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NEWS AND UPDATES

PRIMARY NEWS

REDUCE, REUSE AND RECYCLE!

The CE2 and CM1 Classes Visit the Waste Sorting Factory

On Monday 4 April, our CE2 class and a class of CM1 went in the coach to visit the Waste Sorting Centre, Sidompe, in Thierval Grignon.

When we arrived, a guide invited us to go inside. We did a little game to see if we knew how long it takes for different pieces of waste to disappear into nature. Then we watched a film about how the factory works. It was very interesting. After that we put on our yellow jackets for protection and headsets to hear what our guide was saying. When we were inside the sorting factory, we saw some big mountains of waste. It was very impressive to see all the waste in this sorting centre. There were lots of noisy machines. It smelled of old waste; it was horrible. Some of us covered our noses with our jackets!

At the end of the factory visit, we saw how the sorted waste is transformed into huge cubes. These are used to make new objects. For example, old milk cartons can be turned into toilet paper; plastic bottles can be used to make the stuffing in a cuddly toy or even to make a warm fleece we can wear in winter. Some of the waste is burned to make energy to heat our homes!

Did you know that it takes 3 months for a paper tissue to disintegrate completely into the environment, 2 years for a cigarette butt, 5 years for chewing gum, between 100 and 1,000 years for a plastic bag, and 4,000 years for a glass bottle? This is why we mustn’t throw rubbish into nature, and we must recycle our paper, plastic and glass to make new objects.

By Alix Baudouin and Hortense Lapie, CE2 Integrated

I loved this outing because I love discovering about new things. – Hortense Lapie

This outing was exceptional because we don’t visit a waste sorting centre every day! Alix Baudouin

I liked the outing because the game was very cool, but the factory was really smelly! Hussain Mackwani

I especially liked the machines, which sorted bottles by pushing them with air. Célian Rouyre-Cros

My favourite thing was when we visited the sorting factory. Alice de Goullard d’Arsay

I liked the factory and the video. Amélie Regnard

The outing was fun. I liked the machines, the games and the film. Only problem: it was SMELLY! Sixtine Delahodde

I found the outing interesting because I saw how all the waste was going to be turned into new items. Lili Scotti

Our Trip to the Forest

On Tuesday 24 March, we went to a forest called ‘La Foret de Fausse Reposes’. Since we are studying how people manage forests this was an educational trip. With the CM2 class we looked at different trees and plants. We also saw acorns growing and bugs! A lot of little leaves were growing on the new branches since it is early spring.

We observed the various ways trees grow. We saw tiny trees growing from the tree stumps: this is called a coppice, a plantation of young oak trees where the forest had been cleared in the past few years.

By looking at the trees, we can see that the forest is managed since some trees are very tall and a lot older than others, while others have been recently cut, and also young trees are sprouting from the undergrowth.

By Liam, Julie and Thea

Cup Cake Easter/Spring Competition

On Wednesday 23 March

The students in the Wednesday programme came to school on Wednesday 23 March with a delightful array of original and colourful cupcakes. They were made at home and showed careful thought about design, and some even looked too good to eat! Well done to all of the students who took part!

Admire some of their cakes in these photos.

SECONDARY NEWS

A Creative Cocktail: Poetry and Drama Evening in the Lycée

A creative, heady cocktail of poetry and drama on 24 March in the Lycée Corneille auditorium showcased many sparkling performances from Section Internationale students. Troisièmes from Colleges Pasteur and La Quintinye got the evening off to a great start with flawless poetry recitals and a very funny sketch about a dentist. Première students enacted witty dialogues and moving excerpts from As You Like It, the Shakespeare play they had seen at the National Theatre in London. The Seconde students concluded the show with a riveting thirty-minute adaptation of an excerpt from An Inspector Calls by JB Priestley, which left the audience on the edge of their seats. A buffet kindly prepared by Section parents rounded off a convivial evening and provided an occasion for the performers to be showered with compliments. We were all very proud to see such talent on display.
“An Inspector Calls was a wonderful experience. We “Section kids” already have a strong bond, but rehearsing this play together every week for about a month definitely made it even stronger. Rehearsals were punctuated by collective goofiness and fits of laughter, but we quite miraculously managed to get all the necessary work done in time for the show. The night we performed the play was loads of fun as well, and there were very few mess-ups, which we were quite proud of. All of us received compliment upon compliment later on in the evening, which only made us want to perform the play again.”  Adèle

“An Inspector Calls was a very memorable and enjoyable experience, and I am very thankful for taking part in it. The rehearsals were the highlight of my day for six weeks. It was fun imagining the set, discovering the script and how the play had been altered to last less than forty minutes, learning how to perfectly capture our character and adopt the right reactions and gestures, and simply running through the play together as a team.

The play has a very clever plot, with an ending that surprises anyone who doesn’t already know the story. It manages to include varied personalities, from uptight and old-fashioned to regretful and open-minded, not to forget the Inspector, a cold and straightforward man who seems to succeed in squeezing out the truth from anyone, even the most stubborn of them, such as Mr and Mrs Birling. The plot perfectly contrasts the old and new generation, with Gerald in the middle, who sides with Mr Birling, yet tries to seem regretful for what he has done, to stay on good terms with his fiancée, Sheila. As the play is written in 1945, the spectators can see the absurdity of Mr and Mrs Birling’s thoughts on war and society.

When I was first given the role of Mrs Birling, I couldn’t quite see myself taking on the role, as my personality contrasts with the character. However, I quickly realised how much fun it was to play such an uptight character: it let me study the different aspects of an old-fashioned lady, whose beliefs are that society is divided into two distinct groups. I enjoyed predicting her reactions to certain situations and playing a woman who seems confident and unchanged on the outside, yet worried and concerned on the inside.” Zoe

Lycée Corneille Open Day, Saturday 2 April

English teachers Mrs Rosenfeld and Mrs Rattier and our Admissions Officer Mrs Abadie were at the Lycée Open Day to present the Section Internationale to students thinking of joining the Lycée next year. After a general presentation, parents and students were impressed to watch part of one of the history video documentaries made by the 2nde class. A group of enthusiastic students was also on hand to answer questions and extol the virtues of the Section and the lycée in general.

New Website for British International Sections

ASIBA (Association des Sections Internationales Britanniques et Anglophones) has a new, informative website for teachers, parents and students. ASIBA is a not-for-profit association which supports the British version of the Option Internationale du Baccalauréat (OIB), the unique bilingual and bicultural school-leaving qualification run in partnership between the French Education Ministry and Cambridge International Examinations (CIE.) Check it out for information on the IGCSE and the OIB exams we offer as well as for entrance to British universities:

GENERAL NEWS

Great success for the first edition of our International Food Fair!

Fun was had by all at our first food fair, which took place in the very pleasant cafeteria of the collège in Noisy-le-Roi.  Section Internationale families sampled delicacies from around the world. From cookies to crepes to curries, from spring rolls to scones to samosas, there was a taste for every palate under the sun. On top of this the weather was great, making the day an even greater success!

Who knew that Americans ate an average of 1,000 cookies per person every year or that the Australians’ favourite meat was not kangaroo? All of this was revealed at the end of a trivia contest that the little ones really enjoyed. We wish to thank everyone for the incredible turnout and their participation in making this event a memorable one.  See you next year!