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Cultural Carousel

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 14:24:32 GMT

Celebrating global languages and cultures

Student Ambassadors from South England Exchange, who are placed at some of the Hub partner schools in their sixth forms, provided workshops at two Hub schools exploring languages and culture of their home countries. Year 6 pupils from Aldrington Primary School, and Year 7’s from Hove Park School, took part in a carousel of activities at stations representing Italy, Brazil, Czech Republic, Germany, Mexico, Romania and Chile.

Language Assistants have landed!

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 14:16:40 GMT

Hub Partner Schools to have the benefit of Language Assistants

We are delighted to announce that our three Foreign Language Assistants have now joined us in the UK having been recruited under a Language Hubs / British Council joint initiative. Romana, Ruth and Andrea have nearly completed their first-term at Hove Park and are now starting to take their first steps into working in our Hub Partner Schools.

Romana , our German Assistant, joins us from Austria and has now started her first placement at Patcham High School.

Ruth , our French Assistant, joins us from Canada and is about to start her first placement at Cardinal Newman School.

Andrea , our Spanish Assistant, joins us from Spain and will be starting her first placement at Longhill School.

Belgium Exchange Trip

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 14:13:03 GMT

Hove Park School students take part in traditional Exchange trip to Belgium

Hove Park School took part in a traditional Foreign Exchange Trip to Belgium for KS4 students of French – there were trips to the battlefield sites in the Ardennes, to the F1 race track at Francochamps and lots of chocolate making and eating! Students and staff reported wonderful relationships being formed. Huge thanks to our Belgian partners and HPS teachers. The relationships, knowledge and understanding from this Exchange programme will be passed on to Adur Language Hub partner schools to support and enable them to create similar programmes of their own.

KS4 German Trip to London

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 13:46:07 GMT

Combined Hub Schools' visit to the Goethe Institut

At the end of September, we had our first combined Hub Partner Schools visit; a KS4 German day in London. Students from Hove Park, Cardinal Newman and Varndean travelled by coach to the Goethe Institut where they took part in a programme of activities focusing on language skills for the new specification GCSE in German. The students and staff then enjoyed a delicious German meal at Steins Berlin Restaurant.

Entry to the Goethe Institut was paid for by Adur Language Hub and further opportunities for similar combined Hub Schools events may be available. If you would be interested in joining together with another school for a similar trip please get in touch and we can help you to organise this.

Adur and Solent Language Hubs - New Exam Teach Meet

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 11:33:04 GMT

On Friday 12th July, Adur Language Hub (in collaboration with our neighbour in the South East, Solent Language Hub) hosted a Teach Meet wherein trainers from AQA and Pearson Edexcel lead interactive sessions on the new exam specification. The sessions involved live-marking workshops, discussions about the new elements of the specification, and how best to grade students.

We look forward to further collaboration with Solent Language Hub, as well as with AQA and Pearson Edexcel. We will be hosting more Teach Meets in the Autumn term.

Arabic Tent Day

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 13:33:48 GMT

This year is the first year that Year 7 have had the opportunity to learn Arabic; the six-week course was concluded with an Arabic tent activity. The Year 7 students got to experience a beautiful Arabic-designed tent, and they also learnt colours in Arabic and tried mint tea and Arabic biscuits . The tent was so popular that some Year 8 students popped in for some mint tea at lunch time. Lubna Nassr, our Arabic teacher, has successfully completed our first Arabic taster that we will be repeating next year.

Our Year 9 Trip to China - Part 4

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 11:42:40 GMT

Here is another update from our students in China!

Monday 8 July

Today we had a really early start at 7:30 as we were going to Guangzhou zoo. We met many animals including: pandas, giraffes and tigers. After that we travelled back to the university to have a delicious lunch. We then went to the library to have a talk from 2 UK professionals; it’s was so interesting to how their life progressed through learning Chinese and how they got to where they are today. We then had 2 Chinese lessons on history and cultural heritage. Then it was dinner at the canteen. After, we made Chinese water painting which turned out really nice.

Finally it was off to bed .

Written by Joe

Tuesday 9th July

Today on July 9th we woke up and got ready for the excitement that awaits us for the day. Firstly we had lessons about hobbies untill 12:10, when we headed downstairs to have a delicious lunch. Then, we went to our next cultural experience which was bamboo weaving where we made intricate models and arts. After, we had rehearsals for the closing presentation where we could either sing "Sweet Caroline" or "Try Everything". After, we had dinner in the university cafeteria before setting off on public transport to reach our final destination, which was a shopping mall with a variety of shops to explore and purchase from.

This article was written by Jack.

Our Year 9 Trip to China - Part 3

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 12:37:58 GMT

Update number 3 from our Year 9 students in China!

Saturday 6th of July

“Most” of us woke up bright and early for breakfast in the canteen with some still tired ready for our 4 morning Chinese lessons. Then after a fulfilling lunch we headed off to the University helpers' shared presentations where they gave us an insight into Chinese culture surrounding, dining, etiquette, food and festivals. After that, we had dinner at the university canteen before we headed off to a lesson about Chinese felt art, where we attempted to make convincing felt pandas.

Sunday 7th of July

Despite tiredness amongst many of the students as they watched England’s game against Switzerland, we still headed off to our wonderful Guangzhou one-day city tour. During the tour we got a lovely understanding of Chinese architecture and visited the Nanyue Palace Museum where we learned about ancient artefacts and the history behind them.

After this, we enjoyed a lovely table side lunch with scrumptious food; then we had some free time where we could go shopping and try some of the local food and McDonald’s for dinner.

(Written by Obiani - Year 9)

Our Year 9 Trip to China - Part 2

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 11:26:26 GMT

Here is another update from our Year 9 students in China.

Thursday 3rd day:

We woke up and had breakfast in the hotel canteen. We then headed to the university to start our lessons, where we were taught how to say different foods in Chinese. After that we had delicious Dim sum and then got on the coach and headed to the Taikoo Wai Plaza, which was filled with luxurious shops and cafes. Our task was to ask questions to the workers about the products sold in the shops. After an hour of shopping and browsing we went back to have dinner. Everyone discussed what they had bought and had lots of fun; it seems no one is ready to back home yet! We then went to the classroom for our evening lesson, where we were taught the art of Chinese calligraphy.

Friday 4th day:

We had breakfast in the hotel canteen as usual, and then went to our morning lessons in Chinese. We had lunch in the university canteen. After that we got on the coach to Guangzhou Experimental Foreign Language School ( which had breathtaking grounds and views of the beautiful city ) where we had a tour of the huge campus. We were then taken to the classrooms where we played games, socialised with the students and tried traditional Chinese paper cutting. We took pictures and said goodbye before getting on the coach back to the university for dinner. After that we were taught how to perform Chinese martial arts. We then headed to the local shop and then back to the hotel to go to bed.

(Written by Abbey and Kara - Year 9 students)

Our Year 9 Trip to China

Thu, 04 Jul 2024 13:06:16 GMT

OUR YEAR 9 STUDENTS HAVE RECENTLY ARRIVED IN CHINA - here is their first update.

All of us were extremely excited to get going to China, and after 3 hours at the airport we eventually got on the plane. Lots of us were quite nervous when we first boarded but quickly overcame it once we were high in the sky. We occupied ourselves on the 14 hour flight with talking, films, games and sleep. It was also a lovely thing for the air hostesses on the plane to provide the two birthday boys with cake - Ollie and Jack.

When we arrived, we were all very tired and were greeted wonderfully by our China Trip hosts, with McDonald's and immediate access to rooms to relax and sleep. I think we were all pretty surprised by how amazing our rooms were. That night we also met a robot that delivered my (Evie's) food which we were all extremely excited to see.

On July 3rd, our first official day of our China Trip, we attended an opening ceremony where Mr McKinney and I (Evan Dawson) represented Hove Park School by saying a few words on stage along with other schools and speeches from Chinese and British members of the Mandarin Excellence Programme operations who made this trip happen. After that, we enjoyed the day with lessons on Chinese speaking and Chinese singing. We had lunch and then participated in a treasure hunt around the campus which we all enjoyed as we got to see more around the campus. Finally, as for dinner, we were provided with a wonderful 'Welcome Dinner' in a lovely Chinese restaurant with delicious Chinese delicacies; roasted chicken, fried fish, tofu and a common Chinese dish of scrambled eggs and tomatoes.

When we got back to the hotel we threw a little birthday party in the lobby for our other birthday boy - Darcy, which had cake that we definitely all needed. It was very hot all day but we all still managed to have so much fun.

Huge thank you to Ms Qiao because we are all so happy to be here.

(Written by Evan Dawson and Evie Buss - Year 9 students)

Year 10 Mandarin Visit to University of Southampton

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 10:04:00 GMT

On Tuesday, some of our Year 10 students attended a China Day at the University of Southampton as part of the Mandarin Excellence Programme.

The day consisted of creative workshops where we learned about Chinese culture and poetry , and sang songs in Mandarin. We also attended a talk about the value of languages and what it might be like to study them at university. It was a thoroughly educational and enjoyable day, and our students came away motivated and excited about continuing their educational journey.

To top it all off, Hove Park School won third prize for a video project describing their hometown in Mandarin!

Belgium Exchange Trip

Thu, 06 Jun 2024 13:27:17 GMT

We are delighted to announce the launch of our brand new Belgian exchange partnership. On Monday 20th – Saturday 25th May, we hosted the inaugural visit of 12 Belgian students and their teachers. The students shadowed their Year 9 buddies to experience a typical day at our school. We also enjoyed some lovely sunny evenings together with meals out and visits to Brighton seafront, culminating in a Friday night Ghost Walk around The Lanes.

The visit was a huge success and our students and families did so well in making our visitors feel welcome. Well done to all the students who took part for their efforts. By Saturday everyone was sad to wave goodbye at Brighton station, but we look forward to our reciprocal visit to Belgium in October and we know some lasting friendships have been made.

Language World Conference

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 15:27:42 GMT

James Sandford, the director here at Adur Language Hub, is speaking at the Language World Conference in Kenilworth on 8th-9th March. He will be giving a presentation on "Daring to develop curiosity in language and culture in Year 7", exploring the advantages of studying a wide selection of languages in the form of a carrousel in Year 7.

Year 8 Trip to the Goethe Institut

Fri, 23 Feb 2024 14:46:47 GMT

Earlier this month, 20 of our Year 8 German students went to London for a day full of German language, culture and food! The first port of call was the Goethe Institut in London (the main repository for German language, teaching and culture in the UK) and students took part in fantastically engaging lessons - covering diverse subjects such as graffiti art, the Berlin Wall and key expressions and everyday words. We then took part in a library quiz (our students won third prize) and took turns speaking German to the resident Goethe robot in the library.

In the afternoon, we watched a German film in the spacious auditorium and went to Stein’s, a German restaurant specialising in traditional German dishes – we lapped up the Schnitzel and Currywurst!

Students and staff had a great day – the Year 8 students were superb ambassadors for the school and were praised by the organisers of the event as “The best group of students in the classroom they had ever had!”

Year 11 Trip to China Town

Fri, 23 Feb 2024 14:37:31 GMT

On Friday 9 ^th February, we took some of our Year 11 students for an overnight stay in China Town to celebrate Chinese New Year. It was a fantastic opportunity for our students to experience Chinese culture in a “mini China”.

After school, we took the train to London (sustained by chocolates from Miss Qiao) and after dropping our bags off at our youth hostel, went into China Town to find our restaurant.

The restaurant was very busy and almost everyone there was Chinese. There seemed to be only two waiters and it was very impressive how they rushed around carrying various dishes, and responding quickly to the frequent shouts of “Ni hao!” from the customers. This is an interesting cultural difference between China and the UK: in Chinese restaurants, if you want something, you simply shout “Ni hao” (the equivalent of “Hello”) at the waiter, and it isn’t considered rude!

Our meal was very large: sixteen dishes! At first (after we had been given green tea) came two huge bowels of rice, and then beef, chicken, pork, tofu, duck, vegetables and various other things that we didn’t recognise, but which were delicious! By the time all the dishes were out, it looked as if they would fall off the revolving table!

After that delicious meal, we went out to join the crowds on the streets. Under the famous red lanterns, it was easier to hear Mandarin or Cantonese than English being spoken, and the difficulty was not getting lost among the sea of people: it really did feel like being in Beijing rather than London. We took photos, and practised saying “Xinnian Kuaile” (“Happy New Year”).

After that, we went for some refreshing bubble tea, and explored a Chinese supermarket which sold many interesting items. Then we went back to our youth hostel in high spirits, taking with us much of the meal from the restaurant which we had been too full to eat that evening.

The next day, after not quite a full night’s sleep (the students were still very excited and didn’t go to bed till late) we travelled back to Brighton very happy, and feeling as if we’d had a very fun and educational cultural experience.

Xinnian Kuaile!

Chinese New Year - After-school Club Celebration

Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:09:22 GMT

Over the past week, Hove Park School's Chinese After-School Club meticulously planned and hosted a captivating event filled with the charm of Chinese New Year for students from Year 7 MEP to Year 10 MEP (Mandarin Excellence Project).

Students watched fascinating Chinese New Year videos and participated in engaging quizzes about Chinese New Year traditions. Everyone demonstrated a strong interest in Chinese culture, actively participated in interactions, and deepened their understanding of Chinese New Year.

The traditional Chinese custom of "pasting Fu (福)" also became a highlight of the event. Everyone worked together to create various "Fu" characters symbolising happiness and good luck for the Year of the Dragon, experiencing the unique charm of Chinese culture.

Even more delightful was that everyone learned to wish each other "Happy New Year" in Chinese and received a red envelope containing delicious chocolate coins. This small surprise made the event even more warm and memorable.

To create a more festive Chinese New Year atmosphere, the Nevill Cafeteria was decorated with many items rich in Chinese elements, presenting a colourful cultural feast for the students. Through such activities, we not only celebrated traditional Chinese festivals but also promoted cross-cultural exchange, allowing more people to gain a deeper understanding of the richness of Chinese culture.

Visit from Michael Grainger

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 09:52:07 GMT

On Thursday morning this week , a former Head of Francophone Countries for HSBC, Michael Grainger, came in to Valley Campus to speak to the Y8 cohort prior to their options evening. Michael shared his experience of growing up without a strong background in languages at home and his journey through school, work during school, college and then university where he continued his passion for French and German.

Michael became very successful within the multinational bank HSBC and he put much of this down t o his employer’s appreciation not only of his excellent communication skills in other languages, but also his deep appreciation of other languages and cultures which language study afforded him. Michael is a Brighton resident and is working with us in school to help develop links with local companies and develop our work experience offer.

Primary Festive Roadshow

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 14:45:13 GMT

On November 28th a group of Year 9 and 10 Peer Tutors embarked on a Primary Festive Roadshow out to 3 of our local Primary schools.

We visited over 200 students ranging from Year 3-Year 6 at Aldrington Church of England Primary, The Bilingual School and Stanford Juniors. Our Peer Tutors delivered a series of seasonal festive phrases to the students in 4 languages – Chinese, French, Spanish and German!

Our students received considerable praise from the staff and students at all the schools and Mrs Hunt and Mr Sandford were very proud of their commitment to the ethos of our primary outreach work. Students presented all the activities and worked in groups to really embed the languages. A huge pat on the back for all those involved!

German Poetry Workshop with Sophie Lau

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 14:45:13 GMT

Today, we had visitors in school supporting our German studies. The poet and polyglot Sophie Lau worked with Year 9 students of German on a poem written and delivered by a famous German singer, Julia Englemann. The workshops developed translation skills with students putting their skills into practice writing their own poems.

The visit also included drop-ins into classes by Pauline Wick of the Goethe-Institut London . This work with the Goethe Institut is core to the aims of our Adur Language Hub, aiming to promote the positive aspects of language acquisition in school and to promote German as a language key to business and career possibilities.

Proud to Be a Language Hub

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 13:45:13 GMT

We are delighted to announce that Hove Park School has been selected as one of only 15 schools nationally to have achieved the prestigious role as lead Languages Hub school for the National Consortium for Languages Education (NCLE). There was a highly competitive process during the end of the summer term ending in a final endorsement of the selected schools by the DfE. The focus will be to support a network of schools in the area and address the most important educational imperatives as the country works to meet the aspirations of a Global Britain.

The key aims of the Languages Hubs will be:

encourage high quality language teaching in schools
increase languages uptake at GCSE
support levelling up opportunities for disadvantaged pupils
address the performance of boys
better recognise and support the rich diversity of languages in addition to English spoken by one in every five of our pupils.

Hove Park has a strong track record of commitment to languages, home languages, equalities and cultural richness and this new national role with partners at primary, secondary and sixth form in our area will enable us to develop what we do best. At the core of our successful bid was communicating our celebration of our rich and diverse ethnic and cultural heritage and the numerous opportunities to travel and learn from other cultures across Europe and the world. We are a school that encourages the exploration and aspiration for learning different languages, meeting different people and experiencing different places.

Our strong links with schools and students in all the languages we teach and our innovative use of digital technologies have enabled immersive projects which have deepened cultural understanding and supported language learning. We have partnerships with German, South American, Spanish, French and Chinese schools. We are one of the few state schools with the Confucius Classroom Award and currently have over 60 students aiming to acquire a near fluent level of Chinese, as part of the Mandarin Excellence Programme. We feel proud to have been selected for this important collaborative mission with all the other schools and the organisation listed below at the heart of this 3-year adventure.