Birmingham - pictures!

Meeting the Lord Mayor

Our wonderful welcome to Jervoise School

Comenius presentation

Just loved this ladybird performance

Reception class

The Reception Gardeners

Very clever message!

Meeting the classes

and chatting to pupils

The greenshouse made out of soda bottles - isn't that great?

Birmingham - final Comenius meeting

Last Wednesday, 22nd May, Mrs Riley and I travelled to Birmingham by train to meet up with our Comenius partners for the last time with this particular project.

Though we arrived at lunchtime, we didn't meet with the others as they were arriving at different times of the day, but in the evening we met up in a local restaurant and continued our friendships.

The next day, Kevin McCabe, the Headteacher of Jervoise School, picked us up and took us to his school where we were greeted by all the pupils and staff waving flags and singing at the top of their voices along the corridor. It was a fantastic welcome.  We met the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, the children performed in special assemblies and the Reception class grabbed our hands, eager to show their garden and tomatoes in the greenhouse. Two boys who were in charge of video-ing and photographing the day, took me on my own special tour of their bigger greenhouse, made of lemonade and coke bottles. It was brilliant!  They explained that each class saved their apple cores and banana skins and emptied them daily into the compost bin. We had a good chat about each other's gardens and recycling.

Later we visited the Children's centre around the corner for the pre-schoolers of the area and learnt of their hard work before heading back into town.

Over the following days, the Jervoise School team showed us the Birmingham area with its fascinating culture and history, the mixture of different nationalities in the city, its past glories and industry.  It was very fascinating and informative.  The weather didn't match Slovakian standards unfortunately and was quite cold, until the last couple of days when summer briefly showed it's face when Mr El-Sayed appeared!

Our last meeting, we all agreed to continue the project through an e-book that Jervoise School have created and for us to contribute to continuously with any projects we work on within our own schools.  We got a brief preview of the e-book which looks very exciting and is a wonderful idea to allow the work we have done, to continue and grow long after the project has officially come to an end. It was sad to say goodbye to the Finns, Irish, Slovakians and of course our Birmingham hosts, but we will remain in contact and will spread the word of this excellent project.

Comenius trip to Slovakia

On Wednesday 24th April, Mrs Riley, Mr El-Sayed, Miss Glendinning and myself flew from Manchester to Budapest, Hungary before having a four hour car drive from Budapest to Michalovce, Slovakia, for the Slovakian hosting of the Comenius project. It was gone midnight as we arrived after nearly 12 hours of travelling and after quick greetings to our partners from Finland, Ireland, Slovakia and Birmingham, we staggered to our hotel and crashed into our beds!

We awoke the following morning to brilliant sunshine and a early morning warmth that is definitely missing in England.  We all travelled by coach to Sobrance where our host school is located and was greeted by Jan, the headteacher and pupils dressed in traditional costume before heading inside for a tour. We greeted by a sea of fabulous artwork made from recyclable materials and later visited several classrooms, joining in with the children's work. We spent several hours there, before being taken to the Mayor's office for an official welcome and then onto the town of Humenne for a visit to a local castle which was being beautifully renovated inside.

The following day, we crossed over into Hungary and the small town of Satoraljaujhely to visit a school there. Again we were warmly welcomed, given a tour of the school and watched the pupils dance traditional Hungarian dances in beautiful Hungarian outfits. We then walked into the town and were amazed by the prettiness of it all. It was very beautiful in the gorgeous spring sunshine with not a cloud in the sky. Later we joined Jan and his staff at Sobrance school to celebrate Teacher's Day with their dining room decorated so beautifully that we thought it was a wedding! Their catering staff produced a 3 course meal and then laid out a buffet while we danced with several different nationalities!

The third day saw us travel across another border, this time into the Ukraine. Here we had to show our passports and change our Euros before stopping in the town of Uzhhorod, a couple of miles from the border. Igor, our Ukrainian guide, spoke excellent English and showed us around the town and the fortress, where a lovely lunch had been laid on in the catacombs underneath the building.

Our final day was spent relaxing before our epic journey back and the first day of cloud and showers, though the temperature was still an startling 24 degrees. It was a shock getting back in chilly Manchester.

Jan was the perfect host, with his amazing itineraries that kept us entertained throughout the day. We were well fed and watered and looked after very well.  We were amazed by the children's work and have brought home many recycling ideas for our children to work on. The school's were bright and beautifully decorated with their displays, the children so keen to talk to us, show their work, busy peering out of the windows trying to catch sight of us as we wandered through their school in admiration. It was a wonderful trip, tasting the Slovakian, Hungarian and Ukrainian culture and way of life, Jan and his team's hospitality, connecting with our Comenius partners again and sharing our school's experiences and ideas. 

We have all come home with very special memories.