Once every three weeks, all year groups enjoy a library session with their French teachers in the school library. After listening to a story or reading a short French book together, the children have time to choose a book from the French section to read for themselves. They are also encouraged to borrow a book in French to help develop their reading skills.
They are extremely lucky, as the French section has been greatly expanded since the beginning of the school year, with many new books that they have enjoyed, such as Max et Lili, Ariol, Tintin, Boule et Bill, and detective stories.
This week, the French department celebrated La Chandeleur, a traditional French festival held on 2nd February. To mark the occasion, the Nursery, Reception and Years 1, 2 and 6 classes learnt about the tradition’s origins, memorised the crêpe recipe and put it into practice.
Year 6 children were then tasked with preparing the crêpe batter and cooking crêpes for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stage 1 (KS1) children, as well as for the children from École Maternelle Les Cerisiers. Year 6 children really enjoyed the cooking experience. Although they initially found it challenging to make crêpes that were perfectly golden, they soon succeeded and worked extremely efficiently.
Congratulations to them on their hard work! They thoroughly deserved to enjoy two crêpes each with a wide choice of toppings! The children also learnt about the tradition of tossing a pancake while holding a gold coin in their left hand to bring good luck.
Nursery and Reception classes welcomed their friends from École Maternelle Les Cerisiers. The morning began with the children singing a few French songs, after which they listened to Mr Watson read the story ‘Mr Wolf’s Pancakes’ in English.
Both the French and English children were invited to join in and help tell the story of the wolf who finally enjoyed crêpes and a few neighbours for lunch! However, the children were a little more sensible and only enjoyed a crêpe au sucre in the playground.
They were then given plenty of time to play together in our wonderful Early Years department, which is full of treasures and games to explore, both indoors and outdoors. It was lovely to see the children sharing toys and enjoying the space together and it was especially enriching to watch the French children discover a new environment.
We look forward to another opportunity to meet, play and, of course, speak French and English together!
Thank you to the EYFS and Cerisiers teams!
After their French friends visited, the children enjoyed their weekly French treat: a puppet show. This time, however, they were part of the show! It was the same story they had heard in the morning, but this time it was performed in French by Mrs C and her excellent puppetry skills.
After learning about La Chandeleur and how to make crêpes, Year 6 children have been working together in French to create the best possible presentation of the recipe. They have made sure to include the correct utensils, ingredients and steps. A vote will then be organised to decide which is the clearest and best-presented presentation.
