wanted in rome Junior

ROME WANTED in junior

Celebrating 50 years of student life at The New School Rome

The New School Rome is a private, international school for pupils aged 3-18 offering the English National Curriculum. On 28 June The New School Rome celebrates its 50th anniversary. The New School was founded in 1972 by a group of parents and teachers who wanted to create a school where academic excellence would be combined with attention to the individual and the development of personal and social responsibility.

My classmates and I, along with our teacher Anna, have worked over the past six months to create a very unique piece of verbatim style theatre to celebrate our school’s 50th anniversary. Verbatim theatre is a form of documentary theatre which is based on the spoken words of real people. Strictly speaking, verbatim theatre-makers use real people's words exclusively. The dialogue for the drama script is taken from recorded or written interviews; the words are never changed and are included into the piece of theatre exactly as they were recorded. We interviewed parents, teachers, former pupils and a wide range of students from Early Years, Junior to Senior School, while attempting to capture everyone’s thoughts and feelings about our school. Our piece commemorates former pupils and the school's unique history, while most importantly giving a voice to current students and staff. Sofia De Vergottini in year 9 stated: “throughout the making of the play we have bonded with our school, its history and its members.” Personally, throughout the production of the play I have learned how important it is to be resilient, believe in yourself and to always help someone in need if you have the opportunity. I think that from this experience we have all learned what key ideals were that established our school. Virginia Palermo Murino commented on this experience stating: ''During the process of creating the play, the class started to become a team, which all had the same goal to make this performance memorable. We have had an insight in the school's past, and all of us have learned many things that without this project we wouldn't have known. I hope that this play will be able to emphasise how amazing this school really is.” It was the 10th anniversary of the Mediterranean Cup this year and I am glad to say we have made it every year since its inception. We got to the finals with our middle school team 10 years ago, the youngest team from the smallest school there, and have attended the U18 edition ever since. We have made it to the finals a few times and won the title twice. This year was our year, after two seasons spoilt by the pandemic, the kids were so eager, there was no stopping them. So we won the cup this year, still the smallest school with the youngest team there. If you wonder how, I will tell you our secret, it's simply called the New School magic. I trust my players and their captain, they are in charge and make all the decisions. I am here to support them, they know I believe in them.

Rosine is a French teacher and Football coach.

I am the youngest of three brothers who have all attended The New School Rome since Nursery. As funny as it may sound, my parents chose The New School after my brother came home from school with his face and t-shirt covered in paint and mud! This then led to us all doing all of our academic studies at The New School, which makes me doubt that my parents chose the school for this sole reason. Almost every day in primary I would stay after school to play football or other games with my friends. I loved taking part in numerous football tournaments and also enjoyed being a member of many other clubs the school offered, such as Martial Arts and Breakdancing. I loved the Christmas show and the Year 6 Shakespeare play, where I had so much fun acting. I went on so many trips to places such as: Paris, Genoa, Florence, Croatia and even a skiing trip in Folgaria. It was also exciting to attend events such as the May Fair and the school Christmas Dinner, where teachers and students eat pizza and sing karaoke all together! It took me some time to realise my school was quite unique. Talking to friends out of school, I began to realise that the social dynamics in my school are very different to those in most schools – I remember Adam, our Year 6 teacher playing football with us during breaks in his free time. I love the friendly, yet professional, relationship there is between students and teachers at The New School. Every teacher has made me love their subject and sparked curiosity in me. I also value the attention we get inside and outside the classroom from teachers who are always available and helpful. As my parents realised, the sense of family is the best quality this school has by far and I want other students to have the same experience I had in this school.

Alessandro Angela is studying A Levels in Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Italian and is planning to study Aerospace Engineering in the UK.

“My favourite way to create art is by capturing memories; candid stills of my friends, of people I see around me, and of features, colours and perspectives that instantly catch my eye, imagining it in a frame of a sketchbook or a canvas. For this project, my aim was to portray my life through my friends and other people around me. I was able to use photographs that I took as reference of children from The New School. After many years at this friendly school where everyone is always open and available to help each other, it has become enjoyable to catch moments where anyone, from the early years to the seniors, could inspire me and to have these paintings to remind me in future of the meaningful time spent here."

Angelica Fiore is studying A Levels in Art, English Literature, French and Italian and is going to study Graphic Design at the European Institute of Design in Milan.

ç Illustration by Angelica Fiore

The New School Rome, Via della Camilluccia 669, tel. 063294269, www.newschoolrome.com.

WANTED IN ROME JUNIOR: For young writers and artists

Wanted in Rome accepts creative contributions from students in all international schools in Rome. Articles on topics related to either the student’s life in Rome or their school projects can be submitted by their class teachers. The work should be no more than 1,000 words and we also accept illustrations. Teachers who would like to propose a project can contact editorial@wantedinrome.com.