The project was the culmination of key stage 3’s work towards the Global Challenge. For the past two terms, students in Key stage 3 have been busy putting the packs together. First they collected donations from the school community in the “refuge tent” created by Ms Bardsley and her English students. Next, Years 6 and 9 wrote letters of support to add to the packs, describing life in the Czech Republic. Finally, Year 7 created some beautiful tote bags to hold the letters and donations. Altogether, we created 50 welcome packs.
The 11 students who visited the centre were tasked with carrying these packs; no mean feat when they had to make over 5 very tight train connections to get to Kostelec Nad Orlici. However, the journey proved worth it, when they arrived at the centre and were introduced to the children. The children really enjoyed meeting and interacting with our students as well as learning some new games, and of course they were also very excited to receive their packs.
Our students also had the opportunity to learn a little bit about the cultures some of the children at the centre come from. The children had prepared some delicacies from their home countries as a snack and our students were invited to take part in a ceramics art workshop in which they learnt about African symbols. Students were also tasked with showing their knowledge of some facts about the countries people at the centre come from. It was particularly interesting to find out about the Czech language programme for asylum seekers and the Czech teacher told us how much she enjoyed working at the centre because where else would she have the opportunity to teach students from such diverse countries as China, Cameroon, Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Serbia all in one classroom?
In spite of their short time at the centre, our students saw some opportunities to support the children at the centre in the future. When one little girl from India brought her English writing book, our students gathered round to help her with her work, leading them to think about how they might be able to help with lessons and workshops in English in the future. We’re looking forward to seeing how they put these ideas into action in the coming school year.
Come on, it’s not rocket science. For some people it is! A 2022 graduate from PBIS, Ilyes is currently working on his bachelor's degree with a focus on mechanical engineering, physics, and computer science at Sorbonne University in Paris. Apart from his academic work, he’s also working on a modest side project: developing a jet engine. His approach, in his own words, is to “learn as much as possible about everything” so he can apply his knowledge to real-world situations and make the world a smarter, better place.
