Thursday was spent with an interesting and exciting visit to the Eden Project - a bit of Cornish rain but much fun was had by all.

Friday was our Grand Finale with the State Banquet and Presentations in the evening.  The Presidents and Vice-Presidents of each of the four states spent the morning with Ms Prior, perfecting their speeches and presentations.  With awards for the businesses to discuss, food and drink to organise and the evening's entertainment to sort out, there was plenty to do.  We did still find time to arrange a trip to a local nature park for a couple of hours' fresh air and walking in the autumn leaves!

In the evening, many host families and business "owners" came to The Studio where we were treated to a fantastic speech and presentation by the Presidents and Vice Presidents.  The Europia flag was ceremoniously handed over to the French (who will be hosting a similar event in April 2018) and awards were presented to four of our businesses (details to follow).  Once the official business was over, students and families were invited to indulge in a magnificent "banquet" (prepared by Ms Barrow, our Food Tech teacher) which was followed by karaoke and a disco.

And so, the day we had all been waiting for arrived.  The morning session was spent with students from all four countries working together to ensure their marketing and publicity was finished and looking good.  Then began the huge task of getting the hall ready for the Fair.  Bunting and flags were put up, a stage was constructed in the outdoor space and the gym was tidied ready for the Fairground Games and Silent Disco.  Students began decorating their stalls and setting out their wares in preparation for the afternoon session.

Finally, all was ready and the doors opened at 2pm.  Business was brisk from the very beginning with many teachers bringing their classes to the Fair.  Students were kept very busy, selling everything from cakes and jewellery, an environmental smoothie-making bike to jam making, to crafts and drinks, through to hair styling, nail painting and fun stalls with prizes to be won.  The atmosphere was vibrant and electric - such a buzz of activity with students from all four nations working together.  Look out for our Gallery (coming soon) full of pictures. 

Altogether, the total profit from the afternoon was almost £1300, with over £230 going to Bodropia's chosen charity, The Hideout.  There were over 40 businesses running, involving over 140 students.  Well done everyone!!

What a busy start to Erasmus week.  Our Spanish visitors arrived safely on Friday night and were placed with their host families for the week.  On Saturday, the French visitors arrived and everybody went out for an evening of bowling and food.   The German visitors arrived on Sunday and finally we are all together.

On Monday, we started the day by getting to know each other with some games and warm up exercises with Ms Prior.  This was followed by an exciting and fun session on how to run a successful business - this was run by Mrs Hewitt and her Year 9 Business Studies class and included building structures with dried spaghetti and marshmallows, guessing the business logo and playing bingo.  Then it was on board the coach for an afternoon of surfing.  Well, that was the plan but Hurricane Ophelia had other ideas.  The raging waves and windy conditions meant that only one group managed to get into the sea (see the picture below) while everyone had a fun time with games on the beach.  This was followed by delicious pizzas at the Waterfront Restaurant.

On Tuesday, it was all about getting job vacancies within Bodropia businesses filled.  The morning session was taken by Mrs Perrin and her workskills group.  She gave all the businesses and applicants some great ideas and advice on applying for jobs, the types of questions that may be asked and how to behave and dress.  There was plenty of opportunity for everyone to practise their skills and then later on it was time for the businesses to conduct their interviews.  Each visitor went to several interviews and then the applicants and businesses were matched up.

In the afternoon, the business teams started preparations for the Fair tomorrow - making posters, finalising their products, training their new member of staff and creating their pricing structures.  There was a real buzz of excitement and it was a hive of creativity and ingenuity.  A visitor to the workshop noted that it was "So good to see the meshing and blending of cultures and languages under the umbrella of friendship and business  opportunity ."

Huge congratulations to the newly elected President of Vouzropia - Claire.

Vice president is Dan.

See all of the Vouzropia candidates on Europia TV  - you can also see the Beeropia candidates.

Below are the candidates for the Election of the new President of Beeropia.  Good luck to you all!!

Everything begins with an origin and so does Europia. The first step was choosing a myth, narrating the origin of our continent. For this, some teachers held a writing competition before the Christmas holidays in which students had to write a myth or a legend about the origin or creation of Europia.
There were 9 entries in total but after the judges read them all and made a decision, only 3 passed through to the final round. For the final round, the 3 compositions will be hung up in display in the school hall for everyone to read. On March 25th the whole school will vote to choose one of the 3 entries to become the official myth of the Origin of Europia.
Another step we've taken is choosing our presidential candidates. 16 students of 2nd and 3rd of E.S.O. decided to run for president: Paula Santana, Ismael Ruiz, Lucía Santana, Daniel Domínguez, Pilar Lozano, Javier Franco, Lucía Pérez, David García, Nayroha Hernández, Paola Calderín, Eva Armas, Laura Medina, Mar Artiles, José David Díaz and Carla Pérez. Unfortunately not all the candidates had the requirements needed, so only 9 of them were chosen by the school's management team for the official presidential election. The Election Day will be on the 28th of March and everyone in our high school will choose a president by ballot.
Other steps worth mentioning are the anthem, emblem and flag. Teldropia's official emblem is the Dragon tree because this species is very important in Canarian flora. In music class with Mr. Antonio, we've been working on our anthem, basing it on Pechelbel's Canon. The official flag is also in finishing process thanks to Ms. Elisa's and Ms. Elsa's work in class with the students.
A very important detail in one of our biggest steps, is our Ms. Ana's help and collaboration. During her classes she's been working with the students on oral expression, oral presentations and speeches to help with not only presidential debates but also for our future.

Inés Hernández Gutiérrez

Fantastic news!  After much to-ing and fro-ing between colleagues in England and Germany, we have finally succeeding in getting the Confederation of Europia website live!  We are now in the process of uploading job vacancies so that students from all four partner schools can apply for positions such as journalism, website maintenance and social media positions.  This is in addition to the upcoming Presidential elections which will be happening in all schools later this month.  If any students and their families would like to offer to host a foreign student later in the project, please contact your school for more information.  Keep visiting this page for further updates and more information as it happens.
 

Staff from all partner schools have just completed six days of negotiations and collaboration on the beautiful island of Gran Canaria.  Working in groups of mixed nationalities, we have put together the documents which will govern this project from how the elections will work, to how the companies will be formed, to how the final events will be put together - and everything in between!  At times, the language barriers caused delays but all teachers helped and supported each other, translating and explaining the more difficult concepts so that we were all happy.  The internet connection and Spanish keyboards were also issues that we had to overcome!  In our free time, we visited the Sunday market in Ingenio and the beautiful harbourside village of Tufia.  We also walked (slid!) to the bottom of the Caldera deBandama (a volcanic crater) which was an amazing experience.  It was a steep, slippery walk down and a steep, hot and tiring climb back up!!  Our host school, La Rocha, welcomed us with a special party where we ate typical Canarian dishes and were entertained by Toni and Mario playing guitars and singing - all in the sunny outdoor classroom.
Thank you, Telde, and we look forward to welcoming our partner schools in Bodmin in October 2017.