Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Gold participants

The New Eccles Hall School has been following the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at Bronze and Silver for over twenty years, but last term four Sixth Form students became the first to start the Gold Award.

They are already deeply into their expedition training and are currently progressing through their programmes for the Skill and Physical Recreation sections. To complete the Award, they must complete further sections in Volunteering and also a Residential Project. The expeditions are of four days each, with eight hours' journeying per day, in an area designated as ‘Wild Country’, such as Snowdonia or Dartmoor.

All our best wishes  for success in their Gold Award go to the four participants, pictured here with Mr Beddoe, the school’s D of E manager.

February 2012

Paraguay Community Project – New Eccles Hall School.

On Thursday 2nd February, New Eccles Hall School hosted a visit from Mr. and Mrs. Robert Munro.

Mr. Munro is from Paraguay and was introduced to the school by Richard Durrant. They met when Richard Durrant was out in the capital city, Asuncion, giving a classical guitar recital and launching his new CD. Robert is involved with a charity in the shanty town area of the capital providing meals for children and young people.

Richard Durrant, being an old friend of Eccles, knew of our work with community projects and was confident we would be able to work together. To that end we launched our new Community Project at the Carol Service in December and raised £480.

Robert addressed the school and spoke of his work with the charity, and Mrs Munro played two pieces of Paraguayan music on a harp, which is the traditional instrument of the country. The project will need to raise £30,000 over the next eighteen months, which will enable a team of young people to travel out to Asuncion and work with the charity.

This will be our third community project, the previous ones being based in northern Poland and Morocco. All together we will make a great team and the good news is that Richard Durrant has agreed to become the Patron of our the project. Watch this space for more news!

February 2012

ISA Cross Country

This year's annual ISA Cross Country was hosted by Gosfield School in Essex. The prospect of having to travel for this meeting was daunting, as we normally have a home school advantage. So we made the journey on Wednesday 1st, having to set off early in the frosty morning.

Great performances by all the team at all levels, with stand out performances by Jenna Alden, Megan Coleman and Alex Fryer who gained entry into the National Event in March. Katie Nesbitt, Kian Statham, Joe Prendergast, Grace Brown, John Ashman and Abbie Hopper performed exceptionally well In their category, while Josh Bingham had a great debut at the event.

Results will be published in the coming few days. A big thank you and well done to all of the New Eccles Hall Cross Country Team.

February 2012

Elizabeth Truss Member of Parliament Visits New Eccles Hall School

New Eccles Hall School hosted a short visit from the local Member of Parliament, Conservative Elizabeth Truss.

Elizabeth Truss is the Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk. Living in Downham Market and London, she is committed to working for the people of South West Norfolk and being a strong voice at Westminster for her constituents.

Prior to entering Parliament, Elizabeth was Deputy Director at the think-tank Reform. Elizabeth worked in the energy and telecommunications industry for ten years as a commercial manager and economics director and is a qualified management accountant.

Ms. Truss was interested in visiting New Eccles Hall to find out more about the breadth of curriculum the school provides and support for the individual within a mainstream school environment. Having met with senior members of staff on arrival, Ms. Truss toured the school and visited a number of departments to meet the young people in their classes.

January 2012

 BTEC Public Services Visit

On Wednesday 18th January, the BTEC Public Services class paid a visit to Dereham Fire Station to meet the Norfolk USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) Team. The USAR team is called upon to provide a highly specialized rescue role within the fire service to perform rescues from rivers, high structures, trains, heavy goods vehicles and collapsed buildings.

The visit began with an introduction and presentation from Watch Manager Barrow on the role of the USAR team, both locally and nationally, before moving on to look at some of the specialist equipment available to the team. Students were given the opportunity to try on some of the specialist rescue clothing worn by the team before a ‘hands on’ session where students had an opportunity to use some of the rope rescue and camera equipment used by the team for locating people trapped in collapsed buildings.

Throughout the visit, members of Red Watch reinforced the importance of teamwork and communication in their work on a daily basis, skills that the students have been working on during their lessons in school.

January 2012

Motte and Bailey

Mr Beddoe’s year 7 History set have been studying the development of castles, as a part of this year’s syllabus, which covers the medieval times between 1066 and 1485.

All the pupils have been engaged in a project to build a model Motte and Bailey Castle using modroc, dowelling, ice cream sticks and loads of paint! The project has been carried out with great enthusiasm over several weeks and follows a visit to the castle and priory at Castle Acre.

This is an experience that many will remember, recreating the past with materials and their own handicraft skills and getting away from text books and writing!

January 2012

Sixth Form Outing – Theatre Royal Norwich

On Wednesday 19th January ten members of the New Eccles Hall School Sixth form enjoyed a night out at the Theatre Royal Norwich to see the now famous Stephen Daldry production of An Inspector Calls.

An Inspector Calls is set in April 1912, at the home of the prosperous Birling family. Arthur Birling, his wife Sybil and their children Sheila and Eric are in the drawing room celebrating Sheila’s engagement to Gerald Croft, heir to the most successful family business in the North of England.

Their cosy celebration is suddenly interrupted when their parlour maid announces the arrival of “the Inspector”. He is visiting the Birling home as part of an inquiry into the death of a young woman. As the Inspector’s investigation unfolds we learn that they each have secrets linking them to the tragedy. His startling revelations shake the very foundations of their lives and challenge us all to examine our consciences.

Written during the winter of 1944/45, An Inspector Calls premiered in the West End in 1946. This current production, directed by Stephen Daldry, made its National Theatre debut in 1992. Since then the play has clocked up over 4,000 performances worldwide, making it the longest running revival of a play in history.

The NEHS party thoroughly enjoyed the evening out with their Head of Sixth Mr. P. Chamberlain. “ It was one of those evenings for young people when there was reluctance shown about going to the theatre, but the reaction afterwards was so very positive and had them all talking on the journey back to school.” he reported. “Those that missed the trip lost out on a great experience.”

January 2012

Sport at Finborough

Today saw the senior girls' netball and senior boys' football teams travel to Finborough for the opening game to the season. The boys played really well in the cold weather and managed to notch up the victory. The team started off slowly, struggling to put passes together but at half time we addressed these issues and made decision to improve our focus and take the game to them. We played how we wanted to and controlled all areas on the pitch. It wasn't long until our hard work paid off. 1 - 0 final score, victory Eccles.

The girls made a very positive start to the season. Their play improved throughout the game and as they worked together and improved their defensive play they managed to stop a number of Finborough goals. They lost the first 3 quarters but ended on a positive, winning the final quarter 7-4. With two new pupils playing their first match for Eccles, there is definitely much potential as they play more matches and improve their skills as a team. Well done, final score 17-26 to Finborough.

January 2012

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