King’s Ely Junior goes the extra mile for National Poetry Day and European Day of Languages

European Day of Languages and National Poetry Day were celebrated in style at King’s Ely Junior. Pupils and staff threw themselves into the spirit of European Day of Languages, which is an annual campaign held on September 26th to promote the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe and to encourage lifelong language learning both in and out of school.

Students of all ages discussed the importance of learning different languages and discovering more about cultures from around the world. Maps were explored, quizzes were completed and the European Day of Languages treasure hunt proved particularly popular.

Pupils also wrote ‘top trump cards’ about where they are from and a special world languages banner was made featuring ‘hello’ in at least 35 different languages, including Japanese, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Danish, Swedish, Mandarin, Thai and Vietnamese, to name just a few.

Two days later, pupils then went rhyming and sonnet mad for National Poetry Day. The theme this year was ‘freedom’ and to say staff at King’s Ely Junior went the extra mile to get the children engaged would be an understatement.

The poetry was certainly not just restricted to English lessons that day – pupils could be found singing poems in their Music lessons and even reading poems in their Design and Technology workshops!

Head of King’s Ely Junior, Richard Whymark, said: “It is remarkable that the children and their teachers invested so much energy into these special days in order to bring learning alive. Our community has links with people and places across the world and it was wonderful to celebrate the diversity of our school through poetry and languages. We have formed many happy memories from the days’ creative activities and look forward to more special curriculum days ahead.”