29 Aug Super afterschool week with community and academic focus

Dear reader,

It has been a super 1TP5Week, where some of the highlights were: Master Fatman night with focus on good host karma, concert with upcomming and concert topical Frank William, two evenings with italiensk restaurant for everyone, and then a record-breaking Ice Bucket Event to support the ALS fundraiser.

The academic subjects have got off to a good start. Pupils are settling into their appropriate levels of literacy and quiet time is now used extensively for homework.
The students who are on the international line and are taught in English in 5 subjects will learn a lot of new vocabulary in English in the coming weeks. It's a tough start for some, and it will be a great success when they are settled in a few weeks. The AFS guest students have been on host family visits around Denmark and they had a super extended weekend.

In the profile subjects there has been a lot of activity. The good weather has provided really good conditions for street performance, who longboarded all the way to Rønbjerg and Adventure, who did a mini-race with the students at the school. The dancers are already off to a great start. A small group has been presenting dance at local schools as a prelude to starting a dance school for the region's youngsters.

In Gastronomy, our AFS guest students and the other students were mixed and then they competed over two evenings to make the best Italienske themed dinner for everyone. The whole dining room was decorated in Italien colours and the gastronomy teams served 2 dishes for the students at the tables. Friday morning we have had a profile subject day, and all profile subjects have made a special programme. Visual design has been on an excursion to Års art museum, a gallery in Farsø and visited a working artist. Dive and plough have held a distance swimming test in the fjord and the divers have been to the first swimming exercises, sailing has been on the fjord and even though there was not much wind, it was a really good day.

Evening Clubs was replaced on Monday by a Master Fatman evening, where the students, after a pep talk, went to their rooms and focused on room well-being and created a framework for a good atmosphere. On Tuesday and Wednesday there was water performance with wakeboarding in Rønbjerg and football on the lawn, and on Thursday evening Frank William played a concert in the banqueting hall and the atmosphere was great.

In the collections we have focused on the choice of cultural profile subjects for the coming 2nd term. The process was kicked off with a review of what a cultural profile subject should include of Cultural exchange with local young people, country knowledge, project cooperation and dissemination tasks. It is a top motivating course, and as inspiration the students were given presentations from Nepal and Morocco Performance, among others. The students have taken the challenge of coming up with new ideas for cultural profile subjects very seriously and the suggestions are pouring in. At the same time, the chocolate in my bowl is dwindling and that is super positive. Over the next week, both students and teachers will be giving presentations and workshops on the ideas and slowly a first programme of choices is taking shape. Then a vote will be taken on what is of interest to be put on the final ballot paper and at the Parents' Day in September all subjects will be presented. The final election takes place on 1 October.

Today we held a big Ice Bucket Event with a fundraiser in support of ALS research - see link - with virtually all students and many teachers. As the video shows, the atmosphere was great and we even got a visit from TV2 Nord and Nordjyske. Students from the media team documented the event and about 3.500,- DKK was raised. The collection continues, so if you want to support the good cause, please use our Nepal collection account 9202 1880182850and type ALS, as well as the sender of the transfer. In the event nominate man others to the same challenge and we nominated, among others, Minister of Education Christine Antorini, to positively highlight that community for a common cause also helps to create engaged and motivated young people. She might not take up the challenge, but it would be cool, the students thought!

This weekend there is a water sports theme with sailing, water performance and diving trips. Waterperformance will go to Klitmøller and learn how to wave surf and sailing will take to the water at Livø. In the coming week, there will be a normal timetable and profile subjects again. Queen Magrethe and Prince Henrik visit Vesthimmerland. We are not on the official programme, but we create a little atmosphere on the water and the harbour when they visit Livø.Tuesday Anders Pedersen from TravelApe comes and gives a super motivational lecture on community and self-esteem.Friday is a subject day and extra space for immersion in the academic subjects. The following weekend there is a diving weekend with swimming pool tests for all diving students, as well as Adventure weekend for all students who want to try out nature and themselves.

Best regards and have a great weekend!

Olav Storm Johannsen
Headmaster.