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News and views from Bablake School
Issue 68 | Autumn 2015
The Godfather of all trips ...
Pupils admire the view
Mr Dan Menashe shares his thoughts on Bablake’s recent trip to Sicily.
It might have been 1 ante meridiem, but 33 pupils were wide awake with excitement as we set off for Sicily. We started our adventure in Palermo, where we soaked up the atmosphere and the sunshine. In between eating pizza and ice-cream, we explored many monuments on a stroll to the harbour. Top of these was probably the Fontana Praetoria (Fountain of Shame), which caused a scandal with its nude figures, as it was built between two churches. Day two was dominated by two cathedrals: we were impressed by Palermo Cathedral, but were blown away by the gilded mosaics of Monreale. This was dominated by a colossal image
of Christ, which looked far more like a painting than a mosaic. After this we visited the adjoining cloister of the abbey of Monreale, with its amazing pillars, before heading back to our hotel. The following day was our first experience of the classical world. We travelled south to Segesta and Selinunte where we saw the remains of several temples and a theatre. The walk from the Doric temple at Segesta to the theatre was well worth it, despite the heat, and we had worked up an appetite by then for more pizzas (or arancini for the more adventurous) at a café. We moved on to our hotel at Agrigento at the end of the day, where the hotel pool proved a real hit with pupils. Five more temples were on show the next day at the World Heritage site at Agrigento, and it was easy to see why the site had acquired this status. We then moved on to the Roman villa at Piazza Armerina, where the scale and quality of the mosaics were incredible. There were apparently 120 million tiles in the mosaics, with the most famous showing girls dancing and playing sport in the world’s first ever bikinis. Rain arrived that night, but spirits remained high the following day as we travelled to Siracusa. The cave known as the Ear of Dionysius was spectacular and produced the most amazing sounds. Our guide revealed hidden talents as a singer, but was outdone by the Classics Choir rendition of Don’t stop me now, led by Greg. We then saw another superb theatre, before travelling to the island of Ortygia to see the remains of the temple of Apollo and the fountain of Arethusa. All too quickly our final day arrived. We took in two more theatres in Taormina, a beautiful church, a mediaeval balcony, spectacular views, and a final chance to shop. My thanks as ever go to my colleagues for all their hard work, but the biggest thanks go to the pupils themselves .The trip had proved a huge success, and it was tremendous to see pupils getting on so well together and behaving in such an exemplary manner.
In this issue: Just another ‘Norm’-al day 2 Wounded Planet 3 Building bridges across continents 4 Top scout 5 Bablake pipes up! 6 News in brief 7 Othello 8 Artistic expressions 9 ‘City of Light’ visit 10 Can you keep a secret? 11 Bablake Action 12 These Bablake girls can! 12 Sport 14