Year 9 student Ella Cummins has raised £100 towards her school trip to Tanzania by organising a Mother’s Day raffle at school and in her local community.

Ella is one of 14 Brooke Weston students from Year 9 to Year 12 who are taking part in a three week expedition to Tanzania in July 2018. The expedition costs £3,495 and students have each taken on the challenge to raise the money themselves through school events, raffles and sponsorship. This is a huge undertaking for anyone and requires a great deal of organisation and motivation from every student.

Brooke Weston student Daisy Oram competed in the Kettering and District Eisteddfod competition, an annual festival of music, speech and dramatic arts for amateur performers where she was successful in winning the A S Felton Cup in the 13 Years and under cornet Recital Class.

Daisy practices the cornet five times a week and had to fight her anxiety issues during the competition when on the first day she became too nervous to compete but managed to overcome her fears and came back the next day to win. She said ‘The first day my anxiety got the better of me and I wasn’t able to play at all. I went back on the second day feeling scared and worried that I wouldn’t be able to play or I would go wrong. I played two different pieces tried my best to keep focused and won. It felt amazing, I was shaking I was so happy.’

Students in Years 11 and 12 who are interested in experiencing driving a car or riding a motorbike for the first time were invited to take part in a three hour taster session held in the school grounds this week.

The event, which has been organised by Northamptonshire Highways, working with the Motorcycle Industry Association and Northamptonshire Police, will see more than 270 students take part in an hour of classroom education, an hour driving a car and an hour riding a motorcycle both with qualified instructors.

The sessions are a pilot scheme and if successful will be offered to all secondary schools across the County. Northamptonshire Highways Keith Millard said ‘We chose Brooke Weston to trial the scheme as I have been involved in a number of educational presentations here and the space and environment the school is in is the perfect setting for the sessions. We are working together with the MIA to try to help students prepare for when they become drivers and highlight the effect drugs and alcohol can have on them. We also point students to accredited training to empathise the importance of quality lessons.’