Madeley High School Slovenia Exchange
From 24th June - 1st July, 2009 seven Year 10 pupils from Madeley High School, together with Head of History Kevin Green, spent a week in Slovenia with staff and pupils from Ivan Cankar School, Vrhnika. This was the ninth such visit and followed on from last year's very successful sixth visit to North Staffordshire by a group of Slovenian pupils and staff.
After a very early departure from school on the Wednesday morning the party arrived safe and well at Birmingham Airport in time for the 6am flight to the Italian city of Trieste. Here they were met by their hosts and boarded a bus for the Julian Alps resort of Kranjska Gora where they were to spend the first part of the week. On route they stopped at the world renowned Slovenian cave system at Postojna as well as a quick walk up a huge ski jump to see fantastic views across the Alps.
The next three nights were spent at the Pension Porentov Dom and incorporated into this stay were a number of activities from the school's Year 10 Enterprise Challenge Day. It was felt that these would be particularly useful in developing the Key Skills of Communication, Problem-solving and Working with others and definitely help bring the two groups of pupils together.
With this in mind seven groups were formed at the beginning of the week, each consisting of one English pupil and two Slovenians. These then worked together on a number of activities, providing the pupils with a great opportunity to get to know each other a lot better.
After dinner on the Wednesday evening the pupils tackled the first of the Enterprise Challenge Activities, "Design your own vehicles" Using sheets of A3 paper the groups had to design a number of vehicles intended for a variety of uses such as surfing and emergency rescue
On Thursday morning the group was up bright and early to eat breakfast before catching the local bus to Gozd Martuljek, a small village a few kilometres from Kranjska Gora. The village has given its name to one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the Julian Alps - the Martuljek mountain range with Spik, its highest peak at 2472 metres. The murmur of the countless waterfalls rushing down the Martuljek mountain range provided a beautiful setting for the first walk of the week and the pupils were rewarded for their efforts with stunning views over the mountains and the valley below. The next few hours were challenging both physically and mentally as the group had to ascend the mountain. However the views that accompanied them at times were breathtaking. As the group reached the end of the walk they felt a personal satisfaction of not giving in. Lunch was taken in one of the most picturesesque regions they were ever likely to encounter.
After the walk back down the group headed back to the hostel for more Slovenian food. Then they headed of swimming in the modern pool at the Hotel Larix. All those aches and bumps soon disappeared!. After tea the pupils again went into groups to answer quiz questions on the geography of Britain and Slovenia and its fair to say that the Slovenian pupils seemed to know more about the towns, cities and rivers of Britain than the English pupils did!
On Friday morning the group headed of on a leisurely stroll to the source of the Sava river and in the afternoon pupils and staff were given some time to sample the local shops of Kransjka Gora before returning to the hostel football pitch for a Slovenia versus England match. Everybody chipped in with goals and it is believed the final score was 12-12!
On Saturday the group headed of to view more waterfalls and lakes around the lovely town of Bled as well as some rafting on the River Sava. Needless to say the English were the best sailors despite the best efforts of our Slovenian rafting captain to slow us down. As the group arrived back at the Ivan Canker school they were given an extended tour inside classrooms and even the fantastic bomb shelter in the basement!!
The rest of the week was spent in the town of Vrhnika with the English pupils staying in the homes of their new Slovenian friends. During this time visits were made to a variety of wonderful places and sights including the coastal towns of Porteroz and Piran as well as the capital city, Ljubljana as well as the important local recycling centre which the inhabitants of Vrhinka take so much pride in.
At the end of the week we were all sad to leave Slovenia. Working in groups and completing the various tasks, visits and Enterprise Challenge Activities certainly helped the pupils improve their Key Skills of Communication, Working with Others and Problem Solving.
The visit also proved once again the strength of the links between the two schools which have built up since 1995. This was summed up by the swapping of gifts between schools as well as important links that are being established between departments in both schools.
As you read this report plans are already underway for a party of Slovenian students and staff to visit Madeley next June. If you would like to know more about their country or think you could help with this exciting school exchange please feel free to contact Michael Surtees or Kevin Green at Madeley High School.
Once again we would like to thank Ivan Cankar School who paid for our accommodation and other expenses during this visit and we look forward to reciprocating their hospitality next year.
