New Year’s Eve
December 2001

On December 23-28 our school was preparing for the New Year. The students had rehearsals before the concerts and made costumes. They were decorating the New Year’s tree, classrooms and the school hall. Senior students (grades 7 to 11) had the party and disco on the 27th of December.

Next morning the junior students (grades 1 to 6) had a holiday. The children from the kindergarten were invited to this holiday. The students performed tales, dances, songs, poems and plays. They also got presents from Father Frost. For the children of the kindergarten the holiday was organized on the 27th of December.

"Join Multimedia 2002" competition
December 2001

We express our thanks to Siemens corporation for the invitation we received to take part in the "Join Multimedia 2002" European pupils' competition.

English teachers workshop
December 2001

The regional English language teachers' workshop took part at the school on December 12. One of its highlights was a 2-hour lecture "Methods and techniques of using video episodes at the lessons of English language" presented by V.Kyrychok and T.Kyrychok. The lecture was accompanied by the live performance of the fragments of lessons, made possible by the active participation of the 7th grade students. Judging by the invited teachers' response, the whole presentation was a great success, since no other school in the region ever uses video materials in the classroom. Also, a presentation was made on the use of educational computer programs, as well as a practical demonstration featuring the program designed and written by V.Kyrychok and O.Nesen.

Chemistry teachers workshop
December 2001

On December 11 our school hosted the regional workshop for the Chemistry teachers. The open lesson was given by S.Solomaha.

Invitation to the conference
November 2001

Our school is invited to take part in the IVth All-Ukrainian scientific and methodological conference "Computer modeling and information technologies in science, economics and education".

Inspiring success of the Folk Arts Week
November 2001

For the whole six days our school was hosting the Folk Arts Week festival, featuring concerts, meetings with local craftsmen, shows and presentations. Inspired by its success, our students and staff decided to re-decorate the corridor of the second floor and enrich it with the traditional folk motifs.

In contact with the colleagues
November 2001

Our teaching staff visited the Ichnya High School and the Monastyrische Secondary School to get better acquainted with their professional experience and innovative teaching methods. It was arranged that in January 2002 the Principal of the Ichnya High School will visit our school to give open lessons in Geography, based on their own Creative Living Education concept.

Free school bus service is now available to our students
November 2001

The regular school bus route began its operation thanks to the generous donation of a bus received from the provincial state administration. Altogether 35 pupils have started to use this free service daily.

Winners of the regional round of the Pedagogical Ideas Fair
November 2001

Our school's bilingual web site was awarded the 2nd prize at the regional round of the Pedagogical Ideas Fair. T.Kyrychok received the third prize for her "Audit Tests to the TRAVEL assignments". High scores were given to "Helping Class Guidance Teachers" by S.Kononichenko, and to the joint work by the teachers of the elementary classes.

Pre-school group welcomes first students
October 2001

With support from the provincial state administration, and the head of the Educational department of the regional state administration R.M.Busha, our school opened a pre-school group for children from 3 to 6 years old. For many of the kids who joined the group it was their first ever opportunity to see sheets of paper, pencils, children's books.

The Principal is the Teachers' Congress delegate
September 2001

The Principal of our school V. Kyrychok is elected a delegate to the Teachers' Congress, the only representative from the Talalayivka region.

Our school joined educational networks
August 2001

The modern vision of a computerized school is shifting its focus nowadays beyond the traditional hardware issues or availability of educational software, that used to be the very reason of bringing computers to the classrooms. Instead, the emphasis now is being increasingly placed on worldwide communications, including the access to information and exchange of knowledge. For students and teachers alike, this booming realm of computer application spells exciting opportunities not only in learning or teaching, but implementing their own practical ideas as well.

With this in mind, our school recently joined the European Schoolnet (www.eun.org), and we expect this step to open doors to more contacts with likeminded individuals from some 900 schools across Europe.

Also, our school can be found in the list of Secondary Schools of Ukraine at the Educational Network of Ukraine web site (www.ednu.kiev.ua/sch/chernihiv.htm).

Summer holidays in Italy
July 2001

This summer our student Oksana Kulyk and her sister were given an exciting opportunity to spend their summer holidays in Italy. Our schoolchildren and teachers alike are now looking forward to welcome them back home with interesting stories about the country and the host family.

More educational videotapes received
June 2001

International teams creation in progress
June 2001

Our idea and efforts to form an international team of students to participate in the ThinkQuest competition received a greatly appreciated support from the Westview Centennial Secondary School in Canada. Their interest in partnership is particularly encouraging due to the fact that three of their own students have already participated and placed highly in this contest three years ago.

End of school year
May 25, 2001

The school year ended.
Of course, we will try to tell more about this event - but some time later, when the exams will be in the past, and the graduates will gather again to remember their last days at school, only to realize that those, like so much else, are now just a part of their own precious memories...

Our students are invited to the international team
March 2001

On March 23 our school received an email offering partnership in forming the international team of students of grades 8-11 to participate in the prestigious international Think Quest competition. To better present our progress in preparing for and taking part in the competition, a new web page will be added to this site soon.

Internet makes it possible for a growing number of people around the world to learn about our school and support our efforts. Following are just a few of the latest news:

We are noticed by the press
March 2001

1) Our local newspaper "The Farmer's Tribune" was the first one to notice and spread the word about the school's web presence.
2) The regional newspaper "Gart" had also published the information about this event. Our students were excited to find these articles in the newspapers, and were among the first to bring them to the school and show to everybody: "Look! It's written here about our school!"
3) The fact that a small village school has its own Internet site did not pass unnoticed by the regional newspaper "The Chernigiv Herald", too. "We want to write about it," is mentioned in the E-mail our school received from its Editor-in-Chief, Sergiy Narodenko.

Overseas contacts
February 2001

Expected partnership with the senior students of the Chervony Plugatar school aimed at sharing of interests and resources that have common focus on entrepreneurial skills, was a scheduled topic of discussion at this month's School Council meeting at the Scarlett Heights Entrepreneurial Academy (SHEA) high school in Toronto, Canada. Information about it was published in the SHEA's weekly newsletter on February 26, 2001.

More educational videotapes to help our teachers
March 2001

Our school's video collection got some valuable additions as we received a gift of new educational video programs made by the known American cable channel. Among them are the episodes about the life and work of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci; the 2-parts videotape "Cleopatra's World: Alexandria Revealed" which opens a panoramic view on many historical places, events and personalities of the ancient Rome and Egypt; an in-depth documentary about the history and mechanics of the US Stock Exchange ("Dow and Jones: Wizards of Wall Street"), and others. All videotapes were complemented with the detailed printed texts of the programs they contain.
More educational films are arranged to be sent to us, including those about Joan d'Arc, Isaak Newton, the natural and commercial wonders of the Niagara Falls, about planets of the solar system, etc.

Girls won bronze
March 2001

On March 3 our school hosted the regional Girl's Basketball Tournament. Our team won the third prize.

New teacher
March 2001

We welcome Natalie Abavian as our new Music teacher (temporary position).

Our school is named region's leading in computer education
February 2001

Regional teacher's seminar was held on February 26 at our new Teaching Resources Classroom created earlier this year and already named the best among those in the region. Our school was selected to be a pilot one in computer education.

Results of the "Teacher of the Year 2000" competition
January 2001

Our Physics teacher Svitlana Kononichenko became the winner of the regional round of the "Teacher of the Year 2000" professional competition.
Final results of the next round are not announced yet, but we do know that she is among the top three winners there too. Congratulations!

The Festival of Flowers
September 2000

On the photo: junior students present their best exhibits at the Festival of Flowers, addressing the audience from the stage of the school's Convocation hall.

Excursion to the Sokyryntsi heritage estate
May 2000

On the photo: memorable tourist destinations like this help students better understand the deep cultural roots and real value of their national heritage.