Our Head of MFL, Mrs Schindler-Smith set the scene at the beginning of the week with her assembly which encouraged us to question what we are seeing, reading or experiencing, particularly referencing Eastern German Art and Literature before and after the fall of the Berlin War, with “Wendeliteratur.” Our Languages Reps then detailed the exciting week of activities ahead.

The week got off to a flying start with a poster competition and a Kahoot languages quiz in formtime followed by an Italian workshop at break teaching us all the best Italian gestures and types of pasta. At lunchtime there was a fantastic ‘Poetry Slam’ in several languages, all performed in the atrium.

On Tuesday, our Mandarin Reps and teachers got the whole school involved teaching about the Beijing Opera, Masks, Culture and Song. At breaktime the main hall was taken over by a Tai’ chi Fan lesson as our Year 7s learned some new Kung Fu skills! Students were invited to use their artistic skills with calligraphy and brush painting in their lunch hour while students were challenged to come up with a brand new logo for the Mandarin Department!

You could guess that Wednesday was German Day from the delicious German Breakfast put on by Mrs Schindler-Smith and the German Reps at breaktime! Our Franzbrötchen, Berliner Pfannkuchen  and Spitzbuben all sold out like hot cakes! In language lessons, our KS3 classes completed language work on ‘Bremer Stadtmusikanten’ while our KS4 ones worked on the Film ‘Almanya.’  For the younger senior school students there was a lunchtime Fairy Tale Exhibition and Quiz while the older girls participated a workshop on “Feminism and Fairy Tales.”

Thursday was Spanish Day! Our KS3 students examined Cubist portrait art in their lessons with our KS4 classes working on descriptions of Spanish/Latin America paintings. At breaktime, we were treated to olives and homemade tortilla (Spanish omelette) – muy deliciosas!

The creativity continued at lunchtime with a Latin American rhythms workshop and a Name the Spanish Painting competition too. In the evening, our Sixth Form Spanish students headed to the Cine Lumiére to watch a film as part of the London Spanish Film Festival.

French Day was on Friday, with a huge variety of activities taking part in lessons. The Year 7s loved playing an Escape Game on multilingualism, while Year 8 and 9 enjoyed creating caligrammes in the style of Appolinaire in a poetry workshop. Year 10 studied a song by Grand Corp Malade called ‘L’appartement de Célibataire,’ and Year 10 followed a workshop on Molière all week. Year 12 took part in a Research and Passport Project where students linked an artist with his/her region in France, followed by a presentation in class.

At breaktime, students had to come up with their own speech bubbles to match a selection of fun photos, which were displayed in the atrium. Lunchtime saw the return of the legendary Crepe Cafe run by Mme Spencer with her secret crepe recipe! 

The finale of the week was the launch of #YesSheCannes – a series of foreign film screenings at Notting Hill.

Friends and families of the school were invited to our main hall to watch Luc Besson’s ”The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec’ with all proceeds going to The Harrow Club, one of our designated local charities.  Sixty five people were able to join us for a fantastic evening which we hope to repeat later this term with our German film evening on the 26th of November.