Bermudian travel writer gives talk at East End

Last week East End Primary invited travel writer and film maker Andrew Stevenson to talk about his profession during their annual Read In.

Over 200 students and family members attended the event and thoroughly enjoyed the guest speaker and activities on hand.

East End Primary holds a read in every year and encourages students and family members to read together. The event invites a guest speaker but also has a 15 minutes silent reading time for everyone who attends.

This year the focus was foreign countries. Over the last few months each class was assigned a specific country, such as Australia or Brazil, and had to read a page for every mile it would take to get from Bermuda to the country.

"They wanted a travel writer to come and speak about different countries." Mr. Stevenson said. "I was very interested because the evening event because the whole school turns out with their parents. I think events like this should be encouraged."

Mr. Stevenson currently lives in Bermuda and has written numerous books about his travels in Nepal, New Zealand, Norway and Australia. He has also made a movie about the impact of road construction in Annapurna Himalayas of Nepal. The abundance of roads, vibrant culture and scenic views have made it a popular trekking destination.

The film, Paving Shangri La, highlights the destruction of the well worn trekking paths due to highway construction. He showed the students and their family members a short version of his film and described to them the life of a travel writer and how to go about becoming one.

Heather Foggo, a Primary 6 teacher who organised the event, said the students were mesmerised by the film and asked many insightful questions.

"Mr. Stevenson also stressed that the film was a result of the book he had written." She said. "It illustrated the connection between books and films."

East End Primary was very pleased with the event and Mrs. Foggo said it was wonderful to see so many family members supporting their children's education. Members of the public who have not yet seen Mr. Stevenson's film, which has been selected to show in a number of film festivals, will have another chance on November 29.

The film will be shown at BUEI at 7 and 8.30 p.m. and tickets are on sale at the Bermuda Book store or Bermuda Box Office.

Parents chip in at West End's Math Night

West End Primary School held a fun filled Family Math Night on October 25. Over 200 people attended the event and participated in numerous math activities together. The school also handed out a parent-home pack which provided them with activities the family could do at home.

The night focused a few key areas of mathematics: number and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, data analysis and probability.

West End Primary School's math coordinator Chantal Simons said the event was a success and very important. "Students were able to see evidence of their family's support for their learning within the school environment." She said. "They also had the opportunity to see that their parents value mathematics."

Somerset Primary sends off items for Katrina victims

Somerset Primary recently collected 75 boxes worth of clothing, shoes and toiletries for Hurricane Katrina victims.

The students and parents also donated toys and snacks to ease the burden of people effected by the hurricane. All of the items collected were brand new, many of the clothes still had their price tags on them. The collection drive was started by Yolanda Ming's primary four class but quickly spread to the rest of the school.

She told The Royal Gazette that her students read this paper every Tuesday and Thursday and felt that they had to do something after reading article about the hurricane.

She was impressed with the generosity of people donating goods and said the students should be proud of their accomplishments. She also wanted to thank BEST Shipping for transporting the boxes at no cost. Somerset Primary School wasn't the only school who sent goods to the region, CedarBridge Academy, Gilbert Institute and Whitney Institute also sent boxes.

Teens gear up for debate competition

On Saturday November 19 teams will debate the merits of Nuclear Energy and while this might not be a hot topic in Bermuda, nuclear energy has been an active topic of discussion around the world. Teams will have to look at improvements in reactor design and safety over the past ten years and revisit the debate on nuclear energy.

Hosted by The Bermuda Junior Service League (BJSL), teams will be judged by some 50 trained and experienced judges, many of whom are accomplished debaters themselves. Debate co-chairwoman, Susan Smith said more than 100 students would be participating in the 16th Annual School Debate Tournament with ten teams from the various Middle Schools and six from the Senior Schools.

"They are all hoping their quick thinking and smooth talking will earn them a place in the final and a chance of winning the Victoria Cox Memorial Trophy currently held by Bermuda High School For Girls.

She added that debating has become an important part of students education and they continue to be pleased and surprised with the participation of students and judges. This debate, which is free and open to the general public will take place in the North Hall at the Bermuda College, with registration from 9 a.m. The first round takes off at 10 a.m. with the final scheduled for 4 p.m. This will be followed by the Joint Award Ceremony from 5 p.m.

For further information you can access the Junior Service League's web page at www.bjsl.bm.