Nuestros amigos chilenos

Hoy hemos recibido a nuestros amigos de Chile. Yo, Kevin, estuve en los cinco colegios en octobre del ano pasado y fue muy interesante. Esta semana han vuelto ellos y les he introducido a cuatro colegios mas. Ha sido una experiencia tan buena pero la verdad es que fue †an fantastico encontrarnos con gente tan amable y perfecta. Vamos a continuar a comuninicarnos con ellos y trabajar jun†os. Somos muy amigos. Newcastle y Chile.

WebAlumnus Arrives

Training has taken place today on WebAlumnus, the website for our Old Scholars which will help us gather together news of all our past students. Even within our short history, amazing stories have emerged, and great success. We hope the WebAlumnus site will launch in time for us to start our new tradition of Old Scholars being invited to speak at our Presentation Evening.

Nearly Forgot France

I nearly forgot to mention two other lovely visitors, from France this time, the work experience exchange partners of our students who travelled to France in February. The girls supported our students in class, and took time out for some sightseeing and shopping in Downpatrick, and met up with Eric Tomassini to cheer him up with a few words in his native French. This link with France is a very valuable one, which will provide opportunities for our students for years to come. Its Chilean visitors next...

Lovely Swedish Visitors

We had a great time with our Swedish visitors.. They got here on Friday, joined classes throughout the school, and gave excellent presentations about Sweden, a country we didn't know half enough about. The three lovely Swedish staff members took us out for our tea on Friday night, and we heard all sorts of rumours about what the Swedish students got up to! All concerned, however, retrieved their reputation by being at the first bridge on time for a 9.00am start to our walk to the saddle. Donard wasn't a possibility because our visitors had to catch their bus to Dublin. We were joined by Shimna students Mark, Eamon, Conor and David, and everyone made it to the wall despite the bitter wind. We have the photos to proved it. Thanks a million to Martin and Elaine for leading the way, and to Greenhill for hosting our group. Real friendships were made, and real work experience placements floated for next February. We were very pleased to receive a Swedish cookery book and Swedish sweeties as our thank you present, and look forward to a very fruitful partnership with Sweden.

Compliments to Enjoy

This is a quotation from Dr Ana Kerr of Queens University and the NI Languages Strategy: "I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for accommodating my visit to the school on Wednesday 12 march 2008. Not only was it very informative, it was most enjoyable due in no small part to the manner in which I was hosted by your pupils. the young people made a great impression on me and you would have every reason to be very proud of them. the group a s a whole were welcoming, interested, articulate and helpful giving me some new perspectives on the issue of language learning. Indeed, there were some amongst the group who could serve as worthy ambassadors of language learners here in Northern Ireland! ...Please extend my heartfelt thanks to the young people and staff concerned.

Yo! This makes very good reading, and we are grateful to Dr Ana for taking the time to write.

Great GOML Results

Congratulations to all our nightclass students who sat French and Spanish exams in Janary. Everyone passed and we are all very proud! Lessons continue on Wednesday nights in French, Spanish and Polish. Enquiries should be made to Clare Murphy via the school office.

We're all exciting

We are all exciting, waiting for our visit from President Mary McAleese. This is a particularly interesting visit to prepare for within an integrated community. To some of us President McAleese is the President of our country, to some of us she is the President of our near neighbours and to some of us she is the President of a foreign state. We welcome her heartedly in all of those capacities.