Budehaven's Community Links Skyrocket......

It's called Budehaven Community School and here's just one event which demonstrates how those links are developed and maintained. This event involved 270 pre-schoolers from the Bude area, who, by the sound of it, all had a truly wonderful time!

Now in its 6th Year, students at Budehaven Community School last week hosted their annual pre-school physical activity session based on a children's book. This time it was 'Roaring Rockets' by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker with over 370 children invited to the event!

The fun, practical and noisy event took place over two days, Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th January 2012, in the Sports Hall at Budehaven Community School. 

370 three to five year olds, dressed up as astronauts, aliens, Buzz Lightyear and more, came with their carers to take part and make the story come to life. After a "3-2-1 action blast off" they learnt a moon walk, played space games with a giant zorbing ball, crawled through an asteroid minefield, jumped on a rocket roller coaster, and generally had a great time, along with the students from Budehaven. 

Over 60 Budehaven students were involved including Community Sports Leaders, Higher Sports Leaders, Year 9 and 11 Child Care students, GCSE Dance students and members from the dance group XSNRG, all of whom were responsible for the organisation, planning and running of the various activity stations. The Budehaven students must be congratulated for their excellent leadership skills which really shone through to create a "magical experience" for all those attending, making staff and students a formidable team.

Recognition should also go to the primary leaders and teachers for their work in the build up to the event, for each setting had been given a resource pack full of space ideas and a role play box to really engage their children in the build up to the event.  

Jo Parsons, Children's Centre Teacher, visited a session and commented, "The Early Years settings in the Bude area have all worked so hard in the run up to this event. Not only have the children become familiar with the 'Roaring Rockets' book, each setting has also created a 'rocket' role play area to encourage language and communication skills and/or a 'quiet dark space' for children to experience an environment which stimulates their different senses. On the day of the Budehaven event, all this hard work and preparation culminated in a fantastic large scale 'space' experience which the children clearly loved! Well done Budehaven!"

Mrs Denise May MBE, Director of Sport and Assistant Head teacher said, "A combination of high quality artwork, music, dance, creativity and physical activity combined to enrich the experiences of the young children attending and was a testament to the commitment of the Budehaven students, under the expert guidance of Ms Talbot, Mrs Barker, Mrs Cann and Mrs Marshall. The partnerships between Budehaven Community School, Bude Children's Centre, local primary feeder schools and the pre-school nursery settings proved very rewarding and fruitful for all involved. It is hoped that the experience will continue to play an important role and have a positive impact for several weeks to come!"

It was certainly a very colourful, imaginative event, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all and a delight to watch!

 Many thanks to Darron Vodden at ZorBude who kindly lent a zorbing ball free of charge.