Tag Archives: Schools

Little People, Olympic Achievement

Village Primary School’s Song on National Television This Week!

When a quiet Warwickshire village school decided to record an original song inspired by the London 2012 Olympics, little could they know how far their voices would carry!

The 106 children (aged 4-11) of Ilmington Primary School only released Rings Around The World on 21st April, yet it has already been filmed to be shown on BBC1 TV’s iconic Songs of Praise.  The programme will be broadcast nationwide this Sunday, 13th May, just days before the Olympic Torch begins its journey around the UK.

The song has been played on regional radio, will be featured on BBC Radio 2 and has attracted attention from far and wide.  On hearing the single, legendary magician Paul Daniels immediately tweeted the link to his 41,000 followers!

”Rings Around The World” is a rabble-rousing, heart-pumping, world-uniting anthem that demands to be listened to. Its message of global love and hope will bring tears from a nation standing proud, not just soppy mums and dads.  (Forget the bygone image of a cutesy kids’ choir, like St. Winifred’s School Choir’s “Grandma We Love You” in 1980.)

In this most amazing year, with a once-in-a-lifetime global sporting event at its heart, how much further will these children’s dreams carry them?

The CD (which includes a video of the 106 singers) is currently available at HMV Stratford-upon-Avon and via the website www.ringsaroundtheworld2012.co.uk.  The song is also available on iTunes.

“Rings Around the World is the kind of going-for-gold, inspirational anthem that makes you want to jump, cheer and do a triple somersault with a half pike. A perfect song to celebrate the Olympics,” said Steve Sutherland, former NME Editor.

Fire Safety Champion celebrates award!

North Warwickshire pupil, Sophie Hunt is being commended for taking part in the Junior Fire Safety Champion Scheme at Kingsbury Primary School on Monday 30th April.

The scheme, which encourages young people to spot potential fire hazards in the home, has been established by Warwickshire County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service as part of a drive to keep young people safe from harm through an interactive fire safety education programme in Primary Schools.

The scheme has been made possible thanks to a grant of £4,500 from the Electrical Safety Council (ESC).

As part of the scheme, pupils are  asked to carry out an initial hazard spotting exercise which checks key elements such as whether there is a working smoke alarm in the home, if there are any electrical cables running under carpets or rugs and ensuring that  there only one plug used per socket.  Checks can be carried out in their family home, grandparents, neighbours, relatives or friends houses. Once complete, the young people have to hand in a completed assessment to the school and are awarded with a Junior Fire Safety Champion certificate.

All assessments are passed onto the fire service and also provide the residents with the opportunity to request advice or a free home fire safety check from the fire service.

Sophie was presented with her Junior Fire Safety Champion certificate by Community Fire Safety Officer Andy Morgan during a school assembly and was also the lucky winner of a £25 WHSmith gift voucher after being picked out of the monthly prize draw.

Schools Liaison Officer, Ruth Greenhalgh said:

“We are really pleased to be presenting Sophie with her prize and to have received funding for this scheme from the Electrical Safety Council. This is the second scheme they have funded within the last three years to help educate young people about how to stay safe in the home.  The project has been rolled out to schools across Warwickshire to give young people aged between 9 and 10 the opportunity to learn more about fire safety, electrical fire safety and how to stay safe in the home.”

Lorraine Carney, Senior Campaigns Manager at the Electrical Safety Council (ESC) said:

“Our primary objective is to help people stay safer around electricity. So we are delighted to work with the Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Service to support their innovative Junior Fire Safety Champion Scheme. According to government statistics, almost half of all accidental fires in UK homes – that’s over 20,000 each year – are caused by electricity, so it’s vital that people are made aware of where electrical dangers may arise in their homes and understand how to prevent an electrical-related accident happening.”

Portfolio Holder for Community Safety said:

“The Junior Fire Safety Champion Scheme is proving to be a real success with young people across Warwickshire. I would like to congratulate Sophie on receiving her prize and hope that more young people will now get involved with this very worthwhile scheme.”

 

Competition winners celebrate their success!

Children from Welcombe Hill School, Stratford, have been celebrating their success this week after winning a poster competition run by Warwickshire County Councils Fire and Rescue Service.

The posters were designed after pupils took part in a safety education session at the school. The aim of the session was to teach the children about the dangers of fire and how to make an escape plan should a fire occur in their home. The pupils were then able to have a look around a fire engine with firefighters from Green Watch, Stratford.

Four classes at the school – Oak, Willow, Pear and Maple, were then invited to design a poster to show a fire safety message that they had learnt from the day.  Overall 21 posters were submitted and the lucky winners were chosen by the School Liaison Officer from the Fire and Rescue Service.

The winners and the runners up have now all been presented with certificates and goody bags including felt tips, squeezy fire engines and fridge magnets as a reward for the hard work and imagination they put into designing the posters.

Schools Liaison Officer, Ruth Greenhalgh said:
“Firstly, I would like to thank all of the young people who took part and congratulate the winners and runners up in the competition.

“Teaching young people about fire safety and staying safe is a key element of their social development and we are pleased that so many schools in the County work with us on initiatives like this.  The pupils at Welcombe Hills School were full of enthusiasm for the project and it was apparent by the design of the posters that our message had been understood.”

For further information on fire safety in the home then log onto www.warwickshire.gov.uk/fireandrescue

Ilmington school releases Olympic single

Remember the last time a kids’ choir topped the charts? It was 1980, and the St Winifred’s School Choir tortured the nation with the sickly sentimental ‘Grandma We Love You’. Well, roll out the bunting, because this is nothing like that!

Although the school children of Ilmington Primary are (mostly) undeniably cute, their song celebrating the forthcoming London Olympics is a rabble-rousing, heart-pumping, world-uniting anthem that demands to be listened to. Its message of global love and hope may well cause tears to be spilled, but they will be from a nation standing proud, not just soppy mums and dads.

It seems fitting that 106 school children from a small village school on the northern edge of the Cotswolds should have the gumption to take on such an ambitious project. The David Vs Goliath element sums up the Olympian spirit perfectly: where the tiny Pacific island of Nauru (the smallest competing nation) dares take on the might of superpowers such as China and the United States.

Collaborating on ‘Rings Around The World’ are renowned poet, royal bard and parent David Raeburn, musician David Richards and, adding the X factor, vocal coach Julian Harris. The song is being professionally recorded at Mundell Court studios and will be released on digital and CD formats on 21 April.

“’Rings Around The World’ is the kind of going-for-gold, inspirational anthem that makes you want to jump, cheer and do a triple somersault with a half pike. A perfect song to celebrate the Olympics.” – Steve Sutherland, former NME Editor and proud Ilmington parent.

Rehearsal video

School closure information just a click away

With a cold snap forecast later this week Warwickshire County Council is reminding parents and carers how they can find out about emergency school closures.

 

There are a number of ways for parents to find out if their child’s school will be closed. They can go to www.warwickshire.gov.uk/schoolclosures, sign up for the council’s text and email alerts, tune in to their local radio station or even follow the tweets from @wccschoolclosed (become a follower online at twitter.com/wccschoolclosed).

 

The website and Twitter feed provide an invaluable service if schools are forced to close due to severe weather conditions or through other emergency circumstances such as a flu pandemic.

 

Warwickshire County Councillor Heather Timms, portfolio holder for children, young people and families, said: “We’ve set up a number of convenient ways for parents to check if their child’s school will be affected and encourage them to visit our website or follow our tweets to keep updated.”

In addition to online information, Warwickshire’s free school closure text message service has proved popular with parents in previous years.

The service automatically issues a text message to all users of the service when schools have had to close. It takes just a couple of minutes to sign up online through www.warwickshire.gov.uk/schoolclosures and up to three schools can be selected by each user.

Last year almost 3,000 people signed up for email and text message notification and approximately 18,000 text message notifications were sent out during the winter period. During the heavy snow fall in early January 2010, the website closure pages received over 76,000 visits in just one day.

Subscription to the service expires at the end of the summer term each year, so parents and carers need to sign up at the start of each academic year to continue receiving updates.

At the same website, people can also sign up to receive email alerts and link to the school closures RSS feed – a simple way of displaying text and importing it into other computer applications.

Children take the fresh air alternative to the school run

Children in Lapworth will soon be able to take a healthier route to school on the Walking Bus.

Thanks to the commitment of parents and the headteacher from Lapworth Church of England Primary School, a fresh air alternative to the school run will soon be available in the mornings.

The Walking Bus will take children and trained parent volunteers from a designated ‘bus stop’ on the outskirts of the village, with an additional ‘stop’ half way along the route, then on to the primary school.

The estimated ten minute walk will give children a chance to socialise with others, gain valuable road safety awareness and get some exercise before school.

Headteacher Colette Hatton said: “We are very pleased to be able to offer the walking bus as a fun, healthy and eco-friendly way for our pupils to travel to school.”

Many schools in Warwickshire have problems with congestion outside their schools at the start and end of each day. The Walking Bus, organised by Warwickshire County Council’s Sustainable Travel Team, is a great way to help tackle school gate congestion and thereby improve road safety around the school site on Station Lane, and in addition, walking in a large group can be great fun for children as well.

The school intends to launch the walking bus after half term and it is hoped that the popularity may mean more children will choose to walk to school rather than being driven and dropped off outside the school gates.