Inspirational International Week

We’ve travelled the world this week at Westbourne House School: we’ve visited India and studied the art form of Rangoli, we’ve learnt Russian, Chinese and Egyptian forms of multiplication, we’ve been to Central America and cooked up Mexican feasts and created Day of the Dead artwork before popping to South America to listen to Latin American music. In Africa, we visited Westbourne House in Zambia and learnt some Zulu and a dance. Don’t worry, we didn’t miss Europe and studied Art Nouveau artist Klimpt, Roman numerals, Greek vase design and cooked ‘perfecto’ pizzas and ‘délicieux’ croque monsieurs.

We’ve asked pupils to be open-minded, empathetic, embrace differences, alternative perspectives and share a love of learning about the world.

We kickstarted the week with an assembly which featured a school in Zambia.  All our pupils recognised the uniform the children were wearing in the pictures!  Westbourne House in Zambia was set up in 2010 by a group of Westbourne House School parents and is now run by a charity called Wiphan.  The school provides education, food and medical care for 200 orphans and importantly the opportunity to create a better life.  All second hand uniform, which is not sold, is sent to the children there.  We heard how they look after and love their school uniform.  

The international-flavoured learning followed:

Maths lessons included Roman numerals, international multiplication and the older pupils looked at famous mathematicians from around the world.

Reception Parents in the Pre-Prep made short videos with their children about a country that is special to them. The children also took part in international activities such as making Matryoshka dolls, Greek vase design and Rangoli patterns.

Year 4 designed homemade instruments for their studies of World Music and looked at the music of Latin America and India.  

The Pre-Prep children felt the beats in an African music lesson.

Pupils in Years 5 and 6 shared one international habitat/culture that they have visited and one they dream of visiting one day. They put together impressive PowerPoint presentations. 

What are the origins of the America’s Cup?  How has it changed over the years?  One class has been following World Series in NZ and enjoyed the dramatic scenes in the bay last week as the American capsized!

Year 1 used Google Earth to locate all seven continents and many countries, including the UK, their own house and Westbourne House School! The children did yoga in Tanzania, danced a traditional African dance, learnt some facts and a few South African words including songololo (pronouned shon-gaw-law-law, which is a type of millipede. It is a Zulu word that means ‘roll up’). 

Year 2 had a European flag matching competition and this week’s Westbourne Way Award winner produced an amazing piece of writing about the Czech Republic, as her mummy was born there.

Year 7 researched one of our current school charities, Sausage Tree in Zambia, in order to write a speech about the importance of supporting charities. 

Form times on Friday were awash with colour and fascinating facts because it was National Flag Dress Up Day!  There were many, many fun facts, all independently researched, including one about Cameroon, from a Year 3 pupil, which is home to 230 different languages!

The popular annual flags quiz took place with some pupils getting 15/15, demonstrating fabulous automaticity, speed and accuracy.  Well done to: 

Annabelle D, Amelie M, India M, Honor P, Olivia M (Year 8), Josie B, Louie L, Rohan D, Jasmin H, Emily S (Year 7), Harry G, Rosie D, Martha B (Year 6), James W (Year 5), Ardra J (Year 4).

Thank you to the teachers, pupils and parents for their energising enthusiasm for International Week.