On Sports Day, Friday 18th June, a group of students from Years 7, 8 and 9 held a cake sale to make Mrs Law happy. Some of you will know that Mrs Law, the head of religious education, is not with us at school at the moment as she is ill.

Students and staff from the Learning Support department and the Resource Base for the Hearing Impaired Students sold cakes outside Mrs Law’s room at break time and lunch time and total of £229 was raised. Students chose some gifts for Mrs Law and the rest of the money will be sent to Mr Kabuga’s school in Kenya and some to Macmillan Cancer Support. Joshua Looney had a fabulous idea that little messages could be sent to Mrs Law to make her feel happy. Our messages were written on hands and made into a book to give to Mrs. Law with her gifts. This is a message from one of the students.

It is not often that we have a group of Year 8 students enthusiastically strumming air ukuleles in the school library. However, that is exactly what happened when performance poet Paul Cookson came to visit Great Baddow High School on Friday, 2nd July.

Paul is a firm believer that poetry is best read - or sung - out loud.

He recruited several groups of students to join in with his lively rendition of a selection of poems, including "Dad, Don’t Shout at the Ref" - a poem which we are sure would resonate with many households after England’s recent abrupt departure from the World Cup.

Paul

Cake Sale

On Friday 14 May the Learning Support Department organised a cake sale in aid of our Kenya project.  The sale raised £249 and I am grateful to all the staff who made cakes and all the students  and staff who either bought cakes or helped to sell them. 

Wednesday March 23^rd was a very exciting day for us all at Great Baddow High. Mr Dickson Kabuga, head teacher from Mutira School in Kenya, came to visit our school for the day. This is part of a link that each of our schools have shared for the past year.  I visited the School in May 2009 and spent time with staff and students learning about their education and culture. It was now our turn to receive Mr Kabuga into our school and give him the same opportunity.

Mr Kabuga was welcomed with a wonderful breakfast hosted by the Learning Support Department. He spent a lesson with Year 8 students, sharing his knowledge of what life is like for students in his school. Our students were eager to ask many questions, which he willingly answered.

Mr Farmer gave a tour of our school. Mr Kabuga was impressed by the facilities that we have here. Mr Kabuga also spent time with Mr Larkin comparing our curriculum and with Ms Bousfield discussing how we prepare students for the transition from primary to secondary education.  We shared time in the library with students who discussed books that they enjoy and many more questions were asked.  Members of staff joined us and spent time listening to Mr Kabuga share his teaching knowledge from his country.

 This is the first time that Mr Kabuga has left his country and he feels very honoured to have had the chance to visit a school in Britain.

 Mr Kabuga would like to thank all students for the kindness and enthusiasm that they showed him during his visit and he is looking forward to seeing them again. As a symbol of our link we have planted a tree at the front of our school. Mr Green explained to our students that this will represent the growth that our schools will share for the future.

 I shall be returning to Mutira School in Kenya in  May 2010 to gather further experience in order to support and strengthen our students’ knowledge of global awareness.  Within our school we feel that this is vital in the education of our students.