Invitation to Experience Great Britain: British Market

Come and taste great British food and drink; see traditional British brands and modern technologies; enjoy British culture and entertainment; and explore British style and design.

All of this and more will be on offer at the “British Market” to be held at Malostranské náměstí, where you can hear and feel the atmosphere of times gone past. The event is free-of-charge.

This event is organised by the British Embassy and the British Chamber of Commerce.

Václav Havel Scholarship Concert

Anežský klášter was filled with the sound of music to raise money for the second ECP Václav Havel Scholarship. ECP musicians and singers were joined by 2015 graduate, Barbora Hořejší, and special guest, Mario Bihári. The audience of students, parents, staff and governors enjoyed a varied programme of modern and classical music.

During the interval, there was a silent auction. Together with donations, an impressive total of more than CZK 330,000 was raised. This will go towards meeting the fees of a second Roma student as the first ECP Václav Havel Scholar prepares to graduate this summer. The items donated for the auction included paintings by Roma children, a visit to the Czech Parliament, generously donated by Ivan Bartoš, and a personal safari tour with the Director of Safari at Dvůr Králové, Přemysl Rabas.

In the year before his death, the former President and Czech Patron of the English College, gave his permission to establish a scholarship in his name. It was to be awarded to a young person from a Roma family who would benefit from an ECP education.

Speech by President Václav Havel when unveiling a memorial to the Roma at the site of a Roma internment on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe (Lety, near Písek, 13 May 1995)

“Let us learn to listen to the Roma people, to understand them, to abandon the belief that we, as the majority in this society, are a measure of all values ​​and our way of life and our beloved values are ​​the norm for everyone. The coexistence of all nationalities in one state, of course, makes common adaptation to generally held civic standards. This, however, does not contradict the further development of the cultural and linguistic heritage of a minority that enriches society as a whole. The quality of our relationship with ethnic minorities, that is with those we regard as ‘others’, is a measure of the quality of our civic consciousness.”

Václav Havel

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What is the universe made of? How did it start? Physicists at CERN are seeking answers, using some of the world’s most powerful particle accelerators

Last weekend, a group of 17 ECP students from Years 5 and 6 visited CERN near Geneva. Despite heavy snow and Geneva airport being closed for a time, they had a fascinating tour and attended several lectures. ECP students saw the greatest scientific research centre in the world.  They heard all about the huge technical challenges of building a particle accelerator 27km long, 100m underground, using 130,000 amps of current and in temperatures near absolute zero, which causes it to shrink by 18m when fully cooled down.  The trip gave them an excellent insight into the role of CERN in the key research areas, such as the Higgs Boson, Dark Matter, Dark Energy and in attempts to unify the four forces in the Universe!

*CERN – Conseil Européen pour la recherche nucléaire (The European Organization for Nuclear Research)

ECP Annual Debate

Is discrimination an acceptable result of free speech?

Guests: Journalists Silvie Lauder and Martin Weiss

The subject of the debate is very relevant to current events. It was therefore good that our students could hear and express different opinions on the subject. They asked a lot of good questions and the discussion was very lively. In particular, views on the issue of imposing limits on free speech within a school environment were exchanged. The guests challenged the opinions of the students and demonstrated what a proper debate should be like. We are always extremely grateful when experienced and renowned personalities visit the school. They can support our students in the search for the right questions to ask and give them experience of assessing the validity of answers they receive.

Silvie Lauder studied journalism at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Charles University. After her studies, she worked for Lidové Noviny for 3 years. Since 2004, she has been writing for Respekt. She focuses on a wide spectrum of political and social themes, including gender issues. She has written about feminism, working mothers and the crisis of the modern man. In 2013, she received the Open Society Fund award for her article about the less known history of the Czech Roma holocaust. She also interviewed the former President of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel.

Martin Weiss studied Czech and English at the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University. After his studies he wrote for the cultural samizdat Revolver Revue. He has been writing for Respekt since 1990 but for some of his career worked for Český deník, Lidové Noviny and MF Dnes and, today, he writes for Echo24. Between 1997 and 2000 he was spokesman for the Czech Embassy in Washington. He is also a translator of English speaking writers such as Niall Ferguson and Malcolm Gladwell. Martin Weiss is the father of one of our Year 4 students.

It is particularly welcome when parents of our students support us by taking an active part in the school community and its events. We really appreciate it.

See the video here:

Martin Weis

Silvie Lauder

Students and teachers have been taking part in trips across the Czech Republic this week, focusing on a range of cultural, sporting and historical activities. These start of year induction trips are designed to give our students and teachers the opportunity to build relationships, improve their teamwork and develop a strong understanding of Czech culture.