At Sybil Elgar School we pride ourselves in celebrating culture, diversity and inclusiveness. In this spirit, we strive to take part in national and global fundraising events and special occasions.  

This week students and pupils of Sybil Elgar School had a very colourful time indeed, celebrating Holi, St. Patrick's Day and Red Nose Day. Our corridors, halls and gardens were filled with greens, reds and pretty much all the colours of the rainbow.

St. Patrick's Day

The music and dance departments at Woodlands, our  further education (FE) college for 16-22 year olds, arranged Irish themed group activities such as traditional Irish music and dance sessions. Students and staff wore their favourite green outfit. The unifying power of music could be seen in the way our students enjoyed socialising together in a structured manner supported by our team of expert teachers and teaching and learning assistants. Activities were led by our multi-instrumentalist music instructor Fred.  

Holi

The festivities didn’t stop there. More activities were arranged by our dedicated team of passionate teachers and learning support assistants to celebrate  Holi, also known as the Festival of Colours. For this much loved festival there was an opportunity to celebrate community, love and the arrival of spring. This is an ancient celebration filled with fun, laughter and just a little bit of mischief, covering each other with splendid colours that symbolise different elements, such as blue for the ocean or sky and yellow for knowledge and learning. 

There were a variety of activities during  the day, celebrating Indian Music, Rangoli art design, Henna skin designs and Indian foods. As part of the celebrations we decorated white sheets by throwing special powder paint. Part of the fun is that children with permission and staff all get covered in powder paint, which is traditionally all part of the excitement of the festival.  
 

Colours can be made with natural ingredients such as turmeric, beetroot, and berries. 
 

Red Nose Day

Red Nose Day was enjoyed with (amongst other things) cherry nose cupcakes, freshly prepared by our team of student bakers in our state of the art catering kitchen at Woodlands.

Comic Relief raises money every other year through events such as Red Nose Day and celebrity performances in support of a range of charities to change the lives of people for the better. We are proud to have contributed towards this great cause and had loads of fun in the process. 

You can find out more about this initiative and ways to donate here. 

Getting ready for spring with gardening on all sites
 

Bringing it back to the theme of green, all our students have been busy getting ready for gardening season. Our students at Woodlands have planted blackberries and redcurrants and are planning to plant beans every week for harvesting later in the summer. “We are looking forward to expanding the horticulture department to include an edible garden and a functional sensory space”, says horticulture lead Kanu. 

At Havelock, our primary and secondary school, planting and gardening was also in full swing. 
“ Year 1 and 2 were doing spring cleaning in the primary garden. First, we planted new daisies and watered them abundantly.After some work we watched young caterpillars and planted new vegetable seeds. We will take care of them and will visit our garden often as soon as the sun appears,” explains Wioletta, a teacher at Havelock. 

The gardeners were support by the efforts of our young builders and carpenters: 
Svetoslava from Primary shares: “This week we also painted and made new planters. Developing our fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. We painted and decorated our garden using paintbrushes and rollers. Next, we learnt to assemble herb planters using screwdrivers and drills. We were all keen to take turns to press the on button - screwing together wooden parts. When all came together and our beautiful planter was ready we discussed what we would like to plant.”

Look out for our summer update to see how the gardens are getting on. 
 

An immersive experience at the IMPACT community arts centre in Perivale

Some of our primary pupils from Havelock visited the IMPACT Theatre, a community arts centre in nearby Perivale and enjoyed an immersive experience to learn about the negative impact pollution has on the ocean. Pupils enjoyed combinations of lights, gestures, speech, song, music and dance performed by people with disabilities. A great opportunity to help develop communication skills and build self-confidence in a creative and interactive way.  

A closing note from our therapy team 

It has truly been a fun packed week across all sites! With so much excitement happening around us in the world through festivals, celebrations and events we can sometimes forget that processing a lot of information can be difficult for many people. 

Please see our Transdisciplinary Team newsletter for ways to use our senses to relax and have fun, presented by our Occupational Therapist, Tess.