The topic for my Year 5 Geography classes this term is ‘Europe’ and we will spend the coming months considering all of the physical and political features of the continent, with a particular focus on the UK, before in the summer term comparing it with the continent of Africa, focusing on Kenya. To open this week, we took a broad view of the continent as a whole, recapping knowledge of countries and their capitals. After racing through a few of the more obvious ones, we got a bit stuck on the capital of Switzerland. “Geneva?”, a large city yes, but not the capital. “Zurich?”, the largest city and arguably most important but again, not the capital. I gave a clue; “this would happen if you put your finger over a candle.” The boys looked on quizzically before a visible lightbulb moment, “Flinch!” came the offering. I giggled and then proclaimed that no, ‘Bern’ was the answer. “I was going to say that but thought why would you hold your finger over a candle and let it burn?” A very good point and another reminder to never to underestimate a Beacon boy with their extensive vocabulary and awareness for practicalities!
We have fortunately missed the worst of Storm Goretti, however, on what has been a rather grey day, we were still delighted to welcome a good number of hardy boys and girls and their parents for our Early Years Open Morning today. I was apologetic for the weather, but our run of dry days and clear blue skies for our open events had to come to an end at some point. Not that it mattered of course, the sun always shines on The Beacon and the storm of vibrancy, colour and energy coming from all aspects of our Oakway building was always assured of making a positive impression on our visitors, whatever the weather.