Whitehouse Common Primary -

Christmas greetings from our Greek partners.

Just received from our Greek partners in Elefsina, a compilation of Christmas and Open day performances to wish us all a Merry Christmas. [They are all studying remotely at the moment so these are from pre-Covid19 in case you were worrying about how close they are to each other!]

And to you all - καλά Χριστούγεννα!

2A at CEP Antonio de Ulloa, Cartagena send us Christmas greetings

Class 2A at CEP Antonio de Ulloa don't finish school until Wednesday and have sent a couple of videos to wish us a Happy Christmas.

The first is a Spanish 'villanicico' or Christmas song that will be familiar to last year's 3AP as they learned it for the Christmas production. A very catchy song called El Burrito Sabanero about the donkey carrying Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. 

And the second is not a classic Christmas song, but a festive take on a song that was rather popular last year. Another very catchy song... 

Christmas greetings from our Spanish partners.

Our friends at Colegio Antonio de Ulloa have sent us Christmas greetings from Cartagena, Spain.

They also sent us a photo of a rainbow over their school; a promise of good things to come!

Wishing you all:

¡Feliz Navidad y un Próspero Año Nuevo!

Christmas greetings from our Austrian partners.

Our partners in Austria sent us unique Christmas greetings this week.

One of the pupils at Volkschule Wildbach had drawn our card, featuring the work of an artist called Friedensreich Hundertwasser, a building in Vienna called the Hundertwasserhaus. It's very colourful as you can see below. They sent us lots of information about him but you can also find out more here. His name is a pseudonym and the whole thing - Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser - means PeacefulKingdom RainyDay DarkMultiColoured HundredWater.

Inside the card, Cosima aged 9 had written us the greeting inside:

We want to wish everyone in Deutschlandsberg at VS Wildbach

Frohe Weihnachten und Gutes Neues Jahr

Sending seasonal greetings to our Erasmus+ partners

Although COVID19 is causing changes to our Erasmus+ project Let's Go Cultural! we haven't forgotten about our partners, nor them us, and wanted to send them our love at this special time of year. 

This week we sent greetings to our partners in Spain, Greece, Turkey and Austria in word, song and actions via a video message. Most of our partners are actually working virtually at the moment so our greeting can be shared to cheer them, wherever they are at the moment. Señora Stevens has already heard from some of the teachers that they have played the video to their classes and they loved it. And the teachers who visited us in March were particularly touched to see familair faces and commented that it brought make lovely memories of their time with us.

We hope you enjoy seeing it too!

Let's Go Cultural! at Whitehouse Common Primary School: Day 5 and Farewell Assembly

Day 5, the final day of our Let's Go Cultural! transnational meeting began with our visitors in Years 2 and 5. Year 2 worked with Lola, Esperanza and Rocío to learn about the rooms in the house in Spanish before dancing the (by now famous across the whole school!) Macarena. Year 5 found out about important places of cultural interest in Austria with Sylvia, Manuela and Janine, making fact files to show their learning. After a quick break, our visitors walked with Year 4 to Holy Trinity Parish Church where they were treated to a range of activities linked to Bishop Vesey, an important man in the history of our town. They had fun, dressing up as people might have dressed in Bishop Vesey's time, exploring the pews, gallery and other features of the church, looking at the exterior and imagining what life was like in his day, and also visiting the part of the church where he is buried. Back to school for Pizza Friday and then a quick meeting to discuss the week; a great success in spite of all the complications and circumstances. 
In the afternoon, it was back to the Acorns Hall for a farewell assembly with the younger children who reflected on their learning and presented our visitors with cards before sending them off to the Oaks Hall with enthusiastic singing of the Hello song accompanied by passionate flagwaving! In the oaks, the older children were ready with their own reflections on the week as well as another rendition of the Hello song complete with glockenspiel accompaniment by 6AB, and also our special Million Dreams at Whitehouse Common song written by Mrs Duckers.
And there the week finished with banners, flags and smiles, and the hope that we will meet again in the future in Austria, possibly not in October 2020 as planned but as soon as possible!
Here's a video of the highlights of the day as well as a video of the Farewell assemblies including a full version of the song we sang.

Let's Go Cultural! at Whitehouse Common Primary School: Day 4

Day 4 of our Let's Go Cultural! transnational meeting began with dancing for both Reception and Year 3. Reception enjoyed singing and dancing with our Austrian friends whilst Year 3 found out about Don Quijote and danced La Macarena. The rest of the day was spent in Birmingham, initially at a reception with the Lord Mayor of Birmingham Councillor Mohammed Azim who welcomed our project for showing the importance of collaboration and appreciating others' cultures. A tour of the Council House followed with everyone having a go at being the leader of the chamber and ringing the 'Order!' bell as well as marvelling at the beauty and splendour of the surroundings. After lunch in the BMAG, our guests went off exploring on their own before meeting for dinner by the canal, another important part of our Birmingham heritage.

Here's a video of the highlights!

Let's Go Cultural! at Whitehouse Common Primary School: Day 3

Day 3 of the Let's Go Cultural! transnational meeting at Whitehouse Common was supposed to start with a Skype call to our Turkish partner but unfortunately that was not possible so we went straight to 3CC to explain then play the culture game that we'd devised called Guess Who? (Important Britons). Year 4 and Year 1 then learned about Austrian and Spanish culture before our visitors went with Señora Stevens to the Black Country Museum. There, they were taken back in time to find out what life was like over a hundred years ago including going to school where some of our visitors ended up in trouble with the teacher! Can you work out why? After traditional fish and chips for lunch, the day ended with another British favourite -  a curry!

Let's Go Cultural! at Whitehouse Common Primary School: Day 2

Day 2 of the Let's Go Cultural! transnational meeting at Whitehouse Common starting with a Skype call to Greece. This was followed by visits to Year 2 and Year 6 to find out about their work on London landmarks and their visit to Howtown respectively. Mrs Allen also explained the English education system, especially how the primary curriculum works. In the afternoon, there was a visit to New Hall Hotel to find out about the history of the building and its importance in the area followed by a very English afternoon tea!

Here's a video of the highlights!

Let's Go Cultural! at Whitehouse Common Primary School: Welcome and Day 1

Day 1 of the Let's Go Cultural! transnational meeting at Whitehouse Common.

Our guests arrived at school and were welcomed by flags, bunting and lots of smiling faces. Find out what happened next in the two videos that follow.

Firstly the amazing welcome given by our staff and pupils as well as our special guests, Mr Andrew Mitchell (MP for Sutton Coldfield), Mr David Allen (Mayor of Sutton Coldfield) and governors including  Mr Crossan, Mrs Burton and Mr Philpott.

And in the second, what happened after that when our visitors went on a tour of the school, met some of the pupils and were then taken by Señora Stevens to explore Sutton Coldfield Park and Nature Reserve - in the rain!