West Sussex Update!

Hello all, I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas Holiday and a fantastic New Year!

I wanted to share some of what's been going on with us here at ODP West Sussex headquarters and remind you all we have our February Half-Term Holiday Clubs on sale now! 

We are excited about the new sessions that we will be running that are full of creativity and hands-on activities, with plenty of awesome things, for example, Robin Hood Bows and hand-made Ninja Stars for the kids to bring home with them! 

In other news, it's been rather cold, we even had some snow! I ran an After-School Club at Buckingham School the day it did and had a fantastic time being a target for the kid's snowballs. They also made some very awesome Snow sculptures, check them out! 

As some of you may know, our Office is at the top of Truleigh Hill, we are super lucky to have such a great spot with beautiful views, which was highlighted when the snow covered the landscape, quite breathtaking! 

The downside to all of this is that the road leading up to the office was frozen over and even blocked with a decent-sized snow drift so Rob and I had to wait a few days before it was all clear for us to head back up to the office. 

We have also been busy collecting some wonderful logs and stumps to be used in forest school areas at Lancing Prep in Worthing as well as St Johns in Horsham, they will be used as seating and are perfect to be used whilst sat around a fire.

We love a forest area in schools, it's such a great area for kids to be in for many reasons. It creates an environment that doesn't feel like school, has plenty of interesting things to look at and interact with but the most important... Sticks! 

I read a study recently that says sticks are so important to kids that they even love them as a gift! And from my experience with working with children in the outdoors, I can see why. They can be so many things via the use of their imagination and can also be turned into many things with the use of some simple tools. It has been one of my favourite things to witness whilst being an instructor, seeing their minds run with enthusiasm with the simplest of items! 

I think that about sums up what we have been up to recently, as well as the usual behind the scenes preparation for After-School clubs and the Holiday clubs! We look forward to seeing you all there. 

- James