The first Radio Winterfold podcast is now available to download!

Winterfold was alive with the sound of music on Friday 14^th June with the launch of our very own radio station.

Ed James from Heart FM took time out from his busy broadcasting schedule (Ed and Gemma host the 4.00pm til 7.00pm slot on Heart) to help the pupils with their first podcast which was also broadcast into the school playground where the music loving youngsters were listening and dancing below.

After the official ribbon cutting ceremony and champagne toast, four talented Year 7 pupils – Harvey, Will, Louis and Isla interviewed Ed, prompting interesting and fun answers which engaged the audience.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, with the children dancing to everything from She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult, David Bowie’s Heroes to Can’t Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake, culminating with a giant conga around the playground.

Head of Music, Jerry Price said “We’re so excited about the future of Radio Winterfold. We plan to stream live very soon to allow the children to develop amazing broadcast skills for the modern world.”

Year 2 ventured to the Wyre Forest on Tuesday as part of their studies, solving clues and using detective skills to solve the forest crime of ‘Who killed Cock Robin?’ They explored the concepts of omnivore, herbivore and carnivore linking into food chains and had the chance to touch and feel some of the animals in the Discovery Centre. They described and compared the structure of a variety of common animals within the local environment. The afternoon session culminated in a minibeast hunt and pond dipping with the children successfully classifying their finds.

Annabelle W and her pony Puk have had a great 2019, competing in eighteen competitions so far, with several wins and runner up placings. During May half term, the pair competed in six competitions, achieving four wins, 2^nd and 4^th place, with Annabelle’s best score to date of 72.18 percent in one of the dressage tests, qualifying for the Blue Chip Dressage Championships in the autumn.

Currently trialling for the pony club area dressage team, Annabelle and Puk will, if selected for the team, represent their pony club at Berriewood in July 2019.

Annabelle has dressage lessons taught by her grandad, Trevor Dickens, who has event horses based with Piggy French. His top horse Vanir Kamira won this year’s Badminton horse trials 2019 and Piggy is Annabelle’s role model.

To consolidate their Classical Studies, Year 8 had a wonderful (albeit rather soggy) day in Bath on Friday 7th June visiting the Roman Baths. The Baths are one of the best preserved Roman ruins anywhere in Britain.

The pupils had a fascinating guided tour in the morning, looking at the Sacred Spring, the Roman temple, the Bath House complex and all the exhibits in the new interactive museum. After lunch, the group revisited the site for a more detailed look at the Baths and even had the opportunity to sample the spring water from the Pump Room, followed by an Italian ice cream. An informative and memorable day was had by all.

The Friends of Winterfold held a very successful Ball on Saturday 8th June,  The weather was very kind and guests arrived in beautiful sunshine.  Once again, the food was superb and guests had a thoroughly enjoyable time.  Many thanks to Holroyd Howe and everyone involved in the Friends of Winterfold community for making the event such a success.

Congratulations to Thomas, Freya, Katia, Savannah, Patrick, Tommy and Emily who have received their first holy communion. This is a special moment in their journey growing up in the Catholic faith.

It was a joy to see the children’s wider families, some of whom had travelled some distance to be here to celebrate with the children on their special day.

Year 6 pupils had an enjoyable morning on Friday 7th June designing and making African beads, guided by visiting artist Jessica David.

Jessica David is an artist and designer based in Leicestershire. She is known as ‘The bead bench’ and makes intricate jewellery using polymer clay. To enrich their scheme of work on Africa, Year 6 pupils were given the opportunity to explore some of the techniques that Jessica uses to create her designs. They researched African patterns inspired by nature and created three bead designs. They then moulded the clay considering line, shape, form and proportion and ensuring they used colours representing the theme. The polymer clay beads will be baked to harden and used to create necklaces and keyrings in their Art lessons.

Year 7 were asked to design a decorative frame for a mirror and make a stand for it that would take its weight and hold it securely at an appropriate angle. We think they’ve done a pretty good job!

This week has seen the first recording sessions of Radio Winterfold. The Radio room has been equipped with state of the art equipment and software, allowing teachers and parents to produce high quality radio/audio programmes.

As part of our Year 8 Leavers’ Programme, pupils interviewed Mr Mitchell, recorded a ghost story and produced a funny facts slot.  Following their performance of Archie Dobson’s War, Year 6 had fun recording the radio play.

The potential of this room is vast, both as a live recording space for pupils and as an editing suite. Key ICT skills can be honed, as well as essential skills in public speaking and interviewing.

The next plan is to allow the radio site to go live on the internet later this year.  We hope that you will then all be able to tune in 24 hours a day!

Many thanks to FOW for assisting with the backing of the project and to Mr Price, Mr Loughton and the Winterfold community for making this exciting vision a reality.

For live updates on this exciting new initiative, follow @RadioWinterfold on Twitter.