Newsletter comenius 1 (scotland)

service at a local church

and open day for the

community. We are all

very excited for our

visitors and friends from

across Europe coming to

our town. Some places

worth seeing when you

visit Scotland are:

Rosslyn Chapel- where

„The Da Vinci Code‟ was

filmed, Edinburgh Castle,

The National Museum of

Scotland, Arthur‟s seat

and Holyrood Palace.

Natalia Dore S2

Welcome to the first

Comenius newsletter

created by Penicuik High

School! We thought we

would start by filling you

in on our town and

school. Penicuik is a

small town situated just 8

miles south of Edinburgh,

a short bus ride from

Scotland‟s capital. The

name „Penicuik‟

originates from the

Ancient British phrase

„Pen-Y-Cog which‟

means „hill of the

cuckoo‟. Our town is

twinned with L'Isle-sur-la

-Sorgue in France.

Penicuik lies on the bank

of the river North Esk and

at the foot of the beautiful

Pentland Hills. For almost

300 years Penicuik was

known as „The paper

making town‟. Paper

produced in Penicuik was

exported to places as far

as Australia and well

known Scottish writers

and poets like Robert

Burns and Sir Walter

Scott wrote famous books

with them. One of the

paper mills was named

the Bank Mill because it

specialized in producing

paper for banknotes.

Penicuik High School

was opened in 1937 and

we are this year

celebrating the 75th

anniversary of our school

with exciting events such

as concerts, a memorial

...and we're off!!

Issue 1

Special points of

interest:

Welcome from

Penicuik High

School

Memories from

our trip to Italy

News from

across Europe

Recipes from

Scotland

Preparing for

our trips

Welcome to the first Comenius Newsletter, all the way from Scotland! February 2013 Comenius Newsletter

There is so much on

offer at our school. A

wide variety of subjects

are taught including

History, Media Studies,

French, English, Physi-

cal Education, Comput-

ing, Music and many

more. This year the

school celebrates its

75th anniversary after

opening its doors in

1937. It has arranged a

number of exciting

events such as competi-

tions, open days for the

community and con-

certs.

At Penicuik our learn-

ing does not stop when

the bell goes, many of

us enjoy the varied ex-

tra-curricular opportuni-

ties that are on offer.

There are lots of lunch-

time and after-school

clubs that run on a

weekly basis, designed

to assist students with

their studies. These

range from Model

United Nations, Duke

of Edinburgh Award,

Eco-Schools group, Sci-

ence Club, Big Art

Club, Hockey, Football,

Volleyball and Drama

group. The school also

has its own music label

Burnt Out Records!

Burnt out Records is a

record label run by stu-

dents; this has been run-

ning for five years. We

have six artists at this

moment in time and we

run gigs monthly. The

record label is based in

“the hub”. Peni Produc-

tions is an after school

film group who create

scripts and then make a

films. The school also

raises a lot of money for

the Marie Curie Cancer

Charity, raising over

£3000 last year.

The school also holds

its Big Day, our annual

health promoting day,

every September. The

day is devoted to en-

couraging healthy liv-

ing, developing a

healthy lifestyle and

enjoying a healthy diet.

In the morning, the chil-

dren received profes-

sional coaching in vari-

ous field sports, includ-

ing hockey, rugby and

football, Indoors there

was volleyball, karate

and break-dancing. The

event is supported by

Lothian and Borders

Police, which works

with the school to or-

ganise a recreation road

-show. Those who

come to Scotland will

hopefully take part with

us in 2013, we are all

really looking forward

to this. We can safely

say that all at the school

are eagerly anticipating

our new friends from

across Europe.

Zoe Galbraith & Caleb

Cuthbert

places were all very inter-

esting and a great place to

visit. Some of the trip

made us feel quite nerv-

ous, especially when we

met our host families for

the first time. This was

because you were meeting

people who you were go-

ing to stay with for a

week that you had never

The trip to Italy was ex-

citing and also very inter-

esting. The most enjoy-

able experience was the

day trip the Rome. Rome

is a very old fashioned

city with lots of history.

We visited many places in

Rome including the Co-

losseum, the Vatican and

the Trevi Fountain. These

met before. They turned

out to be very friendly

people though. Overall,

the trip to Italy was very

enjoyable and it gave us a

chance to meet new peo-

ple and experience a new

culture.

Callum Whitlie

The story of our school

Our time in Italy

Page 2 Issue 1

Six pupils, Rachel Law,

Jenna Richards, Andrew

Foley, Callum Whitlie,

Isobel McNiff and Harry

Donnelly and two teach-

ers, Ms Leonard and Mr

Murphy were chosen to

attend the first Comenius

Trip to Alvito, an agricul-

tural school in the heart of

Italy. With their presenta-

tions ready and excite-

ment flying high, they

arrived at Edinburgh air-

port at 4am, sleepy, tired

yet buzzing! Their flight

took off and despite the

early start, they all man-

aged a small smile, as

they landed in the Nether-

lands and headed to get

their next flight to Rome!

They finally arrived in

Rome airport at about

midday and, after a long

wait in the airport, they

travelled to Alvito where

they met our host families

and the other pupils on the

Comenius trip! They then

went home with our host

families and a few of

them got a 3 course meal

for dinner at 11pm!!!

However the second day

arrived and they travelled

to the school in Alvito,

where they met the pupils

from the school and the

pupils from the other

countries on the Comen-

ius trip. They had a quick

introduction and welcome

to the school by some of

the teachers and the flag

of the town was marched

in. They showed their

presentation about their

school, town and country

and listened to the other

pupils talk about where

they came from. The pres-

entations included power

points, videos and talks

about the various schools.

The day passed and after a

rather large three course

lunch they got a tour of

the town including a quick

look round the mayor's

house! In the evening they

headed off to a neighbour-

ing town's museum,

where they learned about

the Romans and Roman

artifacts, before heading

to the sports centre for a

game of volleyball! The

following day they headed

off to Italy's capital city,

Rome! They saw the coli-

seum, Vatican City, Trevi

fountain as well as having

a traditional Italian lunch,

PIZZA! They had made

lots of new friends from

Spain, Slovienia, Italy and

Holland! The last full day

in Italy had arrived and

they couldn't believe it

had gone so fast! The day

started with a trip to the

sports centre in the morn-

ing and a large game of

the traditional game called

“Tamburello”. It was a bit

like tennis but was played

with 5 persons on the

court and large tambou-

rine like rackets with no

handles! Let just say it

was very interesting to

play!!! After a quick prac-

tice they were thrown into

a competition and were

drawn against the Nether-

land's team! It was 4-4 in

sets and Scotland were

serving for the match! A

winning point by Harry

Donnelly won Scotland

the match and they came

second overall!! After the

match they headed back to

the school where they re-

ceived a large 6 course

meal and a very enjoyable

taste of traditional Alvitan

music and dance! Both

Ms Leonard and Mr Mur-

phy threw themselves into

it! Their host families

came to collect them from

the school and took them

home for tea and had also

arranged a night with all

of the Comenius students

and host families to go

bowling! The time came

for them to leave, the fol-

lowing day, and after a

few tears and many good-

byes they headed off to

the airport! The Scottish

students arrived home at

about 10.30pm on the Sat-

urday night. Everyone had

fun and made many

friendships through the

international language of

sport!

Rachel Law

We came, we saw, we conquered!

Comenius Newsletter

The amazing Coliseum

from our day trip to

Rome

Page 3

My most vivid memory of

the Comenius Alvito trip

was definitely stepping off

the bus for the first time. I

remember it so clearly. I was

actually very worried, but

then extremely excited at the

same time. So many things

were racing through my

head; “who am I going to be

staying with? What will they

be like?” Suddenly the

leader of the trip started

shouting out names, telling

everyone who they were

going to be staying with.

Several names breezed by,

then I heard a name that

sounded relatively familiar.

„Oh God! That‟s my name!‟

I walked up to the leader and

she showed me to the family

I was going to be staying

with. We greeted each other

and then they showed me to

their car. I stepped in and

waved goodbye to my on

looking friends who would

soon be directed to their

families.

I had never had such a feel-

ing as I did at that moment.

It was a weird but at the

same time exciting mix that I

could feel in the pit of my

stomach. The drive to their

house seemed to take forever

and it was pitch black out-

side, I couldn‟t see a thing.

We suddenly stopped out-

side a massive house on the

top of a hill, I could see

Alvito lit up from where I

stood and I thought if all my

friends were at their host

families yet. The family I

stayed with were very wel-

coming and kind and they

immediately asked if I was

hungry or if I needed any-

thing. I was physically

drained and I asked if I

could just go to bed. I went

to my room and went

straight to sleep. It had been

a long and one of the most

memorable days of my life.

And it was only the start…

Harry Donnelly S3

friends could probably say…). Our Comenius cor-ner is improving as well as teachers’ involvement into the project. We also have registered size, weight and height of 40 students. In December our students will work on

Hello from Iceland! How is life in Scotland? In Ice-land things are quite wet and dark…Italian sun and light are already far away… Concerning our project we are working slowly but surely (as our Italian

their parents and grand-parents past habits. The discussion on refrigerator photos is ongoing … Regards Marc Portal

Memories of Italy

News from Iceland:

Greetings from the Czech Republic:

they are working hard on

their presentations -

introducing the Czech

results of Healthy habits

survey.A questionnaire

resulting in the generation

comparison has started

being spread among the

pupils of the 7th and 8th

classes. Teachers of PE are

organizing a school

championship named

MODY 2012 in the

Framework of Active

breaks. This championship

is planned for the week

from December 17th - 21st.

Boys are going to play

floorball, girls volleyball.

The school has also

organized the meeting with

the parents of our pupils in

order to disseminate the up

to how successful the

project outcomes are being

met by our school and to

motivate them to cooperate.

We have also been working

on the list of hosting families

for the foreign pupils during

the meeting at our school in

May 2013.

We have been busy since our

trip to Italy. The pupils who

returned from Alvito

organized a sharing session

with their classmates. They

took the opportunity to tell

others of their experiences

and impressions and also

introduced the photos which

they had taken there. In

addition, they put the photos

from the meeting in Italy on

our Comenius wall.

We are also getting prepared

for our trip to the

Netherlands. Four pupils

who are going to travel to in

March have been chosen and

Page 4 Issue 1

You all escaped Italy just

in time, snow, sleet and

rain have now covered our

beautiful valley. Since you

left, Italian teachers had the

students write compositions

on the visit to Italy they

found it interesting and

bellissimo......!

The project has been very

popular and all students

want to be considered for

the mobilities. The criteria

used for choosing students

has been spurring them to

do better in all classes.

The English language

teachers are thankful to all

of you for the boost in mo-

tivation. Grazie !

We have shown students

results of the survey on

their daily habits and have

commented on points to

comply with the project

objectives. The first mes-

sage is: let‟s eat better food

at recess, bring sandwiches

from home if possible,

homemade cakes or fruit

and let's all do more walk-

ing even walking to school

when possible.

In addition, we have started

the survey for parents and

grandparents both in L1

and L2 and are comment-

ing on results with students

in L1 and in L2. We have

started photographing the

refrigerators with only out-

side pictures at the moment

we are planning to draw an

Ideal Italian Fridge and

have a peek inside stu-

dent‟s fridges at home in

the next weeks.

Our P.E. teacher has meas-

ured the students and

weighed them, so that has

also been keeping us busy.

Mrs. Giuseppina Tomei

English Language Teacher

Comenius Coordinator

NEWS FROM ALVITO – ITALY

NEWS FROM SLOVENIA

cially given the award at

school by the coordinator

and the Head Teacher.

Students who attended the

meeting in Alvito, Italy

came home with a lot of new

experiences and friendships.

They are preparing a poster

which is going to be dis-

played in our Comenius Cor-

ner.

We have also started ana-

lyzing the results of the sur-

vey and we must say we are

quite satisfied with the re-

sults. We still have to finish

the uploading of all the

video presentations of

schools, places and coun-

tries, so the students and

their parents will be able to

see them.

The last task in December is

for the coordinators to

choose four students who

will travel to Holland in

March 2013. Then we can sit

next to the Christmas tree

and wait for the presents.

In December, in Slovenia,

we look forward to Christ-

mas and Santa Claus. How-

ever, if we want to get our

presents, we have to be good

boys and girls. So we work

for the Comenius project.

Back at our school all the

students and the teachers

listened to the news about

our project, the meeting in

Italy and our third place at

the logo contest on the

school radio. Vita Knavs,

who won the third place at

the logo contest, was offi-

Comenius Newsletter Page 5

Even though the first trip

for pupils was to Italy, a

group of teachers met in

Iceland in September for

the first planning meeting.

For the staff, it was great

to finally meet people that

we‟d been working with

over the last few months

while preparing the pro-

ject. We enjoyed two

beautiful sunny days

while we were in school

having meetings. Unfor-

tunately on our sight-

seeing day, it was cold,

wet, windy and felt pretty

much like a Scottish win-

ter‟s day. While we felt at

home, some of the Span-

ish, Italian and Czech

teachers looked pretty

miserable! But what a

beautiful country! Our

Icelandic hosts even man-

aged to arrange the North-

ern Lights for us! þakka

þér.

Visit to Iceland

Greetings from the Czech Republic

chosen and they are

working hard on their

presentations -

introducing the Czech

results of Healthy habits

survey.

A questionnaire resulting

in the generation

comparison has started

being spread among the

pupils of the 7th and 8th

classes. Teachers of PE

are organizing a school

championship named

MODY 2012 in the

Framework of Active

breaks.

This championship is

planned for the week from

December 17th - 21st.

Boys are going to play

floorball, girls volleyball.

The school has also

organized the meeting

with the parents of our

pupils in order to

disseminate the up to how

successful the project

outcomes are being met

by our school and to

motivate them to

cooperate. We have also

been working on the list

of hosting families for the

foreign pupils during the

meeting at our school in

May 2013.

We have been busy since

our trip to Italy. The

pupils who returned from

Alvito organized a sharing

session with their

classmates. They took the

opportunity to tell others

of their experiences and

impressions and also

introduced the photos

which they had taken

there. In addition, they put

the photos from the

meeting in Italy on our

Comenius wall.

We are also getting

prepared for our trip to the

Netherlands. Four pupils

who are going to travel to

in March have been

Comenius Newsletter Page 6

Lunchtime Sports Clubs

at Penicuik High School

Recipes from Scotland

Page 7 Issue 1

Icelandic pupils in

HE class making

healthy, tasty food.

Icelandic pupils

greeting us in

traditional dress

Scottish oats scones

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter (have used Vegan margarine with good results)

1 1/4 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup all-purpose white flour

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup sugar (may sub Splenda)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup raisins (I have subbed these out with dates and dried cranberries in the past)

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt (may use soy with good results)

2 tablespoons canola oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray or line it with

parchment paper. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat and cook until it begins to

turn light brown, about 2 minutes. Skim foam and pour into a small bowl.

2.Stir together oats, flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Stir

in raisins and make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Combine the browned butter,

egg, yogurt and oil in a small bowl; add to the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.

3.Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead several times to form a ball. Pat

the ball into an 8-inch circle and cut into 8 or 12 wedges (depending on the size you want).

4. Place the wedges on the prepared baking sheet and bake until lightly browned and firm to

the touch, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool slightly.

Scotch Broth

Ingredients:

250g carrots, peeled, diced

250g turnips, diced

2 onions, peeled, diced

1celery stalk, diced

1 leek, white part only, sliced

75-125g/3-4oz pearl barley

125g/4oz dried peas, soaked in water for 4-5 hours, drained

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2.3litres/4 pints lamb or mutton stock

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Heat all of the ingredients, except the kale, in a large saucepan until boiling.

Reduce the heat and simmer gently for a 2-3 hours, or until the peas and pearl barley are

soft.

Stir in the kale and cook for a further 10-12 minutes, or until the kale is tender. Season, to

taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Stóru Vogaskóli, our

Icelandic partner school

Hallo! Ahoj!

In preparation for our trips to

the Netherlands and the

Czech Republic , we have

been reading phrase books

and have been asking friends

and teachers for any useful

vocabulary they may know.

Lara even changed the lan-

guage on her phone to Czech

to see if see could make head

nor tail of it!

Before packing we will

check a climate graph so we

can pack the appropriate

clothing. We also need to

pack a gift for our host fami-

lies, which has been the

hardest thing to decide on.

The gifts need to be Scottish

and exciting.

At some point in the near

future we will start our

group projects, which will

help bring the team together

before we leave. We‟re thor-

oughly looking forward to

this, as it will prepare us for

our trips and strengthen our

friendships

This is a fantastic opportu-

nity and we are very grateful

for it! We look forward to

meeting you all very soon

Lara Mega & Louise Tucker

Preparing for our trips

Comenius Newsletter Page 8

Logo Competition

Pupils across the seven schools were involved in

the process for creating and voting on the logo for

our Comenius project. They were given a design

brief and a deadline to work to and many fantastic

potential logos were created. Each school nomi-

nated two logos to go forward to the pan-European

vote. In true Eurovision Song Contest style, they

could not vote for an entry from their own country.

The winning logo, created by pupils at Colegio San

Ignacio in Oviedo, Spain can be seen below and

will represent the entire project.

2nd place, Penicuik High

School, Scotland

Joint 3rd place, Osnovna šola

Matije Valjavca, Preddvor,

Slovenia

Joint 3rd place, Colegio

San Ignacio, Oviedo,

Spain

WINNING LOGO!