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The weather has been kinder to us today so we have all been outside for the majority of the day. We had another opportunity to summit the climbing wall and challenged our numeracy skills.  The most popular activities of the day were the axe throwing, archery and fire lighting.  A lot of resilience was needed for the fire lighting!

Thank you to Mrs Haines, our new Headteacher, for joining us for the day.  Mr Lindley, one of our governors, also came along to witness the excitement and talked with the students about the skills they were developing as a new Year 7 student as well as our Year 10 students who have been supporting our new students.

We have all been showing our resilience today whether it was tackling the climbing wall or dealing with the British weather. Laser tag in the Sports Hall with the lights off was a blast! Thanks to Wiltshire Outdoor Learning.  Climbing again tomorrow + fire lighting and axe throwing!

Today our new students have been challenging themselves in a variety of ways. Everyone has taken part in our cycling skills workshop. For some students it was a challenge to get onto a bike when they are not regular riders, for others they were learning to master some BMX skills.  They have all taken part in a treasure hunt around the school, finding out what equipment they should bring with them every day. We’ve also had blind drawing and spaghetti tower building. We found time for eating ice lollies too!

We have been focusing on team work today for our first day of Summer School. Our new students have engaged enthusiastically with each the activities. Thank you to our Year 10 and Year 12 students who have been supporting them.

Here are some photos from our Year 10 Elite Sports Day held on Friday 2 July. This was a compulsory event for all Year 10 students studying Sports Science and Sports Studies as well as those Year 10 students who wanted to take part in the challenge.  Well done to everyone taking part.

A group of Year 8 students were fortunate enough to participate in a ‘Virtual Author Workshop’ with Alex Sheppard on Thursday 15 July. Explaining how her writing career developed from the age of 5, Alex gave a fascinating insight into her influences and journey towards becoming a published author. After hearing about the continued impact of Ancient Greek Gods on aspects of modern life from literature to film and advertising, students were asked to put Alex’s top tip into action: practise writing! Students were invited to write the opening of a story about a modern Greek God and their exploits. Taking up the challenge, stories featuring the God of British Weather, the God of Money and the God of Intelligence to name a few emerged. Amelie was brave enough to read her story to camera for the author to critique.

Ahead of the workshop, Year 8 students had been invited to submit stories to Alex. Excellent stories from Kaiza and Kuga were selected to go forward from Bradon Forest School to the Athelstan Trust. We were delighted that Kuga’s story was selected as the best entry from all five of the trust schools and really hope that he will enjoy his signed copy of ‘Oh My Gods’.

Find out more about Alex here.

Thanks to Ms Hazell, one of the English teachers at Bradon Forest, for organising this event for our students.

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Matt Oldfield is the author of the series, Ultimate Football Heroes.  These are a series of biographies telling the life-stories of the biggest and best footballers in the world and their incredible journeys from childhood fan to super-star professional player.  Written with his brother, Tom, they are a fast-paced, action-packed style of books from Maradona to Messi, from Beckham to Kane – and their incredible journeys from the playground to the pitch.  To date, the Ultimate Football Heroes series has sold over 420,000 copies in the UK alone.

Matt’s visit to school earlier this month included three workshops and one assembly presentation for students in Years 7 and 8.  The workshop was on the themes of resilience and growth mindset and bouncing back after a setback using the Ultimate Football Heroes series.  The students were fully engaged and contributing to the sessions and came away with an enthusiasm and understanding for creating their own bounce back story from their own experiences.

Here’s what some students from 7B2 thought about their workshop:

“I think Matt Oldfield’s workshop was really interesting and enthusiastic and he presented it brilliantly.  I really like his books.” Vanessa

“He was very enthusiastic; you could tell he loved his job and was very passionate.  His life is fascinating and I’m sure he’s inspired many young writers to pursue what they love.” Macy

“Matt Oldfield was very inspiring when he was talking about writing and creativity and when he was talking about making non-fiction sound fun, that was really cool.” Edward

Thanks to Mrs Styles, Bradon Forest School’s Librarian, for arranging this amazing opportunity for our students.

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