Padstow Beach in Cornwall - Dylan loved it!

Hi there everyone!

 Hope you’re all having a brilliant time on your Summer holidays! Despite the yucky weather at the moment – I can’t believe how much it’s been raining lately! At my house, the gutters above our kitchen window are a bit broken, and whenever it starts raining really heavily, all the water comes streaming down the window – it’s just like being inside a car when you go through the car-wash! It looks really weird!

I’m really pleased that it didn’t rain this badly when I was on holiday – it only rained on one of the days! I went to Cornwall with my Mum and my Gran, and also my Aunt & Uncle and my cousins Karen and Alex – my dog Dylan even got to come along, so it was a full family outing!

The Eden Project contains over 83,000 tonnes of soil, and has over 2665 different species of plant!

I hope you like my photos – we did loads of things, including going to the beach, flying kites up on the cliffs, visiting a local Farm Centre, and visiting the Eden Project. That was my favourite day of all, and it was also the sunniest! The Eden Project is a massive ‘global garden’ where you can visit loads of different types of environment from all across the world. There are several massive domes called Biomes (check out my picture on the right!) where scientists recreate the atmosphere of a Rainforest, the Mediterranean, and loads of other places too!

My Mum and my Gran really liked the area where they grow loads of plants that are ingredients for perfumes, and Alex and Karen loved the storytellers. My favourite part was the Rainforest Dome – it gets up to 35 degrees in there, which is so hot they have lots of drinking fountains dotted about for visitors, and even an emergency ‘cool room’ if anyone needs to escape the heat! There were loads of amazing tropical things growing in there, like bananas, cocoa-plants, pineapples and even bamboo!

His hair is even spikier than mine!

I was telling Verity about my holiday in the office yesterday, and she told me that when she was in High School, her class won an Art competition where the prize was for the whole class to visit the Eden Project back when it first opened! The art display they made was centred around the hexagon shape that all the Biomes are made from, and was made up of hundreds of different coloured hexagons and lots of plants and flowers too. It sounds really cool, and it was displayed at the Eden Project for all the visitors to look at in 2002! Wow, Verity’s famous!

I had a great time in Cornwall, and it was really nice to explore some new places and see loads of different new things! My favourite memory was seeing the massive metal sculptures of lots of animals and people at the Eden Project, especially the one of the man ploughing – his hair is even spikier than mine! I asked Alex what his favourite part of the holiday was, and he immediately said it was the shire horses we saw at the farm, because they were constantly farting! There were about 5 horses, and one of them managed a fart that lasted over 20 seconds, which Alex found hilarious! 

 My Gran overheard him telling me all this, and told him off for using the word ‘fart’ – she said the proper word for it is having flatulence! Check out my photo of the Very Flatulent Horses!

Flatulent Horses!

I hope you guys are having a brilliant time on your holidays too – why not let me know what you’ve been up to on the Message Board?

Have Fun!

Sam

As you know Sam is on holiday this week in Cornwall, so I thought I would blog for him! I also wanted to put his postcard up for you all. It sounds like he is having a great time. Particularly at the Eden Project which looks amazing; the team are really looking forward to hearing all about it when he gets back.

Greetings from Cornwall

The Eden Project

The office has been very busy over the last couple of weeks, with repainting, re stocking (dream catcher, books & hats) and starting to look at the evaluations you and your teachers did at the end of term for us. Thank you for all your letters, cards and competition entry’s. They are fantastic and have brightened up the office brilliantly now we have them up on our new display boards.

I have also had a couple of meetings with the guys from Native about the competition. They have started to work on creating our two winning pages! We will be announcing the winners at the end of this month so the prizes can be in school for when you go back in September.  I am so excited about the new additions to our site – They are going to be great!

Hope you are having a great summer; we would love to hear all about it on the message board.

Take Care,

Ana

I just wanted to do a quick blog this week to say hi to you all! I’m really excited because I’m going on holiday tomorrow – for a whole 10 days! I’m going to Cornwall, and I can’t wait – I’m especially excited because my dog Dylan can come with us, which is great because he hates it whenever I have to leave him for a few days!

We’re going to be staying somewhere really close to the beach, which is going to be awesome, because I love the sea, and hardly ever get to go! I can’t wait to see if Dylan likes the water – he loves going in the river near my house, but he’s never been in the sea before! And I’m hoping the weather will be nice, as I really want to have a go at surfing! I think that would be excellent fun!

I’d better get going now, as I’m trying out a new recipe for tea tonight! I’m going to have a go at making Chilli con Carne with some Nachos and loads of cheese! It’ll probably take me ages to get everything ready, and I’m already starving!

I hope you have a great week, whatever you’re doing! I won’t be blogging next week, as I’ll be away on holiday, but I’ll do an extra-long blog when I get back, with photos and everything! And I’ve promised Jen and Verity I’ll send them a postcard to the office to tell them all about what I’ve been doing!

Have Fun!

Sam

What have you been up to this week? I hope you’re enjoying the Summer holidays so far, even though the weather hasn’t been that great in the North West lately! I hope that the rain stops completely, and it gets warm and sunny from now on – there’s this local Activity Centre that I’d really like to go to so that I can practise some climbing. It would be a brilliant day out if the weather was good, but rubbish if it was cold and wet! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Varna Street Primary did some great Scribble Page pictures - why not have a go yourself?!

I had a fun day out yesterday – I took my cousins Karen and Alex to The Manchester Museum. Alex is really into dinosaurs at the moment, and he loved the massive skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus Rex that they have! Although he was a bit scared of it too! We looked round the whole museum – my favourite part was looking at all the reptiles and amphibians in the Vivarium room. There were loads of different kinds of frogs and stuff – I thought the best ones were the endangered Tomato frogs! They are from Madagascar, and they’re bright red!

Jon, who works on the Higher Futures 4U team, works in an office in the Museum, and so after we’d looked round all the animals, he came to say hi! He took us up to the top floor where there’s a play area, and we all sat round and ate our sandwiches. There were loads of crayons and things up there, and Alex and Karen drew some pictures that we took home and stuck on the fridge! Alex drew the T-Rex from the Museum, and Karen drew some polar bears, because they are her favourite type of animal at the moment! Jon told us that the T-Rex is called Stan, and is named after a man called Stan Sacrison, who originally discovered the skeleton in the ground.

Jon is really busy getting everything ready for all his new classes that will be working on Higher Futures in September, and planning all the trips he will be taking them on. He said he can’t wait to get started teaching the workshops in lots of new schools! The rest of the team are all really busy too – Verity emailed me to say she’s had some great competition entries recently. Varna Street Primary School in Manchester sent in some brilliant Scribble page drawings of everything they’ve done on HF4U. There were some great pictures of you all wearing your Graduation gowns and hats, and getting your certificates!

If you’ve not had a go at one of our Competitions yet, why not do one while you’ve got lots of spare time in the holidays?! You can check all the different competitions by clicking the word Competition on the right-hand side of this page – there are masks you can colour in and make, a blank room you can fill with anything you like, and you can also ‘Fill the Frame’ with anything for this month’s theme ‘Summer Extravaganza’! I really like the Scribble pages too, because you can draw absolutely anything, and they’re great if your idea doesn’t quite fit the other themes!

Have Fun!

Sam

Demonstrating the Headband Game in front of the whole class!

Hello everyone!

Yesterday was a very special occasion for me – I had my first ever taste of Manchester Tart! Have you ever tried it? It’s got 2 of my favourite things in it – jam and custard! My Gran made it, because she couldn’t believe that I’d never tried it before, especially when it’s traditional for the Manchester region! Apparently, when she was little, it was her favourite treat! I thought it was really nice, but it wasn’t quite as good as Apple Cream Cake, which is my Gran’s speciality, and my absolute favourite! I was really pleased because she also baked one of those, so I got to have a piece of both!

Yesterday was also a special occasion, for a very different reason - it was the final Higher Futures 4U Graduation ceremony of the year! Year 6 classes from Grosvenor Road, The Deans, St George’s CE & St Mary’s CE Primary Schools in Salford all graduated with Maddy, at the Elizabethan Suite in Bury Town Hall! I hope you all had a brilliant day, and did your biggest and best cheesy grins when Maddy presented you with your certificates! She texted me to say how proud she is of you all, and I can’t wait to see some photos of the day! Did you all have a good time?

The A-Z of Jobs was followed by the Paperclip Challenge and HF4U Bingo!

Maddy has already sent me some photos this week, of one of her recent WOW visits and the Family Workshop at The Deans – I chose my favourite ones to add to the blog. The WOW visit to Salford City Reds Rugby Club sounds really cool – St Mary’s CE Year 6 got a tour of the club and learnt about all the different jobs involved in working there, such as the Team Coaches, the commentators and announcers, the physiotherapists and medical team, the Publicity team, and all the people involved in organising Charity events. Then they learned how to perform a professional sports massage, as well as finding out all about sports journalism – the children even practised their interviewing skills when they met one of the players, Ray Cashmere! And my favourite part is that they got to practise doing some loud speaker announcements, which I think would be brilliant! Imagine your voice being so loud you can hear it all around the ground!

St Mary's CE Primary's WOW Visit to Salford City Reds

Ana and Verity have got big plans this week – they’re painting the HF4U office! I suggested that they paint it red like the Higher Futures logo, but they seemed to think that it might be a bit too bright and garish for the whole room! I can’t imagine why! I’ll have to pop in at the end of the week to see what colour they’ve gone for!

Have Fun!

Sam

1. Setting Up the Coals

Hey everyone!

First of all, don’t worry – I’ve not forgotten that I promised you a Graduation Photo Special for this week! However, it’s not going to be today’s edition, as I’ve not been in to the office yet to see all the photos. I’m going to go in tomorrow to catch up with everyone, and check out some of the photos, and so I’ll put together some highlights for you all to see, and get them into my next blog!

I had a great weekend, which mainly revolved around food! I went to my cousins’ house on Saturday, and my Uncle Will did a really good barbeque – check out my photos of each stage of setting it up, lighting it safely, and getting the food on! It was brilliant, and I ate loads! – 3 sausages, a chicken and vegetable kebab, and my Aunt makes amazing coleslaw so I had a massive helping of that too!

2. Lighting the Coals

Then to top it all off, I made my speciality of ice-cream sundaes, complete with grated chocolate and raspberries! My cousins Alex and Karen helped to decorate them, and then we all ate one! Poor Alex (who’s only 5) wolfed his down incredibly quickly – I thought he was going to be sick! I had to tell him not to rush!

How about you? Did you have a nice weekend? And are you having a good week at school? – I know some schools in Greater Family Workshops and other visits too – Maddy is looking forward to a brilliant WOW visit tomorrow at Salford City Reds, so if that involves you, I hope you have a brilliant time!

3. Almost Ready to Start Cooking

I hope you’re having a great week! I know that some schools in Greater Manchester break up this Friday, so it could be your last week of term! Or, like me, you could have another week to go! Either way, I hope you’re doing some fun end-of-term activities! Some of you in Bolton had your HF4U Graduation this week, and I know lots of you have got Family Workshops and Graduations this week, and some of you in Salford are Graduating with Maddy next week too!

Ana emailed me earlier in the week to pass on some great stories she’s been hearing from teachers about their Higher Futures 4U Family Workshops. Year 4 at Summerville Primary in Salford had theirs last week, and it sounds like it went really well. All the family members that came along were very polite and well-behaved and put their hands up to answer every question, so there was no shouting out! And the most popular activity by far was moving the paperclip using just your mind! I love it when grown-ups do that one, because they’re always so surprised when it works! Every parent got their paperclip to move, and 2 adults even took their paperclips home to practise! Finally, Miss Charles had a slide-show of photographs of everyone graduating last week at the Imperial War Museum, which was a brilliant surprise!

4. Putting the Sausages On!

Clifton Primary have also had their Family Workshop recently, which was an excellent day. The children were totally in charge and taught the whole thing! They chose all their favourite activities for the adults to do, which included the Headband Game, moving the paperclip, the A-Z of Jobs, and the Top Secret Challenge Card. They also did all 3 of the jigsaws, and Mrs Frater said that one Mum did a jigsaw in just 18 seconds! Wow, that’s amazingly quick! I hope you all had a brilliant time!

Have Fun!

Sam

5. Almost Ready to Eat!

Cy & Imogen telling you loads about all the different kinds of jobs in TV!

Hi everyone!

How are you all doing this week? Are you looking forward to the Summer holidays coming up? Planning loads of cool things to do?

I know that absolutely loads of you have graduated from HF4U this week, because the whole team has been talking non-stop about you all! Ana has taken loads of photographs of you, and I’ve asked her to send some to me so I can use them in my next blog. Make sure you check the website on Tuesday to see my ‘Graduation Photo Extravaganza’! And why not leave me a message on the Message Board to let me know what the best bit of Higher Futures has been for you?!

We’ve been having Graduations all over Greater Manchester, at Salford University, the Imperial War Museum North, the Royal Northern College of Music and Manchester Metropolitan University, and next week at Bolton Arena! Wow, that’s a lot! I hope you’re all really proud of yourselves for completing Higher Futures, and that you’ve had a brilliant time doing all the activities and visits!

John Smith - explaining why Graphic Designers need at least 2 computers on their desks, and a toy robot!

Last week was a massively busy week for the HF4U team too, because before all the Graduation days there were 2 World of Work visits at the BBC, where all the schools in Salford doing Higher Futures 4U with MediaCityUK got to meet loads of creative professionals, and do some really cool activities, like designing T-shirts and webpages, and learning dances and drawing-skills! We were lucky enough to have all these exciting professionals for you to meet, and Ana wanted me to give a massive thankyou to everyone:

Graeme Atkinson, a Hairdresser and Salon-Owner; Gemma Burgess, a Visual Concept Manager who designs window displays for Harvey Nicholls; Adam Cadwell, a Graphic Novel Illustrator; Craig Duerdon, a Graphic Designer; Cy & Imogen, who make children’s television shows; Sara Hudson, a professional Dancer who has worked on a Disney cruise; Fiona Jones, who produces television programmes; Neil Simpson, a writer currently writing children’s books; Helen Smith, an artist who specialises in screen-printing and T-shirt design; John Smith, a Graphic Designer who built the HF4U website; Alison Victor, a Dancer specialising in African dancing; and Sophie, Stacey and Richie, Media students from Salford University!

Wow, that’s an amazing list of people! I thought the best way of giving you an idea of the visit was by showing you some of Ana’s photos of the day, and by including some of your comments, so here goes…

Adam - turning squiggles into cartoon characters!

“My best bit was when Adam made a scribble into a cartoon because it was very creative!”

“My best bit was when we did film-posters because we got to be imaginative with our work and Craig showed us how.”

“The day was fun because I learned a new dance and other stuff!”

“My best bit was when we had Gemma, when we were ripping and sticking to make a Summer Collage! It was so fun!”

“The visit was the best trip we’ve been to!”

“My best bit was designing a page for the Higher Futures 4U website with John Smith.”

“The visit was Great, Super, Fun, and Exciting – 20 out of 20!”

It sounds like you all had an amazing time! What was your favourite part? John Smith, the man who helped to build the Higher Futures 4U website, also told each of his groups about the latest HF4U competition! He wants to create a new feature on the website, but isn’t sure what to make, so he’s asking all of you to come up with ideas for a new webpage! We’ve already had some brilliant ideas sent into the office, and they look incredible – there are ideas for new games, activities and pages! Have you had a go yet?

Sara - she's been dancing since she was 2 years old!

We also have another competition on the go, for you to come up with a new outfit for me to be wearing on the website! I’m fed up of Verity and Jen in the office teasing me about the fact that I’m always wearing my red hoodie on all the pictures of me, so I asked Oliver, the designer who came up with my amazing cartoon picture, if he can draw me wearing something different! We’ve had some brilliant entries already, with me wearing some really smart outfits, and crazy things like space-suits too! Why not ask your teacher to go on the Teacher Zone of the website to print off the entry sheets, and then you can have a go at drawing a new outfit for me?! Please send entries in by the end of term, and I’ll choose the winners soon!

Have Fun!

Sam

A bit windy overlooking MediaCity!

Hello,

I have snaffled the blog off Sam this morning to tell you all about an event that took place yesterday in Salford Quays. MediaCityUK had a huge end of year celebration event at the Lowry theatre and 4 pupils from Primrose Hill Primary School were invited to talk at the event about HF4U – MediaCityUK.

The event was hosted by Hayley Cutts who presents Newsround! I was very excited to meet her. Mrs Smith and the 4 children arrived early to have a quick practice of what they wanted to say before being introduced to Hayley and the Mayor of Salford.

We were going to be the first people to present to the assembled audience; I have to admit I was a little nervous as we got introduced but we all got onto stage to tell everyone all about HF4U. The children decided that they wanted to demonstrate one of the games we play in the workshops, so after much debate we chose the Headbands game. The only thing left to decide was who we could get to play it… THE MAYOR! Brilliant!

The Mayor kindly agreed to play and for 5 minutes yesterday the Mayor of Salford was a Yoga Teacher!  After he correctly guessed his job card the children presented him with his very own HF4U Headband Certificate! Before we knew it, our time on stage was up and we took our seats in the audience, more than a little relived that it had gone so well. We saw presentations from all 4 of the school projects, including Supporter 2 Reporter, they interviewed John Amaechi who played basketball in the NBA!

Hayley and future Newsround presenters?

After the event lots of people said to me how impressed they had been with the children and wanted to know more about the project so I would like to say a massive thank you to Mrs. Smith, the children that presented with me, and to Primrose Hill Primary School for letting them all come out of school for the afternoon.

Hope you have a great day,

Ana