Yesterday afternoon, Great Binfields had a visit from James Ketchell - serial adventurer. James has climbed Everest, rowed the Atlanctic Ocean and cycled around the world. He has also travelled the world in a Gyrocopter. James regularly speaks in schools and huge events around the world, motivating children and adults to be brave and follow their dreams. He grew up in Basingstoke (and was even taught by our very own Miss Rendall once upon a time) so it was particularly significant him coming in to speak to our children in Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5. Here is a link to his website if you want to read more about him http://jamesketchell.net/.

He spoke about his journey climbing Everest, highlighting how this wasn't a straight forward effort and took team work, determination and resilience. He also told us about the many obstacles he faced along the way, including a very severe motor cycling accident beforehand which left him in hospital, with people telling him he would never be able to follow his dreams again. His journey to recovery and further adventure certainly was inspiring and the children's faces throughout the talk showed how absorbed by this they were. 

James emphasised that he wasn't there to inspire children to do the things he has done, but rather to follow their own dream. He bought a friend along with him from The Basingstoke Observer (keep any eye out for us in the paper!) and pointed out how she had honed her skills, worked hard and followed her own dream. Two stand out points for us at Great Binfields were to not let anyone crush your dream and to not underestimate the power of kindness. Everything James spoke about linked so incredibly well to our ethos of hard work, Growth Mindset attitudes and kindness to all and we are proud that the children in our school live out these values every day.

This week we have our Hopes and Goals Love of day - we don't think we could have set this off in any better way!