On Wednesday 11^th February, Etone College students were excited to have students and staff from some of our feeder primaries join us to watch our devised show The Seven Ages of Man. The show, inspired by the famous speech of the same name from the play "As You Like It" had been put together from ideas of our students including sections of Dance, Music and Drama. Some of our cast were particularly excited to see their teachers from primary school visiting us!

Over 170 students from St Nicolas CofE Academy, Wembrook Primary School and Chetwynd Junior School came to watch our show that included music by Vivaldi, The Beatles and Beyoncé as well as words by the ancient Greek writer Homer, French author Victor Hugo, British poet Wilfred Owen and, of course Warwickshire's own, William Shakespeare himself.

Thank you to our primary schools for coming to visit and coming to watch the show that our students created. We hope to see you all again soon!

On the evening of Thursday 12^th February, Etone College invited our local community in to watch our devised piece inspired by the famous speech of the same name from William Shakespeare's play "As You Like It". In the original speech, a human life is compared to a show on a stage, so our students used these words as a starting point to create our own story from birth to our final rest. Over 50 of our students took to the boards to tell our Etone College version of what it means to live a life.

When students first auditioned, we were impressed by the breadth of their imaginations and their broad choice of pieces that they wanted to tell the story of life. Pieces chosen for our story included, the infant introduced with "Isn't she lovely" by Stevie Wonder, the school boy was showcased with a dance performance of "Revolting Children" from Tim Minchin's musical "Matilda" and the young adult who falls deeply in love became a scene from Greek mythology as Penelope waits for the return of Odysseus. Our students also included words from the British war poet Wilfred Owen, songs from the musical "Les Misérables" based on the French novel by Victor Hugo and the rarely performed live trio of Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight/The End from The Beatles' album Abbey Road (including the famous Ringo solo). Of course, our show was framed with a piece by our Drama group with the original words of Warwickshire's own William Shakespeare.

Thank you to our brilliant performers, backstage crew, audience and our staff for another successful show! We cannot wait to invite you to the next one! All the world's a stage and the stage at Etone College is full of dance, music and drama!

On Wednesday 11^th February, eight Year 7 pupils took part in Level 3 Bikeability Cycle training, provided by Outspoken Training and Warwickshire County Council. Bikeability is the UK government’s national cycle training programme. The scheme aims to inspire more children to cycle by equipping them with the skills and confidence to ride more. The training is delivered by Outspoken Training’s qualified and DBS checked instructors. The Level 3 training equips riders with the skills to tackle more complex roads and traffic situations. Our Year 7 pupils started the course on School site, checking and testing their bicycles and helmets, before going out on the roads in Nuneaton for 2 hours worth of cycling. Following completion of the training, pupils receive a Level 3 training certificate and badge.

Etone Exceeding Excellent took their first local cultural capital trip on Tuesday, 10^th February to Nuneaton Library where pupils had to think creatively to complete 'The Big Challenge'.  It was wonderful to see the range of answers they from 'The history of Africa' being the biggest thing in the library to a tiny 3d printed robot; pupils were inspired by chess, fashion books, the grand piano and cookery during their trip.  They also reminisced about childhood trips to the journey and explored the children's library!

Monday 9th February brought the start of Children's Mental Health week. All of the time and ideas the Wellbeing ambassadors have put into preparation for this week start to pay off. We have started the week with Brew Monday, this was our best attendance yet! With our trusty sixth form helpers sorting the drinks and biscuits with incredible efficiency the pupils set to work with wool, pipe cleaners and ribbons making some fantastic dream catchers. This week, look out at break and lunch times for the mindful colouring and puzzles, by popular demand - 'Just Dance' continues at break times in the hall and don't forget to come and visit our Mental Health stand on Thursday at break time and collect your sticker to support the theme of this year.

A big congratulations to Eunice in Year 11 this week who took part in England Athletics U15/U17/U20 Championships in Sheffield. Not only is she an excellent athlete but a role model in and around school. The event takes the fastest young people in the country and pits them to achieve their best. This is exactly what Eunice did by coming second in her heat with a new PB of 7.74 and qualifying to the semifinal.

With such improvements being made, we have no doubt this is just the start of the journey for Eunice. Well done from all at Etone.

“All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages.”

Etone College students have been hard at work this weekend rehearsing their devised piece based on the famous “Seven ages of Man” speech by Warwickshire’s own William Shakespeare, originally from the play “As You Like It”. Our students have created a themed piece of performing arts using each of the seven ages in turn to tell the story of a human life using music, dance and drama.

Tickets available on the MAT app. Evening show at 7pm on Thursday 12th February.

During October we celebrated ADHD month to raise awareness of the challenges that can be faced by a young person with ADHD as well as celebrating the creativity and enthusiasm that they also experience.

Staff developed their awareness of ADHD by engaging with an information booklet and then completing a knowledge quiz.  Five staff were randomly drawn to win a selection of re-focus tools for their classrooms.

During our break time pop up, pupils tried and tested a range of re-focus tools with the clear winner being a ‘fidget cube’ followed closely by ‘thera putty’ and ‘fidget rings’.  These silent, hand-held tools are useful for pupils who benefit from keeping their hands busy whilst they’re listening.  As well as the kits won by staff, our team of LSAs will carry a selection of these new re-focus tools in their LSA kits which they can loan to pupils in lessons.

Pupils also completed a scavenger hunt searching for answers on our 10 poster display campaign with clues posted in each part of the school.  The lucky winners  got to choose their favourite re-focus tool from the new selection to keep.

Thank you to all staff and pupils who got involved in this month’s celebration of inclusivity at Etone.   We’re looking forward to December when we explore ‘Human Rights Month’.