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Claremont Prep School Opens Eco Store
Experience Family Fun at Brighton Festival this May Brighton Festival offers children the opportunity to experience fun, educational and spectacular arts events across Brighton and beyond throughout the month of May. The children’s parade officially marks the start of the Festival on Saturday 2 May and will see more than 5000 participants from local schools follow a route through the city centre in showstopping costumes. This year’s theme, Nature’s Marvels, celebrates the natural world while highlighting the important issue of climate change. Around 10,000 people go along each year to see the parade and be part of a vibrant procession of dance and music. Indoor activities include The Herd’s theatre show SLIME for ages 2 to 5. Squish and squelch your way through a surreal tale of a friendship between a slug and a caterpillar. Groove into the Woods fuses storytelling with music-making that will have grown ups dancing along with little ones as they follow a group of kooky characters on a magical adventure, set to a live soundtrack of funk and jazz music. The Festival’s Young Readers programme features over 15 events that will appeal to all age groups who love stories and books. Appearances by popular authors and illustrators include Jacqueline Wilson, children’s laureate Cressida Cowell and fantasy novelist Vashti Hardy. The Festival aims to encourage children of all ages to discover, create and participate in the arts. Many events are free or priced at £10 and under. For more information, visit www.brightonfestival. org. Photo credit: Jerome Whittingham
Fishy Tales and Silver Scales
A new store, specialising in tropical freshwater and tempered non heated aquarium fish, is opening in Brighton Marina as the largest aquatic store group in the UK, Maidenhead Aquatics, arrives there. Maidenhead Aquatics, as well as selling aquarium fish to the general public, operates the Fish Keeper Fry Programme. This is an innovative and interactive educational programme for primary school children, designed to develop the next generation of responsible fish keepers, www.fishkeeper.co.uk/fishkeeperfry. All of the schools who participate are supplied with a free aquarium, livestock and equipment, alongside curriculum-based videos designed to teach and encourage primary school children to learn about the biology behind the aquatic ecosystem.
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16 Mar - 10 May ‘20
When it comes to saving the planet, Claremont is definitely open for business. Building on the brilliant year round work of the School’s Eco Warriors as they pursue Green Flag Status, pupils from Year 7 and 8 decided to launch The Claremont Eco Store to sell environmentally friendly products directly to parents and friends. Believed to be one of the first of its kind in a school (if not THE first), the Eco Store has gone from strength to strength since it opened its doors for the first time last November. The Eco Store started from humble beginnings with a modest stock list chosen and marketed by the children themselves. Stock included eco-friendly shampoo, body wash and refillable bottles. However, the Eco Warriors have been able to reinvest in their business and expand their product range. The new line includes soap bars, washing up liquid, reusable straws and face pads, ‘truthbrushes’, bamboo cotton buds, dental floss and top selling toilet paper - ‘Bumboo’. With the help of the charity ‘One Tree Planted,’ the children decided that for every £10 in takings they would plant a tree. Ten trees were planted in Kenya on the Eco Store’s opening day and 17 the following week. This year the children have decided that further donations will now go towards tree planting initiatives in Australia to help repair the landscape and habitats destroyed by bushfires. Claremont headteacher, Mr Bunker, told Primary Times, “It is a worrying time for our environment and the children are well informed of the challenges that we face. This project has been more than a learning experience, it has empowered the children to take positive action - something they are extremely proud of.” For more information about Claremont Prep School, visit www. claremontschool.co.uk, and for more information about One Tree Planted, visit www.onetreeplanted.org.
Errol’s Garden at Hastings White Rock
Errol’s Garden, at the Hastings White Rock Theatre on Saturday 23 May, is an interactive new musical for kids, full of lively music, colourful characters and a passion for plants. Errol loves his tiny flat in the city, but he dreams of having a garden of his own. His father tells him that he needs to find a new place for his plants as they are taking over the flat. Errol and his sister, Tia, explore the block of flats in search of a suitable space and discover that it has a rooftop. They must bring their neighbours together to help turn the neglected rooftop space into a community garden, all the while dealing with a mysterious neighbour and some destructive snails. This sensational children’s theatrical experience makes its 2020 debut in Hastings before it transfers to London. To find out more and book tickets, visit www.whiterocktheatre.org.uk or call the box office on 01424 462 288.
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