The Experience of a Lifetime

On Saturday 16th February, ten Bishop Heber sociology a level students and three staff set off for a week visiting the Gambia in Africa. The trip was planned by Sociology teacher Maxine Beech, who wanted to give the students a chance to compare British and African culture, and apply the theory to real life. The Heber students trekked through national parks, were welcomed to a traditional village by the chief and taught how to dance by the women, visited Serrekunda – the largest market in Gambia, enjoyed a river trip and fishing for frog fish, learnt batik, tie and dye and Gambian cooking, and were invited to spend time in family compounds. The focus of the trip was to spend time in the Sunrise centre, a school for both 4-8 year olds and 15-25 years old skills students. The Heber students took part in, and sometimes led, lessons in the school, and were treated to a cultural show by the Gambian teachers and students. They also spent a morning designing and making their own tie and dye fabric with the skills students, which they brought back to England with them. Friday was the annual 'Ebbeh day' at Sunrise; a community open day at the school with lots of local foods and music. Both Gambian and British students had a wonderful day, with the Heber students learning to dance 'Mankinda style' – a tribal dance – and the Gambian students learning to dance 'Gangnam style'! The Sunrise centre is run by the Gambia Education and Teaching Support (GETS) charity. Sunrise, with the help of UK donations, provides good quality education for Gambian children and young people at a very low fee that most parents can afford. Those who cannot afford the fees are found sponsors, who pay £10 a month. Two of the Heber students, Lucy Hobson and Rachel Jones, and teacher Maxine Beech sponsor students at the centre, and were delighted to meet their sponsored students face to face. Currently four young children are waiting for sponsors for their education. The school also has a 'sponsor a teacher' scheme, which encourages people to donate £5 a month to sponsor a teacher and their class providing valuable funds for salaries and resources. Only Gambian staff are paid wages, including administration, so the money goes directly into helping the community. For more information about supporting or visiting the Sunrise centre you can visit their website www.getsuk.org, or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For more information about Bishop Heber school visit www.bishopheber.cheshire.sch.uk.

Discovery Days at the King’s School

The King’s School is a dynamic, exciting place to learn and offers your child the best opportunity to succeed in later life. Their curriculum is designed to offer stimulating courses which stretch young minds from the minute they start with the school at 11, and offer really new and innovative subjects to ensure that they are not limited by the narrow confines of public exams. At King’s students now study for the highly regarded IGCSE in half of all subjects as the school consider these more rigorous than the standard GCSE courses and find that pupils are relishing the challenge. An ambitious afternoon of ‘enrichment’ offers pupils over 40 courses such as Italian, Arabic, anthropology, electronics and art history, all intended to widen their intellectual horizons, increase confidence and develop independent study – all qualities which are highly valued by the top universities. King’s is well known for its music school, with 25 music groups and over 50% of pupils involved in music in some way. Sport is a real strength of the school with pupils competing at a national level for rowing and cricket, regional level for hockey and district level for a good few of the many sports on offer. There are 130 clubs and activities offering an interest for everyone from poetry to Russian. From September 2013, the school will also offer drama and theatre studies as part of its curriculum to further grow their reputation for excellence in drama, all to take place in their newly opened 300 seat fully equipped theatre. King’s is a busy school, bursting with opportunities for your child. If you would like to know more about the school, organise a visit or register your child for one of their fun ‘discovery days’, please contact the admissions office or see our website: www.kingschester.co.uk

Squash Success!

A pupil from a north Shropshire school received some great news via email from England Squash to confirm that she had been chosen to represent the West Midlands at the upcoming England Super Regions tournament in April, where all the regions in England come together with their best players to battle it out. As part of her training Anya Stojanovic, a year six pupil at Oswestry School, has been asked by England Squash to start entering tournaments in order to begin to gain experience of the highs and lows of competitions. In her first tournament a few months ago at Birmingham, although she lost in the first round, Anya went onto win the plate. At the weekend she travelled down to Gloucester and despite playing girls ranked as highly as number six in the UK, Anya won the Under 11 tournament and took home the cup.

Authors inspire for World Book Day

Two prestigious authors inspired girls in a visit to The Queen’s School for World Book Day this week. Esteemed US children’s novelist CJ Daugherty visited and told tales from her professional life as a writer; everything from novel writing, crime reporting, political commentating and investigative journalism to travel writing and even working for the British Government had a fascinating story. The author of the Night School series of novels thoroughly entertained pupils and many expressed an interest in following in her footsteps with a career in creative writing. Former Queen’s girl Sue Flood, formerly an acclaimed BBC Natural History Unit filmmaker, and now a professional and travel photographer based in Rossett, also gave an inspirational talk to students about her adventures in the Arctic and Antarctic, and warmer climes too. Sue’s award-winning book Cold Places features her favourite images from almost 40 trips to the Polar Regions over the last 16 years. Budding photographers heard how to capture the best wildlife shots and the pressures of working in extreme environments, whether it was camping on the Arctic sea ice with Inuit guides, diving under the ice, or swimming with humpback whales in the South Pacific. She also stayed behind in the evening to talk to interested parents and took part in a question and answer session. ‘Hearing from women who have worked in the creative industries and made a success of their life is hugely inspirational for our girls,’ says head librarian at the Queen’s School, Gilly Mayes, when explaining why these sorts of visits are so important. ‘Having someone to inspire you is important and often in the media the choices for girls are limited. We hope that by meeting inspirational women, and in this case even a former pupil, the girls will have a clearer idea of the choices open to them.’ Visit www.queens.cheshire.sch.uk for more information about the Queen’s School.