Cherwell Sustainability News & Cherwell Creative Writing Club :- Pages 14

CHERWELL CREATIVE

WRITING CLUB - By Mr Strickland

The Creative Writing Club Thrives In A Difficult Year - It has been a remarkable year for the Creative Writing Club. Despite the unusual challenges the pandemic has caused, the joy of extra-curricular fiction writing has remained a vital part of the lives of Cherwell students. Beginning our academic year with face-to-face CW Club groups, it was necessary to move to online sessions each week for safety reasons and to allow students of different age groups to create together. They have continued to encourage, share and advise each other.

Highlights of the year include the release of Ekphrasis, a collection of remarkable poetry largely written by Cherwell Creative Writing Club students and published by Little Ox Press (copies are available at North and South Site libraries). Our authors also had chances to share their work in national publications such as the Young Writers’ Unsolved, a collection of mystery short fiction creations. They also enjoyed some special visitors, including an inspirational session by Clare Corey of the Ashmolean museum (pictured) with an art and artifact inspired workshop whereby students learned how to use unique historical objects to inspire their work. The good news is, all this is still going on now. All year groups are welcome; all writing styles, forms and genres are welcome. Contact Mr Strickland if you have any questions. You can find us each Thursday from 3:15 - 4:15 at the following link:https://meet.google.com/wzj-nato-hav?

The Cherwell School Lettings Department: Building a Business

In February 2020, the Lettings Department at The Cherwell School was thriving; regular customers were increasing their hours with us, new customers were starting all the time, and the future was looking bright for the development of our lettings business. Yet as with everything, March 2020 arrived and all of our bookings came to a halt.

The return to school in September 2020 brought new challenges. Cleaning schedules, risk assessments, zoning, sanitiser and hand washing stations were installed all over...these things were just the start to get our students back into their classrooms, but our customers were desperate to return as well. Many of our regular bookings were able to start again, including the Cherwell Gymnastics Club,

Mini Professionals Dance Academy, Little Kickers, Oxford Youth Choirs, Flintlock Theatre,

Russian Gymnasium, and Oxfordshire Adult Learning.

Then more lockdowns were enforced and we had to cancel everything again. As our customers turned to digital platforms in order to reach their members while locked down, the premises team worked hard to decorate and enhance several facilities at the school, including the Art Building on the North Site and the new and improved Cherwell Clubhouse.

It has been a tough year, but upon our return to school after Easter, more and more customers were able to come back on site. The lettings business is now building up again, and we would like to share with you some of the cool bookings we have had at the school this Summer Term!

The Cherwell School Vaccination Clinics

Luckily, there was one hire that we were able to keep on site during the lockdowns at the start of 2021. Our North Site gym became a Vaccination Centre, where Dr John Monach from the Summertown Health Centre, together with several Beaumont Street surgeries, were able to administer Covid vaccinations to thousands of Oxford residents, including many Cherwell staff members and parents! We are all very proud to have been a part of such a massive effort to get Oxford vaccinated!

Left: Dr John Monach and Dr Jayne Haynes, who led the clinics, discuss how organised everything is!

Above: Proud Year 7 parent, Conall Mac Niocaill, shows off his vaccination card after receiving his second jab at The Cherwell School.

The Cherwell Clubhouse

Previously known as ‘the rugby club,’ the new and improved Cherwell Clubhouse is a prime location for all types of lettings. So far we have used the Clubhouse in school for staff First Aid Training, Year 8/9 HPV vaccinations and some interviews, but this wonderful new hall has also housed children’s birthday parties (complete with bouncy castle!), dance classes, as well as a half term acting course with APA Talent.

Cherwell Staff attend First Aid training with Mike BadhamThornhill

Outdoor Spaces

With restrictions remaining in place, many businesses have had to change the way they operate. Little Kickers football has been getting their small people ready for a life of football in the real world: on a rainy field! They moved their booking out of the gym and onto the field to allow the parents to participate and distance appropriately.

One of our new customers is parent Bryony Leighton, who runs Zumba with Bry on Saturday mornings on the front playground. And while weather sometimes forces him to cancel, new customer Karim Zid with Vortex Drone Company has made good use of our large open fields to run his drone flying courses.