Author: BBPartnership

Since 2004, as part of the “Mini Assistants Scheme”, some primary schools in Bristol host some French students from Bordeaux.

During two weeks, the future teachers have the opportunity to discover the English education system and to participate in lessons.

Photo above with Florine Facon, French student welcomed by Ashton Gate School

Florine’s comments : “Ce stage fut une expérience très enrichissante pour moi, j’ai appris plus en deux semaines à Bristol qu’en six mois de fac. Et avec ça, les enfants, les professeurs, les membres de l’association : tout le monde était vraiment adorable avec nous et tellement bienveillant que cela n’en rendait le séjour qu’encore plus agréable !
Je suis revenue de ce stage pleine d’idées nouvelles pour enseigner, et je suis contente d’avoir pu voir comment fonctionnait une école de l’autre côté de la Manche ! J’ai beaucoup aimé divers aspects de l’enseignement là-bas, notamment cette bienveillance qui est aussi très visible en classe. Les enfants sont à l’aise avec leurs professeurs et cela fait vraiment plaisir à voir.
Outre cette proximité, j’ai également été marquée au premier abord par les classes en elles-mêmes : si colorées !
Le système d’affichage m’a beaucoup plu : une affiche dédiée à chaque matière, dont le contenu change en fonction de ce qui est fait en classe. Tellement ingénieux et pratique !
Le système d’assemblées, que nous n’avons pas en France, est également très avantageux pour que les élèves des différentes classes apprennent à se connaître et pour entretenir une cohésion de groupe, à l’échelle de l’école ! J’ai trouvé cela très surprenant et toujours très bien mené. Les enfants sont également extremely well-behaved, especially when compared with French students at their age. En France, rassembler autant d’enfants dans une même pièce conduirait à l’anarchie et à Ashton Gate, tout le monde restait sagement en place et était attentif. Cela était vraiment très impressionnant à voir.
J’ai également apprécié de voir la sécurité déployée à l’entrée de l’école et l’importance accordée à la lecture, ce sont deux choses qui ne sont pas assez mises en avant à mon goût dans nos établissements français.
Comme je disais plus haut donc, je reviens la tête pleine de nouvelles idées à mettre en place en France et très confortée dans mon choix de devenir professeure des écoles.
Ashton Gate étant une grande école, j’ai passé la très grande majorité de mon séjour à passer de classe en classe, à faire une présentation de la région et à enseigner des chansons ou quelques notions de Français. Cela m’a donc permis de me confronter à des classes de tous les niveaux et je sais désormais avec certitude que ce métier est vraiment fait pour moi. En France, on nous cantonne principalement à de l’observation et bien évidemment, cela n’offre pas la même expérience”.

(Thank you Florine for your report !)

Additionally, one of the regular fixtures of this scheme is a meeting with the Lord Mayor of Bristol, Lesley Alexander. It was the opportunity for these future teachers to find out about the Lord Mayor’s role. They also told her about their experiences in the Bristol primary schools and how it is different to France. They thought that on the whole the primary school students were very well behaved !!

A social programme has also been organised  : a Street Art Tour, an interactive tour of the BBC, a sightseeing City Tour across Bath by bus and the visit of the Roman Baths.

The French students enjoyed the BBC Tour !

Bordeaux & French themes for the Parade 2017

The Bristol Bordeaux Partnership would like to thank Quartet for their generous support towards the Bordeaux/French elements of the 2017 Bedminster Winter Lantern Parade (BWLP). Thank you to the whole BWLP committee and in particular chair Malcolm Brammar and schools artist Alan May. It was Alan’s creative genius and enthusiasm for Bordeaux and its artists which inspired the children to produce hundreds of amazing lanterns including the six giant ones which wowed the crowds lining the streets of Bedminster.

Southville Primary created Matisse themed lanterns. Over 60 children contributed to the making of 4 large white dove silhouette lanterns, based on the later works of the French painter Matisse, featuring white doves on a blue background. 60 individual lanterns were also created by all the children using paper cut-out techniques.

Ashton Gate Primary worked on their Urban Art lantern inspired by Bordeaux artist Lady JDay who took part in the 2017 UPFest.  The children used new spray paint techniques to create backgrounds for their individual lanterns (90 in total). LadyJDay’s artwork which Alan May asked her to produce on acetate paper during UPFest, was used imaginatively to create a 3m high spray can lantern which the children loved carrying in the parade.The 90 pupils researched local street art and were inspired by a number of artworks featuring the human eye – these would be the central theme for the design of the 90 small lanterns. With the assistance of a local stencil artist, Stewy, they were able using spray paint techniques to create the backgrounds for their lanterns. The giant spray can lantern sprayed out the illuminated letters of the school !

Victoria Park Primary chose a Bordeaux Cubism theme and constructed a 3m high Bordeaux gate, L’Hote cubist-style, based on one of the main medieval archway entrances to the city. The children were stimulated by a more modernist approach. They decided to use Cubist techniques to create portraits on 90 small lanterns. They had an idea to create a 3D chateau, also using Cubist techniques  and research led them to an image of Bordeaux’ Porte Cailhau in the Quartier Saint Pierre, which was then redesigned. One of the conical roofs was replaced by a wine bottle and windows and gates became eyes and mouths. They also used messages and words celebrating the Bristol/Bordeaux link.
An accordionist accompanied them on the parade adding an extra French cultural element. The children made 90 individual Cubist portrait lanterns with messages in French.

BWLP Director Malcolm Brammar said : “This year’s Parade was the longest in BWL’s six year history, attracting more than 2,000 people to local streets. The now established Parade route is closed to traffic for the safety of participants and spectators alike and is south Bristol’s largest community event of the year.  It was great that we were able to introduce exciting and stimulating Bordeaux and French elements this year to celebrate the 70^th anniversary of our oldest twinning”

Come to the Bedminster Winter Lantern Parade next Saturday !
This year there will be lanterns specially designed to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Bristol Bordeaux twinning, and the city’s link with Oporto in Portugal.
As part of the pre-Parade entertainment, you will discover Cecile, French-born singer and songwriter living in Bristol.
She will sing on the North St/Raleigh Rd junction from 16.00.
See you next Saturday !!

“Un équipage de 8 rameurs seniors s’est rendu à Bristol, où ils ont été formidablement bien accueillis. Ils ont pu découvrir la ville, s’entraîner en plein cœur de la cité le samedi et affronter un équipage local le dimanche matin, sous la forme de courses sprint. Mais ce fut avant tout une occasion de tisser des liens d’amitié avec le City of Bristol Rowing Club, dans le but d’organiser d’autres rencontres dans le futur, peut-être avec des rameurs plus jeunes.”

“A team of eight senior rowers made its way to Bristol where they were all warmly welcomed. They were given the opportunity to look around Bristol, train right in the heart of the city on the Saturday and go up against a local team on the Sunday morning for sprint style races. This was above all a way of creating a bond of friendship with the City of Bristol Rowing Club with a view to organising other events in the future, possibly even with younger rowers.”

“Are you interested in the development of the Bristol City Region ?”

“The challenge of growing the economy, whilst ensuring that all our citizens are included in a prosperous future, is one we face today. This could be a further challenge with Brexit on the horizon. One of the ways we can contribute to the development of our city in a post-Brexit world is to work with other forward-looking cities in Europe with similar high tech and creative industries. Our long-term relationships with our twin cities of Hanover and Bordeaux offer us the opportunity to build on a great platform of friendship and understanding, to develop deeper collaboration and trade growth.
We can also learn from each other and improve the quality of life, social economy and cultural experience in our cities.

Attend the Three Cities Conference to discuss developing our cities through ‘Inclusive Growth’ on the 19th October at The Bristol Hotel.

Please visit our website at www.3citiessummit.com and follow instructions to reserve your place on the Bookings page“.

Alastair Watson
Chair of Organising Committee
Three Cities Summit 2017
Bristol – Hannover – Bordeaux