At the end of last week, a group of intrepid teachers (Mr Jappy, Ms McPhee, Mrs Barber and Mrs Slowther) travelled to the Czech Republic and Poland as part of the Comenius project linked to the school in Karvina. On Thursday, they visited Auschwitz Birkenau and this proved to be a very moving experience. As the focus of the project is the environment, on Friday they drove to Pustevny, a small mountain village in the Beskydy Mountains, and walked to the top of Radhost (a mountain) to see the Church of St Cyril and Methodius (staff reported that this was very lovely but extremely cold). On Saturday, they toured the area surrounding Karvina to see the devastation caused by years of mining, before heading to Ostrava to experience the range of architecture built by successive political systems. Our Czech colleagues were keen to plan the remaining visits to Karvina to conclude the project and Knox staff will be returning to the Czech Republic in April, during the Easter holiday. Thank you to all staff involved, in particular Mr Jappy who organised the successful trip.

On Wednesday I attended performances by two of the S4 Standard Grade Drama groups. Both performances were very well done and moving, based on the struggle for human rights: ‘From Antigone to Rosa Parks’. There was a great deal of talent on display. Next week there are opportunities for everyone to see productions from the Drama Department: ‘Passing Places’ (Monday and Tuesday) and ‘Lord of the Flies’ (Wednesday and Thursday), all performances start at 7pm.

Yesterday, we had the February Community Assembly; as examinations were still being held in the Assembly Hall, this was a ‘virtual’ assembly presented to all Tutor Groups. The speaker was Ms Debi Gliori, the local children's author, who pre-recorded her talk. The feedback has been very positive; many thanks to Ms Gliori for taking part.

Just a reminder that all break for the February holiday at 12.05 on Friday 10 and all resume on Monday 20 February at 08.44.

Best wishes

JB Craig