Snakes alive! (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Snakes alive!

Grange Junior School pupils enjoy an international day with clockwise from above, Joe Hiscock, 10, in the Australian outback Ref: 200001-18LESSONS took on an international flavour for one Swindon school as children travelled to all corners of the world.

Pupils at Grange Junior School in Grange Drive, Stratton St Margaret spent a day dressed in costumes from different countries to help them learn more about the world around them.

African, Japanese and native American Indian were among the outfits the pupils donned for a variety of multi-cultural activities.

Awards were given for the best-dressed students from each class.

Runner-up for her class, Ashton Gorman, seven, from Stratton, said: "My class was pretending to be from Africa. We were looking at different food from Africa."

Winner for the best African fancy dress was eight-year-old Natasha Murphy.

She said: "We've been watching videos of African culture and sketching different fruit and vegetables from that country. It teaches you a lot about different cultures."

To help make the International Day a success, Tesco and Sainsbury's donated fresh produce including mange tout, runner beans and passion fruit.

Alan Duffy, the school's comenius and international co-ordinator, said: "Everyone had a great day and the event celebrated Grange Junior School receiving the International School Award at a special ceremony in London in October."

International Education Week ran from November 28 to December 2 and involved schools from all over the world, and particularly in the Americas.

Jake Bridgeman, eight, from Stratton, arrived dressed in full Hawaiian attire including a grass skirt and flowery t-shirt.

He said: "It's fun. We've done lots today. Later we are making a Hawaiian drink."

Class winner George Bates, nine, from Stratton, who came as Genghis Khan, said: "We've been learning how to write our names in Japanese and making cranes and flowers from origami. It's fun much better than wearing uniform."

Amy Townsend, nine, of Stratton, came runner-up in her American class.

She said: "I've been using the computers to learn more about America. We've filled out fact-sheets on the American West and cowboys too."

The project is part of the school's continuing international work with the Comenius European project. This aims to encourage children from different European countries to write to each other and work together on projects.

Grange Junior is in touch with the Iberia School in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, and Ecole Saint Joseph in Miribel, near Lyon in France.

Victoria Ashford