Centenary Day - May 26th

It was a glorious day on Saturday.  We could not have asked for more beautiful weather as we gathered to celebrate our Centenary Day.


The Headmaster, Mr Stephen Ilett, and our local MP, Mr Dominic Raab, formally welcomed everyone and planted our centenary tree (a beautiful acer) on the back lawn.

 

The Hall was entirely full of archive material, which Mrs Bawden has meticulously gathered together over the past twelve months, framed and put on display to provide a chronological history of the school .

Whole school photographs, report cards, school caps, awards, presentations, letters, formal documents,sporting achievements, school magazines.....


For those who didn't manage to attend the opening of the exhibition on Saturday, it is still all on  view and you are more than welcome to visit during the coming weeks.  Please just inform the School Office in advance if you would like to do so .

Our email address is office@milbournelodge.co.uk

Centenary Day was always going to provide a unique opportunity for parents, staff and pupils past and present to meet.

It was also wonderful to meet Old Milbournians who had been pupils even before Norman Hale became involved with the school.  It was  hugely appreciated that both Mr Tim Hale and Mr Philip Bailey joined us : representing the Hale family.

There is far too much archive material for me to do it justice in a few short lines : it needs to be viewed to appreciate the rich history of the school.

We've also recently discovered that a current pupil is a direct descendant of the Frewen family who built our school building as their family home during the 1870s.

During the 1990s Norman Hale was interviewed for a short video called 'Reach Higher', with footage of the school as it was then.  Total runtime is 27 mins. 

We played this footage on Saturday.  Quite a few people have since asked for a DVD copy of this production. They are now available at a cost of £5 each.  

 Please email sybil.cary@milbournelodge.co.uk if you would like to order a copy, and allow up to 14 days for delivery if we are posting it to you.  

Further photographs of the day can be found on our Flickr channel.  Click here to access it www.flickr.com/photos/mlcreative

Finally the ever-popular digital photography competition ran throughout the day.

Pupils were invited to loosely interpret the themes ' 100 ' and 'Memories are Made of This'

The 1st Prize entries are shown here. The winning photographers were JeMin Lim and George Medd.

Memories are made of this....

100

RHS Presentation to our young gardeners...

The sun shone on Friday, and at lunchtime the whole school gathered in the warmth to work together on our Centenary Potager Garden and await the arrival of the Royal Horticultural Society representatives who were due to present Mrs Bawden with our plaque. This marks the fact that we have achieved all five benchmarks in the 'Campaign for Gardening in Schools' scheme.

A feat achieved by only a handful of schools to date, as was pointed out.

Having walked through the garden and looked carefully and closely at everything which has been planted in the beds this term, the presentation was made. When Mrs Bawden asked pupils to put up their hands if they had helped to plant and tend the garden over the months, every single hand was raised!

We also received heaps of praise for what was described 'as some of the best evidence to date to support a submission for the Level 5 benchmark' and an envelope of vouchers which can be spent to further enhance our garden.  The presentation formalities were completed by Eileen Willetts and Suzanne Love from the RHS, with Mrs Bawden and our Headmaster, Mr Ilett accepting the awards accompanied by a small group of pupils representing all those who  have worked so hard to achieve this project. 


When Mrs Bawden launched the scheme, at the start of this academic year, it was her intention to create a permanent outdoor learning area that can be used as a classroom and enjoyed by every year group. This she has achieved within a remarkably short space of time. The garden will form a lasting tribute to our centenary year.

Our congratulations to all our young gardeners : and their 'Head Gardener' Mrs Bawden!

Make IT Happy 2012 - Competition Entry completed...

Thanks in no small part to a few extremely enthusiastic and talented pupils who have continued to work on our Make IT Healthy 2012 submission during the first week of the Easter School Holidays  (no names : but thank you Casper for the film and animation work ...Rafid too for your work in Google Sketchup)

Our first ever cloud publication has been achieved, as you will see from the flip-book version below.

Thanks to Yudu Publishing for their undying support.

Here is a flip-book version of our submission - which includes embedded videos.



Click to launch the full edition in a new window.


It's now time to take a break for the Easter Holidays : but we'll all be back before the end of the month with a host of new projects for the Summer Term of our centenary year.

Don't forget our Centenary Family Day on Saturday May 26th (1 to 4:00 pm)

Finally, a very Happy Easter from all of us at Milbourne Lodge School.  

Final week of preparations for Make IT Healthy 2012

It's the last week of term, and pupils are working continuously to pull together all the various projects we have undertaken to form our submission to Make IT Healthy- this year's topic for the competition. 

Make IT Happy 2012 is the 6th annual  UK-wide technology challenge for schools organised by the Parliamentary Internet, Communications and Technology Forum (PICTFOR), in partnership with e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for Business and Information Technology.

As a school we have focused on looking at healthy minds and healthy bodies : including projects concerning eating well, sleeping well, becoming involved in sport and dealing with bullying.  It's been a huge undertaking - but we couldn't have hoped for more enthusiasm and interest.

Well done to the pupils in our 3rd, 4th and L6th forms who have been the co-ordinators of these projects (the entries are from the age group 9 to 11 Years). 

Just this week left to assemble and then submit all our work.   

Healthy Living - Fruit Smoothies...

On Monday pupils participated in a 'Smoothie Making' day - to promote healthy living and eating.

This is our focus this term as we prepare our submission to the Make IT Healthy 2012 competition.

We hired the bicycle from Elmbridge Borough Council and set it up in the school grounds.


Garsons of Esher supplied us with the fruit - juicy strawberries, blueberries and bananas - and throughout the day pupils worked in small groups to prepare their own recipes for healthy drinks.

No sugar - just a drizzle of honey for those with a sweet tooth!

Pupils piled their fruit high in the blender and then pedalled in turn to transform their mix into a frothy smooth and delicious drink. It was wonderful to see how much everyone enjoyed their Smoothies.

The aim of the day was also to raise funds for the Red House charity - the Woodlarks Campsite in Surrey.  Drinks were sold at 50 pence each and a substantial amount of money was raised during the day with pupils and staff alike queueing to make their donation and choose their fruit.

Although Monday started out  grey and misty within a couple of hours the sun had broken through the clouds and we were treated to blue skies throughout the afternoon.

Pupils in 4a filmed and photographed the event and are now working to edit their footage using the iMac in the ICT suite.  

A resounding success and a huge thank you to everyone , especially Elmbridge Borough Council and Garsons of Esher for their support of this event. You can view footage of the day here - on Vimeo

Smoothie Bike - Monday March 12th

 

Form 1.... Talk Healthy Living

Before half-term,  Form 1 pupils each wrote a letter during their ICT lessons, to someone they thought wise within their immediate family and asked them for some 'top tips' about living a long and healthy life.  Again, this is part of our central theme of 'Make IT Healthy' for this spring term.

Recently we began to compile and edit these replies into a series of short scripts, which each pupil typed and learnt (!) before recording a short piece to camera in the garden today.

A lot of fun - as you will see.  How wonderfully and utterly natural everyone was in front of the camera.  Well done Form 1 - and enjoy.

You can see the results on our Vimeo Channel www.vimeo.com/channels/mlcreative