and 'Tweety Pie' from Looney Tunes.  Mary Powney,  the adjudicator, who has observed the choir in several other competitions, was very complimentary when awarding them their certificate for First Place and the trophy -  'this choir really goes from strength to strength'!.   Well done, all of you, it was a pleasure to hear you perform so beautifully and to be so well rewarded.

Back in the 1930's the inhabitants of the tiny village of Mardale, to the west of Penrith, had to leave their homes as the village was to be submerged due to the building of the new dam which was to create the lake we now know as Haweswater, in order to supply Manchester with water.

Every so often - probably once every 8 years or so following a prolonged period of dry conditions - the deserted village re-emerges when the water level drops.  Visitors can walk among the remains of the old village shop, the school, homes and buildings and imagine for themselves the lives that were lived out there.

Towards the end of November, Year 6 went to see this phenomenon with Mrs Nick and Mr Evans and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the rather stange feeling of this place.  A lot of geographical features were seen and discussed during the journey, physical education took place trying to maintain one's balance climbing down the steep sides to the valley floor and history was recounted in the village shop. More than that, imaginations and emotions were stimulated by the plight of these unlucky people and resulted in some thoughtful verse which was not a teacher directed task - just a apontaneous reaction to the sights of a long lost village and empathy for the people who had lived there.

By William Papathomas:

'Mardale'

Under the water of Haweswater resevoir

Where no things can go, no plane and no car

Imagine you were there, seventy years ago -

no homes to live in, nowhere to go.

Imagine wat it would be like for them

To know they would never see their village again.

But something still lives there

Their memories of happiness, their memories of despair.

And from Caroline Robinson:

'A village in peace'

Village, village under the water,

You lie in peace, under Haweswater,

To some people you were so dear,

And sometimes they shed a tear.

You lay on the bottom, waiting to be found,

As you lie along Haweswaters'

Bumpy ground.

Whistle Down the Wind!

After the half-term break, school returned to a wonderful week of theatre, bonfire parties, treacle toffee, goodies and a trip for Year 6 to Blackburn Ice-arena.

Following an early lunch on Bonfire Night, everyone in Years 1-6 went off to the Palace Theatre, Manchester,  to see 'Whistle Down the Wind', the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical in which three children, whose mother has recently died, think they have found Jesus in their barn.   (He is, in fact, an escaped convict.)   For most of the children in Year 1 this was their first school visit to a theatre and the whole experience was filled with wonder .... at the size of the theatre, at the number of people, at houses and barns which kept going up into the ceiling from the stage and loads more.  The motorbike on stage, the exciting music and sometimes scary lighting effects had most of the Infant Department on the edge of their seats, while the older, more experienced Juniors, for whom visits to the theatre are a regular part of each term, followed the story with care  - and concern for the outcome!

We left the theatre with the theme song in our heads and headed for home, enjoying a lot of other peoples' fireworks as we made our way up the M6 back to school,  knowing that our own Bonfire Party was still to come!

Fireworks!

Two days later we prepared to celebrate our annual Bonfire Night Party.   This year the Bonfire and Fireworks were bigger and better than ever before - or so it seemed - thanks to the organisation of Hannah's dad and his merry band of pyromaniac helpers! 

Before the lighting of the fire, an ex-HPS parent, Patrick Taylor, judged the 'Guy' competition and awarded first place to a wonderful effort by Jayne Potter.   Our Norwegian visitor, Geir's, first attempt at the quaint, November English custom of creating effigies to burn, came second, and the Infant Department's trio from the 'Wizard of Oz' was highly commended.  

Spot on 6.00 p.m the fire was lit to a cheer from the excited on-lookers busy, at that point, enjoying toffee apples, toffee, parkin, gingerbread and flap-jack and, in the case of the adults,  the warming glow of Gluhwein!  The fireworks started very soon afterwards and were a stunning display of light, colour and sound, enjoyed by everyone present and, as always, over much too soon!  But still the party wasn't over - bangers, burgers and baked potatoes were to be found in the Billiard Room, where for quite some time parents, friends and children continued to celebrate Guy Fawkes' discovery by the authorities, almost 400 years ago.

Skating

As if two great events in one week were not enough, Year 6 returned to school on Saturday morning for another of their class trips, this time to Blackburn Ice-Arena!  All of them had tried skating at least once before during a school trip and were looking forward to having another go at standing-up or getting round or zooming at speed round the rink, depending on each one's individual expertise!

After a worrying few moments when it seemed that our lovely new mini-bus might have developed a puncture, we were able to once more set off down the M6.  The chatter in the bus passed the time and we were soon queueing for our skates - and there was the first problem!  Lacing them! 

Sometime later we all ventured onto the ice... Peter with great aplomb, William with an un-expected elegance, Hannah, Caroline and Pippa looking very much the part with matching hats and pullovers, and others with varying degrees of un-certainty.  Geir, of course, coming from Norway, had the natural advantage of someone who skates most of the winter months and it was really good to see him acting as instructor for those needing help. 

As time went on,  everyone improved, everyone went faster, everyone fell over less - and everyone became more hungry so after our energetic afternoon we went off to Burger King for a meal before returning in fine form to school.  The verdict?   A great afternoon, which we hope to repeat sometime soon, before we all forget how to do it!

What a day!  Mondays are not usually quite so colourful but, on October 20th, witches, skeletons and the occasional devil made a pre-Hallowe'en visit to Mrs Hanlon's Infant department when, arriving by broomstick and other more conventional forms of transportation, the Year 1 and Year 2 children started a really exciting week!

Witchy words, spooky spellings and scary sums will all be part of the magic moments leading up to October 31st for these lucky children for whom the 'Wizard of Oz' has just become a very familiar story through their 'Oxford Reading Tree' literacy work.

White witch, Mrs Hanlon, was last seen leading her coven to the woods in search of mysterious ingredients for colourful concoctions to be brewed later in the week - stand by everyone!

Photos show Witches Jane, Clio and Chantelle arriving by broomstick;   Skeleton Oliver and Skeleton Lewis working at the computer;  Witches Jane, Ella and Clio writing up their reports;   Demon Haydon sharing a joke with Witch Chantelle.

After a three month stay at Holme Park, Najme and Nabil Abdallah returned home to Tripoli on October 11th.  In 2001, when Najme arrived for his first three month stay, he could count to ten, say 'Yes' and 'No', 'Please' and 'Thank-you' in English - and that was about all, now he is as fluent as any of our English students!

Since his first visit, Najme has taken part in two more of our  'English Language Study Holiday Programmes' during the summer holidays and he has then stayed on as a regular pupil within the school, representing Holme Park in rugby matches and generally making the most of all his opportunities.  Indeed, last year, he remained with us from July right through to January 2003, experiencing for the first time the fun of Hallowe'en, Bonfire Night, Christmas theatre trips and the school Christmas party - not to mention Christmas itself with his home-stay family!

This year Najme brought along his brother, Nabil, whose spoken English has also improved tremendously since he came.  He has also mastered our alphabet and writing well enough to be able to read in English.  Quite an achievement in such a short time!  Well done, Nabil - see you again next year, we hope!

No sooner have our visitors from the desert sands of Libya left us than we welcome a new visitor from much further north to our school.  Geir Aamlid has arrived from Norway to join our senior class until July 2004.  Geir is the first Scandanavian student to join us and we are really looking forward to having him with us!  Welcome to Holme Park, Geir, we hope you will be happy with us and enjoy your stay.   We are all looking forward to learning a few words of Norwegian in return for the fluent English we hope you will learn from us!

Photos:   Najme and Nabil at home at Holme Park (top)           

                Nabil celebrates his birthday during his 'English Language Study Holiday' at HPS

                Mrs Murgatroyd helps Geir during an art lesson

               Geir with his EFL teacher during a lesson                    .

Year Six enjoyed the first of their planned programme of class excursions in October, when they went over to Grisedale Forest on Saturday to try out 'Go-Ape!', the aerial assault course which takes aspiring gorillas and chimps (otherwise known as adults and children) swinging through the trees by way of swaying rope bridges, ladders and zip-wires. 

The ultimate challenge was the fantastic 'Tarzan's Leap' when, gripping our harnesses tightly, we launched ourselves into space across a huge gap to land on an enormous stretch of cargo-netting some 22 metres above the ground, from there to make our way onto yet more challenging bridges before finally descending, via the final zip-wire, to the reassuring feel of the earth beneath our feet!

All of Year Six went along and had a really great time. Hannah and Pippa need to grow just a little bit before we all do this again, and were unfortunately not able to join the group in the trees, for safety reasons.   Instead they formed part of the ground support group, along with Nadim's mum and dad and Peter's father, who took pictures and shouted encouragement when the going got tough - and scarey!

What was good to hear from tree-platform to bridge, ladder to zip-wire,  were the shouts of 'good luck', 'fantastic', 'well done', 'you'll be fine - it's great!', 'go on, you can do it!' -  not from the adults, but from class-mate to class-mate as they helped each other overcome the obstacles, gave each other support and,  most important of all, encouraged and praised those for whom it wasn't always easy to be brave!    Well done, Year Six, I was really proud of you all!  You were fun to be with and good to each other, what more could a form-teacher ask?