Spaldwick School - Web Friends

I guess everyone in Spaldwick is looking forward to their summer break. Over here the Bavarian schools still have 2 weeks to go.

Since I last wrote lots of things have happened in and around Munich. We had our May Day 'Maibaumfest'(which I think you heard about) where a huge blue & white pole was raised with the aid of a crane and the fire brigade & a volley of rifle shots. There was also traditional maypole dancing.

This launched the start of spring and was followed by the large Munich Frühlingsfest which featured a large fair on the showground. There were lots of different rides and a good family atmosphere. I enjoyed going just as it was getting dark to take some photographs. The big wheel was particularly impressive against the night sky.

There have been lots of outdoor events to go to and often concerts based around some of the cities historical sites. Recently there was a huge interdenominational churches festival. A highlight was a brass band concert where members of the audience were invited to bring along their own brass instruments and join in. The conductor was projected onto a big screen so everyone could see her.

Spring has also meant the start of the camping season. Unfortunately we had a 6 week spell of almost constant rain which restricted our outings. However we did get away to Schliesee in the Bavarian Alps to camp on the lakeside, with great views across to the town. The location was great for getting up into the mountains to walk too and enjoy the last of the snow.

The local horse trotting track has also been active with more race meetings. Again I have been along with the camera to try and capture some of the action. It’s an interesting spectacle often best described as modern day chariot racing.

Continuing on the theme of horses, Munich airport put on a Polo tournament which attracted a lot of attention. The arena was quite small on teams were made up of two people (and two horses!) It was the first time I had seen polo played and it proved quite exciting.

Of course the other big sporting event has been the football World Cup and here in Munich fans followed the progress of the German team at big public screenings around the city. We decided to take in some of the atmosphere by going down to the English Garden to join the crowds to watch the match against Argentina. It was so packed that we couldn’t see much of the screen but it was nevertheless a great experience. Fortunately with Germany winning quite easily 4-0 we were amongst a happy crowd.

It seems amazing to think we have been here almost a year now and we are now looking forward to the next 12 months. I’ll keep in touch and tell about life in the German schools I’ve been working at in the next newsletter. I will also tell you more about the great public transport system here and the new places we hope to visit.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Congratulations to a former pupil Devon Bolin on receiving an award for Outstanding Academic Excellence from the President's Education Awards Program, it even came with a letter from the President of the USA, and to think she started as a Robin with Mrs Arbuthnott!. The Man congratulating her is her school Principle. Devon had to be a straight A student for 2 years to be put in for the award, that meant she couldn't get below an A on all her grades or report cards

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

We had a surprise visit in March from Brent Sheltz and his parents, Brent has gone back to the USA and now lives in Virginia. The Puffins were really pleased to see him.

.........................................................................................................................................................................................

We have had news from Devon Bolin who was in Spaldwick School in Robins in 2003.

Hi my name is Devon and I used to go to Spaldwick School, I was in Mrs Arbuthnott's class, I now live in Dayton Ohio, USA,

Hi everyone. We are are doing great in Calgary. Just started building a new house. Both girls are into soccer (football) in a big way. They have grown up so much. They now ski and can ice skate really well I can do neither!!). We have not been back to the UK since we moved here in August 2006, but we are coming back at the end of March. (The Durham's will hopefully be calling in to school on Thursday 1st April at 11.30am)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We are all settled in and the boys are enjoying their new school and have made some good friends, although they have their respective class photos and the pictures that they took during their last week up on their bedroom wall. We all really miss our friends in England, but are looking forward to a long visit during June/July next summer. We have been talking about doing an email to Spaldwick school, with some pictures, so I will make sure that we do that over the Christmas break. We have been keeping up with your news on the web page, so have seen the pirate day pictures and the Christmas play – Ryan and I also enjoyed the radio show, it sounded like good fun. The last week of school here has been even more frantic here than in Spaldwick (if that’s possible!) and so the boys haven’t managed to put a reply to you together themselves, but wanted me to say thanks for remembering them, that they miss you all and would like to say Happy Christmas to everyone.

We are staying in Sri Lanka for Christmas, but have Ryan and Reece’s Nan and Grandad here now until early January, so we are all very happy to be together. We are having Christmas lunch at one of the hotels in Colombo and will be swimming too at some point – a bit different to the UK! We are hoping to get away for a couple of nights next week to visit some sights and do some more touristy things, so we will be able to send pics of that too.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

News from the Iooss family

Hi, I was looking around the website and noticed you had a “New” link about former students/teachers, so I decided to update on the Iooss family. We still live here in DC but are in the middle of figuring out if we are going to move to Fort Knox, Fort Bragg, Stuttgart, or even Molesworth, England! I am rooting for Germany but we’ll have to wait and see. DC has been pounded with snow this year setting a new record for snow fall in a year coming in at around 73in! I am about to enter into High School and if we did move to Germany I would be going to Patch American High School on a base. I would play football for them too (American Football) and maybe even come up and play a few British teams. My brother, David, is in fifth grade and has started to play the clarinet in the school band. He had started to play football but then quit because he didn’t like it. I guess that’s why he started music. I also started taking German as my foreign language at school, what a coincidence that I could also be moving to Germany. I am also playing basketball for Burke and am having a lot of fun. My teams record is 3-4 and we have playoffs this weekend. I’ll send some pictures in a following email. Andrew Iooss Graduated from Spaldwick in 2006

Followed by news from his mum Katherine

Here are a few photos from our two major storms this winter. One in December, the other in February. Our dog, Mollie, is featured in front of our backyard gate on a day where we only had a few inches of snow. In the shovelling photo, Steve, Andrew, and David are clearing snow from the fire hydrants along our street. The fire departments had to concentrate on clearing hydrants which service larger structures, and asked for Boy Scouts to do what they could to get their neighbourhoods done. The boys dug out 9 hydrants that day!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

News from Mrs Clyne

All is good here, very busy but getting into a routine and adapting to full time work in another country!! The girls are all happy and their French is coming on a treat, as is their skiing. In fact, their skiing is better than mine! (not that this is that hard!) We are taking full advantage of the skiing nearby and go lots as a family. Skiing is also built in to the PE curriculum here so we all get to go with our classes too. I had my ski day all day today with the Yr5s and 6s. Skiing in a blizzard was certainly a bit of an adrenalin rush for us all! I could barely see the slope let alone if my students were with me. I had a bit of a fearless instructor today. Here are some photos taken of where we are, it really is beautiful. The fork in the lake is quite bizarre but it is very near to the primary school. The boats are in La Tour de peilz marina where we live, we often picnic here in the Summer months, though the weather has got very spring like here recently and mild. Super for the alpine flowers but not so good for the snow! I hope you are all well and please send my love to everyone there.