This week we hosted our first ever trust wide football competition between all our schools. The competition was hosted at Etone College and utilised the outstanding facilities and Football Academy provision to implement a very competitive and fun filled event. The day consisted of high quality and competitive football from Year 8 pupils from each of our schools. Our pupils showcased sportsmanship of the highest quality and their passion for football shone through as pupils enjoyed playing and meeting people from across the trust.

It was evident as soon as the group stages started, the games were going to be decided with a bit of magic, an error, or the dreaded penalties. The group stages ended Bloxwich Academy, Dame Elizabeth Cadbury, Etone College and Turves Green Boys’ School progressed to the semi-final stage.

The 7th and 8th placed playoff was a competitive affair which saw the Etone B team victorious over Wednesfield Academy on penalties. The 5th and 6th placed game saw Barr Beacon win the game 1-0. In the semi-finals there was very little difference between the four schools in what was a very competitive high-quality game and again the dreaded penalty shoot-out came into force, Etone College and Bloxwich Academy progressed to the final and Turves Green and Dame Elizabeth went into the third and fourth playoff game

The 3rd and 4th playoff game was a very exciting game that saw both teams miss chances and played some free-flowing exciting football, unfortunately both keepers were to remain unbeaten, and Dame Elizabeth took the third place on penalties. The final consisted of Bloxwich Academy and Etone College in which was anyone’s to win after the two teams had played out a 0-0 draw earlier in the day. Etone started quickly and scored an absolute thunderbolt into the top corner to make it 1-0, Bloxwich to their credit competed fiercely and played some fantastic football and deserved their equaliser to make it 1-1. With both teams going for the win Etone caught Bloxwich on the break to open them up and scored 3 late goals to take the game and the title 4-1.

A huge well done to all pupils and staff involved and a big thankyou to all those that contributed to the event. We are looking forward to getting the next event booked into the calendar to see where the shield will end up next year.

In the last week of term a small group of students from 7X1 were invited to spend a day at the University of Birmingham. They attended two science lectures. The first considered differences between humans and apes, pupils looked at the ratio between femur and humerus, brain size and the way we walk. The second lecture looked at diseases, vaccines and how they can be distributed, including the use of drones to deliver medicine in remote areas of Africa!​

In the afternoon the students looked around the Lapworth Museum of Geology. Pupils looked at fossils, rocks and gem stones whilst completing a trail booklet. ​

This trip was a great opportunity for pupils to experience life at university, meet students and scientists and visit a local museum. ​

On Tuesday 14th January, as part of our PSHE programme, we welcomed Loudmouth Education & Training to Dame Elizabeth Cadbury to perform ‘Working for Marcus’ for pupils in Year 10. ‘Working for Marcus’ teaches pupils about a wide range of child exploitation issues including child sexual exploitation, exploitation into crime e.g. county lines and knife crime. The programme used well researched drama plus a discussion workshop to help young people spot the signs of grooming, raise empathy for victims and see the impact of child exploitation. It highlighted how perpetrators target young people's vulnerabilities, how victims and perpetrators can be anyone e.g. gender, ethnicity, age and the laws around coercive and controlling behaviour. The behaviour of our year 10 pupils was impeccable - well done!

On Thursday 12th December, 29 pupils visited the Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre to watch a matinee performance of the Nutcracker, performed by Birmingham Royal Ballet. They demonstrated excellent theatre etiquette and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of watching a professional Ballet Performance. All pupils attended the trip as reward for their hard work, commitment and achievements in Dance at DEC, in either Core PE or as part of our extra-curricular Dance Clubs. 

The Cadbury Chronicle is a new newsletter written by our pupils for other pupils, staff and parents! It details exciting things which have happened in school, gives a deeper insight into our staff and pupils, and serves as an informative and interesting article.

Well done to our pupils for creating such a great piece of work - we look forward to the next one

Dame Elizabeth Cadbury Staff and pupils helped to raise money for Save the Children and our house charities by wearing their Christmas jumpers and donating £1. It was a great atmosphere in school and we are proud to have raised over £200.

On Tuesday 22nd October, 5 cadets were given the amazing opportunity to take part in an Air Experience Flight at 8AEF RAF Cosford. All 5 cadets undertook a "ground school" element of the experience surrounding safety equipment and protocols in the plane and also basic instructions on how to handle the air craft in flight. Once the cadets completed ground school the eagerly awaited their time to take to the skies alongside a skilled pilot. 

When airborne, our cadets undertook various manoeuvres with the pilot to get a feel for the way the aircraft handled in the air alongside procedures to actual hand over the aircraft from Pilot to Cadet, when the pilot was happy... The cadets had the controls. Following commands from the pilot, our cadets were about the manoeuvre the aircraft turning, controlling altitude and other plane handling techniques for about 20 minutes before the pilots took command of the aircraft again, once this happened and the cadets were happy, the pilot introduced them to G-Forces by conducting acrobatic manoeuvres such as barrel rolls and loops which everyone thoroughly enjoyed!

All our cadets left the day with huge smiles and incredible lifetime memories from such a short opportunity which we are proud to offer them as these chances don't come around very often. All cadets were immaculately behaved and were not only a credit to the school but themselves displaying maturity, commitment, resilience and bravery! Well done to you all!

On Monday 2^nd December, we invited our year 8 parents and grandparents into school to enjoy a mince pie or two, whilst listening to our wonderful choir sing carols. Thanks to Mr Ewers and Mrs Pugh for arranging a number of songs and performances by our talented young people. We hope the singing and cheer left parents and grandparents with a warm and festive feel! Thank you for joining us.

All pupils at DEC visited our annual Careers Fair on Tuesday 3rd December. We have over 26 exhibitors which represented Colleges, Universities, Apprenticeship Providers and other local employers. Pupils were proactive with their questions and conducted themselves in an excellent manner.

Pupils were able to seek specific career guidance from the experts in the room and gain interest in careers they may never have considered previously. Our Careers Fair is a wonderful chance for pupils to get a head start in planning their future, whether they are thinking about college, apprenticeships, or entering the workforce directly.