Report of meeting

Comenius Project Meeting – Instituto Comprensivo Castell ‘Umberto, Sicily, Italy Wednesday 5th – Sunday 9th October 2011

Representing St Paul’s CE Primary School, Nuneaton, UK Mrs Carolyn Ames, Mrs Ruth Howard Wednesday 5th October Arrival day.

Travelling from London Stansted , we arrived at Pelermo Airport and took the bus to Palermo Central Station. From there, we took the Messina train to Capo d’Orlando- a two-hour journey along the northern coast of Sicily.

In the evening, we were welcomed to Sicily with a meal at the Instituto Comprensivo Castell ‘Umberto.

Staff and parents had prepared a variety of delicious traditional Sicilian food.

This was an opportunity to meet many of the staff from Instituto Comprensivo Castell ‘Umberto and colleagues from other participating schools.

Thursday 6th October We were welcomed to the school with an assembly in the Cineforum Comunale at the Instituto Comprensivo Castell ‘Umberto.

Children of all ages from the school performed a variety of traditional dances, songs and music and included visitors to the school in their dance.

Representatives from each of the visiting partner schools gave a short presentation of pictures and information about their own school.

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The visit continued with a tour of the school and opportunity to meet members of staff at the school. Bothe the primary department and secondary department, housed on separate sites were visited. We enjoyed the opportunity to visit classrooms and take part in lessons with the children.

Following the visit to school, we were invited to visit the mayor’s chambers and were officially welcomed to the town by a representative of the mayor.

Lunch at a typical Sicilian restaurant followed by a cultural visit to old Castell’Umberto and Capo d’Orlando.

During the evening, we returned to the Instituto Comprensivo Castell ‘Umberto for an evening of traditional Sicilian food, music, dancing and singing. This was hosted by staff and parents from the school; we were delighted to receive such a warm welcome from the local community and all had a really enjoyable evening.

Return to Hotel Il Cangaro, Castell ‘Umberto.

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Friday 7th October Visit to School Gaetano Ioppolo, Sinagra. Again we were warmly welcomed to the school with music, singing and dancing performed by the children. We were given a tour of the school, had the opportunity to meet staff and then visit classrooms to take part in lessons. We took part in two different music lessons and the children also had the opportunity to task questions about us!

The project planning meeting was attended by representatives from each of the partner schools and plans were made for future project activities (please see separate minutes of the meeting).

Later, we visited the kindergarten in Sinagra where we were given lunch and a presentation of singing and dancing by the children.

Following our departure from school, we went on a cultural visit to Tindari where we visited the Cathedral Madonna of the Tindari, the Greek Theatre and the Roman Villa in Tindari. The visits were fascinating and it was an opportunity for us to learn more of the cultural heritage of the area.

Evening meal at a typical Sicilian restaurant- Borrello Sinagra.

Saturday 8th October Our final opportunity to visit the school. We spent the morning in Media School J Kennedy, Castell’ Umberto and joined lesson where the children were studying a Spanish author, Miguel de Cervantes. The teacher from the Spanish school was asked to talk about the author and then a teacher from the Uk was asked to talk about the work of William Shakespeare. This was a good opportunity to compare our cultural history.

For the remainder of the day, we visited Taormina, a beautiful historic city on the east of Sicily, close to Mt Etna. During the day, we had the opportunity to visit the town and also make a visit to the impressive Greek Ampitheatre.

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Evening meal was at a typical Sicilian retaurant near Capo d’Orlando.

Sunday 9th October.

Departure day.

Our sincerest thanks go to our friends and colleagues at Instituto Comprensivo Castell ‘Umberto for organising such a very interesting and enjoyable visit. We learnt so much during our stay in Sicily and the joyful music, singing and dancing is something that we will never forget. Thank-you all for your friendship, for such a warm welcome to your lovely island and for all that you did to make the visit so memorable.

We look forward to continuing our project work with you.

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