On Wednesday 1^st and Thursday 2^nd October our Year 11 Geographers conducted a fieldwork enquiry as part of their preparation for GCSE fieldwork exam and to broaden and enhance their knowledge about Birmingham. Pupils saw the contrast between Sutton Four Oaks and Aston on their carefully planned coach route into the city centre, looking at the inequalities between different areas. Once in Birmingham city centre, students investigated to what extent they thought urban regeneration had been successful walking along a transect through Digbeth, the Bullring, Grand Central station and Brindley Place. At each site students conducted their own primary data through an environmental quality survey, people count, land use survey and field sketches. Students had a fantastic time and it gave them the opportunity to see all the place specific detail they had learned in the classroom, in real life!  

On Friday 3rd October, Etone College were delighted to welcome poet Damani Dennisur to Etone College.

Damani Dennisur is a local poet based in Birmingham.  He started his poetry journey aged 12, writing for black history month, nationwide poetry slams and local rap/writing competitions, within a few short years he was Birmingham's 7th Young Poet Laureate and his talent would put him in rooms he could only dream of.

Damani was so popular last year with Etone pupils that we asked him to return this year.  After an exciting, interactive assembly with Year 11, Damani delivered hour long sessions to all pupils in Years 9 and 10.  He performed some of his poems and talked about his authorial intent, a critical skill for English literature.  There was also the opportunity for pupils to ask questions, and meet him and obtain his autograph on a specially designed bookmark to celebrate his visit.

Anti-bullying ambassadors are a collective of students who work together with staff to make Etone College a safer, more inclusive environment where negative behaviour is not tolerated. Our main aim is to create awareness about bullying and give support where it is needed. We have regular meetings with staff where we discuss plans and activities in school such as pop-ups and events for students to enjoy, so they are educated about bullying, its different types, and its impacts on others so they can also help their friends if needed! We are put in place so students can talk to other students who can act as a listening ear for those experiencing bullying and provide support for those who may not feel they can speak up.

On Wednesday 1^st October, a selected group of high achieving Y9 pupils took part in a language outreach session with GCHQ, one of the UK’s main intelligence agencies. We had two speakers who work as language analysts at GCHQ, who explained to us what they do and why languages are so important to them. We looked at the different types of crimes they help to prevent, as well as the various agencies they work with to help keep the country safe. The pupils were then tasked with a challenge to use their French skills as well as their logic and problem-solving skills to analyse intelligence to prevent a large shipment of drugs arriving in the UK. They had to understand and use the Caesar cipher to intercept a series of texts between the two drug smugglers, as well as translate the decoded messages into English to work out where and when the shipment was due to arrive. They then had to draft a report to send to the National Crime Agency, all typical of a language analyst’s day to day work. The feedback from the pupils was really positive, they described the session as “fun and interesting” and that “it made me really proud of my French that I could work out the messages”. One of them even left saying “It really made me think about job opportunities at GCHQ” so we could perhaps have the next generation of language analysts with us!

On Friday 26^th September, we celebrated European Day of Languages with a day jam-packed with fun, language themed activities. We started the morning with a French breakfast in T010. Pupils tucked into croissants, brioche and pain au chocolat and had a nice chat with the MFL department staff before heading off to form. Y7 and 8 were tasked with a challenge to find out the different languages spoken by our staff, and during form time KS3 forms took part in an escape room activity which put their knowledge of European languages to the test! During our MFL lessons, Y7 took part in an inter-house quiz about all things European, with lots of house points up for grabs and some special prizes for the winners. At break time, we ran various language taster sessions to give pupils the basics in a range of languages from Spanish to Korean to BSL. In the afternoon, a specially selected group of Y9 pupils took part in a Futbol Lingo webinar, in which company founder and professional coach Pierce Kiembi explained the importance and benefits of speaking languages in the football industry. We looked at various multilingual players, coaches, officials and journalists, and explored different roles available both on and off the pitch to those who can speak other languages. In the build up to Friday, Y7 have also spent their language lessons taking part in a postcard project where we write and exchange postcards with 23 other partner schools all around Europe, from Spain to Slovakia and everywhere in between! Our catering team also treated us to some typical European dishes throughout the week which were all delicious! All in all it was a fantastic celebration of European languages and we’re already looking forward to next year!