Month: March 2022

Secondary Carnival 2022

On Friday 25th of February, the Secondary Department celebrated the well loved tradition of Carnival Day. With “Cartoon World” as the theme, students came dressed up in colourful costumes, ready to enjoy the various activities that took place. In the following article, Y12 students reflect on their preparation process for this event.

CARNIVAL 2022: CARTOONS TAKE OVER

We remember all those years ago getting ready for the special day: waking up slightly earlier, making sure our costumes looked impeccable and arriving at school eager to see what awaited us. Carnival was a great day to forget about stress and have fun with friends. This year we have had the opportunity to experience this from the other side of the fence; it was our turn to organise it!

When proposed with the idea of orchestrating such a large scale event, our initial thoughts were that this was going to be complicated. Our year group is particularly small and we had less than a month to work everything out. We had to make sure that around 500 students were safely entertained for the whole day to make it as memorable as possible. Luckily, we all seemed to be on the same page from the very beginning so fulfilling our common objective was a relatively simple task. We quickly brainstormed plenty of ideas, keeping in mind previous year’s successes, and got to work. So that the workload could be more evenly distributed, the year group was divided into different teams, each in charge of a different aspect of the Carnival, still consulting one another for help. A detailed proposal was submitted to the school presenting the COVID protocols, procedures, activities and student/staff movement throughout the day.

Upon the student’s arrival, the pre-recorded Talent Show was broadcast. Unlike any other year it contained a storyline; it was scripted, staged and recorded as an episode of “Phineas and Ferb”. These famous characters decided to host their own Talent Show where participants got to showcase their amazing abilities. The judges, after having seen so many original performances, were tasked with the near impossible feat of choosing 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. In the end Adrian Sánchez (Y8), Alfonso Medina (Y13) and Luna di Maio (Y9) were this years’ top three respectively. Needless to say, everyone who sent in videos was a winner; taking part is the real achievement. The idea for this years’ show was popular, amusing and well received by all the students and staff.

After a break, it was time for some games and activities. Y13 volunteers from the Canterbury Student Union (CSU) joined forces with the Y12 CSU team. The school was divided into six stations, each one with different activities, and students rotated until they had taken part in every game. These ranged from zumba, to volleyball, to a giant water fight which was, of course, everyone’s favourite! It was extremely rewarding to see and hear all the students' smiles and laughter. Later in the day, during afternoon chilling time, the ‘Cartoon World Raffle’ was live streamed and over forty prizes were awarded.

It is difficult to ignore and count how many skills we learnt thanks to this real life learning experience. However, the most important of them all is teamwork; getting together, dividing up tasks and executing them in the most efficient way possible. Never did we stop learning and improving the management and communication skills that will be essential in the years to come.

It is crucial for us to thank the students for participating, and all the members of staff who have supported us through the process.

We shall be eternally grateful to the school for providing us with such a positive and enriching opportunity. We hope generations to come face this challenge with the same excitement as we did.

Article written by Alba García and Emilie Bamber (Y12 students & CSU members)

by natalia