Welcome back everybody! Summer holidays over for another year, but at least we made the most of them! We finished off the summer with a week of activities here in school, out and about in Birmingham and a little bit beyond.

Stay and Play

We had two Stay and Play afternoons this summer and we were lucky enough not to need the indoor alternative. It’s always lovely to see the playground getting used, children being able to play together and families spending time together.

Legoland Discovery Centre Birmingham

This is a new attraction in Birmingham, opening in July this year. It’s got lots of interesting things to see and so, including the amazing Lego scale model of Birmingham city centre, 4D cinema, small play areas for little ones, two rides for whole families and of course, lots and lots of Lego to play with!

We really enjoyed this day, doing something new and we’re always happy to be able to have exciting days out in Birmingham! However, parents/guardians should be aware it’s quite small and is a little bit expensive! (See out Do It Yourself page for more details)

Sutton Park

Sutton Park is incredibly convenient from Duddeston and an enormous, beautiful green space.

Conkers Adventures – Derbyshire

We visited Conkers in April, it was amazing fun then but a little bit cold! We had better luck this time. Our daring children and some of our daring adults braved the high ropes course again, we all visited the 4D cinema, took the train, tried the barefoot walk in the mud, ran the adventure trail – there’s so much to do at Conkers it wouldn’t be possible to do it all in a day!

(If you’re interested in a trip there yourself, check out our Do It Yourself page)

Thank you to everyone who took part for a lovely week.

The next Reach Out activities for families will be in the October half term, when we plan on a “greatest hits” week – where participants let us know which activities they’ve enjoyed the most over the two years of the Reach Out Project and we will see if we can run them again. If you have any favourites, let us know!

As always, our weekly classes and activities for adults will be continuing during term time, including several new classes. You can see everything we are offering this term HERE. Get in touch if you’d like to take part.

We’re back from our camping trip! We had four lovely days in Croyde Bay in Devon, which we discovered has an absolutely beautiful beach and a very friendly campsite for our stay. We went walking, swimming, climbing, lots of playing, some cooking and BBQ-ing – we had a fabulous week!

If anyone has any other photos they’d like to share, or comments of the trip, please do email me at nechellsreachout@gmail.com, I’ll post them here.

To all of our campers, adults, children and teens, thank you so much for a lovely four days – the camping trip would not be possible if anyone did not play their part and work as a team. You all made the trip an absolute pleasure. 🙂

For the first week of the summer holidays we’ll be on our annual camping trip! This year we’re going to Croyde in Devon. Keep a look out for photos of our adventures there!

But we also have activities with plenty of places left for the last week of the summer holidays.

For the last two Fridays, we will have Stay and Play sessions in school, where children can come and use the climbing frames (indoor and outdoor in case of rain), play football, use school playground equipment and have fun with their friends. We also have 3 fantastic family trips.

Our last week calendar looks like this:

Friday 24th August
Stay and Play at St Vincent’s: 12pm – 3pm

Our Stay and Play days are always great fun, rain or shine we get active, with something to do for children of all ages and of course, we’re always delighted to see our parents joining in!

No need to book for Stay and Play, just come along! Please note all children must be accompanied by an adult and supervised during play. Adults must be 18+.

Tuesday 28th August
Family Trip to Legoland Birmingham: 10am – 4pm

Legoland Discovery Centre Birmingham is a new attraction which has just opened in Birmingham city centre. As much as we like to get out of the city whenever possible, we also believe it’s important to know what there is to see and do right here in Birmingham. We’ll see whether this new centre is one to add to list of musts!

This trip is full.

Wednesday 29th August
Family Trip to Sutton Park: 9am – 4pm

Sutton Park is a beautiful open green space just outside of Birmingham. It’s very easy to reach from Nechells as it is on the Duddeston train line.We will be meeting at the top of Vauxhall road at 9am and walking to the train station. All families should bring a picnic! There are two large children’s playgrounds in Sutton Park, we’re hoping to reach both depending on how much walking we’re up for! We’ll leave the park at 3pm and return to Vauxhall Road by no later than 4pm.

There are still some spaces left on this trip. Get in touch if you’d like to join.

Thursday 30th August
Family Trip to Conkers adventures: 9am – 4pm

We visited Conkers in the Easter holidays and had an amazing time! The only slight shame was the weather, so we’re running another trip in the hope of a nicer day!
We will be leaving via coach from Vauxhall Road at 9am and returning to school at 4pm. Food is available to buy there, or there is plenty of picnic space if you’d like to bring a packed lunch.

This trip is full.

Friday 31st August
Stay and Play at St Vincent’s: 12pm-3pm

No need to book for Stay and Play, just come along! Please remember that all children must be accompanied by an adult and supervised during play. Adults must be aged 18+.

As much as we love summer, it can be hard to fill the days, especially on a budget! So we have put together a summer calendar for you, with something to do for every single day of summer.

Our Summer Calendar 18 has an idea for an activity the whole family can do for FREE, right here in Birmingham, for every single day of the summer holiday.

You can also find below a full list of websites for every activity on the calendar.

Attractions

Library of Birmingham
Centenary Square, Broad Street, Birmingham, B1 2ND—0121 242 4242
Library of Birmingham has lots of different activities through the summer and almost all of them are free to join. All you have to do is pop in and pick up one of their “What’s On” leaflets, which will give you up to date information for the summer. They also have the brilliant Summer Reading Challenge, which comes with prizes for the more books you read over summer!

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3DH—0121 348 8038
BMAG is free to visit, has lots of amazing exhibitions to see, it also has a children’s space and a tea room.  There are many children’s craft sessions through the summer,  which are usually £1 or £2 per child to join.

Soho House Soho Avenue Handsworth, Birmingham, B18 5LB
Soho House is lovely to visit, but it does have an entrance fee of £7 for adults, £3 for children. However, on 5th August they are holding a sports day for families in the grounds, from 11am –4pm. This is £1 for adults and children.

Weoley Castle Alwold Road Weoley Castle Birmingham B29
Weaoley Castle ruins are free and worth a visit!  On August 10th at 12 noon, they have a Build a Giant Castle group activity for children, for £2 per child.

Aston Hall Trinity Road, Aston, Birmingham, B6 6JD
Aston Hall has entry fees of £8 per adult and £3 per child. They have different art activities for £1, £2 and £3 per child all through the summer, as well as the free days listed on our summer calendar.

BBC’s Public Space The Mailbox, Birmingham, B1 1RF
Free to visit and look around.

ThinkTank Millennium Point Curzon Street, Birmingham, B4 7XG
Think Tank is quite expensive to visit the museum! However, on weekdays after 3pm, the science garden is open and free to play!

 The IKON Gallery 1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham, B1 2HS—0121 248 0708
Free to visit. (IKON is a charity and welcomes small donations.)

Blakesley Hall
Blakesley Road, Yardley, Birmingham, B25 8RN
Blakesley Hall has an entrance fee of £7 per adult and £3 per child. However, they have a number of activity days this summer for £2 or less per child, including Teddy Bear Zip Lines, Den Building and Knight School. (Pre-booking is advised for these activities—see Reach Out website for all activity websites)

Core Theatre  Theatre Square, Touchwood, Homer Road, Solihull, B91 3RG
Friday 27th July – First Friday on the summer calendar, a free giant sculpture building activity for children from 10:30am-3:30pm.

Parks

Birmingham has loads of open green spaces and parks. For a full list or to find parks near you, you can visit the council website: http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/parks.

These are a few we think are well worth a visit!

Sutton Park Sutton Coldfield B73 6LH
Huge open green space, two large play areas, duck ponds and café’s.

Lickey Hills Country Park  21 Warren Ln, Lickey, Cofton Hackett, Birmingham B45 8ER
Beautiful woodland and park ground. Big play area. Castle ruins.

Meriden Park Moorend Ave, Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham B37 5TB
Large play area, lots of surrounding green space.

Sandwell Valley Salter’s Ln, West Bromwich B71 4BG
Huge green space and nature reserve. Large children’s play area.

Lightwoods Park Adkins Lane, Bearwood, Smethwick, B67 5DP
Big Children’s play area, big green space.

We want you to have a BIG summer. We want you to make the most of the incredible weather (lets hope it lasts!) get out and around Birmingham and do as much as you possibly can with your summer.

And if you do, you could win a family trip to Drayton Manor Park! (Or Water World, or an equivalent theme park of your choice, if those are not age appropriate)

All you have to do to be in with a chance, is fill your summer with activities. These can be big activities, big days out with the family, or little ones, games in the garden, fun in the park. You can use our Summer Calendar 18 which suggests an activity you can do for FREE, every day of summer. Or you can do your own thing.

You can download our blank competition calendar here: Blank Calendar 18, or you come and get one from school. Fill it in with everything you do over the summer and return it in September for your chance to win!

(Please note: A family ticket is for two adults and two children. You also need to be able to travel to your chosen attraction.) 

We have an assessment day next Wednesday at 9:15am – 12:15pm for anyone who wants to sign up for our Entry 2 or Entry 3 ESOL class in September.

This year’s class are coming to the end of their Entry 2 qualification. We are hoping to continue on to Entry 3 in September, but we may also run a second Entry 2 class.

If you are interested in any of these, please come and register with us on Wednesday.

If you are in the current class and want to continue, you can also register on Wednesday. If you are in a Joseph Chamberlain class at a different location currently, you can also register with us. The Joseph Chamberlain team will give you a place at the nearest location which is running the class you need. If it’s not with us, they will let you know where it is.

If you need any further information, please get in touch.

More half-term fun at Reach Out! This half-term break we were extra active and also tried something completely new. We made African Masks and tried African Dancing, we went rock climbing at the fantastic new Free@Last building and we went running in Sandwell Valley Nature reserve.

African Masks and Dance Workshop

 Rock Climbing With Free@Last!

(Free@Last’s new building opened in January this year, they have lots of activities for families and other services available. You can visit their website HERE and follow them on twitter at @freeatlast1999)

5K Run at Sandwell Valley

This coming half term, we will be holding some taster classes on Monday evenings, around education and employment. There are 4 individual sessions, each one is a different topic and would lead to a different course.

The purpose of these sessions is to asses 1) do we have enough people interested in evening class to run longer courses from September and 2) which courses would be the most useful or interesting to those taking part.

The taster sessions will be as follows:

Thursday 7th June 6pm-6:30pm – Enrollment Evening
This will be a short sign up session. We will need 10 people to sign up to run each taster session.

Monday 11th June 6pm-9pm – Week 1: Working as a Teaching Assistant
This will give an introduction to supporting learning in a classroom.

Monday 18th June 6pm-9pm – Week 2: Computer Skills for Work
This will help improve computer confidence and skills in areas often required for work.

Monday 25th June 6pm-9pm – Week 3: Develop Social Media Skills
Learn more about the uses of social media for employment.

Monday 2nd July 6pm-9pm – Week 4: Recognise Your Potential
Identify personal achievements and strengths, learn how to describe yourself in a positive way, recognise and find new opportunities.

All classes will be held at St Vincent’s school. If you are interested in taking part in these taster sessions, you will need to attend the enrollment evening on Thursday 7th June.

If you have any questions, or if for any reason you cannot make the enrollment, but would like to sign up, please get in touch HERE, or come into the school office.

(Please note that you will not be able to bring babies and toddlers into these classes.)

Coming up this May Half-Term, we have three days of activities for families.

Tuesday 29th May – 9:30am – 11:45am
African Mask and Dance Workshop

Two workshops on African Mask Making and African Dance, at St Vincent’s school. Refreshments will be provided. Both adults and children welcome to join in, no age limits, but all children must be accompanied by an adult.

Wednesday 30th May – 10am – 1:30pm
Rock Climbing at Free@Last

We will meet at St Vincent’s at 10am, check everyone’s shoes and see which adults want to climb, then we will walk to Free@Last’s new centre on Nechells Park Road. It is a 15-20 minute walk so please make sure you are wearing sensible shoes, even if you are not planning to climb!

Thursday 31st May – 9am – 4pm
Fun Run at Sandwell Valley

We will be leaving St Vincent’s at 9am, travelling by coach to the beautiful Sandwell Valley RSPB Reserve, for a 5K fun run around the lakeside. Don’t worry, you don’t have to run if you don’t want to! You can walk the 5K route, or you can just come along and enjoy the surroundings. Bring a picnic!

If you would like to take part, please contact us this week, by calling 01216752359, or email nechellsreachout@gmail.com. You can also drop into St Vincent’s office on Vauxhall Road and ask about half-term activities.