Abbots Bromley pupil Salix White has been awarded a prize in a competition run by Aston University. Salix’s entry 
was chosen from over a thousand designs by pupils across the Midlands area.
The competition, which was aimed at raising the profile of language learning in schools, took place after European Languages Day, in which the school took part by holding an International Afternoon for pupils in Key Stage 3.
Pupils and staff celebrated the different cultures with activities that included Spanish and Romanian dances, German tongue twisters, Italian poetry, Montenegrin culture and many other language games.
The International afternoon was followed up by a visit from Mrs Kat Stevenson, Project Manager for Aston University’s Routes into Languages Consortium.
Mrs Stevenson’s role is to co-ordinate a range of activities and projects aimed at increasing and widening participation in language learning which has suffered a drop since languages became non-compulsory in 2004.
Mrs Stevenson gave a special assembly to pupils in Years 7-9 at which she not only presented Salix with her prize, but also recognised the achievement of Year 8 pupil Emily Hobbs who was highly commended in the competition.
Language teacher Mrs Beverley Coulthard who organised the school’s participation commented: “We are very proud of the girls’ achievements in this competition and were very impressed with the way all the pupils embraced the idea of encouraging participation in language learning in such a fun but important way.”