International Day: A Celebration of Community and Culture
Parade
Friday April 21st kicked off our reinstated annual International Day extravaganza at Landmark International School. The festivities began with a whole school procession around the playground, with students parading and waving their national flags to an internationally-chosen soundtrack. Mr Turnbull-Jones read out the list of nationalities present within our school - more than 30 different countries!
“It was enjoyable because you got to see all the other people from the different countries and represent your own country where you are from.” Luca
Students getting ready for the international day parade
Workshops
The action then continued for the students as they visited a variety of workshops set up around the school. Led by teachers and parent volunteers, children had the opportunity to learn about the cultures, food and crafts of countries such as Ukraine, Canada and Indonesia.
“The workshops were fun and full of excitement because of how you got to learn about different stories and do activities from around the world.” Coco
The workshops were really interesting to try different activities from different countries, they are so different to what we do here.” Juliane
Parents and staff ran a range of cultural workshops
Students engaged in the interactive cultural workshops
Lunch
A special regionally-inspired menu was provided for lunch, with offerings from each continent around the world for students to sample. They could try out specialties such as South American empanadas, Asian spring rolls and an Australiasian lamington dessert.
“The lunch was one of the best foods I´ve ever had, as you got to try foods from all around the world. Gemma did a really good job.” Razi
The Lunch consisted of dishes from each continent
The students thoroughly enjoyed the lunch and the treat for desert!
Marketplace
In the afternoon, the entire school community gathered in the playground to join together in celebration of our beautifully diverse school. Upon entering the Marketplace, the senses were indulged with colourful stalls and costumes from the many nations present in our school. Parent volunteers came and prepared informative, interesting and fun stalls sharing their language, culture, crafts, special features and landmarks and, not least their food! Amongst the stalls, Morris Dancers wowed the crowds with their energetic performance, and there was even a very special guest musician from Iran.
“It was really great because you got to try different foods from different countries. I also really enjoyed meeting the people who made the food, they really tried hard.” Marta
“I liked a lot of the food, especially the pretzel sticks. I really liked the dancing and the design. I liked how the Iran stall had the instruments that you could try, but Japan was my favourite because it had references to the Tokyo Olympics and logo, and Anime.” Evan
Performances
The day was brought to a stunning close with the Cafferkey Irish Dancing School. The group of young dancers excelled in their performance of traditional Irish dancing, even managing to lead the audience in a fun and vibrant Ceilidh.
“The Irish dancers were amazing to see. The Ceilidh was really fun, especially when we messed up!” Dorothy.
The day was an incredible success, largely due to the amazing effort made by all the volunteers who ran workshops and stalls, along with the performers who gave their fabulous energy to bring so much joy to the event. We hope it continues to go from strength to strength in the years to come.
International day closed with an outstanding performance from the Cafferkey Irish Dancing School
