EXCITE NEWS
SCHOOL BANK
One of EXCITE's first activities was to help pupils at Broadgreen set up a school bank run by the pupils for the pupils. In association with HSBC Bank and helped by LSAs Mr Baxter and Mr Doody, year 10 pupils underwent training to become cashiers, account handlers and even Bank Managers. Every Monday pupils from years 7, 8 and 9 can go along to U39 and open a bank account (at the same time as getting a free filofax and free CD vouchers). Not only has the scheme given the Year 10 pupils valuable work experience as well as improving their numeracy skills, it has meant that many pupils have learnt how important it is to save. So far 90 accounts have been opened and over £800 saved and if that wasn't enough some of the Year 10 pupils have even been invited to work for one day at the HSBC Bank in Old Swan.
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
EXCITE EAZ supports a programme to encourage University students to enter into the Teaching Profession. "Teacher Associates" aims to provide potential teachers with an experience of working in school, and already Broadgreen has welcomed in several students across a wide range of subjects to observe and help out in lessons. In fact this programme has been so successful that plans have been made to extend it to include even more subjects next year. If you wish to find out any more
MOSAIC MURAL
Pupils from Year 9 have been involved in designing and making a mosaic mural that has now been fixed to the outside of the Sixth Form block to form an impressive welcome sign to all visitors. Supervised by Mrs Williamson and two professional artists the pupils have been improving their creative talents at the same time as creating a series of 'welcoming' mosaics that show the importance of good attendance at school.
EXCITE SAVES THE DAY
The nursery group at Kensington Infants School had been preparing to go on a trip to see Santa in December 2000. Two days before the long-awaited trip, the organisers rang to say that the trip was going to be canceled.
Having had no success with finding any alternative arrangements, Sue Pemberton, EXCITE co-ordinator at the school, contacted EXCITE for help. Within two hours, EXCITE had organised a trip to a grotto and a farm - and better still, EXCITE offered to pay the entrance fees for all sixty nursery children. Kensington infants were delighted and gratefully accepted!
As you can see, a great day was had by all, despite Santa getting stuck in a train in Prescot and having to be rescued by car!. Everybody -children, parents and staff - were all very happy and grateful for having their problems solved.
A WORD FROM OUR PATRON!
Ricky Tomlinson alias Jim Royle, is patron of EXCITE. He is keen to get involved in supporting the Zone but unfortunately was unable to join our celebrations at the launch.
He writes:
"I am proud you invited me to attend your launch but am sorry I cannot be with you as I start filming for a new series on this date. I was looking forward to meeting you all. I am delighted that the Government has at last made a commitment to improving the standards of education for the kids of Liverpool. Keep up the hard work!"
BOOK FAIR
As well as supporting good attendance and punctuality at Broadgreen EXCITE also aims to encourage reading opportunities amongst our pupils. For that reason a recent Book Fair was held in Broadgreen where pupils from years 7 and 8 could choose from literally hundreds of books ranging from 'Discovering Science' to the adventures of Harry Potter. In addition, not only could pupils discover that reading can be fun, they also found out that it can be cheap - since every book at the fair was half price and for every book bought 60p went to the school library to spend on more books.
OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF EAZ
There was a great turnout for the official launch of the EXCITE EAZ on Friday 9th February at Dino's in Kensington.
The Excite team welcomed staff from all our schools, local businesses and members of the communities of Dovecot, Old Swan and Kensington. The event proved a great opportunity for guests to find out more about EXCITE and to get to know each other.
Guest of honour, Jane Kennedy, MP for Liverpool Broadgreen, officially launched EXCITE. Speaking at the launch, Jane said:
"Raising standards in schools is one of the government's main priorities. EXCITE will help by providing support to schools and in doing this, along with other initiatives, is well placed to combat social exclusion and poverty."