Crawley News Winter Edition 2009

January 20, 2010

Go-Kart Party is proud to celebrate its 500th birthday party

Lynne Lamont launched Go-Kart Party in Crawley & Horsham in Summer 2006 and is delighted to have held her 500th birthday party. In addition she has attended over 300 events and entertained over 10,000 children! Go-Kart Party provides a stress-free party that everyone will be talking about for weeks afterwards. We arrange and book the venue; provide invitations, and ensure the birthday child has a most memorable and exciting birthday party. Go-Kart Party delights children with their first real driving experience and is suitable for boys and girls aged between 4-9 years with a maximum height restriction of 150cm. The electric powered go-karts travel at speeds of 1-6 mph around an inflatable mini grand prix circuit. Children are divided into teams and startdriving at a modest speed to familiarise themselves with the gokarts followed by a variety of driving exercises and challenges. After the go-karting we have an award ceremony where all drivers receive a certificate and a trophy is presented to the birthday child. At the very end the birthday child completes a final lap of honour whilst everyone cheers and applauds finishing on a chequered flag. Go-Kart Party is completely mobile and can travel to your home/area (if you have the room to accommodate the track 17m x 13m). We are also available for school fetes, sports days, holiday camps/playschemes, after school clubs, corporate family days, weddings, carnivals, and motor shows. Prices start from £180. For further information or to book a party, please call Lynne on 01293 888948 or visit www.go-kartpartysussex.co.uk

Toy Barnhaus

Mark and Stephen would like to thank all their customers for their continued support of the Toy Barnhaus, six months after opening up in the County Mall, Crawley. Going into the busiest time of the year, you will find a wide range of presents for the kids, including Transformers, Sylvanian Families and Playmobil. One of the “in toys” this year is “Go Go Hamsters”, and they are doing their best to get as many in stock as possible to satisfy demand! There is a wide range of last minute stocking fillers, such as kids crackers, Lindt chocolate novelties, and squishy light-up balls. Also over the holiday season, family board games are very popular, with Monopoly City, Rubiks cube, Elefun and Bop it being a small part of the range available in store. They are stocking the new Ben 10 Alien Swarm movie figures, and the new Power Rangers RPM range is due in mid December. In January, you will also find all the new ranges for 2010 arriving, giving the kids something new to spend their Christmas money on. However, despite all the focus on Christmas, you can still find a wide range of kids partyware, kids dressup (including the new Disney range), and lunchboxes all year round in store. Finally, Mark and Stephen would like to wish all their customers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and look forward to seeing them in store over the coming weeks.

Stagecoach is the UK’s first and largest part-time stage school.

Your local schools in Crawley and Horsham run weekly classes for all children aged from 4 to 18 years. No experience is necessary, there is no audition; enthusiasm is all that’s required. Stagecoach Theatre Arts is dedicated to providing quality education in the performing arts, which is complementary to, yet independent of, normal academic studies. All schools are inspected annually by an independent School Inspection Agency and all the staff are checked through the CRB. Main Schools (6-18 years) Classes run for three hours a week, on Saturdays during term time and classes are limited to just 15 students, a small enough number to allow personal attention. The classes are led by experienced professionals who know just how to motivate and encourage, especially the self-doubters. Teamed with like minded friends the students feel safe to stretch themselves. The work builds their confidence and they can sense the fun, excitement and drama surrounding the performing arts – we let them taste it! These skills, learned while students are enjoying themselves, don’t disappear when they come off stage. They are skills for life. Early Stages (4-6 years) Stagecoach Crawley also offers Early Stages for younger children. The weekly classes consist of a 90 minute session where children are taught elementary skills in dance, drama and singing. Early Stages focuses on allowing the children to express themselves whilst building up confidence, poise and self-esteem. As with the main schools, class sizes are limited to just 15 students. Early Stages students are trained by very experienced teachers who know just how to fire the imaginations of the very young child. Stagecoach classes run on Saturdays, both mornings and afternoons, during usual school terms. For more information or to apply for a place, call Jo Weeks on 01403 259132 for Stagecoach Crawley and Beth McLean on 01293 823282 for Stagecoach Horsham.

Cottesmore Pre-Prep

Cottesmore Pre-Prep in Pease Pottage, Nr Horsham, opened its doors this September with 10 children across two classes – a Reception class and a mixed Year 2/3 class. Lots of exciting and engaging things have been happening already: a Harvest play of The Little Red Hen, the children have designed their own Christmas cards, and they are now preparing for a Nativity play at the end of term. The school is housed in its own section of the main building with its own playground and Astroturf, but the children still use the same dining room and also attend two main school assemblies a week so that they are aware of the main school from the start. On top of the normal curriculum lessons, from Year 2, the children start to learn French. All children have two music lessons a week plus a 15-minute rhythm clapping lesson. They also have an hour’s swimming lesson every week in Cottesmore’s indoor swimming pool as well as two one hour PE lessons a week. The size of the Pre- Prep will always be small, each class will have no more than 14. This is in conjunction with the overall ethos of Cottesmore, where the main Prep school never goes over 150 pupils, as this enables the school to keep the family feeling that they pride themselves on. Cottesmore has had a great start to the term; ‘Best School Food’ from the Tatler Good Schools Awards, a certificate of Outstanding from Ofsted and a personal letter from Her Majesty’s Schools Inspector congratulating the School on its high standards. The parents of the Pre-Prep are pleased with the progress that their children are making. As one parent said: “They are doing great things down there” and another said, “I thought my children were happy at their last school but they are even happier here!”. For more information or for a tour of Cottesmore Pre-Prep, contact Janine Scola on 01293 520648.

Confidence, respect, discipline, great health, self defence

These are just a few of the reasons that children and adults train at the Premier Kung Fu School in Crawley. Master Paul Hawkes has been studying Wing Chun Kung Fu since 1986 and teaching in Crawley for almost 20 years. Over that time he has seen dramatic changes in men, women and children take up this ancient martial art. People from all walks of life train there or take their children there. One such person was Peter Andre. Peter and his brother Mike came to the school with their film crew and filmed a lesson with Master Hawkes who said “They both trained with great focus and showed tremendous interest. They were a real pleasure to teach and picked it up quicker than usual, probably due to them being in good shape, their previous training and Peter’s dance training”. Junior Andre had a lesson the following week at the Premier Kung Fu School with Sifu Alan Sawyer and was very similar to parts of the usual class, so much so that the parents from the Premier Kung Fu School said how nice it was to see that their sons and daughters were treated exactly the same as a celebrity. The lesson with Peter was due to be aired on “the Next Chapter” but because Peter had done so much they could not include the lessons with Peter and Junior, so Peter’s lesson is on Can’s web site http://www.cantv.co.uk/CanPlayer.aspx?guid=86a3a3f2- 5191-4a21-b6f2-611e877ef95a where you can see Peter and Mike’s lesson and Master Hawkes “sharing the love”. Master Hawkes is the first to say that they pride themselves on being incredibly friendly, yet very professional – “You’re greeted with a smile, handshake and welcome as well as having a beautifully designed school where our sole purpose is to teach children and adults Kung Fu in a positive, rewarding and motivational way. Peter loved his lesson and was overjoyed with Junior’s. He loved the way we interweave the physical side of the training with the mental and philosophical.” For adults it’s showing how spending time on yourself, learning, training, improving your self discipline and confidence carries over in to the rest of your life, an anchor when times are tough and a spring board to launch you forward and for the children it reinforces great morale, behaviour and attitude. The children are positively encouraged. There is a superb reward system that builds on the flicker of confidence and fans it so that the children grow in confidence and learn how important it is to respect themselves and others. Being a Black Belt is much, much more than being able to strike with power and focus, it’s about being the best person you possibly can be. Peter and Mike still stay in touch and are keen to continue with their training. If you would like to see for yourself what a special place Premier Kung Fu School is and how you and your children would enjoy and benefit from the training, please call 01293 544 333 or visit the website www.kungfuschools.org The School is offering a one month free membership.

AOB’s next production is Alice in Wonderland

Act One Beginners is a part-time drama school which runs 10 local weekly age-based drama classes as well as Singing Classes, individual LAMDA tutorials, Festivals and large scale productions. With carefully constructed lesson plans, teachers and class assistants who get to know their students well and a strong ethos of fun, learning, discipline and teamwork in the school, it is no wonder that Act One Beginners has a reputation for offering first class drama training, outstanding productions, and exciting, challenging opportunities for its ever growing student body. Following our last, hugely successful production of West Side Story, our next show – Alice in Wonderland – is an up to date, quirky and amusing adaptation. It is packed full of well known songs and with 69 of our students aged between 8 -17 in the cast, and is guaranteed to be a busy, colourful and exciting show. For more information please visit the website www.actonebeginners.co.uk or call Beverly on 07969 612285.

Water Babies teaches you to teach your child to swim

Water Babies Hampshire and West Sussex runs a specialised structured swimming programme for babies. Babies must be under the age of 12 months to start on the beginners course. They run a 40 week structured programme for parents and babies with the philosophy of “us teaching you” how to teach your baby to swim. Water Babies Hampshire and West Sussex was established in September 2007 by Ali and Budge Pountney. To date, they are teaching over 600 babies throughout Hampshire and West Sussex and presently have seven teachers working throughout 13 venues in the region. There are even more opportunities for parents to take their babies swimming at an early age. The newest venue is Infield Manor School, Billingshurst starting in Feb 2010. Waterbabies recently completed the STA Mark accreditation for Swim Schools gaining a distinction and most recently Water Babies was voted by What’s on 4 Little Ones “ Best National baby development Activity 2009”.In addition three teachers were nominated for Best Activity Leader in the UK. This followed Water Babies being voted “UK’s best swimming class 2008” Tommy’s Children’s charity have added to the accolades and in March 2009 Water Babies were voted UK’s best children’s activity provider, by local voters. For more information contact 01794 399888 or humptydumpty@waterbabies.co.uk or explore the website www.waterbabies.co.uk

Small Time Training

Train for a career in childcare – and qualify for a job with a real future! If you love kids, have energy and enthusiasm and are looking for a thoroughly worthwhile job, childcare could be a great career for you. Early Years and Childcare is one of the few thriving and expanding sectors and there is an increasing demand for well-trained staff at all levels. Childcare is also a job that offers a lot of flexibility. Many day nurseries require both full time and part time staff and pre-schools operate only during term time, making them an attractive job option for parents of school-age children. Childcare is open to people of all ages and backgrounds. Whatever your previous qualifications and experience, you can train to work in childcare. Most jobs in childcare require you to get a qualification. The basic requirement is the Level 2 NVQ in Children’s Care, Learning & Development (CCLD). This will allow you to work under supervision such as a Nursery Assistant or Playgroup Assistant. Progression to a Level 3 qualification will enable you to supervise others such as a nursery nurse, playgroup leader or senior playworker. Qualification can help you progress initially and more are needed to become a manager. All children deserve the best start in life and your training will support their social and physical development. So why not train for a career in childcare and get a job you can be really proud of? Charlwood based SmallTime Training offers work-based training, CCLD NVQ Levels 2 and 3. Contact us now for immediate start on 01293 565558 or email: admin@smalltimetraining.com

Almost 5 years old!

Laserhub is now nearly five years old and it is not commonly known that, as a social enterprise,it does not pay dividends but reinvests profits or subsidises non profit making operations such as music events or other community work. Andrew Snowdon, Managing Director, said “We try to both help fund our youth activities as well as help local charities by running joint events. We employ all local people and sixth formers and have close ties with local schools in the area. We have had three graduates.”Laserhub is certainly popular having run over 5000 parties since opening. Lee Vandendyck, Laserhub Manager said to us “We have been increasing the range of children’s holiday club activities and we are planning to add a potter’s wheel experience where children can get their hands on real clay rather than just paint pre-made pots. Our usual singing, laser game, pamper, group and girls night out parties remain as popular as ever. At Christmas time as we are so close to County Mall in Crawley we often get people parking at Laserhub and giving their children a few games and food whilst they do some Christmas shopping, particularly on late opening evenings.”

Karen Kay Theatre Arts School

The School proudly maintains a 100% exam pass rate following the excellent attention to the detailed training they offer in ISTD, RAD and LAMDA. They have now expanded into the Musical Theatre classes and are offering quality singing coaching for all ages as well as regular shows and performances. Karen’s background and expertise is now giving children the ability to audition for the TV, film, commercial and modelling jobs. This new venture, details which can be found at www.KidsManagement.co.uk is booking free professional photo shoots for every child it represents and will guide and manage them into the industry with professional training. Karen has always strived for excellence and provides a very happy and friendly family school. Last year the School had pupils entered the All England Festival Competitions with great results. The Karen Kay Theatre Arts School has venues in Crawley, Horsham and Haywards Heath and offers classes for children of all abilities starting at 2 to 18 years. For more information, phone 01444 401595 or 07933909043.

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