In February, English Martyrs’ Catholic Primary School had lots of fun and learned a lot celebrating Karneval with their international partner, Regenbogenschule (Rainbow School), in Newcastle’s German twin town of Gelsenkirchen.
Fasching is a traditional German celebration, also known as Karneval or Fastnacht. It is carnival season preceding Lent, which has been celebrated for centuries by people worldwide with German heritage. At the end of this season, people celebrate with a carnival and in school pupils dress in party clothes or fancy dress and enjoy sweet treats and party games throughout the day. The whole city of Gelsenkirchen gets involved and it was a wonderful opportunity for English Martyrs’ to get together with their partner school to celebrate.
School Karneval celebrations
Staff and pupils from across the school took part in activities throughout the day to mark the occasion and met online with German pupils at Rainbow School to share the Karneval experience.
They enjoyed getting involved in the Karneval traditions of dressing in colourful clothes, making masks and posters, singing Karneval songs, learning about Karneval characters, decorating the school and eating cakes and doing the conga – all the way round the school!
The children learned some German and found out more about Gelsenkirchen and what it has in common with Newcastle.
There was great feedback from the children in Newcastle about their Karneval experiences, learning more about Gelsenkirchen and meeting their German friends:
- ‘It was great seeing everyone at Rainbow School, in Gelsenkirchen – it made it all real to see the other children via the live link.’ Sterling
- ‘I would love to visit Gelsenkirchen and learn to speak the language. I enjoyed learning how to count in German and naming the colours’ Tommy
- ‘I just loved getting the chance to learn and speak some German’ Sidney
- ‘Learning about Gelsenkirchen was fun because I’m quarter German, I also attended German club’ Ben
- ‘I enjoyed making my poster about all the similarities between our two cities’ Molly
- ‘I loved our Karnival day, I know we also have similar transport links, like the metro system’ Charlie
- ‘Carnival celebrations sounds so interesting and all of the colours and lights remind me of the Hoppings in Newcastle’ Marianna
- ‘Both cities love their football teams!’ Bobby
- ‘The conga was the best part of the day!’ Amina
Read more about the joint celebrations and watch the videos on the school’s website here
Building the school partnership and relationships and inspiring children to learn
Our Karneval celebration day was a wonderful experience for the staff and pupils at English Martyrs’ to further develop our relationship with Rainbow school and the wider partnership with Gelsenkirchen.
Being able to facilitate live classroom interactions has helped our pupils gain a global perspective, cultural sensitivity and appreciation for diversity as well as noting many similarities between our cities and school communities.
Introducing our pupils to the German language, in a fun, and interactive way – with real life application has inspired and encouraged children to want to learn a new language and a confidence to ‘have a go’.
I hope that days like today will continue to spark further interest into developing language skills and opening eyes to the wider world in which we live.
We look forward to more opportunities for partnership work with Rainbow School and are excited to welcome their staff to Newcastle and English Martyrs’, later this year.
Anthony Kennedy, Acting Head of School, Deputy Headteacher, English Martyrs’ Catholic Primary School
Supporting school partnerships in Newcastle
Declan Baharini at International Newcastle works closely with Sarah Edgar from Newcastle City Council (Schools Effectiveness) to support international links for the city’s schools.
Over 65 schools in Newcastle have been supported to develop international links with partner schools abroad. Our schools have also been supported to access funding for 25 international visits, with more being supported in February and March to apply to the Turing Scheme, UK funding for visits abroad.
Find out more in our brochure and if you are interested in developing a new partnership or applying for visit funding, contact sarah.edgar@newcastle.gov.uk in the first instance to find out more.
