by Kelly Earls | May 11, 2023 | Uncategorized
Earls High School was lucky enough to host a visit from superstar children’s author, Jacqueline Wilson on Thursday 4th May. Organised by Dudley Children’s Book Group, the event saw a total of 280 students from the Dudley Children’s Book Group’s member schools, including 10 local primary schools and 4 secondary schools.
Jacqueline talked about her journey as a writer, from submitting short stories to magazines as a teenager to the book that she is currently working on. She gave the audience a flavour of her two newest books, ‘The Primrose Railway Children’ and ‘The Other Edie Trimmer’, as well as giving an insight into how she came up with ideas for her writing. With 114 published books, that’s a lot of ideas!
Following her talk to the DCBG member schools, Jacqueline visited The Earls High School library, which has recently undergone a refurbishment. She was impressed by the space and talked to the team of student librarians about how valuable she believes libraries to be. In fact, she confessed to “library” being her favourite word!
Jacqueline Wilson launched Dudley Children’s Book Group in 1998, and has attended Earls several times over the years. If your school is interested in becoming a member of Dudley Children’s Book Group, get in touch with rbartlett1652@gmail.com.
by Kelly Earls | May 10, 2023 | Uncategorized
Year 10 Film Studies students were treated to a film sound workshop this week with Nicole from Amber Music. Students created Foley sounds using everyday objects like keys, paper and plates as well as an electric drumkit and their own voices!
Students recorded the sound effects for Kung Fu Panda and Ratatouille. The completed clips can be seen ( and heard!) below.
by Nic Earls | Apr 4, 2023 | Uncategorized
Today we are coming home!! We had some fabulous entertainment last night and today started with several students getting up to watch the sunrise!
There has been a bit of table tennis action and a final pack up before a last group picture!
See you all very soon!
Mrs Sevier
by Nic Earls | Apr 3, 2023 | Uncategorized
Can’t believe we’ve just completed our final day! The group split this morning, half went to Omega school and the other half went to Wisdom to complete the educational artwork and do some activities with the students.
After the students at Omega had finished, we drove over to join the others at Wisdom school where we proceeded to have a party with the children. They made Easter baskets, played pass the parcel and received party bags!
Another amazing day filled with memories which will last the students a lifetime!
There are a couple of pictures of students enjoying last night’s entertainment, some local musicians who were phenomenal! We have some other entertainment lined up for students tonight and then we will be up tomorrow to pack and say our final farewells!
Our coach is due to collect us at 11 am tomorrow (12noon your time), so students will be without wifi from them on until we touchdown at Gatwick. I will keep you updated as much as possible through school comms, so keep checking your email.
We are scheduled to arrive at Gatwick at 21:27. After we have got all students through the airport, we intend to do a straight run back to Halesowen. ETA is between 1:30 and 3am (I will narrow the time once we know that the motorway is clear and once we have got through)!
Really looking forward to seeing you and reuniting you with your wonderful children!
Mrs Sevier
by Nic Earls | Apr 2, 2023 | Uncategorized
I had to hold back tears this morning as our students went to revisit Kotusilo, (the village situated on the edge of the rubbish tip), and handed out mosquito nets and bars of soap. I had explained to the students that this was ultimately lifesaving work as the poverty is so intense in this part of The Gambia, they cannot afford medical care if they contract malaria. Approximately half a million children under the age of 5 died of malaria in 2021 in Africa!
As a result of the fundraising that took place before we came to The Gambia we were able to provide just over 60 nets this morning, and the gratitude from the families was clearly written on their faces.
An afternoon of batik, the art of wax painting was in store for us this afternoon. The students completed the process from start to finish and watched their batik pictures being dyed. We look forward to receiving the final result back from Nenah tomorrow afternoon. It has been rather hot again today, so the students are currently enjoying cooling themselves down in the pool.
We are hoping that a slightly more chilled day today has helped to recharge the batteries ready for our final push tomorrow! It is hard to believe that our week is nearly over, I have a feeling that you may have some peaceful days ahead when your children return, as I feel some of them may need their beds for a good couple of days to recuperate!
Mrs Sevier
by Nic Earls | Apr 1, 2023 | Uncategorized
So today started with several students getting up early to watch the sunrise, unfortunately the sun was a ‘no show’ and stood them up….the sun’s way of saying happy April Fools day!! The sun has since made up for its late start by providing us with temperatures of 37 degrees today!! 🥵
After breakfast, omelettes and wonjo juice (a new firm favourite of the students) the whole group headed to a school called Spring of Life. There we played with the children doing all sorts of activities,
*colouring
*scratch art
*painting
*bracelet making
*ball games
*musical statues
*songs
*face painting and
*nail painting
To say that fun was had by both sets of students, (and staff) would be an understatement. A big thank you to all of you for your help collecting resources prior to our departure, they have been great to shape our activities during our school visits!!
This afternoon we returned to Wisdom for yet more painting! We are about 90% complete with this project and will do the finishing touches on Monday.
We are off out tonight for a meal at a restaurant on the beach, so I am hopeful that we will be able to provide you with a group image tomorrow!
Mrs Sevier
