School news round-up (including pedal power with little ones at Lime Grove Nursery)

Lime Grove Day Nursery

Mask-wearing children with inspiring banners greeted cyclists on a 767 mile charity cycle ride as they made a pit-stop at Lime Grove Day Nursery in Hemel Hempstead.

The team – colleagues of staff at the Ofsted-rated ‘Outstanding’ day nursery in Park Road – were met by ‘go for it’ messages, balloons and cheering children who have gone wheely mad in support of the fundraising marathon.

Completing nearly 320 miles since the Bath start, the team returned the favour and cheered staff and children who are were on the move on static bikes, scooters, and walkers to help boost funds raised for a £50,000 children’s outside play area at a major hospital.

Taking it one stage further, area manager Claire Heath donned her cycle helmet and cheered on by the children – who had painted a picture of her cycling on a banner - joined the team on the nine mile ride to a sister nursery in St Albans.

Lime Grove manager, Charlotte Lucas, said the initiative was proving great fun for all - with staff and children donning masks featuring famous cyclists for the welcoming party - but also had a very important purpose: “We are surrounded by happy, healthy and confident children every day at nursery and can see how important an imaginative outdoor play area is to their development.

“It is even more important for children undergoing traumatic treatments in hospital and their families supporting them on site,” she said, praising staff and parents for their tireless support of the fund-raising initiative.

As they waited for the team to arrive, children cheered each other on the child-sized static bike and the staff member peddling beside them on an adult version on loan from Sportspace in Boxmoor.

Money raised will go to build a children’s play area at the new Princes Eugenie House in the grounds of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore.

Cyclists on the ‘M and M Challenge’ (Miles House Day Nursery in Bath to Meadow View Day Nursery in Buckinghamshire) have been cycling between each of the 47 day nurseries in the award-winning, employee-owned Childbase Partnership as part of 25th Birthday celebrations for the company.

Childbase Partnership CEO and founder, Mike Thompson, and operations director, Lynda Gostelow, who began her career with the company as a practitioner 25 years ago, are leading the cyclists.

Colleagues have been joining the team for regional sections of the marathon and each nursery visited has hosted their own sponsored events to boost fund-raising for the charity.

The Sue Andrews Foundation – a charitable organisation established in memory of a Childbase Partnership Director who died last year – selected this cause for the big fund-raising drive.

Longdean School

The school’s Darwin Club went to the Big Bang Fair at Duxford.

The Darwin Club is a group of Year 10 and 11 students - 14 to 16 years olds - who are achieving A* to B grades throughout the year.

Students have attended extra-curricular lessons to enhance their knowledge and skills within science, the world and life.

This group of students were given the opportunity to go to the Duxford Imperial War Museum for the Big Bang Fair to experience how science is used, worked with, and studied outside of school and in the working environment. Throughout the day the students went to many different stalls where different companies such as Engineering UK, IOP, Generation XX and many more, were promoting their ideas and subjects to enrol and encourage children into the world of science.

Students are now more aware of the options that they can take if they want to pursue a career in science.

Emma Hayles from the science department said: “We enjoyed taking part in the GSK workshop where we got an understanding of how drugs are produced and the process they have to go through before they are put on the market; we did an experiment (using skittles and lemonade) to demonstrate the time it takes for a drug to dissolve in the stomach.”

The day was finished off with a fantastic science show ran by Steve Allman. The science show became a firm favourite of the day when he presented his ‘best of science’ in the Marshall Auditorium.

The show demonstrated the steps taken in science, technology, engineering and maths to involve the whole audience in the day. With 100mph ping pong balls, optional illusions, neurological tests and screaming balloons.

>The school is eagerly awaiting a decision - expected in late September - on its planning application for a new building. If successful, work will get underway in November this year.

Both Longdean and Kings Langley schools will bre rebuilt under a government scheme to improve educational establishments most in need of urgent repair.

> A list of achievements and aspirations for the new school year have been drawn up.

They are to provide outstanding teaching that uses data effectively to support monitoring and intervention, differentiates effectively to promote the progress of all learners and promotes leadership at all levels in the school.

A effective homework model that develops literacy in all forms across the curriculum, responds to the demands of the new syllabuses and enables staff and students to take responsiblity for their learning in each subject area.

An effective homework model that uses homework to support progress, develop skills and promote independence and dialogue in marking that provides developmental feedback for students to respond to so they know how to progress.

Beechwood Park School

Zimbabwean cricketer, Henry Olonga, speaker and musician gave the address and gained a number of ‘firsts’ at a Beechwood Speech Day - the first speaker to be rewarded with a standing ovation and the first to end his speech with a rousing song.

He congratulated all the pupils and leavers who have had outstanding successes this year in gaining scholarships to their senior schools.

A total of 22 scholarships have been won which will see pupils attend St Albans School, Haileybury, Berkhamsted, St Columba’s, Abbot’s Hill, Princess Helena College, Bournemouth Collegiate and Thornton College.