Dunhurst pupils become French for the day
About Bedales
Dunhurst pupils become French for the day
17/10/2011
Pupils from Dunhurst, Bedales junior school, became French for the day in a special off-curriculum celebration of France. Years 7 – 8 were split into mixed age groups and invited to select a famous French person in a ‘lucky dip’. Famous names included: Louis Pasteur; Louise Braille; Alexandre Dumas; Claude Monet; Marie and Pierre Curie and Gustave Eiffel.
The groups spent the morning researching the French personality in preparation for a creative presentation to the whole school later that day. The school then voted for their favourite and crowned Marie Curie the winner.
Each presentation was four minutes long and had to demonstrate pupils’ depth of research, creativity and team-work. The groups were not allowed to use power-point so many chose to use song, dance and art-work to display the achievements of their French personality. Many pupils enjoyed searching the school’s drama wardrobe to find props and outfits to tie-in with the theme of their performances and all pupils and staff were dressed in red, white and blue for the day.
In the afternoon Years 4 – 6 enjoyed a French storytelling workshop together with pupils from Bedales pre-prep Dunannie. They took part in a French performance of Goldilocks and the three bears and enjoyed French songs to help develop their vocabulary. They then created their own performances for assembly featuring French words that they had learnt that day.
The school fully embraced French culture, greeting each-other in French in the school corridors and even the kitchen staff provided a typical French menu for lunch and break-time snacks.
Commenting on the day, Dunhurst Head Jane Grubb said, “The pupils really love the freedom to investigate and develop ideas for themselves, this is something we really encourage at Dunhurst. Poetry, performance, songs and storytelling all created by the pupils really gave a wonderful French Day a unique twist. It is so important to allow pupils to take the lead in their learning”.
View pictures of the French day.
