ENP Newsletter July 2013 - ENP The English National Programme

newsletter
Edited by ALA-ELP
The school year is coming to an end, the Baccalauréat and Brevet are finished and before packing the cases and looking for some sunshine before the ‘rentrée’ in September, we look back at last year and even further; in fact to 40 years ago ... … the UK, Ireland and Denmark have just entered the European Economic Community (later to become the European Union), U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ends with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, the World Trade Centre officially opens and becomes the world’s tallest building, the Sydney Opera House is completed, the Watergate scandal is in full progress in the U.S, the first U.S. space station, Skylab, is launched, Concorde cuts flying time across the Atlantic in half, the Arab Oil Embargo triggers the 1973 energy crisis, OPEC doubles the price of crude oil leading to recession in Europe, the Three-­‐Day Week electricity consumption reduction measure comes into force in the U.K., there are only three channels on UK television, Bill Gates enrolls at Harvard University, Bjorn Borg plays his first match at Wimbledon, Roger Moore makes his first appearance as James Bond in ‘Live and Let Die’, ‘The Exorcist’, ‘American Graffiti’ and ‘Last Tango in Paris’ hit the cinema screens, Pink Floyd release the album ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’, David Bowie releases ‘Alladin Sane’ and Queen their eponymous debut album … ... the English National Programme makes its appearance in the international education arena and holds its first classes in Ferney-­‐ Voltaire – the beginnings of bilingual education in English in the Pays de Gex. Yes, 2013-­‐2014 will be the 40th year of the ENP in Ferney. A remarkable achievement which deserves a suitable celebration. More about the history of the Programme and landmarks in its development in September, but save the date already -­‐ 40th anniversary celebrations, November 16th. See the poster on page 20. Looking to the more recent past, and in particular the last school year, this newsletter gives a snapshot of just some of the events that have taken place in the ENP. Peter Woodburn, the Head of Programme, talks about work undertaken this year with the school improvement partner and gives an update on Pupil Asset, an online data treatment package, which will follow students’ progress, there are articles on the Model United Nations, the open day and the trip to Stratford, pupils talk about the AS level Maths course and the Intermediate Maths challenge, and a speaker to Primary presents his reflections after talking to a CM2 class on climate change. Two recent ENP alumni describe their experience of their first year at university. A section on the work of the ALA-­‐ELP committee explains what we have been doing this year, our priorities for the future and why this should concern you. June 2013
In this issue From the Head of Programme 2 Teachers 5 Open Day 6 Model United Nations 7 Reflections from a Primary Guest Speaker 9 Maths – Pupils experience 11 Stratford Trip 14 ENP Alumni -­‐ first year at university 16 ALA-­‐ELP Association 18 Contacts & Dates for the Rentrée 21
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the ENP staff and parent volunteers for their dedication, time and motivation in working with our children. It is this that makes the ENP what it is now and will continue to be in the future. Here’s to the next 40 years. Wishing you all an enjoyable summer … Julie Badoche ALA-­‐ELP President From the Head of Programme Dear Parents, ENP is just finishing its 2013 examinations session as I write, and I want to focus in this letter on questions connected with students’ examination results and achievements. ENP candidates obtained a range of good results in the 2012 examination session, as I reported to the Association at the AGA in November. But one of our agreed development aims is to go beyond our own internal interpretation of such key things as examination statistics. This involves gaining and using outside perspectives on ENP and on pupils’ results to help us improve our work. This school year, we appointed a school improvement partner, Edward Gildea, who analysed ENP examination results from the 2012 session and the previous eight years. baccalauréat distinctions, ‘mention bien’ (14-­‐15) and ‘mention très bien’ (16-­‐20), in the two OIB subjects (English Language and Literature and History-­‐Geography). It is striking that ENP students habitually achieve results that place the majority in these areas of high performance. In my report to the Association for the AGA in November, I said that these 2012 examinations results were ‘good’. The school improvement partner’s role was to dig a little deeper. Edward Gildea used the following type of chart. ENP’s improvement partner, Edward Gildea He set us targets for the achievement of students for this year’s examination sessions. His targets addressed achievement in the two highest bands of grades or marks: A* and A in GCSEs, and marks of the level of the two higher 2 www.enpferney.org This takes a total of nine years of ENP results in one paper in an OIB subject into account. Edward discussed with the Head of Programme and the Heads of Department questions of standards over time (for all our key qualifications, and not only for one component of one as illustrated here) and then set targets for attainment in the two top performance bands. This led to review of progress and performance of students in our current 2nde and Terminale classes, both this year (in mocks, for instance), and over recent years, since the last ‘bench mark’ assessment. We will be measuring our students’ results in the key GCSE and OIB examinations of 2013 against the targets for attainment that Edward Gildea set. I will report on this during next school year. A very important point is that in working towards targets, teachers have found ways of working with individual pupils and with groups to help push forward their learning and thus their final examination performance. Of course when we consider two levels (OIB in Terminale and GCSE in 2nde), we ask ourselves the following question: what progress should we expect between the two examinations? For instance, if a student gains A in English Literature GCSE, what level of OIB Language and Literature final examination score is to be expected, and what target might be set to stretch and motivate the student? Research in England indicates where the best correlations between GCSE and A level Literature exist. Yet OIB Language and Literature is not the same as A level and does not employ an A level grading system. Above all, it includes an oral. Thus definition of standards of expected progress between qualifications must come first and foremost from the data held by ENP. I am glad to say that work on analysis of progress between KS3 assessments and GCSE levels (progress broadly between ages 14 -­‐16) and between GCSE and OIB levels (progress post-­‐16) has From the Head of Programme, continued moved forward significantly this year and will be continued next year. These methods link with the qualities of good teaching which we are promoting at present. In particular, they are linked with helping students play the most active part in their own educational success and gaining confidence from this. They are also linked with really using the data we store to inform our practice as teachers consistently. Teachers need to use such information about progress and attainment to set ‘smart’ targets for progress: targets that students can internalize and respond to. Some of these ‘data-­‐rich’ approaches are new in the Programme: some have been in practice for a long time. The intervention of the school improvement partner helps to make such good student-­‐centred focus on maximizing progress a consistent, explicit aspect of the way ENP teachers work together for the students’ good. This is another key development aim of ENP. Realising this aim has involved purchasing and putting into service an online data treatment package called Pupil Asset. Several years of previous ENP data as well as data from this year have now been imported into this package, which allows us to follow the standards of students’ progress year by year, and term by term. All final attainment is based on such continual movement forward, which is not necessarily constant, and may come in bursts. Pupil Asset also provides an over-­‐
view of whether progress and attainment of students is to be classified as ‘as expected’, better than expected, or less good. This is done by comparing against chosen standards and using colour-­‐coding, which is easy to read and use, both for individual pupils and in terms of a whole cohort, such as all pupils in our primary section. Our first use of Pupil Asset in the context of end of year self-­‐
evaluation and review shows what a powerful tool it can be when we need to describe the overall patterns of progress and attainment in the Programme. These insights based on data challenge us to define the context in which ENP works carefully, so as to explain some of the factors that apply to the progress and attainment of our students. It may make sense, for instance, to evaluate our primary section’s results using English expectations for progress, but ours is not a standard English primary setting (most of the school week taking place in French, for example) – nor are we actually a ‘school’! This description of context is being undertaken at present. It will help us to be more objective about factors which otherwise may come into play anecdotally. We need, in our results-­‐
analysis, and in the placing of this in an accurate context, to be able to give a balanced judgement of the ‘pluses’ and the ‘minuses’ which our students experience – those which affect progress and attainment positively, and those which affect it negatively. Pupil Asset has been bought this school year and has been functioning for a very short time: already it is yielding an overview of data that it will be a challenge to interpret and report on well next school year. But understanding the context in which we work and evaluating how we work is not something software can do. This comes via reflection linked with self-­‐evaluation. This it what the Programme is engaged in, again at the school improvement partner’s instigation, at the end of the year. I’d like to say, on a topic connected to results and their context, how pleased I am that a tradition of award ceremonies has taken root in the school and in ENP. At these, the achievements of students are publicly celebrated, as certificates for each qualification are given. At our GCSE award ceremony in January this year, we were fortunate to have a guest speaker, Dr. Stephen Myers, director of accelerators and technology at CERN, who spoke to students and families about where results can take students in terms of university places and careers-­‐ a very important perspective. Dr. Stephen Myers In another ceremony just after this, M. Brech handed to ENP students Edexcel certificates to mark the fact that several of them had achieved results in English, Mathematics and Languages examinations which placed them top (or among the top few) in Europe or the world. At this smaller and very pleasant occasion we also marked the achievement of students whose entries had been commended in the ENP Logo Competition. The first prize was awarded to a terminale student, Mael Fabien. His entry was adopted as the official ENP logo and can be seen on our website and other publications. I’d like to finish by saying that at the recent end of year social gathering of ENP staff with Committee members and parent volunteers, I referred to the ENP staff’s professionalism, their commitment www.enpferney.org 3 From the Head of Programme, continued Starting with this edition of the newsletter, you’ll notice that ENP has a new look. Thanks to a competition run among pupils of the Programme, we have a new logo. It's fresh and it's crisp, and it was chosen from over 80 fantastic entries from pupils at all levels. A logo is a key part of the ENP identity, but it's just a part. Over the coming months, we'll be carrying out a survey of people who matter to the Programme -­‐ people like you -­‐ to find out what they think, and how they see the Programme evolving. This will help to ensure that ENP remains an attractive educational option, offering excellence to parents of English-­‐speaking children in the Pays de Gex. Results will be presented at the Annual General Assembly in November, but in the meantime, take a look at the logo on the website. We thought it was so good we named it twice.
to their students, and their passion for their subjects -­‐ as well as their crucial belief in the potential of individuals. I also mentioned the resourcefulness and the energy that they find to constantly challenge and encourage children to develop through learning. I’d like to thank ENP staff for all their work with students this year. Qualities and strengths of ENP are reflected in many contexts -­‐ and in many articles in this Newsletter. Without the quality of the relationships that teachers build day-­‐by-­‐day in class, good progress, high attainment -­‐ and the celebration of these – would not be possible. I send all best wishes for a relaxing summer and (when it comes!) a good rentrée. Peter Woodburn Head of Programme Finalists from more than 80 entries for the ENP logo competition. 4 www.enpferney.org Teachers Chevalier des Palmes Académiques for Peter Woodburn Peter Woodburn, Head of Programme of ENP, was awarded the insignia of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques at a ceremony in the Lycée International on 21st May. The award was presented by the Proviseur, Jean-­‐Paul Brech in the presence of Carleen Mazet, Inspectrice de l’Académie. This distinction is awarded by the French Ministry of Education and recognises exceptional services to French culture. This reflects Peter’s commitment and professionalism both within the school in Ferney Voltaire and at a national level, where he plays a leading role representing the British OIB schools in France, defending and developing the OIB exam. Our congratulations go to Peter for this honour. New Maths teacher for ENP We are pleased to announce the recruitment of a second Maths teacher for ENP. Sophie Garne comes to the Programme from Cumbria in the UK where she has 5 years experience teaching secondary Maths. Sophie has also had experience as a pastoral tutor for 6th form students and will be joining the ENP University counseling team to assist students with their further education choices post bac and steer them through the labyrinth of the application process. We look forward to welcoming Sophie to ENP in September. Farewells Edward Mooney will be leaving ENP at the end of the school year. Edward will be returning to an English teaching post in the UK. As head of ICT strategic development and as an English teacher, Edward has brought a huge amount to the Programme and will be missed by colleagues, pupils and parents. We wish Edward all the best with his future projects and hope that he stays in touch with us here in Ferney-­‐Voltaire. Sarah Gibbons joined the primary teaching staff in September and left on maternity leave to give birth to a baby girl, Ciara Kylie, in January. Sarah’s family is now relocating to the UK so she will not be returning to ENP in September. Best wishes go to Sarah and her family. www.enpferney.org 5 Open Day Open Day at the Lycée/Collège International Displays of pupils work, demonstrations and events, from primary up to terminale, gave a lively taste of the unique education in English our children are offered by the ENP within the French school system. This was part of the whole school ‘Journée Portes Ouvertes’ held on Saturday 13th April, probably the only sunny spring day we had this year, giving families the opportunity to discover the bilingual and bicultural studies on offer in Ferney-­‐Voltaire. ENP events included a workshop with 4ème pupils on speeches and speech-­‐writing with Piers Letcher, writer and ENP parent volunteer speaker, demonstration oral exams for the two OIB baccalauréat and brevet subjects, Language and Literature and History-­‐
Geography, open classrooms in History-­‐ Geography, Maths and Primary. Information was available on FerMun activities, ENP University counseling and a cake stand/bake sale provided refreshments with proceeds donated to UNHCR (see article below). If you missed it this year, try to come along to the 2014 edition. Thanks go to all of the staff and pupils involved in the preparations and on the day itself. The Great ENP Bake Off -­‐ ENP pupils present a very visible donation to UNHCR, proceeds from the open day bake sale.
Isabelle Rapoport, (Associate PSFR Officer, UNHCR), Conor Rainsby, 6ème, Joshua Cullen, 6ème and Liliane McCallin 6ème Congratulations to all of the pupils involved in this project. Although the ‘Journee Portes Ouvertes’ at
the Collège had many activities, the one
that had the most attention was the ENP
bake sale, which was a roaring success.
Set up not only to provide refreshments
to the public, but also to raise money for
this year’s charity choice, the UNHCR, the
bake sale raised 570 euros in only three
hours. This is thanks to the devoted ENP
students and staff who baked and sold
mouth -watering cakes and biscuits.
The volunteers from the bake sale were
all extremely proud to help such a
fantastic charity.
Written by Isabelle Souchaud, Claire
Cattaneo, Ananya Cumming Bruce, Amy
Horsford and Edward Barnes. (4ème)
6 www.enpferney.org For the bake sale, my mother and I prepared
Irish soda bread and various drinks. I was
very excited to raise money for a good
cause. I was also tasked with being a
salesman and waited: I had to serve a
surveillant coffee! Overall, I really enjoyed
myself and had great fun! I was happy to
help out to raise money for the less
fortunate.
Conor Rainsby (6ème)
When I heard about this bake sale for
charity, I immediately wanted to participate:
my dad works for the UN and my mum for a
similar organisation. When I started selling
cakes, it felt good. I looked around at all
the little things on the table – and the big
things. Every time something was bought, I
imagined a delighted little face.
Liliane McCallin (6ème)
Model United Nations ICTs as a way forward in development, peace and prosperity MUN – Model United Nations – is an academic simulation of the United Nations in which high school and university students debate current topics. Completely bilingual and entirely run by students, its atmosphere is always enthusiastic and animated. From disarmament to agriculture to human rights, students –
called “delegates” – find a wide range of themes in which they are actively involved and are brought to suggest solutions to the problems facing today’s world. On January 9, 10 and 11 2013, at the rd
ITU, FerMUN hosted its 3 conference where the theme was “ICTs as the way forward in development, peace and prosperity”. Mobile phones, tablets and the Internet – young people were completely at ease in this subject. But how do we use these technologies for development? This was the question that students asked themselves, and their debates were related to ICTs. “We wanted to give them a new perspective about the Internet” says Maria Gomez, our FerMUN’13 Secretary General. From coming to school in dress code, to grinning eagerly outside the ITU, to debating the themes and finally writing the resolutions, our FerMUN students lived the MUN experience together and to the fullest. Although the conference officially began at the opening ceremony – which vibrated with anticipation – and ended at the closing ceremony where we shared fond memories, the MUN spirit resonated throughout the entire year. It was definitely not hard to guess who had participated in the FerMUN conference when we came back to school: we were all beaming! On top of that, not only did our students participate in the conference, they also invested their time in other MUN related events such as the WMO conference on climate in March, the “We wanted to give them a new perspective about the Internet” Maria Gomez FerMUN’13 General Secretary Girls in ICTs day at the ITU in April – during the holidays – and the ITU conference on Youth in May. 16 students volunteered to be present on a Saturday morning for the Lycée’s Open Day -­‐ they came in dress code, ITU badges, and organized MUN style debates in which visitors could participate: it was a big success! Now we’re looking forward to FerMUN’14, which will take place in January 2014 at the ITU as well. The theme will be on climate change and sustainable development, and we aim to raise the students’ awareness on this challenging issue that we’re facing today. Preparations have already started and we are excitedly waiting for next year to start, and for the MUN experience to return. By Leila Hassan Head of Press, FerMUN 2014 www.enpferney.org 7 January 2013, the Lycée's Model United Nations club (FerMUN) held its annual conference for three days at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Geneva. 350 participants aged 15 to 18 from across Europe were welcomed. The young delegates represented all UN countries, adopting their points of view, while debating within a committee. “Representing a country that is not my own gave me an understanding of global issues from a perspective I had never witnessed before; it taught me a great deal about diplomacy in other parts of the world”, one delegate commented. The aim was to work together to find resolutions aimed at solving global issues, while learning about the diplomatic world and current affairs. The attention the event received demonstrated what a success it was and what a young people’s gathering, such as a MUN conference of this size, represents for UN agencies. Present at the Opening Ceremony were high-­‐level speakers such as Kassym-­‐Jomart Tokayev – United Nations Under-­‐
Secretary-­‐General and Director-­‐
General of the United Nations 8 www.enpferney.org Office at Geneva, as well as Permanent Representatives of Switzerland, France and Costa Rica to the United Nations, and ITU Secretary-­‐General Dr Hamadoun I. Touré. Their enthusiastic speeches were inspiring and motivational for all present. The theme of the conference, and the basis of all the subjects of debate, was "Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a way forward in Development, Peace and Prosperity". Students couldn't help but feel concerned by this topic as they are at the centre of new technologies, forms of media and communication. In opening presentations they learned of the rapid progress and innovation of the modern world and discovered how technologies can improve societies and provide help. A delegate of Sudan confirmed, "This conference has been a huge eye opener as to how surrounded by technology we are. Most importantly I found out that ICTs could have an impact on a humanitarian level. I do take an interest in the latest technologies but before FerMUN I never knew that they could actually help so much.” Solutions searched for in committee sessions concerned topics ranging from 'The combat against cyber terrorism' to ' Should Internet access be considered a Human Right?' Having the conference hosted by “You have all come
here because you are
interested in, and
inspired by, the United
Nations. But, I think
that when you have
finished your debates,
it will be the rest of us
who are inspired by the
creativity and
resourcefulness that
you bring to the table”
Dr. Hamadoun I. Touré,
ITU Secretary-General
the ITU was a great step forward for the FerMUN Club, as it gave students the perfect setting in which to understand how nations come together and communicate. It provided access to things that would otherwise have been unattainable, such as interpretation systems and conference rooms, as well as the opportunity to interact for real with the press and other forms of media. What was most noticeable was the help the ITU staff were willing to give. The organising Board of FerMUN (made up of students) felt trusted by the adults, which created a great dynamic for the event. All in all, FerMUN 2013 set high standards for the year to come. As of September it will be a new baseline for the club, which will next year, as always, provide an activity that pupils look forward to with great excitement. Alice Rougeaux, FerMUN 2013 Press Officer Primary “As soon as I paused after a slide, a handful of children would raise their hands. Over the course of an hour, I must have answered 40 questions, many of them getting to the heart of the issue”.
Dr Alex Kasterine presented Climate Change to the CM2 class. Alex works as Head of the Trade and Environment Unit at the International Trade Centre (UN/WTO) in Geneva. He has a PhD in Agricultural Economics and has lived in the region with his family since 2005. He blogs about work at http://invisiblegreenhand.word
press.com/. The following blog article describes his reflections on the
afternoon.
What 30 kids in France can teach Mr. Gove The UK Government has proposed that 11 year olds should not be taught much about climate change. This week I gave a one-­‐hour talk introducing climate change to my son’s class at his school near Geneva, partly as a way to give something back to the community but also out of curiosity about what 11-­‐
year olds know about the subject. I was surprised by their level of knowledge and concern. Not a bad start. I presented a couple of slides showing the link between our lifestyles (eating, travelling, heating homes) and climate change. I explained how the greenhouse effect works. As soon as I paused after a slide, a handful of children would raise their hands. Over the course of an hour, I must have answered 40 questions, many of them getting to the heart of the issue. According to the Guardian, “the draft curriculum for geography does not contain references to climate change, but a section called “Earth science” in the chemistry syllabus says 11-­‐ to 14-­‐
year-­‐olds should be taught about “the production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the impact on climate”". My one hour with the kids told me that this will not go far enough in meeting our children’s educational needs. The most striking question came from one girl who asked me directly “so how hot is it going to get”? I answered that on average it could be 4°C. I said that this may not sound like a lot here in cold Geneva, but it means catastrophic impacts for people living in the developing world who rely on their rivers for water, on the rain to grow crops. One boy afterwards told me his granny in India could no longer swim in her local river as it was dried up and that there were more mosquitoes which “would spread disease”. I started by asking the 30 boys and girls what they thought climate change was. Half the hands in the room shot up. The answers included the following: “It is when the earth gets hotter The earth is like a greenhouse Gases are trapping heat in the air” I asked the kids if they saw any change in the climate. The first answer was “there is less snow”, followed by “tornadoes in America” and ” a cold spring”. Tough questions rained in on me: “what is the difference between the weather and the climate? www.enpferney.org 9 Primary Dr. Kasterine’s Blog article, continued
Does coal produce more emissions than wood? Why do the seasons happen? After a short video explaining the carbon cycle (there is no longer a balance in carbon in what we emit and take back), we talked about solutions to climate change. The first child said “renewable energy”. Another said her Dad worked in “geothermal energy”. Another asked me how do solar panels work? I explained that here in France the lights were powered without greenhouse gas emissions, so nuclear energy was one technology we could use. Finally, I asked the children how many of them thought it would be a good idea for children in the UK to learn about climate change. All the arms rose up in one go. Lots of beady eyes looked straight at me. I asked them why. Let me leave the final words to these little people with big brains who are going to have to deal with the mess we have left them and hope Mr Gove reinstates climate change onto the curriculum: Other guest speakers in CM2 have included WRS radio presenters Peter Forster and Dave Goodman who spoke with classes and answered their questions and Pablo Martinez Diaz who shared his collection of Victorian artifacts and explained how they worked, encouraging the students to touch the objects and experiment with them. “so that the next generation are made conscious about climate change and how to decrease it” “so we get into the habit now of changing so the climate is better” The inside enp issue N°3 was a primary special and featured articles on the CE1 induction day held in September, guest speakers for CM2 and the CM1 Simply Theatre trip. This can be viewed on the ENP website at http://www.enpferney.org/enpv2/newsletters/inside-­‐enp-­‐3.pdf For more photos and articles from primary you can visit the ENP website www.enpferney.org under Student Activities -­‐ CM2 Gallery 10 www.enpferney.org Maths In September 2012 a new course was introduced in Première. 29 students began the GCE Advanced Subsidiary Mathematics course. My English Maths experience The AS level Maths course has been a challenging yet exciting experience! It included three units, all very different with two of them building upon each other (Core 1 and 2 and Statistics 1). As I didn’t take the GCSE Statistics exam in Troisième, the Statistics paper demanded extra work in order to meet its full requirements. However, this was achievable thanks to the thorough and intense teaching we had throughout the year. Preparing for this exam did not lend itself to facility: it implied a great deal of personal work and self-­‐
discipline. The satisfaction of passing these tests rewarded the hard and continual work invested in the past few months. This last year of English Maths brought me a sense of achievement, confidence and helped me improve my study skills. Gaby Dorey 1ère ES 14 students in the class chose to enter the examination which involved sitting three 90 minute exam papers in May of 2013. They studied two Pure Mathematics units and a Statistics unit. Two students tell what the year was like AS Mathematics: A student’s perspective After getting an A* in GCSE Maths there was no way I was just going to drop out in Première, especially when I was told we were going to do AS Maths. The Programme began calmly as we learned new things from the chapters of the first and easiest of the three modules, Core 1. Gradually we picked up the pace, moving onto Core 2 where we delved into some complicated formulae. Finally we studied Statistics 1. By the end of April, 14 students had decided to sit the AS exam. Even for those few who were gifted with a stronger natural mathematical ability, the classes seemed to fly by, sometimes to the point where a chapter was finished 55 minutes after we had started it. While it was sometimes hard to keep up during lessons, English Maths in Première always brought that extra challenge that once completed, gave me a great sense of accomplishment by the end of the day. Mrs. Knowles had our www.enpferney.org 11 Maths Etiam
(suite)
AS Mathematics: A student’s perspective, continued Programme well set out, leaving us sufficient revision time to be prepared for the exams at the end of May. The Edexcel website gives access to hundreds of past papers which we just sailed through until we were at the point where getting less than 70 out of 75 was a disappointing surprise. The fact that the exams were at the end of May meant that they did not disrupt our Epreuves Anticipées of the Bac at the end of June. Although I’m not planning on continuing to explore the mathematical world after Lycée, the English Maths Programme was a great help to me over the past two years. Doing English Maths, for both GCSE and AS Level, allowed me to breeze through 1ère ES Maths with an average over 18 out of 20. The French ES Maths Programme will not overtake the AS Level in Terminale and although those in S will soon have left it far behind, English Maths allowed them to have an edge over the Programme throughout most of Première and will help those who go on to study Maths at British universities in that they know the basics of advanced Maths from the British point of view. English Maths in Première is for those who enjoy Maths and are able to dive into the more complicated work with a certain amount of ease once they have understood the basics. Students who took the course but chose for a variety of reasons not to sit the AS exam are able to say they followed the programme and have a deeper understanding of Maths than their peers who did not spend three hours a week in P10. Josh Porter 1ère ES 12 www.enpferney.org Guest Speaker on Mathematics at work After finishing our AS Maths syllabus, we had a guest speaker to show us how Maths is used in the working environment. A British Airways captain gave a presentation about the mathematics he uses as part of his job and it was very interesting to see how things we learn in class are used when flying an aircraft. We all enjoyed learning about the crosswinds, tailwinds and headwinds as well as new terminology such as knots and nautical miles. The captain explained how rounded figures were used to solve time/speed/distance problems for climbs or descents and how a pilot has to change or maintain the angles of the flight path with the use of trigonometry. We learnt how to calculate how high the aircraft had to be above hazards, for example storms or mountains, for the pilot to decide whether or not to take a different route. We appreciated the Captain taking the time to show us how Maths can potentially be used in our future careers. Sarah Barker 1ES2 Maths Intermediate Maths challenge In February 80 ENP Mathematics students from Quatrième, Troisième and Seconde sat the Intermediate Maths challenge. This is an international Maths competition run by the UK Mathematics Trust. It is designed to make students think and to encourage them to use their mathematical skills in unfamiliar contexts. Students scoring the highest marks achieve Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates. This year 15 students obtained bronze certificates, 5 students achieved silver certificates and 5 achieved gold certificates. Two of the students in Seconde who achieved gold certificates also qualified to do the Kangaroo. Yanni CALOGHIRIS in Seconde, who achieved a Bronze Certificate, writes about the event. The test contained 25 multiple choice questions, with an ascending difficulty. Not only was the challenge testing our capacities, but also a chance to exploit our mathematical intellect. We really enjoyed this experience, as it was different to any exams we’ve had to sit in the past. Here is an example of a question from this years “UK Intermediate Maths Challenge”: The triangle T has sides of length 6, 5, 5.
The triangle U has sides of length 8, 5, 5.
What is the ratio area T : area U?
A) 9:16 B) 3:4 C) 1:1 D) 4:3 E) 16:9
This exam is optional, but we would highly recommend anyone who gets the chance to participate in the Maths Challenge to take the opportunity. Not only is it enjoyable, but if you obtain a certificate, it will be a plus for your personal statement. www.enpferney.org 13 “Our teachers plunged us into Shakespeare’s world, bringing us to his place of birth and taking us to watch his most famous plays” Five days of travel in England, an unforgettable experience. During these five days, we discovered different universities from a unique and privileged perspective; we explored famous towns and also got the chance to watch three of Shakespeare’s famous plays! Our group was reunited by a common desire to discover England's way of life and find out more about which possible paths we could take in the future. We therefore went on this trip with a level of excitement and enthusiasm that did not weaken until the very end. So, one of the trip’s goals was to offer our group a clearer and precise vision of the world which we will all soon be walking into: university. Indeed, we have come to an age where university has become a very important subject, as before we know it we will be sending off applications and looking for the course that suits us best. This trip definitely brought us down to earth as we visited universities, met and talked with students and got a real feel of university lifestyle. Our first university visit was in Canterbury, which pleased everyone as it offered a course in every domain imaginable, despite the fact that most of us still don't know where we are heading. From the university of Brighton to Glasgow, including the top colleges like Cambridge, almost every British school had their representatives coming to the fair held at the University of Kent. Mostly ran by 14 www.enpferney.org Stratford Trip A group of ENP students and staff went on a trip to Stratford-­‐Upon-­‐Avon to see three plays by the Royal Shakespeare Company. They were also able to visit a number of universities during their stay. Anna Johnston, a student in 1ère, describes the action packed five days. college students, various booths were at our disposition. Not only did they give us precise information about the university's way of life but also allowed us to have a clearer view on the amount and variety of courses we could take. Some ended up being interested in schools they would have never even thought of! The people were so open and ready to help, and created an atmosphere which truly got us motivated for our next stop: Oxford. At Warwick, the presentation was as beneficial if not more for all of us! It offered a guided tour and an excellent feel of its atmosphere and way of life. Moving towards the funner aspect of our trip, we got to stay in different youth hostels which was definitely a fun and new experience for all of us! Our teachers plunged us into Shakespeare's world, bringing us to his place of birth and taking us to watch his most famous plays. The cultural input of this trip was therefore as important as the rest; it was primarily a chance for us to discover more about the author whose plays we have so much studied over the past few years and to perceive his work from a completely different perspective, as an audience and not as hard working students. As You Like It and Hamlet were two of his plays that we watched and that were appreciated by all thanks to a set of brilliant actors. The particularities Stratford Trip article, continued “One of the trip’s goals was to offer our group a clearer and precise vision of the world which we will all soon be walking into: university.” of staging in the third play titled “The Empress” was its musicality which brought something new, and original to classic theatre. Finally, the Stratford trip was a great human experience. It allowed us teens aged from 14 to 17 to get to know each other better in a friendly and fun atmosphere, discover the possible paths of our future together and create memories shared by all. Our teachers definitely made this trip unforgettable, for instance with games such as quizzes and walks and simple friendly conversation! We were so grateful for this wonderful opportunity and genuinely enjoyed every moment of it, from the hours on end in the bus to the delicious classic English breakfasts offered to us every morning, which were simply the icing on the cake. Anna Johnston 1ère www.enpferney.org 15 Alumni Post baccalauréat destinations for ENP students 2012-­‐13 ENP students are living up to their international education with last years’ alumni attending a broad range of different universities in Europe, the USA and Canada. Whilst the majority of students are choosing courses in the UK, Switzerland and France some ENP students have chosen to move further afield. The range of options open to ENP students is widening and some Dutch universities are now offering a variety of courses in English and have advantageous tuition fees. Several alumni returned to ENP earlier in the year to recount their experiences to this year’s Première and Terminale groups to help them in the process of making their choices for their future, post bac. Looking back on my last year at Carnegie Mellon University, I am glad. Not ecstatically happy or extremely proud, but glad. I started my year with high hopes and many fears. I told myself that I had been to Ferney and passed the French Baccalauréat, and that these had been academically harder than anything I could be faced with in university. This assumption was, partially, correct. For me, learning things in college has not been about memorizing an infinite list of facts, or squeezing my ideas into the shape of a predetermined template. Learning facts and format are still requirements but, throughout this year, I have realized that those things now come naturally. It is difficult to see an essay prompt and not instantaneously start planning my answer out, and it is difficult to sit in lectures and not note down facts that I will later learn by heart. These habits are not so common among students in other countries, and this is where we have an advantage. A very new aspect of academics that I have encountered at CMU is the need for creativity. Knowing the facts is only the first step of learning something new, for once in possession of the facts, students must then bring in their own interpretation. The need for creativity at CMU has often reminded me of assignments in the English National Programme. Things like critical appreciations, research essays and group discussions in class let me build on my knowledge and express my own opinion, something that is essential in university. Above the advantage that going to Ferney has given me in university, the key element that helped me get through this year was time. Fear, anxiety, feelings of loneliness and even difficult assignments were, almost completely, remedied by waiting, and getting through the often painful process of adaptation. Two students who left ENP last year recount their first year experience at university Su Baykal Carnegie Mellon University, USA Dietrich School of Humanities and Social Sciences and initiation into quantitative social sciences 16 www.enpferney.org Alumni Not all the time at Uni not spent delving into the resplendent intellectual archives bequeathed you is wasted. Just the circumstance of living away from home and routine almost guarantees that you will meet people of varieties you had never heretofore dreamed of. I can be described without too much of a stretch as antisocial, or at least introverted. The anomaly of finding myself so unexpectedly and bountifully befriended is due, I can only assume, to my good fortune of having been denied my first choice of residence -­‐ a clean, scarcely populated, pretty quiet place -­‐ and thrust instead into a decaying concrete residence-­‐forest of identical, broken, prison-­‐faced buildings. These are crammed close and loaded in each flat with twelve students, often loud, and in possession of very little shame. The small rooms have thin walls, music is awful, the fridge is ridiculously inadequate and though there is a proportionate lack of showers, they seem mysteriously never to be occupied. It’s marvellous. If I had gotten the flat I’d asked for, I’d have pined away in my usual lone form. Really, you don’t want what you want, or vice versa. Even if you deliberately try to find yourself isolated and shunned and avoided and despised, you can hardly fail to get sucked into some society or other. My favourites are a very cool -­‐ that’s really the only word for them -­‐ comedy society (mostly stand-­‐up) and a small theatre society that performs student-­‐written/staged/directed plays in basements and little hidden places around Glasgow. Despite having been told repeatedly that “British universities have EVERYTHING”, I’m still looking for a magic society (tricks, that is) or enough similarly-­‐minded people to initiate one. The case might be that, like the Taxidermy society, the group are too “niche” to advertise themselves in the “fresher’s fair” or the Glasgow society website. It probably doesn’t help that I’m stubbornly still not on Facebook, and am probably missing out on crucial social information. My pride is a leech that I cannot relinquish. Sofie Qwarnstrom Glasgow University, English Literature www.enpferney.org 17 ALA-­‐ELP Association Do you care about the ENP? The ALA-­‐ELP represents ALL families in the section and is responsible for key decisions affecting staff, pupils and parents. All parents of pupils in the ENP are automatically members of ALA-­‐ELP. The ALA-­‐ELP operates through an elected committee of parent governors, who serve for three-­‐year terms and may be re-­‐elected. Elections take place at the AGA and new candidates are encouraged to stand. Committee 2012-­‐13 Julie Badoche President James Gillies Vice-­‐President, Chair PPSC Marco Cattaneo Treasurer Annie Mérat Secretary, Chair HRSC Philippe Cloesen Special Events Coordinator Shaun Collins Co-­‐opted Dec 2012, ITSC Chair, Special Events Sarah Dehon Salary review Luis del Pozo Co-­‐opted March 2013, Finance Emily James Assistant Treasurer, Special Events Karen Jones PPSC Marc Schachter HRSC, PPSC Gilles Poumerol HRSC, Salary Review What has happened this year? •
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Appointment of a school improvement partner (see article from Head or Programme) Full salary review for ENP Staff Review of ENP development plan Ongoing review of HR policies and procedures Recruitment of a second full time Maths teacher Creation of KS3 English Coordinator post Start of project on the Branding of ENP Purchase of two more Interactive Whiteboards for ENP classrooms Participation in Forum of Associations for International Language Education at Ferney-­‐Voltaire What is coming up in 2013-­‐14? •
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ENP School Inspection – every four years the ALA-­‐ELP appoints an external inspector from the UK to look at the operation of the Programme and helps the committee to assess the suitability of the curriculum and course structure (and its relation to the French national education system), standards of teaching and student learning, standards of student attainment and educational achievement, leadership and management in the Programme and its governance. The last inspection was carried out in March 2010. We will arrange for the next inspection to be carried out in the spring of 2014. Development planning Review of staff appraisal system 40th anniversary event 18 www.enpferney.org PPSC -­‐ Programme Planning Sub-­‐Committee HRSC -­‐ Human Resources Sub-­‐Committee The AGA of the ALA-­‐ELP will be held at the end of November. Come along and •
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Find out what ALA-­‐ELP does for you and your children Meet the governors, your representatives Hear from the Head of Programme, Peter Woodburn and the ALA-­‐ELP President, Julie Badoche about plans and priorities that are shaping the future for the ENP For further details of the ALA-­‐ELP Committee please look at the ENP website www.enpferney.org or contact Julie Badoche at [email protected]. ALA-­‐ELP Association Meet the Committee ENP Cinema Evening: The Third Man At the AGA last November the number of committee members was increased to 12. Three new members were elected to the committee: The committee organised a Cinema evening in Gex for parents, staff and pupils in early June. The evening started with drinks at a local bar, followed by the screening of ‘The Third Man’, a classic masterpiece of British Cinema in the Ciné Patio just across the street. Philippe Cloesen Philippe is Belgian and has three bicultural children who did their primary and secondary schooling in the Dutch language Programme at Ferney. Philippe’s youngest son attends the English Programme as well. Philippe has started organising social events for the ALA-­‐ELP membership including a successful cinema event earlier in June. Watch this space for the 40 Year anniversary celebrations of ENP in November. Sarah Dehon Sarah is French and has lived in the USA and London. She returned last year from 6 years in Ohio, USA and has three children between 5 and 15 years old, the two eldest are in the English National Programme. Sarah was part of the salary review team this year and is now getting involved with the human resources sub-­‐committee. Emily James Emily is British and has lived and worked in London and Paris before moving to the Pays de Gex in 2006. Emily has two sons, the eldest in the English National Programme, just moving in to Collège. Emily was also involved in the salary review and is playing an active role in organising the 40th anniversary celebrations. A great success -­‐ to be repeated. Forum of Associations for International Language Education in Ferney Voltaire The forum was formed in 2012 and groups committee representatives and Programme directors of the different national sections at Ferney-­‐Voltaire. Issues common to the different national sections can be shared, aired and common strategies developed. www.enpferney.org 19 20 www.enpferney.org @Contact Contact with ENP teaching staff Peter Woodburn Head of Programme [email protected] Lucy Howen Administration & Admissions
[email protected] Alan Ackroyd Head of English [email protected] ENP Office As the ENP office is a busy place, the Programme’s preferred means of contact is by email: [email protected]. The office staff make every endeavour to reply to emails promptly. If however you do need to phone, the number is: 04 50 40 82 66 Andrea Knowles Head of Mathematics [email protected] Paul Grady Head of History/Geography [email protected] Lisa Woodburn Head of Primary [email protected] Contact with ALA-­‐ELP Julie Badoche President [email protected] Dates for the ‘Rentrée’ Lycée 2nde -­‐ Tuesday 3rd September, 8h00 – 17h30 1ère – Wednesday 4th September, 10h00-­‐12h00 Terminale – Wednesday 4th September, 8h00-­‐11h00 Collège 6ème, 5ème – Tuesday 3rd September 4ème, 3ème – Wednesday 4th September Thursday 5th September – start of normal timetable For further information on the ‘rentrée’ visit the Lycée website at: http://www2.ac-­‐lyon.fr/etab/lycees/lyc-­‐01/international/ ENP Primary Rentrée Tuesday 10th September Wednesday 11th September ENP 40-­‐Year Celebrations Saturday 16th November www.enpferney.org 21