InsideBredon ISSUE THREE | FEBRUARY 2021
FEATURED INSIDE:
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Boarding round up Praise for our boarders
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Coming soon to Bredon New BTEC and GCSE courses
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Is you child missing forest school?
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#VirtualBredon Online learning
A high proportion of the boarding community returned after the Christmas break to form our boarding bubble. Demonstrating an extraordinary level of maturity, resilience and resolve, the boarders have been accessing our online learning programme during school
Ready, steady, cook Cooking competition
professionalism and care throughout. With the majority of pupils engaging in lessons from their kitchen table, spare bedroom or make-shift home classroom, I extend my heartfelt thank you to all parents, guardians, grandparents and other family members for their support in making this possible. The campus is somewhat quieter without you all however, we continue to maintain and invest as we prepare to reopen our doors in the not too distant future.
Welcome from the Headmaster Despite the many challenges we have all faced this term, I am incredibly proud of how the Bredon School community has once again transitioned into another period of remote learning. The hard work, determination and enthusiasm of both academic and support staff has ensured the delivery of an effective and robust remote learning programme from day one. The short notice given in relation to school closures, did not hinder our ability to quickly and effectively switch to a virtual platform and continue educating all of our pupils. Parents evenings have moved online (perhaps something to continue with after lockdown) and we have all soldiered on.
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With an ever changing landscape, we continue to keep up to date with government guidance with regards to the proposals for reopening from 8th March and will be communicating with our parental body in due course. hours before embracing a comprehensive range of ‘lockdown’ activities based on campus led by our Director of Boarding, Mr Starr, and his dedicated team. The Junior School has offered our key worker pupils a base from which they too have been able to access our online learning programme supported by a small team of staff who have acted as sudo Teaching Assistant, Teacher and Tutor on many occasions. Our Health and Wellbeing team quickly fine-tuned our COVID testing process and our former Reception area is now a fully functional testing centre. Visits to the onsite testing centre have now become a ‘normal’ part of the week for every pupil and member of staff onsite. All are methodically tested twice weekly to ensure our community remains safe. I would like to personally mention Jill Blakeney and Carey Allen for their ‘can do’ attitude,
The future of Bredon looks bright; we continue to have a healthy number of enquiries from prospective families and I have been delighted to interview (virtually) a number of outstanding prospective pupils, many of whom will be joining us in September. Our new website launches very soon and we have a number of additional posts and offers advertised and planned for the weeks and months to come.
Take a break With half term in front of us, I urge pupils, staff and parents to ‘take a break’, step away from those screens which have dominated our learning this term and to return with renewed energy for the second half of the spring term.
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Boarding round up Stable House
Tyndale House
Embracing Bredon’s wonderful environment and facilities the girls in Stable House have had a fantastic first half of the spring term.
Despite a national lockdown, Tyndale House has been extremely vibrant and busy during the first half of the spring term. The boys have done exceptionally well with the remote learning, demonstrating a great attitude towards their education. A relaxed but structured approach has enabled the Tyndale boys to thrive socially, building friendships that will no doubt be with them forever.
Miss H’s dog, Wilfred, has never had so much exercise or so many dog treats! The girls have enjoyed a number of countryside walks, lots of baking, sports, arts and crafts, bird watching and a much needed snow day. Pupils in Year 11 and below organised a pop up Italian restaurant evening, where they made fresh pizza with homemade garlic bread followed by a Nutella pizza. The girls wrapped up an excellent half term reflecting on themselves creating posters using positive words such as, ‘kind’, ‘beautiful’ and ‘gentle’ to describe their ever-growing personalities. Next half term, the girls are looking forward to the arrival of some Indian Runner ducks which the girls have put into the incubator.
Sport and relaxation have gone hand in hand this term with badminton and basketball played most evenings. Mini junior rugby has been played in all weathers each Saturday led by Rollo, Will and young Elliot - even young Barnaby joined in last week, possibly because it was excuse to roll in muddy puddles! Our boys loved the recent snow! Our boarding staff were outside all day with the pupils and were very thankful that most of the snowballs were thrown with little accuracy! Weekend walks have been enjoyed by all; some of the more energetic boys challenged themselves to run the route last Sunday, congratulations to Harry who completed the 2-mile race in just over 14 minutes.
Photos: The boys pancake making weekend!
Praise indeed! All boarders from both Tyndale and Stable House have demonstrated resilience and an exemplary attitude which will really help them in the future. They have taken themselves out of their comfort zones and reached the targets they set personally, a credit to themselves as well as the fantastic boarding staff whom have gone above and beyond to support our boarders this term.
Year 4 and 5 express themselves Year 4 and 5 have been finding new ways in which to express themselves as part of Children’s Mental Health Week. Pupils explored ways in which they can express themselves through the mediums of Art, Music and Dance sharing their ideas with their peers. The results were fabulous from singing to playing musical instruments, doodles and sketches to baking. Pupils enjoyed completing the squiggle game... squiggle on a piece of paper to see what shapes / pictures you can see in those squiggles, expressing yourself using creativity and colour.
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Unsung heroes Whilst our academic staff have been busy ensuring our pupils continue to receive an outstanding educational provision, the Estates team have been busy working to keep the school operational on a day-to-day basis as well as making improvements in preparation for pupils to return. The Accommodation Services team continue to keep the school sanitised and clean, using innovative green cleaning systems as our front line defence. Our recently appointed Gardener, Jamie A, has finished planting bulbs and is now propagating cuttings for spring which we will all be able to admire postlockdown. Our Groundsperson, Mr C, has have been working to clear leaves, cut back shrubs and trees in an effort to smarten the campus up whilst our pitches remain a little soggy. It is not often that you can capture the moon’s reflection on a rugby pitch.
Photo: Propagating cuttings for spring
Sports round up Sports sessions have been delivered to pupils in the form of a variety of tasks and challenges during the first half of the Spring term. Yoga, netball drills, football skills, track stands and kayaking workouts have all been attempted.
Photo: School improvements - going green!
A Year 11 pupil took on the Stair Climb Challenge and managed to climb a height equivalent to the Sydney Opera House (425 steps) in a single sports lesson. Not to be outdone, a Year 8 pupil climbed a height equivalent to Blackpool Tower (1036 steps)! PE lessons have focused on developing health and fitness with pupils completing fitness tests to find out how good their cardiovascular fitness is. The best result for the Cooper Run (12 minutes’ continuous run) was Year 8 pupil, Tai who completed 2660 metres. The bleep test highest result was 12.9 achieved by Matthew in Year 10.
RESULTS
On top of their day-to-day maintenance, the Maintenance team have been decorating the SMART building classrooms – gone are the brown skirting boards and magnolia walls, we now have brighter modern greys. One of the Science laboratories has also received a makeover with new low energy lighting and a fresh coat of paint in readiness for further work planned for the summer holidays. Outside, some of the lighting has been improved with replacement LED lighting including the astro pitch that will not only improve visibility around the site on winter evenings but also help the school become more green.
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Farm round up With all of the animals inside for winter the School farm has been a hive of activity over the last few weeks. All but a handful of the sheep have been brought into the sheds with our boarding community kept busy ensuring the routine jobs of feeding and bedding are undertaken throughout the school week as well as at weekends. Even the geese, chickens and guinea fowl have been in their own ‘lockdown’ as a result of an outbreak of bird flu around the country. Pupils have been refreshing the allotments and Mr Crwys-Williams has been challenging pupils to design their own plots. Pupils are now in the process of getting the plots ready for planting. In addition, pupils have been busy revamping our hen houses (Cluckingham Palace, Big Hen and The Penteggon) ready for the lifting of the avian lockdown!
The Hadrian’s Wall Challenge The race is on for our Inter-House Challenge! Marking the turn of the season, in the old Roman calendar February was the last month of the year. The first day of spring, 5th February was seen to bring the renewal of agricultural activities after winter. Following in the footsteps of the Romans in Britain, we are challenging pupils to safely walk, cycle or jog, collecting miles to contribute to their House teams overall virtual distance travelled. With the virtual starting line being school, pupils will race to the beginning of Hadrian’s Wall at Wallsend before following the length of Hadrian’s Wall to Bowness in Solway and heading back to rural Gloucestershire and our beautiful school campus, the finishing line – that’s 600 miles in total. We look forward to sharing progress on our social media channels.
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NEW FOR SEPT
Coming soon to Bredon! As a small independent school, Bredon is able to provide a constantly developing and changing curriculum to suit the needs and interests of our pupils. With an enthusiastic academic staff, we continuously review our provision having the flexibility to add new subjects and qualifications to our extensive offering. From September 2021, Bredon School is delighted to be offering a number of new subjects which include:
BTEC Animal Care
GCSE Music
Covering the key principles, knowledge, understanding and skills relevant to the animal care industry, pupils will study animal health, animal handling, animal welfare and animal housing and accommodation. Pupils will work closely with the large animals on the School farm as well as small domesticated animals such as dogs, rabbits, hamsters and reptiles.
Encouraging pupils to engage critically and creatively with a wide range of music, pupils will develop an understanding of the place of music in different cultures and contexts, and reflect on how music is used in the expression of personal and collective identities. Pupils will also learn to appraise their own music to allow refinement in their own performances and compositions.
Involving a great deal of practical work, this course will require pupils to follow up with evidence based reports and assignments. Pupils should enjoy working closely with animals and be confident when handling them. Pupils who achieve a BTEC First graded as Level 1 Pass may progress to related Level 2 vocational or academic qualifications, such as other BTECs or GCSEs. Level 2 pupils can then progress to other Level 2 vocational qualifications and related competencebased qualifications for the land-based sector or Level 3 vocational qualifications in Animal Management. This will also help with future careers within the animal care industry.
If you have a keen interest in composing, performing or producing music then this course will be of interest to you. Our Music qualification has been designed to give all pupils the opportunity to develop their knowledge, understanding and skills of music whatever their previous experience. This course supports the development of musical fluency and provides access to further study of Music at AS and A level.
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GCSE Citizenship Are you interested in what it means to be a citizen? Do you want to understand more about democracy? Do you want to understand more about diversity? These topics and so much more are studied as part of GCSE Citizenship. There are 5 main themes within the course; Living Together in the UK, Democracy at Work in the UK, Law and Justice, Power and Influence and Citizenship in Action. The course takes into account topical news to support pupil learning, therefore an interest in society and the news would be an advantage.
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GCSE Graphic Communication Graphic Communication is defined as the practice of creating work to convey information, ideas and emotions through the use of graphic elements such as colour, icons, images, typography and photographs. This course enables pupils to study typography, communication graphics, design for print, advertising, multimedia, illustration, and signage techniques. If you are a creative and motivated pupil this is a fantastic course for you and offers a good preparation for progression to A Level in Art and Design: Graphic Communication or a suitable vocational course. It could lead towards a career in new media, advertising, design, games development, games technologies and more.
BTEC Performing Arts Providing a broad introduction to the Performing Arts sector pupils will develop the necessary transferable and sector skills to progress quickly. The qualification prepares pupils for progression to Level 2 BTECs or other study programmes. Pupils will study three core units; ‘Introduction to the Performing Arts’, ‘Taking Part in a Performance’, and ‘Starting to Develop Performance Skills’. To be successful on this course, for musicians it is helpful if you are learning at least one musical instrument at Grade 2 level and are able to identify notes on the treble clef stave. For actors you must be confident performing in front of a live audience and prepared to learn lines. This course is ideal for pupils who wish to learn more about the Performing Arts industry.
Course options Course Prospectus 2021-22
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Course Prospectus 2021-22
Full details of all of these courses are available on the school website, alternatively please email admissions@ bredonschool.org.uk for a copy of our Year 10 and / or Sixth Form prospectus.
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Is your child missing forest school? Bredon School’s DIY Forest School. The national lockdown, combined with virtual lessons means that many children are spending the majority of their time in front of a screen, and are not getting outdoors enough. With the benefits of outdoor education and forest school including increased confidence and independence, empathy for others and nature, improved physical fitness and better mental health, why not give our top ten DIY forest school activities a go at home? Spending at least two hours each week embracing Bredon’s 84-acre site in Forest School lessons, our Junior School pupils learn a range of practical skills including weaving with hazel, building shelters, splitting wood and under supervision making campfires and climbing trees. They observe habitats, learn to identify leaves, plant trees and gain basic cooking skills such as boiling hot water and making hot chocolate. As lockdown continues, why not run your own forest school sessions? You don’t need a forest to be able to replicate some of the activities that we host here at Bredon – a small back garden will suffice!
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1. Building a den This back-to-nature activity will help your child to develop problem solving skills, as well as thinking creatively and learning how to build a simple structure. Challenge your child to build a den in the garden using sticks, leaves, tyres, garden furniture, and anything else they can find. If it’s raining or perhaps you have no outside space, this activity can work just as well in the living room building an inside den! 2. Scavenger Hunt Create a list using either words or photographs of the objects that your child needs to find. This could include a certain flower in the garden, or a leaf from a particular tree. Perhaps they need to collect rocks of three different sizes or textures - this will help with a ‘multi-sensory’ approach to their learning, as well as helping them with memory and observation skills. 3. Build a Bug Hotel Encourage insects to your garden by building them their very own residence using planks of wood or old pallets or crates piled up with bricks between the layers. Your child can fill the gaps between the layers with things to make their visitors at home, such as cardboard tubes, shredded paper, feathers and pebbles, and keep checking every day to see who has moved in. 4. Build a Mini Raft Use sticks and string to build a mini raft which you can then try and float in your paddling pool or bathtub - experiment with different ways to build them and see which one floats the best! 5. Make Your Own Water Filter! Get crafty with nature and learn how to clean dirty water with a natural filter, using a few simple materials that you can find in your garden or local green space and around your home. Watch this video to see how. 6. My Street Tree Download ‘My Street Tree’ activity sheet from Wild Watch - and use it to help your child to study a tree near your home. This activity encourages children to think about the type of tree, how it benefits nature and how it creates a home for nature.
7. Plant a Herb Garden Using a small plant pot or window box, create a mini herb garden for your home. You can purchase herb plants such as rosemary, mint and sage from most supermarkets, or you could choose to buy seeds online. This activity can help to teach children about germination and how plants grow, and you can even use the herbs in your home cooking lessons! 8. Outdoor Cooking If you have a safe space, why not build a campfire? If your garden is not suitable, you could use a small barbeque to toast marshmallows on sticks - try this as an evening activity and gather as a family to tell stories, read poems or sing songs around the fire. You could try boiling water for hot chocolate or popping popcorn (use two sieves together to create a popcorn cage) over the fire too.
9. Leaf Art Get your child to go outside and collect as many leaves as they can in a bag. Tell them to try and find leaves of different sizes, colours and shapes, and then use the leaves to create art. Use glue to stick the leaves on paper or canvass to create a leaf mosaic, paint the leaves and use them as leaf stamps, put a piece of paper over the leaf and take a leaf rubbing, or trace around the leaves and colour them in to create a pretty leaf picture. 10. Go on a Nature Walk Next time you go out for a walk as a family, encourage your child to be on the lookout for nature. They could bring a notebook and pen and write down all of the animals they can spot whilst walking, or take photos of the different flowers, animals and trees you spot on your way. If you live in a fairly residential area, you would be surprised how many animals you may still be able to find, eg, cats, dogs, birds, or even ants on the pavement!
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Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week
The Bredon definition of resilience
The health and wellbeing of the pupils at Bredon School is always at the forefront of everything we do, led by our brilliant Health and Wellbeing team who are always on hand to support and nurture our pupil body.
Resilience. Probably one of the words that we have all heard the most in recent times, but what does it actually mean?
Unable to run activities within school to highlight the importance of Children’s Mental Health Week, the Health and Wellbeing shared their top tips for looking after your mental health. These were shared with pupils and parents over the course of the week via our social media channels but if you didn’t spot them here they are again:
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Spend some time outdoors Get a good sleep Eat a balanced diet Take some exercise Be Kind to one another Talk to each other Follow a daily routine Focus on the positive
For full details please head over to our social media channels or the school website.
Some Churchillian ideal to keep going when times are tough, spending more (enforced) time with ourselves and becoming more self-reliant as a result, or perhaps working outside of our comfort zone and away from our normal support network of home or school? The answer is probably a bit of all three if we think about it, but I would propose another which I think our community has demonstrated brilliantly over the last few months. The ability to adapt successfully in the face of adversity, and to bounce when we fall down. We all fell down on January 6th when the Prime Minister told us to stay at home, and all our exciting plans for the start of term were put on hold. But how quickly did we bounce? Remote learning up and running from day 1, Chromebooks sent home, online registrations and meetings, with kitchen and dining room tables once again turned into spaces for conjunctions, calculus and coursework. Full timetables maintained with a brilliant online offer from our hard working teaching staff, often simultaneously supporting their own children at home whilst teaching our pupils, and the pupils themselves buying into the lessons and engaging fully with their teachers, making the most of the limited and distant personal contact that is possible. This would not have been possible without the contribution of the whole Bredon community. The support and effort of the teaching and boarding staff, support and ancillary staff literally keeping the lights on, internet running and catering for our on-site pupils, parents and guardians facilitating learning at home and the pupils themselves adapting time and again, without grumbling or complaint. All without really knowing the end date, some nebulous light at the end of the tunnel. But we haven’t fallen, we’ve bounced, and we’ve adapted, and we will reach the end by sticking together. That’s the Bredon definition of resilience.
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Hints and tips to surviving home schooling As the national lockdown continues, Bredon continues to offer an outstanding online educational provision. We know that many of our families are juggling working and learning from home, and it can be difficult to stay positive and navigate your way through your home/office/school environment. But do not despair, Bredon School have put together our 10 top tips for learning from home - these may be fairly simple steps, but don’t underestimate the importance of small wins and focusing on the positive!
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Set up a designated work space for your child. Set up a designated learning space for your child; a space where they can walk away from at the end of the day to separate home life from school life.
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Keep up your morning routine. Get up, get dressed and enjoy a healthy breakfast - create a positive start to the school day.
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Maintain an active lifestyle where possible.
Take time to ‘unplug’. Take time away from screens and devices.
Take time each day to exercise, it’s a great way to keep motivated and productive. Go for a walk outside or follow an online exercise class is sure to get those endorphins pumping.
Go outside, read a book or create some art.
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The importance of getting a good night’s sleep. Set a sensible bedtime and stick to it! Getting an adequate amount of sleep improves attention, behaviour, learning, memory, and overall mental and physical health.
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Distractions such as siblings, mobile phones or noise from a television take your child’s attention away from learning. Make a family rule to be as quiet as possible while your child is engaged in their online lessons.
Catch up on their day over lunch or dinner and engage with topics and tasks as this will inspire children to work harder.
Limit the distractions.
Show an interest in your child’s school work.
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Everyone learns differently; for some, listening to music can help them to focus whilst working. Choose instrumental music, as lyrics can take your attention away from the work.
Let’s face it... it can feel a bit doom and gloom at the moment. Try and focus on the good rather than the bad in order to create a positive environment for your children.
Although your child may be learning remotely, we are still here to support you.
Try listening to music whilst you study.
Actively encourage a positive mental attitude.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
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#VirtualBredon Photo: Oliver’s amazing full scale trench
Oliver (Year 6) – was asked, as an optional extension to create a model of a World War 1 trench as part of his History topic. Oliver took this quite literally, rising to the challenge and spending a Saturday afternoon researching trenches before building his very own full size trench at home. Jacob (Year 7) – challenged to make a plastic bottle good for the environment and help local wildlife, Jacob up-cycled a bottle into a bird feeder using string and two pencils – genius! Ivan (Year 10) – braved the cold (and snow) determined to continue kayaking as part of his sports programme – it does look extremely chilly! Keep up the good work and don’t forget to send your photographs to marketing@bredonschool.co.uk
PROUD
As a result of the national lockdown, Bredon pupils have once again reverted seamlessly to online learning for which we are immensely proud of them all. Embracing our curriculum pupils have gone the extra mile, taking part in exciting sporting challenges and discovering more about the subjects which they are studying. Here are just a handful of examples of outstanding #VirtualBredon.
Virtually outstanding Here at Bredon School our dedicated team of academic and support staff constantly strive to deliver an outstanding provision to all of our pupils be that in the classroom, out on the sports pitches, down on the farm or indeed sat at the kitchen table! It has been lovely to receive such fantastic feedback from our supportive Bredon parents about their children’s remote learning experience. “Thank you so much all at Bredon School for your superb care of my daughter during COVID – the way the teaching, pastoral, health and boarding teams have worked together to ensure the safety, education and wellbeing of our children has been amazing. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” “I wanted to let you know how much we appreciate all the boarding staff are doing for our child and all the boarders. The ability to be with her friends and continue to grow those important social and independence skills, whilst continuing to access the excellent online learning program during this period of lockdown is so valuable for her. Thank you to you and your team.”
Photo: Ivan Kayaking in chilly conditions “I am relatively new to Bredon with a daughter who started in Sept - what a year. But the support of teaching & boarding staff has been second to none! I will never be able to say thank you enough! Bredon - so glad we found you!”
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Ready, steady, cook
Glorious food
On cold wintery days ‘comfort food’ spreads a little cheer whilst putting a warm glow in our bellies and on our faces.
Our dedicated catering team have continued to ensure that our boarding community remaining on campus during the national lockdown have been well nourished with a balanced diet. Breakfast, lunch and supper continue to be served in the Dining Hall alongside an unlimited supply of hot drinks to keep pupils and staff warm during the cold winter days.
According to Wikipedia, comfort food is: “food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone, and may be characterized by its high caloric nature, high carbohydrate level, or simple preparation. The nostalgia may be specific to an individual, or it may apply to a specific culture”
The team are continually tweaking the menu to ensure variety and have also provided the odd treat from time to time. Boarders particularly enjoyed the Afternoon Tea complete with freshly cut sandwiches, finger foods and an array of delicious cakes.
Could you be the Bredon School ‘Comfort Food Chef’ of the year? Why not enter our latest competition? To enter you need to: Produce both a savoury and a sweet comfort food dish. The Rules 1. The food produced can be dishes you would serve for lunch or dinner or snack items 2. You can choose any recipe you like to do as long as it can be described as comfort food. 3. The cooking must be undertaken by Bredon School pupils. 4. You can enter as many times as you wish but remember to send in photos of both sweet and a savoury dish at the same time. The Prizes There will be three prizes:• The winner will receive a trophy, a customised apron and be named Bredon School’s ‘Comfort Food Chef’ of the year • The two runners up will receive customised aprons. Once you have completed both dishes, please send the photos to: crwyswilliamsg@bredonschool.co.uk The closing date is the 25th February 2021.
Photos: Our boarders feasted on a sugary treat
DELICIOUS
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Bredon book club Bredon School English Department are delighted to have launched the Bredon School Book Club. In conjunction with the pupils and the staff, each month our Head of English Mr M will be bringing you a ‘book of the month’. This month our Year 9 pupils have chosen ‘Wolf Brother’ by Michelle Paver. So what is it all about? Thousands of years ago, a powerful and malevolent force conjured up a demon: a demon so evil that it could only be contained in the body of a ferocious bear, a demon determined to destroy the world. Only one boy can stop it…
And Mr M’s verdict …
‘A bit scary, but great for children of Year 9 age. Here’s her million selling first book in the Chronicles of Darkness series, as chosen by our Year 9 pupils.’
Tour Bredon virtually The Admissions and Marketing department at Bredon are delighted to have launched a virtual tour of our beautiful 84-acre site. Not only can prospective parents and pupils visit the school farm, classrooms and boarding houses, they can also watch short video clips from key members of staff who provide additional insight into life at Bredon at a time when they are unable to visit us in person. Please do take a look for yourselves, share with friends and family and let us have any feedback. www.bredonschool.org/open-days-tours
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Bredon School Pull Court, Bushley Tewkesbury Gloucestershire GL20 6AH T: 01684 293156 www.bredonschool.org Part of the Cavendish Education Group
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