09 Dec Great performance weekend and community

Dear reader,

The Culture and Performance Day was a huge success. It was a fantastic weekend and there was great feedback from the 850 or so parents, grandparents and siblings who visited. 
The performance "Global Factor" was performed 3 times to a full house and was impressive to see how much the 70 students and teachers could achieve together in just one week. The Christmas spirit continues to spread throughout the school and the lights are warming in the dark time. Each day a gift is drawn in the REC pack for the community gathering.

Collection for the various cultural subjects

The Christmas market and Nepal raffle raised more than DKK 16,000 for our friendship school in Nepal and other projects, such as an orphanage in Peru and a centre for endangered animals in Namibia.

Feedback from term tests

In the book classes, many of the teachers have already been able to give feedback on the term tests and it gives a good experience in assignment writing - and for some in reading the assignment text, to have the opportunity to turn over the result with peers and teachers.
In Cultural Studies, students and teachers are finalising the planning for the big trips in January. There is a lot of energy in this process, and already some travel fever to be felt. 

The election for the 3rd period Profiles is underway.

On Saturday, both students and parents were presented with the 36 different proposals for profile subjects in the 3rd period. There are a record number of new proposals and during this week and next week, teachers and students will present the proposals at the common assemblies. The 2nd sample vote will take place next Friday and the final choice will be made over the Christmas holidays, in consultation with parents.

Read more in the sample selection magazine.

Good support for Nordic Challenge

The girls Lærke and Julie presented the Nordic Challenge today and got good support from their peers.

Sleepover

On Thursday evening and night, the House Councils and House Teachers organised sleepovers in the Seminary House and Ranumhus, where students are mixed and matched. It creates a great atmosphere, and even if several are a little nervous about moving into another room, it's worth the uncertainty to find new closer friends in the house

T-shirts ready for student party

The theme for this year's 2nd Student Party is RAW Party, and students have been house painting T-shirts, and shirts with uv and neon paint 3 nights in the Sveder. There was a mega good atmosphere and the community around the preparations for the party is almost on par with the party. The student party committee was in charge of organizing the event, removing the mess and cleaning the hall.

The kitchen staff on tour

We have introduced a new structure in the kitchen, where instead of a head chef, there is one person responsible for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This team coordinates and develops together the food culture and quality of our kitchen. To gather new inspiration and shake up the team, all kitchen staff are on an inspiration trip to Aalborg tonight. Fortunately, almost all students are at the student party and have brought food from school.

New hose at school

It's not just the elves who are decorating in December at the school. In the biology classroom, lessons have become a lot more lively thanks to a group of students and teachers. Read the students' own account here: (student story)We were four boys who were sent to Aalborg to pick up a pet for the school. Nikolai Hougaard, Malthe Balling, Lasse Henriksen and Thomas Poulsen. We went to a couple of different pet shops to find the animal. We immediately fell in love with a royal python, which was later named or even baptised Henriette. We brought the snake home in a bag and when we arrived in Ranum, Heine was ready with all his enthusiasm. We quickly put together a snake cage, which was later upgraded to a better cage. When the snake had adapted to its new surroundings and about 14 days had passed, it was time to feed it. Heine had ordered about 40 dead mice, which are the snake's favourite food. Yesterday, Thursday 9 December, it all started when Henriette devoured her prey. We were about 10 pupils watching from the sidelines.

The week more generally

Pedagogically, we have had a really good week, and it is clear that the students are really well together again after the weeks of bridge building and assignment writing. Performance week means a lot to the cross-house interaction and it has also been a success to have sleep-over events. Unfortunately, there is also a downside to being so close together 24/7 and there are some who have infected each other with a 1-2 day really nasty virus of vomiting and fever. Fortunately, almost everyone is healthy again for the student party tonight. It might look a bit different in the coming week, - after the party community.

Events next week

The coming week offers academic programmes, where we continue to work with reflection on the term assignments. We will have a number of visits in the coming week, including a visit from AFS Denmark Interculture on Tuesday, and the students can hear about other young people's experiences of going on exchange programmes and living with a foreign family. It is an experience many students will experience on the upcoming Cultural Travels and many also dream of having the opportunity to go on an exchange programme in another country at some point. 
On Tuesday, there is a Lucia procession at the morning assembly, and more than 40 girls have been practising this week. We are very much looking forward to experiencing the atmosphere and hearing them sing in the beautiful setting of the old seminary. 

Have a great weekend

Olav Storm Johannsen
Principal