Friday news from grammar school
Dear parents, legal guardians, and supporters of our school,
Terchová, Ilava, Skály, Malé Svatoňovice, Mikulov, Žebrák - that is the list of locations, where you could and still can meet our students on their Duke of Edinburgh expeditions during September weekends. Although these expeditions usually take place in spring, they have been postponed to September, for obvious reasons. I must admit that I like attending these expeditions very much. Yes, sometimes they can get a bit dramatic, but they are very exciting for me nonetheless. It may not seem like an imposing view: seeing exhausted and often even soaked students trying to cook dinner after building up their tents, but it represents what we believe in here, at OPEN GATE, in its entirety. This is because we would like to provide our students with not only interesting academic experiences but also with non-academic ones. And that is exactly what DofE offers. The realization that however exhausted students may be, they still have lots of energy and optimism, which often grows on me during the weekend, that is a natural bonus.
Of course, we did not stay behind here at school. On Monday, we had our collective assembly, which featured not only the usual introduction of new students and teacher, but also the sharing of our spring Covid-19 experience and of course the class photoshoots (the photos will soon be available on our website). Immediately after that, we had a typical school week, during which, the after-school activities slowly started being set up. Within the Buddy program, helpers from the ranks of our students have been meeting up with our new students. We have also started preparing volunteering activities that are allowed by the current situation (for example this week, it was a charity collection for Světluška), the selection of academic clubs was finalised and the student council elections are being prepared.
Speaking of elections, allow me to remind you about the school council elections, which will take place on Tuesday 15. 9. 2020 from 8:00 to 16:00. You can partake in the elections in the curia of legal guardians and adult students. The voting will be held in person, which means that on that day, all authorized persons (i.e. legal guardians or adult students) can pick up a voting ticket at the school’s secretary (ZŠ – Ms Lepičová, GYM – Ms Schramlová). The voting box can be found at the same place. You can only select one of the candidates. Next week we also offer a parent café on the topic of Managebac, which will take place on Tuesday from 17:00 in our theatre.
In conclusion, I would like to share with you my first impression of our Prima students. Although I teach just high school classes this year, I had a chance to get to know our youngest a little more. First during the now traditional, planting of trees during which I saw them using spades (not to worry, everything happened without a single injury), and then again when I introduced them to the Microsoft Teams application, just so they are better prepared in the case of distance learning. Coincidentally, I also spent one more hour with three of them. And my impression? Actually the best. I got to know a group of pleasant young people, who acted adequately for their age; sometimes very reasonably, and sometimes not. However, they have one thing in common: the desire to be here at OPEN GATE and to spend a part of their adolescence here. That may not sound very majestic, but it is much more than what a lot of Czech schools can say about their students. Personally, I am most pleased to be able to say the same about students from any class of our school, and that is really not a small amount.
On behalf of everyone at Open Gate, I wish you a pleasant weekend,
