End of the Autumn term: highlights!

Hey guys! ⛄️

It's the 16th December today and I am heading back to Paris, fun times! Yesterday was the last day of term, I taught my very last lesson of the term which went very well (can't go wrong with quizzes and games, can we?) and then we had drinks + Christmas lunch with all the members of staff reunited, I had such a nice day and this kind of moments makes me realise how grateful I am to work in such a lovely school. As I am in my Eurostar with my computer, it gives me some time to think about all the good things that happened at school this term - not that I want to brag, I am just so amazed that you can have so much fun at your work place, and I do hope everyone is having an experience as nice as the one I am having.

The Christmas jumper I was wearing for Christmas jumper Day at work

Last photo of the School House before heading back to France

- I think I have to start with this one: at the beginning of November, the school organised fireworks for the members of staff, the students, their family, and even the locals. To me, finding "fireworks" and "school" in the same sentence is R E A L L Y unusual but I have to admit I enjoy watching them so I was thrilled! They even had stalls with food and drinks - I had my first glass of mulled wine for the occasion - and the fireworks were displayed with music: it was amazing even if it started raining at some point, but I guess it lives up to what we usually expect from the British weather! Unfortunately I did not get to take any pictures but watching them in person is the best anyway.



- This one isn't directly linked with the school but I had this opportunity thanks to it. In Sonning there is this lovely theatre called The Mill at Sonning where you can see plays, musicals, but also have a drink and a nice dinner. For the premiere of High Society, a musical based on The Philadelphia Story and the 1956 movie starring Grace Kelly and Frank Sinastra, the Mill nicely offered 10 tickets to the school (meal + musical) and the members of staff were given the chance to have their name drawn to attend the premiere and as I am talking about it, you can imagine I have been one of the lucky winners! It was the first time I was going to The Mill and the venue is just lovely: it looks very cosy, like a countryside house, and it was already decorated for Christmas as it was the 24th November. The food was delicious and I really had a good time with my colleagues. I didn't know much about the musical itself but I totally loved it! Very entertaining and funny, and as we have been lucky enough to have seats in the front row, we could see every actor very neatly as well as their acting which was as good as what you could see in West End. They also had wonderful voices and the songs were really catchy. If you live around, I would recommend you to just go for it, you won't be disappointed!

- Every year at the end of November in my school, some students which have an interest in drama/singing or who just want to get involve take part in the school musical. Last year Les Misérables was performed and I have heard so many good thing about it that I couldn't wait to see this one: Grease. About a fortnight before the show, the director of Drama at school were looking for members of staff who wanted to take part in the show backstage, helping with things such as make up and hair so I decided to volunteer! Indeed, getting involved at school was something I wanted to do and hair and make up sounded appealing to me plus as I am living at school, it is very easy for me to get there in a minute. The students performed during a whole week (Monday-Friday) therefore I went there every evening to help out. My task? Doing the boys's make up! It was not difficult, simply applying foundation and some blush so they don't look good on screen and it was fun to see their reaction through the week, from being relunctant having their make up done to asking for more blush by the end of the week! I would do the make up and then attend their warm up sessions that I particularly enjoyed: you could see how the teenagers were enjoying themselves and it would give a kind of positive ~vibe~. It was a nice experience getting to know more people and students and it was really rewarding to see the last performance on the Friday after having worked on it.

A photo I have taken during the warm up!

- Last but not least, the Science Department was going on a day trip to the Natural History Museum and Science Museum with the Year 7 students and there are a lot of these little ones, they needed members of staff to come along. The trip was on a Wednesday which happens to be my day off so I ceased the opportunity and went along! We left school at 9am to arrive there at around 10.30 and we were separated in two groups so we wouldn't bring 100 students in the museum at the same time. I first went to the Natural History Museum (one of my favourite museums as I mentionned in a previous post) then to the Science Museum where I went last month. I just had to look after a group of 15 pupils and I was free to look around and play tourist!

I feel really lucky to have a school where they organise so many interesting things and to have the occasion to get involved. During next term, I am going to Lille for a few days with my mentor teacher and some Year 13 and Year 12 students and I am already looking forward to it!

What have you been up to during this term?


Julie XX