To coincide with Random Acts of Kindness Day on 17^th February, the Year 11 Prom Committee organised the sale of chocolate gift bags to raise money for the four House charities (Help Harry Help Others, Wythall Animal Sanctuary, The Trussell Trust and St Basils) and the Prom Committee.  Pupils were able to purchase a chocolate gift bag for a friend or a member of staff and attach a note. Alternatively, pupils could choose to simply send a note and a kind message. Prom Committee organised the delivery of the bags and the notes to pupils in form time on 17^th February. There was a great buzz around the event, and it was lovely to see pupils and staff celebrating and thanking their friends and colleagues.  We successfully raised over £100 and this will be divided between the charities and the Prom Committee.

Half term saw the return of the greatly anticipated, annual Dame Elizabeth Cadbury School Ski Trip. This year we travelled to the town of Malta in the Oberlungau region of Austria with 47 students. 

After a long journey we all hoped that the 30 hours in the coach would be worth it, and we weren’t disappointed! We met our instructors who, following some basic lessons, helped us down some blue and red slopes depending on student ability. Watching the progression of the students from relative amateurs to competent skiers was a real highlight! Students spent 7 hours a day on the slopes, taking in the beautiful surroundings whilst perfecting their skiing skills, and watching various members of staff stack it in the snow, Mr Bradley taking fall of the week for styling it out by pretending to attempt an avant garde camera angle…. 

The Hotel Malteinerhof was cosy and provided us with a comfortable, warm base from which we could plan the next day’s activities, eat breakfast and delicious three course dinners and on one evening take part in Mr Smith’s (suspiciously heavily rugby themed) quiz.

Students also enjoyed swimming on 2 nights at local pools, taking advantage of some pretty impressive slides. Having the run of the whole facility led to some heavily competitive races and a ferocious game of water polo on one evening! 

Special thanks go to Miss Chaplin, Miss Essex, Mr Smith and Mr Bradley for volunteering to come along and help with the trip. We couldn’t have done it without you! 

At all points on the trip, students conducted themselves with impeccable behaviour. They were polite and respectful to one another, staff and ski instructors, whilst displaying incredible resilience and determination on the slopes to get the best out of this experience. They were a real credit to the school and to you, their parents and guardians. 

The window has opened to register interest for next year’s trip, so students please don’t hesitate to contact Miss Faulkner if you wish to attend! Places are already going fast!

First Aid

Each form group within the school will be given an hour’s basic First Aid session as part of their PSHE programme. This session will cover the all-important topics of: How to complete a primary survey, what an AED (Automated External Defibrillator)  is and what it does, how to effectively perform CPR and how to give first aid to someone who is choking. As a result of this one-hour session, all students taking part are able to take away a valuable life skill which can potentially save someone’s life and will remain a lifelong skill. The photograph shows Miss Handley demonstrating CPR to Year 7 this week.

Flying

For the first time this year, Cadets from our contingent spent the day at 8AEF, University of Birmingham Squadron, RAF Cosford getting a chance to fly the TUTOR T1 aircraft alongside a very experience pilot. All of the cadets took part in vital safety drills before being allowed to take to the skies for an experience they’ll never forget! Whilst in the air, the cadets got to experience what it’s like to command the aircraft by taking its controls (under supervision of course!), perform various manoeuvres whilst getting a feel for how the aircraft handles and also being able to go for a proper ride of experiencing high g-Forces by performing various manoeuvres such as loops and rolls! 

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/