By Mrs Diane Guerrero 

It was my pleasure to once again organise, as International Coordinator, the annual International Dinner, with the help of the International pupil reps at the school. Earlier in the week we had an International Chapel service led by the International House reps, on the theme of friendship around the world, and a Round Square Chapel Service on the Friday led by the Round Square team. 

Pupils of different nationalities were invited along with those on the IB programme, and who have contributed to Internationalism at the school either by attending conferences run by the Round Square and Model United Nations, participated in Round Square exchanges and Big Build projects abroad, or who have helped with raising money for our International charities (Sparkle Malawi, Magic Bus and Volunteer Uganda).

We celebrated the fact that there were 57 nationalities represented at the dinner, evidenced as we had our traditional anthem ceremony at the end where pupils stand up for a 20 second clip of the anthem of the country they identify with and were applauded by all. Many pupils had made a great effort to wear their national dress which added colour and interest to the event. Some held their hands on their hearts and sang, and some people even stood for up to 4 nationalities having been born in one country, with parents from different countries and who now live in yet another country!
 

Our guest speaker this year was Patricia Durdikova who attended Felsted Sixth Form between 2008 and 2010 and was a member of Garnetts. She was an HMC Scholar, prefect, member of the Andrew Society and went on to gain a degree in Art History and French at St Andrews University. Patricia currently works within the Fine Art department at Cheffins Auctioneers in Cambridge. She spoke warmly of her time here with some amusing anecdotes, and the message to take advantage of the opportunities Felsted can offer all pupils.

Our two hosts for the evening were our Year 13 International Reps Jordan Guerrero and Dumeje Ken-Agbiriogu, who also spoke about what Internationalism means to them. During the evening there was piano music from Henry Barker, a powerful dance performance from Darina, and a duet on piano and violin (Michelle Guo & Maria Tan). Huge thanks to the catering team for a delicious meal, our host Reps Jordan and Dumeje, all the pupils who helped out, the performers, Mrs Atkinson-Wood for the photography, participants who collaborated on making the video shown (‘What does Internationalism at Felsted mean to you?’) and all those staff and pupils who attended.

International Admissions at Felsted