On Tuesday 14^th March, a group of Dame Elizabeth Cadbury students from all year groups attended the ‘Yonex All England Badminton Championships’ at the Birmingham Utilita Arena. Students were selected based on their outstanding efforts in PE lessons and attendance to extra-curricular PE clubs. Our students had the opportunity to witness world class Badminton performed by the best 32 athletes and teams in the world. They also had fun having a go at various activities the tournament hosted throughout the day including VR games, reaction tests and badminton serving challenges. As always, our students were a credit to our school!

SNOW UPDATE – School will be CLOSED today (10/3/2023) due to a power issue. Lessons will take place on Teams at their normal times. We thank you for your support.

#snowupdate #schoolclosure

On Wednesday 8 March, pupils in 7WK1, 8DM1, 9DM1 and 10EX2 attended a Reward Breakfast as the forms with the highest attendance in their year groups at the end of the Spring 1 term. Pupils enjoyed waffles and juice and the opportunity to spend time with their peers and form tutors. Feedback from pupils was very positive:

• “I enjoyed seeing my friends outside of break and lunch”.
• “The waffles were delicious (thanks for the whipped cream)”
• “It was nice to do something different”.
• “It’s nice to be rewarded for getting to school every day”.

We are looking forward to running the breakfast again next term. Keep attending and next time it could be you! 

On Tuesday 7^th March, Miss Britt and Mr Smith took 11 students to Oversley Farm and Forest just outside of Alcester, Warwickshire. The well-being trip was organised to give students an experience of farm education and some new experiences as we explored the farmland and the animals who inhabit it. Our students engaged with Sophie who is the fifth generation in her family to work the farm. She grew up on the farm enjoying the wonders of the natural world and learning where our food came from throughout the different seasons. Many years on she now has an aim to share her knowledge of this wonderful environment with as many young people as possible.

On site they have cows, sheep, chickens and a working dog – Flash. Due to our trip being during Spring, we were lucky enough to meet some of the new calves and lambs. Our students were especially lucky, as not only did we get to meet lots of new lambs, one being born on the morning of our arrival, but we also got to witness a ewe in labour and saw the newest member of the farm family entering this world. Our students were amazing, asking some very important questions about the land, the work and the animals, and really took a shine to a hands-on approach to farm life. Ms Shahmiri (Deputy Headteacher and our careers leader) will be impressed as we may have inspired some students in taking on careers in farming. animal care and agriculture. 

The students had a great morning out and are already asking if we are able to go again. Many other students have been to see us wanting to come along next time! Well done to Lloyd J, Selina J, Lorenzo J, Joey B, Alice A, Jacob E, Jude E, Michael P, Megan W-T and Courtney H. 

In the week beginning 27^th February, Dame Elizabeth Cadbury celebrated World book Day. The importance of reading was shared through assemblies and competitions were held to promote reading. We also loved the staff dress up too on 3^rd March!

Students enjoyed participating in the ‘Create a Comic Competition’ and ‘Short Story Competition’ with outstanding entries from students in Year 7 and 8.

World Book Day was an amazing opportunity in Dame Elizabeth Cadbury to encourage reading and find the pleasures in books and we look forward to holding more exciting events to encourage the culture of reading in our school.

Do you have a special talent you wish to showcase at our next big live event.

You will have the chance to perform on stage in front of a live audience in Birmingham at Millennium Point in their state-of-the-art theatre on Thursday 20^th April 2022.  Whether it be singing, dancing, juggling, stand-up comedy or anything and everything in between, we want to see all your wonderful talents.

How to enter:

• Have one of your performing arts teachers record your performance (or film it yourself and email to your teacher). 
• A snippet of your performance can be submitted, please do not worry about submitting a performance in its entirety. 
• Your teacher will be able to submit your performance video to the Matrix judging panel.
• Finalists will have the opportunity to perform at our next big trust event and some school events this year. 
• Solo entries and group entries are welcome. 
• Submit your entry by 4pm on Wednesday 15^th March.  

Students from four Matrix schools visited Tokyo to learn about Japanese culture – and themselves

As a travel destination, Japan remains impossibly out of reach in many people’s minds, despite us here – in the UK – being surrounded by Japanese culture. You can find sushi in your local supermarket; you can watch anime on Netflix; you can find t-shirts featuring famous prints by the artist Hokusai in high street clothing stores like New Look and Primark. Many of the most well known international brands are Japanese in origin: Sony, Toyota, Panasonic, Casio, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nintendo.

And yet, only around 300,000 people from the UK visit Japan each year. This may sound like a lot, but compare this with the 4,300,000 annual UK visitors to Spain.

Whenever we asked teenagers across our schools which country they have most wanted to visit, most had picked Japan. When we asked them why, they listed some of their favourite cultural artefacts: books, films, games. Some cited Japanese history; a fascination with samurai or geisha. But when pushed to think about their answers (as teachers, we never just settle for the first thing that comes to mind!) some of our young people have also talked about imagining it to feel different to what they are used to.

Read more: https://matrixacademytrust.co.uk/japan/

Between 14-17^th February, pupils and staff raised money via a collection for the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Turkey-Syria earthquake appeal. Thanks to everyone’s generosity, we raised a total of £424.02. Donations from the UK public are allowing DEC charities to scale up their humanitarian response, deliver lifesaving aid and support survivors both now and in the weeks and months ahead: 

£10 could provide blankets to keep two people warm. 

£25 could provide emergency food for a family for ten days.  

£50 could provide emergency shelter for two families. 

A special mention must go to R Alawad in Year 7 who personally donated £113.04.  

If you would like to donate directly to the appeal, you can do so here: https://www.dec.org.uk/appeal/turkey-syria-earthquake-appeal 

To celebrate National Girls & Women in Sports Day (1 Feb 2023), we interviewed three of our female athletes, Mia (Year 11), Maya (Year 10) and Heidi (Year 9). The girls are fantastic role models for any aspiring athletes and had some great advice for other young people who want to get more involved in sports. National Girls & Women in Sports Day honours the influence that sports have on the lives of women. This includes living a healthy and active lifestyle, building self-confidence, helping learn how to work as part of a team and offering opportunities to develop leadership skills.

The 16th annual National Apprenticeship Week will take place from 6^th to 12^th February 2023. 

National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) 2023 aims to shine a light on the amazing work being done by apprentices, employers, and their training providers across the country. 

The theme for National Apprenticeship Week 2023 is ‘Skills for Life’.  

The annual week-long celebration of apprenticeships, taking place across England, will reflect on how apprenticeships can help individuals to develop the skills and knowledge required for a rewarding career, and businesses to develop a talented workforce that is equipped with future-ready skills.  

Dame Elizabeth Cadbury School will be focussing on upskilling our pupils about apprenticeships through various form time and lesson activities. For more information about national events happening during the week, please visit (naw.appawards.co.uk). 

You can also keep up to date with the latest National Apprenticeship Week news by following social media channels: @Apprenticeships and @AmazingAppsUK on Twitter and Apprenticeships Gov on LinkedIn. 

To find out more about NAW 2023, please visit: 

https://naw.appawards.co.uk/