Updates on School Developments and Facilities — Cambridge IELTS 16 Academic 2021 TEST 2 — IELTS Test

Cambridge IELTS 16 Academic 2021 TEST 2

Updates on School Developments and Facilities

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(0:00) Part 2. You will hear a headteacher talking to parents of pupils about changes at the school. (0:08) First you have some time to look at questions 11 to 15. (0:47) Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 15.
(0:54) Good morning, and thank you for coming here today. I'd like to bring you up to date with (1:00) changes in the school that will affect your children. (1:04) As you know, the school buildings date from various times, (1:09) some from the 1970s, some from the last five years, (1:13) and of course Dartfield House is over a century old.
(1:18) It was commissioned by a businessman, Neville Richards, (1:22) and intended as his family home, but he died before it was completed. (1:28) His heir chose to sell it to the local council, who turned it into offices. (1:34) A later plan to convert it into a tourist information centre (1:37) didn't come about through lack of money, (1:40) and instead it formed the nucleus of this school when it opened 40 years ago.
(1:47) The school has grown as the local population has increased, (1:52) and I can now give you some news about the lower school site, (1:56) which is separated from the main site by a road. (2:01) Planning permission has been granted for development of both sites. (2:06) The lower school will move to new buildings that will be constructed on the main site.
(2:12) Developers will construct houses on the existing lower school site. (2:17) Work on the new school buildings should start within the next few months. (2:23) A more imminent change concerns the catering facilities and the canteen.
(2:30) The canteen is always very busy throughout the lunch period. (2:34) In fact, it's often full to capacity, (2:37) because a lot of our pupils like the food that's on offer there. (2:41) But there's only one serving point, (2:44) so most pupils have to wait a considerable time to be served.
(2:49) This is obviously unsatisfactory. (2:51) As they may have hardly finished their lunch before afternoon lessons start. (2:58) So, we've had a new food hall built, and this will come into use next week.
(3:04) It'll have several serving areas, and I'll give you more details about those in a minute. (3:10) But one thing we ask you to do, to help in the smooth running of the food hall, (3:16) is to discuss with your children each morning which type of food they want to eat. (3:21) So they can go straight to the relevant serving point.
(3:26) There won't be any junk food, everything on offer will be healthy, (3:31) and there's no change to the current system of paying for lunches (3:35) by topping up your child's electronic payment card online. (3:40) You may be wondering what will happen to the old canteen. (3:44) We'll still have tables and chairs in there, (3:46) and pupils can eat food from the food hall or lunch they've brought from home.
(3:53) Eventually, we may use part of the canteen for storage, (3:56) but first we'll see how many pupils go in there at lunchtime. (4:04) Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 16 to 20. (4:36) Now listen and answer questions 16 to 20.
(4:39) OK, back to the serving points in the food hall, (4:46) which will all have side dishes, desserts and drinks on sale, as well as main courses. (4:54) One serving point we call World Adventures. (4:58) This will serve a different country's cuisine each day, (5:02) maybe Chinese one day and Lebanese the next.
(5:07) The menus will be planned for a week at a time, (5:10) so pupils will know what's going to be available the whole of that week. (5:16) Street life is also international, with food from three particular cultures. (5:23) We'll ask pupils to make suggestions, (5:26) so perhaps sometimes there'll be food from Thailand, Ethiopia and Mexico, (5:33) and then one of them will be replaced by Jamaican food for a week or two.
(5:39) The Speedy Italian serving point (5:42) will cater particularly for the many pupils who don't eat meat or fish. (5:48) They can be sure that all the food served there is suitable for them. (5:53) There'll be plenty of variety, so they shouldn't get bored with the food.
(5:59) OK, that's all on the new food hall. (6:02) Now after-school lessons. (6:05) These are very popular with pupils, particularly swimming.
(6:09) In fact, there's a waiting list for lessons. (6:13) Cycling is another favourite, and I'm delighted that dozens of pupils (6:18) make use of the chance to learn to ride in off-road conditions. (6:23) It means that more and more cycle to and from school every day.
(6:27) As you know, we have a well-equipped performance centre (6:31) and we're going to start drama classes in there too. (6:35) Pupils will be able to join in just for fun or work up to taking part in a play. (6:42) We hope to put on at least one a year.
(6:45) We already teach a number of pupils to use the sound and lighting systems in the centre, (6:51) and a former pupil has given a magnificent grand piano to the school, (6:56) so a few pupils will be able to learn at the school (6:59) instead of going to the local college, as many of them do at the moment. (7:07) That is the end of part two. (7:10) You now have half a minute to check your answers to part two.

Part 2 of 4

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