April 2016: Vol 4 No 8 pointing out solutions to the kommune as well The Principal’s as the actions that we can take. There has been various initiatives over the years including better light on Spring Message Frederiksborgvej, illuminated traffic signs, etc. Recently, the school installed lights on "our The Easter holidays are over part" of the path through the park to make this and hopefully all students and way to school more attractive. Also be aware parents enjoyed the days off that there is no entry to the school driveway and are back into the swing of between 7:30 to 8:00. We enforce this rule things. Once again, we strictly to ensure the safety of children witnessed cruel terror close to walking or riding to school through this our everyday lives. Events entrance. However, this has lead to the which require us as adults to problem of students being ’dropped off’ by explain to our children the parents stopping on the side of the road reality of these situations, while outside the school. This maneuver is both also saying that life is still great. dangerous and illegal. The hope of a better world must never leave us. I do sympathise with parents who are frustrated by the traffic constraints around the Spring and the brighter days helps to lift the spirits and school. This message is also being relayed to the mood is high at Skt. Joseph School. Our oldest the kommune. Kommune has asked students are preparing for exams and the 8th Grade me to convene a dialogue meeting with are performing in the musical this week. planning and engineering councilman (Teknikudvalgsformand) Torben Jørgensen Spring also means trips for many classes. 10th Grade on the 19th April concerning traffic conditions. are on a study trip to Scotland, 7.i will be travelling to For this meeting, I have invited Manchester and the Year 9 students just returned representatives from the school including from Spain. parents' association, private neighbors and institutions on Frederiksborgvej. There have In this newsletter, I will briefly describe some of the been many suggestions for solutions and an other initiatives and innovations taking place before overhaul of conditions. These will be the summer break. discussed at the meeting and it is my hope that we can agree on some more long-term Traffic on Fredriksborgvej and concrete solutions. A lot has been said and written about the traffic on Frederiksborgvej around the school and the intersection with Queen Margrethe Road. Most recently, an accident involving a child, led to a lengthy debate in local newspapers, on TV and in social media. Luckily there were no serious injuries, but the incident highlighted the unsolved traffic problem that has existed for years. There are mainly two factors that have lead to traffic becoming more chaotic in recent years. There are more car in the city with Frederiksborgvej one of the main routes toward the center of Roskilde. At the same time the size of the school has increased, which means that we obviously have a great interest in New Facade In August we opened the school's beautiful new wing facing Frederiksborgvej. Originally, the façade on the existing building was meant to be replaced to match the new façade. This project kicked off recently and will last until early June. It also means that the parking spaces are limited (unfortunately) during the construction period, but we are looking forward to a consistent appearance out the front of the school.

The School’s Growth Follow us on Facebook

Most would have noticed the rapid growth of the We have an exciting spring ahead of us with parent school in both the Danish and International teacher conferences. And of course we cheer on departments. This is obviously pleasing and our ”Unge forskere”, who are through to the national according to plan. The preliminary goal we set ourselves for the International School at the start of finals. For news on this and other events around the 2012 was 150 students within five years. We are set school you can follow us on Facebook: to reach this goal in August. https://www.facebook.com/Skt-Josefs-Skole- The fact that the school is growing can raise Roskilde-177623875614334/?ref=settings questions about the physical environment, including pressure on facilities and the need for more classrooms etc. The fore mentioned traffic issues are also a factor in the debate. The Leadership and Med venlig hilsen Management are currently having discussions about these topics and the impact on the values and culture at the school. Thorsten Dyngby

Keep an eye out for developments in future Principal newsletters.

Calendar Headlines Here are some upcoming events for the month ahead. This is not a complete list, for up to date information check the calendar on Intra.

April

3 April: Year 9 trip to Spain 12 April: Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences (Y 1, Y3-4, Y9, Y10, Y11) 14 April: International Assembly- lead by Year 9 14 April: Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences (Y 5-6, Y7, Y8) 19 April: Year 2 Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences 21 April: SCIENCE FAIR 22 April: Public Holiday 29 April: Yoga Class– Yr 10, 11

May

2 May: IGCSE exam month 2 May: ’CIE Stage’ test week- Year 3-10 5 May: Public Holiday 6 May: Public Holiday 12 May: International Assembly-

lead by Year 7-8 13 May: Pentecost/Whitsun Service 16 May: Public Holiday 26 May: International Athletics-

Save the Date– Graduation Gala

Graduation Gala for our Year 11’s Date: Thursday 9th June Time: 5-6pm - Skt. Laurenti Church 6-9pm- Fællessalen/canteen

Attire: Formal/Black tie

The Year 11's would like to invite all families in Year 9, 10 and 11 to attend their Graduation both in Skt. Laurenti and in Fællessalen. In addition they would like to ask that you bring a food dish (enough for about 6 people) to Fællessalen that can be shared in a "pot luck" dinner buffet after the church event. PRIMARY NEWS Welcome New Students

Thor Year 1 Saanvi Year 1 Lu Di Year 5

SFO news Gymnastics Stars

The spring is upon us, and it is getting brighter and warmer everyday now. Asta and Sophie in Year 4 attended the Jutlands Mesterskabs gymnastics competition in March We have been working a lot to make “udeliv” the with their team of about 60 students. They did workshop place where we work with wood and oth- really well with Asta obtaining a 4th place and er creative ideas. It has become a new cozy place Sophie getting a gold medal with her gymnastics to be, with a lot more room, so come out with your team. The girls really loved the weekend, although creative ideas and we will make them. Also as the they had to get up very early and work hard all weather now is warm, we are beginning to make day long. more food on the camp fire and doing some trips out of the house more. These events will happen every Thursdays.

Also a lot changed in the “Octopus”, new plants have been added and got the board games more organized so they are easy to pick from the shelves.

It would be a great help you could help me with updating your personal phone numbers (if old) and the phone number and address to the doctor your children uses, just so we can get hold of them, in case of emergencies.

And last but not least, I hope you can help to re- mind your children to sign out in tabulex before they leave the SFO. It is the important to us to know if your child is in school/SFO or safe at home.

Kind regards Mikkel Dicte Hildebrandt Brix Year 6 Writers

Students from Year 6 retell the traditional Three Billy Goats Gruff story… with a twist.

By Asger Year 6

“Ha! What was that?” shouted the troll after his amazing slumber. He heard a trip trap trip trap up above. He got up to see what it was. It took a while though be- cause he was starving.

“I’m so hungry” said the sad troll. He saw a skinny got come up over the bridge. Earlier that day he saw some humans having a picnic and eating a goat curry, so the troll thought he would like to eat the same thing. Maybe he had gone crazy from being so hungry.

“I’m going to eat you!” said the troll to the goat who was more bones than flesh. The little goat said, “Don’t eat me, see how small and skinny my trotters are. My brother will come next and he is much fatter and tastier than me.”

“Ok, you may pass!” exclaimed the troll.

The next goat came across the bridge but there was a problem…

He didn’t have an older brother that he could sentence to death so he charged at the troll and SPLASH!

By Amelia Year 6

I was about to go to sleep to try and forget about my hunger when suddenly I heard a trip trap noise.

“Who’s that walking across my bridge?” I screamed.

“It’s only me.” squeaked a small skinny goat, I told that I was very hungry and that I was going to eat him.

“No! Please don’t eat me, I have a brother that is much bigger than me.” the little goat cried.

So I let him pass over the bridge and waited patiently for the next goat to come.

Trip trap trip trap

That must be the next goat I thought. I said, “Who is that walking on my bridge?” The medi- um goat said the exact same thing as his brother. I though to myself that these brothers don’t really care much for each other seeing as they are so willing to sacrifice one another.

Suddenly, a giant goat came on the bridge, this was the perfect sized dinner for me. So I hopped on the bridge and was about to charge but the goat pushed me in to the lake…

Unfortunately, I can’t swim.

SECONDARY NEWS

Science Talent Group We would like to congratulate all 8 finalists from the Science Talent Group who have got through to the finals out of 50 semifinalists. Three of those are from the International School:

Marius (Year 10), Matilde (Year 10) and Mads (Year 11)

The finals will be held from the 24th –26th April. For open viewing times, please check the event website:

scienceforum.dk

Scholarship News

Well done to Mads and Louise from Year 11 who sat Mads has now accepted a place at CIS, and will be scholarship tests and went to scholarship interviews at starting there in their IB programme in August. Louise International School (CIS) and both passed has declined the offer and decided to continue here in with flying colours. Roskilde in a Danish Gymnasium. Spreading the Cheer by Iben Year 8

As you probably know I moved to from Chicago on the 1st January 2016. The last two years in Chicago I did cheerlead- ing and in December 2015 I won the State Championship for Illi- nois with my US cheer team.

When we moved to Denmark I really wanted to continue to do cheer and we did some research and found out that there was a really good cheer center in Rødovre. We contacted them and I had to send them a video of me with my old team and a video of me tumbling and then I had to attend 2 tryouts before I made the team.

My first practice was January 11 and I have been practicing three times a week ever since, which means that we practice 6-8 hours a week.

On March 19 the Danish National Championship was held in Brøndby Hallen and my cheer club was hosting the Nationals. My team participated in the Nationals – and we won. We had to be there at 9 a.m. in the morning and we were not home before 9.30 p.m. – it was a long but fun day.

When you compete you only get about 5 minutes on the floor in front of the judges – there are about 10 judges. In cheer we always say that it is the most important 5 minutes in our life. But before going on the floor in front of the judges – we practice a lot on a practice floor in a gym next door.

We almost hit all our stunts and we hit all our tumbling – we were so happy when we had performed. Then we had to wait for 3 hours before we got the scores from the judges.

But it was worth the wait – since we won. There were about 15 teams in our category.

Also if you follow this link on youtube you can see us perform at the Nationals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbZykpwRQFk Year 9 Spanish Study Tour

Our Year 9’s recently returned from their immersion trip to Spain. The students were accompanied by Mrs Almaraz and Dr Wood. The class had opportunities to practice their Spanish skill through a variety of ac- tivities including school visits and cooking classes.

Notices

Tutoring– all subject, all ages

Two senior international students are available to be hired to tutor international students of all ages. They charge 100kr per hour and can tutor in all subjects.

If you are interested please contact

Louise on [email protected]

or

Mads on [email protected]

.

Social Media INVITATION TO: Service in English in Roskilde

The first Sunday in each month at 5 pm

The Cathedral’s Girls Choir will sing at the Service Sermon by: Rev. Ulla Thorbjørn Hansen

After the service refreshments will be served in Konventhuset, Domkirkestræde 10. You are welcome to bring along something for a Buffet that we can share.

The service will last about 1 hour, and hymns, prayers and sermon will all be in English. You are welcome no matter where you come from, how long you have been in Denmark or how long you are going to stay here, you are invited to participate in Service in English in the beautiful Roskilde Cathedral.

Coming English services in Roskilde Cathedral at 5 pm

Sunday 8th of May

The International School is having a Science Fair on the 21st April. You are invited to visit the booths, which Everybody’s will be set up in the small gym. You may come between 10 - 11.15am or from 12 - 1.30pm. Come and see Welcome what the students have done and hopefully have some fun too.