°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼×ÊÁÏ

Wicked

Wicked

On Wednesday night, some of our Year 9, 10 and 11 students travelled to the Hippodrome in Birmingham to see Wicked! The night was described as very “inspiring” by our young musicians at the Earls. The GCSE Music cohort in particular enjoyed hearing Defying Gravity in person for the first time; a piece they have studied as part of their qualification!

Samba House Competition

Samba House Competition

The Earls Music Department hosted their Samba House Competition on Tuesday. The 4 competitive houses composed their own pieces and lead their ensembles. Shenstone took the win in a close competition, with a fantastic twist on a previous summer concert piece!

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Ìý Ìý

 

Formula 1

Formula 1

On Thursday 8th and Friday 9thÌýFebruary, four teams competed in the F1 in schools regional finals at Aston University. Since June last year, students have been working hard preparing for the competition, designing and making a miniature version of a F1 car alongside a pit display, a design portfolio, and an enterprise portfolio. Students have also been in contact with local companies, trying to gain sponsorship to fund car development/manufacture and team wear.

The quality of the competition gets better each year but all of the teams can be proud of their performance, with one of our development teams, Ace of Race, designing the fastest car in their class. Boom and Viper, who entered the competition last year, did really well with their verbal presentations while Grip ‘N’ Rip, competing for the first time, managed to get into the top three in the Judge’s Choice category.
Over the two days, students showed great enthusiasm and although non of the teams got through to the national finals, they gained lots of experience from the event. Students were a real credit to the school and we are all looking forward to next year’s event.
Ski 2024 – Day 5

Ski 2024 – Day 5

Mrs Wycherley writes:

Our final day of skiing is over! Skis, poles and boots have been returned, cases have been packed and we have had our final evening meal. This evening students had another opportunity to visit the local supermarket where they stocked up on snacks for the long journey home. If any of you were hoping for change from the Euros you sent your child with, I wouldn’t expect much. Fingers crossed they managed to at least buy you a gift!

We managed to take some fabulous photos on the slopes today which I hope you enjoy looking at. Yet again it was a stunning day with lots of sun. All 5 of our ski groups were able to get to the main mountain and completed a variety of ski runs down. This in itself is a huge achievement because we have more beginners on this trip than we have had in previous years.

This evening we have been ice skating which was a great way to end the trip.

It has been a wonderful trip and one that I am sure the students will remember for many years to come. I am certain that as well as learning to ski it has benefited them all in a whole range of other ways that you will see on their return. Personally, I have thoroughly enjoyed bringing them away as they have been so keen, enthusiastic, helpful and well behaved (most of the time!).

We look forward to seeing you all back at school tomorrow but be prepared for some very tired young people!!!

Today’s awards go to:

Kamikaze – Pierce for causing a pile up and getting lost in woods

Poser -Dan for trying to race staff and losing

Donut of the day- Lewis (I will let him explain why)

We have also taken the opportunity tonight to reward and recognise some other achievements throughout the week.

  • Best Male skier – Tom Pr.
  • Best Female Skier – Isla
  • Most improved skier group 1 – Kane
  • Most improved skier group 2 – Tom Pu.
  • Most improved skier group 3 – Jerris
  • Most improved skier group 4 – Matt
  • Most improved skier group 5 – Kieron
  • Biggest Gossip- Jhoti
  • Calamity Award – Ava
  • Most Resilient – Pierce
  • Biggest FOMO – Franki
  • Cleanest room – Scarlett, Isla, Cloe, Molly
  • Most polite student – Jacob
  • Best banter – Ethan, Alex
Ski 2024 – Day 4

Ski 2024 – Day 4

Mrs Wycherley writes:

Our penultimate day has been full of personal achievements. Lots of students have gone higher into the mountains or managed to do things that they haven’t been able to do before. The sense of pride amongst them has been delightful to see. We have had 4 of the 5 groups up on the main mountain and hoping the fifth willÌýbe up there tomorrow. So many have also helped one another when things have been challenging during the week.

The Uno champions from yesterday were also very appreciative of their free lunch up the mountain today.Ìý

Today finished with a romantic meal for 55 at a pizza restaurant. It was lovely to see and hear all the conversations about things they have seen or done throughout the week. One table even put all their phones in a pile and did not go on them for the evening!Ìý

Tomorrow is our last day, and we are hoping we have some students who will want to continue to learn to ski in the future. We are beginning to think more about coming home as the week draws to a close and although it has been an absolutely superb week, both staff and students will be ready to return come Friday!Ìý

Today’s awards go to:

Kamikaze – Ava for a trip to hospital and a broken wrist!Ìý

Poser – Elliot for showing off and racing the instructor!

Donut of the day – Matt for losing his ski at the end of the last run!

 

Ski 2024 – Day 3

Ski 2024 – Day 3

Mrs Wycherley writes:

We are just over halfway through our trip and every student is now skiing with confidence. The 5am departure last Saturday morning now seems like such a long time ago!Ìý

I am pleased to say that today has been a little warmer and we have had clear blue skies and sunshine this afternoon.Ìý

We now have 3 of the 5 groups on the main mountain and I have had the pleasure of skiing with all these groups today. I could not believe how fast these groups were skiing and was amazed by the wonderful techniques that were on show.

The ski instructors have been so impressed with the enthusiasm, determination and commitment that all of our students have shown and have regularly commented on this throughout the week. They are all a real credit to our school.Ìý

This evening we have been to the bottom of the mountain to watch the ski instructors put on a ski show which was a fantastic display of talent and a look at skiing through the ages in terms of fashion and equipment used since the 1920’s.Ìý

We also ended the evening with an Uno championship, with the winners from each group winning lunch paid for them on the mountain tomorrow.Ìý

Today’s awards go to:

Kamikaze – Jacob for flying around a corner into the side netting as well as knocking multiple people in his group over.Ìý

Poser – Charlie for bragging he has ‘skiing in the bag’!

Donut of the day – Sahara for starting a snowball fight and getting soaked the most.Ìý

Ski 2024 – Day 2

Ski 2024 – Day 2

Mrs Wycherley writes:

Another long and very successful day. The students have improved quickly and by the end of the morning’s skiing all of the staff were both very impressed and very surprised! On another positive, all of the students are remembering to put the correct kit on in the mornings and independently beginning to put on their ski boots and skis, even if a couple did wear the wrong ski boots for the day.Ìý

A few students got a bit overconfident today which resulted in some hilarious mishaps with one student getting 1-1 tuition. but I will spare them the embarrassment of mentioning them by name!

Everybody has now mastered the infamousÌýtravelator and a number of students have been on the gondola and a chairlift. Conditions were better today with some heavy snow at the top of the mountain, rain and clearer weather on the lower slopes.Ìý

This evening, students had an opportunity to pop to the local supermarket to spend some of their pocket money – you can probably guess what most came back with, yes that’s right – more crisps and sweets! They then settled down to dinner followed by swimming at the local pool.Ìý

Today’s ski awards go to:

Kamikaze – Tom Pugh for crashing into another students (see picture)

Poser – Tom Priest a very stylish skierÌý

Donut of the day – Ethan taking a slight detour on his way downÌý

 

Ski 2024 – Day 1

Ski 2024 – Day 1

From the slopes of St. Johann in the Tirol, Mrs Wycherley writes:

After 4 countries, 3 airports, 2 planes and a couple of short coach journeys we arrived in resort all excited for the week ahead. A lovely spaghetti Bolognese cooked for us by the hotel and students were ready for bed (eventually).

Day 1 on the slopes with another early start to be kitted with skis, boots and poles. All in all, the lessons and the first day went really well, some first-time skiers who definitely made progress throughout the day and are looking forward to bigger and longer slopes over the next few days, and the more experienced skiers getting to go up to the middle station and experience some of the longer runs.

The first evening’s entertainment was bowling which saw some great competitive spirit with some unique technique.

Today’s ski awards went to:

Kamikaze – Jhoti for crashing into a lot of people throughout the day!

Poser – Leighton for thinking he is too good for his group already!

Donut of the day – Joey for losing control and crashing onto the concrete in front of ski hire before lessons had even started!

We also had the pleasure of sharing Jay’s 15th birthday with him and celebrated with a song and a cake.

Classical music experience!

Classical music experience!

Another year and another fantastic day for our year 7s to see the CBSO at Symphony Hall! The students heard familiar pieces such as BoleroÌýand theÌýHarry’s Wonderous WorldÌýfromÌýHarry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
Students described the day as ‘spectacular’ and ‘enthralling’.ÌýA truly inspiring day for the cohort with a newfound love for orchestral music!
Mr. J. Cajigal
PROJECT GAMBIA – Day 8

PROJECT GAMBIA – Day 8

Mrs Sevier writes…
Final breakfast this morning! The pancakes 🥞 that have been a morning staple for most students were enjoyed for the last time! I did joke with the pancake chef this morning that he will be out of a job tomorrow when there is not a queue of 30 hungry students to cook for!
After breakfast, students enjoyed a final splash in the pool, then there was just time to pack and take a group picture!
We have made it through the airport checks and we are now waiting at the gate area. Our flight is scheduled for take off on time, so we should arrive back in the Uk at the expected time! I will email parents but we are hoping that our ETA at Earls will be 1:30am!

Gambia, an AMAZING country, until next time….!