School Trips Return

me to find my voice and to be able to express my emotions and experiences and I’m sure it has the power to do so for way more people, especially youth.”

Inke also performed their own poem ‘Toxic’ at the conclusion of the event, as the heavens opened, and the judges tent threatened to take flight. “‘Toxic’ is about my experience in this society as a non-binary person,” they said. “Through this poem I share vital bits of my identity and create more awareness for my own community. I’m honestly convinced poetry has the power to create positive change.”

Primary also hosted its own Poetry Slam, which Ceri Seymour described as a “personal highlight” of the festival. “I was amazed by the variety of ways that the theme of ‘Epic Journeys’ was interpreted by different classes and by the effort that everyone put into writing and performing their poems,” she said. The creative process was at the heart of another high-spirited session led by author and illustrator Sarah McIntyre. Her Y2 students were involved in creating their own character and book cover based on Sarah’s own Grumpycorn series. Step-by-step, the author showed the classes how to draw Grumpycorn and how to give the character their own personal twist. By adding a picture of their own favourite food to the front of its sweater and adding it to the front part of its name, the children created characters such as Spaghetticorn, Pizzacorn and Ice-Creamcorn! Year Two students had a similarly enjoyable experience with Steve Skidmore who managed to keep his classes engaged for an

hour via a video screen, which was no mean feat. “He amazed me with his ability to keep the children interested for that long,” said teacher Linda Ochsenmeier. “He gave us a glimpse of how he sees his characters when he read part of one book with all the different accents and expressions. He also gave some insights into where he gets his stories - the one about the Killer Custard was based on his own experience with a dinner lady when he was a boy. We all had fun choosing our own adventures and were left with a real appreciation for the process.”

Throughout the whole festival, teaching staff were also giving away books to students and parents alike. Drawn from the BSB basement where they had been kept in storage after previous book festivals, over 100 books were gifted. “I think this is really important too,” said

There was more poetry fun courtesy of performance poet Spoz in the first week of the Festival who turned about 80 Year 4 students into “chocolate rappers” during his first session on the morning of 13 October and repeated this entertaining feat with Year 6 children later that day. “It was master class in how to write a rap all about the subject of chocolate,” said Primary teacher Harriet Powell. “The presentation may have been online, but the results were tangible: within five minutes, every Year 6 class had produced some form of rap that they presented to each other.”

Clare Gunns. “We’ve got this enormous stock of books from past events, and we just wanted to share them, share the love of books with the students and their families. They were just sitting in a basement. I want them out in the world.”

After a hugely successful, thought-provoking, and entertaining fortnight, the 2021 Book Festival came to a close, leaving the organisers to take stock and reflect on one of the biggest, best, and most challenging festivals to date. “From learning about growing up in Zimbabwe to drawing unicorns and from writing rhyming couplets to learning about work with refugees, the Primary children have been introduced to a wide range of experiences through our Book Festival,” said Ceri Seymour. “Our aim was to value the authors and genres that the children already enjoy while also introducing them to new books and experiences. I think this year’s event achieved that.” Clare Gunns seemed determined to keep the momentum going by expanding the range of authors and literature the students can be exposed to.

“With this festival, I wanted to bring the joy back to our students, who have had such a challenging time,” she said. “There’s such a wealth of modern writers out there, and diverse writers and diverse cultures. We have 70 nationalities in our school. It’s our duty to give people the opportunity to recognise themselves in literature. I think that’s really important.”

“We want to challenge ourselves and our students and we want them to value diversity in the stories they hear and sympathise with people’s experiences, especially when they are different to their own. The Book Festival is a starting point to this, and we can’t wait to build on the joy in the future.”

Adventures near and far

School trips return

Over the last 18 months we have seen the return of our school trips, with students embarking on journeys of discovery and adventure during May and June as part of our commitment to a holistic education programme for our students.

The trips programme offers the students the opportunity to visit the highest quality destinations and facilities, and enjoy new, exciting experiences and activities under the guidance of professionally trained external providers, supported and encouraged by our equally talented BSB staff.

The aim of these trips is to provide our students with a safe new environment where they have the space to take measured risks, while encouraging their independence and holistic development. The trips put the students in situations where they can learn about and improve life skills through a range of exciting and challenging activities and experiences.

Each trip is designed to give students the opportunity to foster new and deeper relationships outside of the classroom and develop stronger bonds with each other and the staff who accompany them. Taking part in these adventures is an important part of the healthy, vibrant and progressive culture we strive to create where children and adults can successfully learn together. While trips returned on a comprehensive scale in the early summer of 2022, several muchneeded excursions actually took place back in June 2021, the first ones of note since the widespread health restrictions began limiting our travel opportunities. Students from all year groups, along with staff members, welcomed the freedom and enjoyed the togetherness provided by trips to the Belgian Ardennes. There was a tangible sense of relief and joy in the air as our students took to the treetops on rope walks and zip lines, embracing the exhilaration and camaraderie after weeks of quarantine and isolation.

In 2022, with the programme back in full swing, our Secondary students have been on residential trips to Oetztal, Austrian alps, Les Orres in the Southern French Alps, and the Belgian Ardennes, among other exciting places. Along with their teachers, they have seen the highest waterfall in Tyrol, biked, hiked and zip-lined through stunning mountain scenery, learned about alpine flora and fauna and rafted rapids.

In early May, our Year 7 students travelled to the Netherlands for a four-day stay in the Amsterdam area. During their visit, they enjoyed team building exercises and sports activities on the fort island of Forteiland Ijmuiden, took part in dragon boat racing, played frisbee golf on the island’s private