Vistors from Near and Far to OUR PLACE...

The Queen came very close to 'OUR PLACE' today when she visited the school.
I hope you enjoyed the close-up view of her Majesty as you stood outside the front of school.
Here's the visit as reported by the BBC:

The Queen has unveiled a plaque during a visit to mark the centenary of a Norfolk school.

King Edward VII High School in King's Lynn was opened by the Queen's great grandfather, King Edward VII, in November 1906.

The Queen was photographed on a 100-year-old camera when she returned to the school for the first time in more than half a century.

She also signed a portrait of herself - as she had done in 1956.

A photographer used a Box Brownie to record her visit on Wednesday as part of a BBC documentary about Edwardian inventions.

Edward VII's opening of the school on 5 November 1906 was also recorded on a Box Brownie.

Head teacher Michael Douglass said the visit would be a lasting memory for many of the children at the school.

"It is a great privilege for the school to have a visit from Her Majesty, The Queen."

Imagine the school was to get a Royal Visit in 2057.
What changes would you expect to see in the area in and around the school.
Are the buildings today sustainable ?

If you have any pictures of the visit, let me have them in electronic format and I'll post them here.

Meanwhile, a virtual colleague of mine: Tom Biebrach who teaches in Wales is sunning himself in Zambia, visiting a FAR PLACE with the aim of making closer links with students at Kabundi High School in Zambia.
You can read about his visit at his weblog which is HERE.

Meanwhile, we have been playing host to more visitors this week from a FAR PLACE.
This time it's CHONGQING (which I understand is pronounced CHUN CHING, or something similar to that)
Chongqing is a HUGE city, with over 30 million people living in the METROPOLITAN area. I have been given a DVD showing the city and it's a hugely impressive city on the Yangtze with an amazing variety of landscape and buildings and impressive infrastructure. Please ask if you would like to see some of the DVD.
We have a link with Qinghua Middle School in the city, which is in Banan province.
For more information see my CHINA page.You may have seen Mr. Yin (pictured above) about the school this week. He is the Headmaster of the school, and I will be meeting him tomorrow to see whether we can further some GEOGRAPHICAL links between our 2 schools (and hopefully get me out to China at some stage!)

Finally, a link which may be useful to colleagues teaching the Pilot. Noel Jenkins has reminded me that there are materials which are very useful for teaching the topic of People as Consumers at the Birmingham University MAKING THE CONNECTION project page. Download a whole 5 week unit of lessons as PDF files with associated powerpoints. We shall be using this later this year, so you can always get a sneak preview if you are a KES student. The themes are related to BANANAS and MOBILE PHONES: 2 items you possibly consume.