The French Department got off to a lively start to the Academic year, as ever, with a celebration of European Day of Languages.

We are reminded how important it is to celebrate our International uniqueness and our similarities in Durston. On Thursday morning, our MSc / USc Assembly provided news reports from Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Wales, Romania and Germany. The reporters were members of staff, introduced by the 2 anchor men, James Curtis and Freddie Matthews back in the studio while Noah Malley checked on what the Durston boys had understood. Much fun was had discovering that there are so many languages spoken amongst both boys and staff. Friday, we saw many boys bringing colour and fun around the school dressed in clothes related to their country of origin. Wafts of samosa, Welsh cakes, pizza and Joloff rice emanated from various classrooms and it was clear that boys enjoyed sharing International tastes on plates!
This first half term, CEO is the buzzword and we have seen some lovely examples of creative Curriculum Extension Option tasks in both Middle and Upper school.

• Year 5 have made beautiful posters of words that have travelled from France to England / England to France.
• Year 6 boys have proved that they can be excellent Weather forecasters in various francophone countries.
• Year 7 have been filming some food tasting at home or writing up a tempting French recipe.
• Year 8 have written an account of their Summer holiday and watched Rick Stein in France.

We look forward to The Three Musketeers theatre workshop in the New Year and we cross our fingers that we will be experiencing France first hand by June with Year 6! We all open our minds on a world that opens its ports and airlines for more travel and the need for continued language learning in 2022. Bon voyage!