Comenius - Life in Harmony with Nature

The North Halifax Grammar School - United Kingdom

NHGS was established on its present site in 1985. It became a Foundation School in 1999. The school became a Specialist Science College in 2004 and is becoming a leading centre of excellence for Science and Mathematical education. NHGS offer all the National Curriculum subjects with an expanding range of options in the 14-19 phase that reflects the school’s specialist ethos and its commitment to the arts. The school was awarded the Artsmark in 2006 for the second time in recognition of the opportunities for art, dance, drama and music in the school. The school has also met the criteria to become a High Performing Specialist School and from 2009 will take on an additional role to further improve achievement at NHGS and in the wider community.

Calderdale nestles along the eastern flanks of the Pennines. Calderdale has a population of about 190,000. Halifax is the largest town and administrative centre, which has wonderful historic buildings, an indoor market, modern shops and entertainment for all ages from variety at the Victoria Theatre. Calderdale has majestic, open moorlands overlooking deep wooded valleys. The industrial legacy of textiles and engineering provides a fascinating heritage for the area. The splendid natural beauty of Hardcastle Craggs sits alongside the busy shops and restaurants at historic Hebden Bridge. The area has a wealth of interesting places to delight the rambler, mountain-biker, rock-climber, bird-watcher, canal-lover, amateur historian and day visitor.

The school’s motto is Living to Learn Learning to Live. All activities in the school promote and facilitate opportunities for students to learn how to learn and lead full and successful lives.

News from The UK:

Our Trip to Turkey - click here to read our blog!!!

We welcomed our European visitors to NHGS. Staff and students from our partner schools in Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Spain and Turkey visited us. Many of the staff visitors and students were hosted by NHGS staff and students in order to maximise the cultural experience for all involved. The visitors spent one day in school when the staff had meetings to discuss the progress of the project. On the other days there were fa variety of visits planned including a tour of Halifax Town Hall and the Piece Hall, a visit to the Bronte Parsonage museum and a day in York.

A presenation all about the school can be downloaded from here.

We are very busy with two activities relating to the Comenius project at the moment. Students are preparing their recipes using local ingredients as part of the 'Great British Menu' competition ready for a tasting session after Christmas. This week is the second week of the 'Switch it Off' campaign. As a school we monitored our electricity usage last week and are hoping to save energy this week by switching off lights and appliances in school. Students in Year 7 are carrying out the activity at home and have been encouraged to do so by presentations given by their Science teachers. The students are able to download stickers and sticky notes from the school website in order to encourage their families to save electricity. If you would like to do the same then there is a link on our school website http://www.halifaxgrammar.calderdale.sch.uk. We look forward to sharing our results in Ireland next week.