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Poetry Workshop

By Danny Teofilov (Bulgaria)
As part of the Tenbury Poetry Competition a local poet visited St Michael's to run two poetry workshops for a selection of our students. First year A Level student, Danny Teofilov from Bulgaria, gives us his views on the workshop that he attended; 
 
There is no better thing than a Monday morning and some poetry. Really! I have never known how interesting and self-reflecting poetry can be. From discovering new things about yourself by interpreting different poems, to writing some yourself allowing you to relieve any hidden emotions you might have. A big thanks to Jean Atkin, the poet that came over to show us the way.
 
It really was an eye opening experience for me and hopefully for the rest of the class. Some were open minded and wrote lots ready to present, others were still drowsy from the good night’s sleep they got and some were hiding away their poems not to reveal too many inner secrets about themselves.
 
Overall, it was a great experience learning new things and expanding our horizons.
 
You can learn more about Jean Atkins here; https://jeanatkin.com/about/ 
 
And the Tenbury Poetry Competition here; http://www.poetryintenbury.org/ 




The Discovery of Vaccinations - A play by Pre-A Level Science Class

Mrs Cabara’s Pre-A level Biology group performed a short sketch on the discovery of vaccination. 
 
Joshua H. played Edward Jenner, Kristin B. was the unfortunate milkmaid who contracted cowpox in the course of her duties.  Luck J. played the cow. 
 
The story was told to us with eloquence and humour.  All the students demonstrated their acting skills and the sketch showed clearly how vaccination worked against smallpox.




Sports Day

Students and staff took themselves away from the classroom to our first Saint Michaels Sports Day, held on the adjoining field.
Running tracks were freshly marked, stopwatches primed and many students tentative at first as to how they would do.
With a little encouragement from their peers and from staff, we saw excellence in effort displayed across a wide range of competitive events.
The 800 metres run was an especially tiring event with many flagging on the second or third circuit – but to their credit they kept going, wanting to uphold the reputation of their House.  Whatever House they belonged to each student seemed to reach deep inside themselves and made the day an inspirational event. 




Visit from former Vietnamese Student

One of our students from the years 2008-9 breezed in from Singapore wishing to revisit happy memories of his time with us.
Minh Van Hoang Le was also one of the first members of our Newspaper Club.
He has since graduated in International Business at university in Singapore and said about his time here: “Everything I studied here has stood me in good stead.”
Mr. Walsh remembers him as an Economics student and Mr. Davies recalls his time studying Maths. 
There are also folk memories of his address to Assembly on the new U.S. president of the time: Barack Obama.




Farewell Speech from our Outgoing Head Girl & Head Boy


Graduation Dinner 2017

Mirko:   Dear students, teachers, staff and executives – or by one word dear friends. It is with great pleasure and immense honor that we have the opportunity to talk here in front all of you. Vasilisa and I came to Saint Michael’s two years ago thereby having made perhaps the largest step in our lives. Two years might seem a short period of time, but those two years were incredibly crucial and valuable in shaping our future. At that time, we would not have imagined that on this day we would stay here in the positions of Former Head Boy and Head Girl. This is a culmination of our journey at SMC which has been gradually built up by hard work, commitment and responsibility.
Vasilisa: Mirko and I weren’t the only ones who had difficulties when coming here, our graduate fellows and all the other students made an extremely brave step by having come here, the first out of many steps towards independence and maturity. Even though most of our parents and guardians are far away it goes without saying that they are very proud of all of us.
Mirko:   The most valuable part of this experience has been the interactions with people from all around the world. Intercultural differences in habits, attitudes and opinions have never prevented us from friendships, but helped us make even stronger bonds. It is these differences that make SMC unique and that add value to it, one of the examples is the prefect team.
Vasilisa:  We believe that our prefect team has entirely followed ideas and kept all the promises stated in each member’s speech. Hopefully, we managed to contribute to the school community to the extent to which we were aiming. Thus, being a good example of a successful team to future prefects is our team’s final wish.
Mirko: We would like to emphasize that we are very pleased for having met Mr. Higgins and lucky enough tonight to wish him to have a wonderful life ahead on behalf of all students and employees. Additionally, we are sorry for not having opportunity to get to know Mrs Walker better, but hope that you Mrs Walker will keep your incredibly positive attitude which has been an inspiration to us all.
Vasilisa:  Lastly, I would like to tell all students not to forget that today is a day of celebration. Today, you celebrate all the hard work that got you to this moment. Today is the day of thanks. Today, you say “Thank you” to all the people who helped you get here. The people who taught you, cheered you on and dried your tears. Congratulation to all graduates, and best of luck to all of you!




Farewell Mr Higgins

(Sir Roger Fry presenting Mr Higgins with his leaving gift during our recent leavers dinner)

At the end of this term, we say farewell to our former Principal, Mr Higgins.

Mr Higgins worked in England, Indonesia, Spain and Sweden as an English Teacher before joining King’s College Saint Michaels in the September of 1995. He must have impressed as he made the position of Principal only one year later, in 1996.

He collected countless memories and visited countries all around the world to help market the school including China, Brazil, Hong Kong, Peru, Thailand, Nigeria, Panama, Spain, Indonesia, Singapore, Albania, Croatia, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Macau, Dubai, Vietnam, India and Venezuela!

Before he knew it, Mr Higgins had dedicated 21 years as Principal of KCSM and he will be very missed by all staff and students who had the pleasure of working with him. However, this isn’t a final goodbye as he has joined the school Advisory Council, where he will provide his knowledge and experience for years to come.

The Advisory Council is a consultative and advisory body for educational policy, finance, admissions, performance, conduct, recruitment, change and innovation who meet on a termly basis.

Thank you again Mr Higgins and best of luck with your future adventures!





Horse Riding

by Dajana Doknic
 
On one very beautiful Sunday afternoon the school organized horse riding for us. When we arrived on the farm we all picked out our horses and went to the court where we could ride and practice for a bit.
 
After getting used to our horses, a couple of girls and I went on a beautiful ride around some very pretty fields. The weather was amazing which made the experience even better! The whole day was just so relaxing! It was so much fun hanging out with the girls and I hope we can do this again some time soon!

Thank You Ms. Coombs for organizing all of this and thanks to all the girls that were there (Nevena, Stefani and Kristen).
 

 




Jewellery Making


Head of Sports and Social Activities Miss Coombes put it like this: “I wanted to have activities available to people who were not sports people.”  A moment of inspirational “go crazy” spawned the idea of a craft session.
 
Held in the college library, and with material supplied by Miss Coombes, a group of girls set about constructing pieces of jewellery.  There were bracelets, bangles, necklaces, and advice from Miss Coombes about how to go about producing the best effect.  “I made a silver bracelet, it was great fun” said Yada.
 
 Miss Coombes intends to have another session soon.  “Everything they made they took away with them at the end.  They were coming up with some really pretty and interesting designs.  We do Craft every Friday evening.  We started with Jewellery-making, and then moved on to making hand-written name cards for student places at the tables at the Graduation Dinner.  Our next project is Needle-Felting – and if you are curious about what that is you should go to Room 13 in Swan on Friday at 6.30 p.m.”




Ludlow Food Festival


A few weeks ago, our students (and who of them aren’t) attended the Annual Food Festival held in nearby Ludlow.  The fine weather and thought of succulent dishes brought out many local people and tourists to view, and indeed taste the dishes on offer.  Amid the stalls there were singers and a band and a cookery course was being taught in another area.  What dishes caught the attention of our students then? 
 
Festival goers Jasmine and Frista told us: “There was a lot of cheese and chocolate.  There was both Vegan and gluten free chocolate.  Home-made mustard and honey.  I only saw one vegetarian dish – it was next to a grilled pig!”
All the fun of the fair then.




My Host Family Experience


- by Bedo

After the Easter break and on our return to School in April and what was to be my last term at Saint Michael’s I decided to change from being a residential student living on the school campus to living with an English host family in Tenbury Wells.  This would be a great opportunity to experience the English culture from its very heart, living and truly understanding the English family way of life.
 
An experienced host family who have been with SMC for 20 years was found for me.  They were Mr and Mrs Slade – Mr Slade is well-known to us students for providing transport and taxis for the school at airports and local stations and exams.  I also learned that Mr Slade is also a local Magistrate.  Mrs Slade is an English teacher at a local state school so I was very pleased about where I was going to live for the next ten or so weeks.
 
I have my own room, shower facility and privacy.  Mr and Mrs Slade are very relaxed and nice people and they make me feel very welcome and at home.  I really like it here.
The best thing about being in a host family is that I am away from the structured, school time table of dinner, prep time, lights out, internet access, registration and all of the understandable regimes and rules expected of me in a student residential setting.  Probably the biggest difference about being in a host family is that I have to take full responsibility for my own time like studying, getting up in the morning, and going to bed at an acceptable time, which is more like University life.  Changing from the old routine was not easy, but was worth trying.
 
What do I miss about being a residential student?  Well, being without my friends is sometimes not so good and having my time and schedule organised for me is good in school.
What are the good points about being in a host family?  Speaking English all the time, being independent and organising my own social life, walking around the town and going to restaurants when I choose is very nice.




Monday Assembly

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Monday morning assemblies have a sense of sparkle about them these days.  On a cold winter morning it could be a moment to set our pupils up for the week.  Inspiring models of behaviour are the watchwords here and the other week our pupil Nashm prepared a poem to read to the assembled school.  It…

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Peruvian Students

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We have been fortunate to welcome a group of Peruvians students to King’s College Saint Michaels this term. They were a great addition to the school joining in lessons whilst improving their English. An impressive programme of weekend visits took them far and wide including a trip to Oxford, watching a Manchester United match at…

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Valentine’s Day disco

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If you went up to the Common Room on Saturday you would have been confronted by a room festooned with balloons, rose petals, hearts, decorations and other accessories for the annual Valentine’s Day Disco. There was a lot of dancing, with good music played by ace DJs Martin and Nashm.  Mostly upbeat, thumping rhythms were…

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Cardiff Market

Trip to Cardiff

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What a day to go to Cardiff!  A little peaceful shopping perhaps?  A jaunt around the celebrated castle ruins and reflection upon medieval times?  Not on this day, anyway.  Yes, we could go shopping, yes we could go around the castle, but our attention was drawn principally by the feel of carnival around us.  Drummers…

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Scholars’ Dinner in Madrid

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We arrived late afternoon and noticed how different it was from the UK before even getting off the plane.  It had been a while since we’d last seen the sun still shining after 5 p.m. The ride over to the hotel had us gawking at the marvelous city.  Seeing Madrid made me realize that love…

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Contemporary Dance Class

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by Frista & Alina   This term we are practicing contemporary dance.  This is a style of expressive dance combining elements of several dance genres, including Modern Jazz, Lyrical, and Classical ballet.  Contemporary dancers strive to connect the mind and the body through fluid dance movements. There are around 15 of us taking part and we…

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Christmas Lunch

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One final tradition took place of the last lunchtime of the year.  Christmas fare was served to one and all by Mr. Higgins, in full Father Christmas attire, and Mrs Hall giving support to our new chef Mr Astley (elf for the day). Students were treated to a medley of festive songs, even making their…

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