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Wilson Stuart School Spring Term Wilson Stuart SchoolWilson Stuart SchoolWilson Stuart School A Special AcademyA Special AcademyA Special Academy

Newsletter Spring 2014

G rowing success. We have enjoyed a very busy and exciting term, with our Year 9 students going away to the Lake District, some fantastic workshops for parents and pupils, and many other exciting events in school such as the Festival of Wheels last Friday.

You may be aware that the Local Authority has asked us to increase to 185 school students, and we will also have 20 students in 19-25 from September. We have already started to recruit new staff and are on track with a new building to provide the facilities we will need.

Expansion is a busy and exciting process with many benefits and challenges. However we are very mindful that any growth must not dilute quality! There will be obstacles with so many new students and members of staff to integrate into school. Yet ,we are confident that this expansion will provide even more exciting opportunities for everyone but at the same time maintain the special nature of Wilson Stuart School. The future is bigger, but also better!

The commitment and dedication of our staff in all areas of school has continued to be truly outstanding. It remains the reason that our students continue to make such incredible progress and achieve so much.

Steve Hughes Head Teacher

Birmingham Panathalon Final 2014 marked the first ever Birmingham Panathlon Final. Special guests Louise Sugden who co-captained the GB women’s Wheelchair Basketball team at London 2012 and her Paralympic team mate Jude Hamer were on hand to motivate and present the medals to the four teams who had qualified via hard fought semi-finals.

The Final took place at Birmingham Metropolitan Colleges’ Sutton Campus. All our Leaders received great feedback and comments on how they had explained the games, displayed patience and encouraged the competitors to do their best. It was a great day of competition involving 72 students from the four schools who qualified from the previous round. Wilson Stuart dominated, winning 4 out of

Open Day is 1 May 2014

the 6 sports with wins in Table Cricket, New Age Kurling, Field Athletics and Athletic Races. We won the gold in style and have been crowned the first ever Birmingham winners!

Hall Green take home the silver medal, with Victoria and New Oscott / Wilson Stuart Primary in third and fourth respectively.

However It could have been a closer outcome with Wilson Stuart winning the cricket final with the scores tied by virtue of losing fewer wickets.

Wilson Stuart School Spring Term

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Visiting the CBSO During the Spring Term, lots of Wilson Stuart pupils have

attended concerts given by the City of Birmingham

Symphony Orchestra.

Class 4 and 3.4 attended a Percussion Concert at the CBSO

Centre. We got to see and hear some amazing music

played solely on percussion instruments.

3.1, 3.2, 4.1 and 4.2 all attended a full orchestral concert at

Symphony Hall where we listened to a varied programme

ranging from Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” to Labrinth’s

“Earthquake”.

Each piece was chosen to

showcase different sections of the

orchestra so the pupils were

learning about the 4 different

families of instruments: Strings;

Woodwind; Brass; Percussion.

Class 4 were lucky enough to go to

another concert – sponsored by

DBS Law Ltd. It was to help young

children understand about road

safety and as well as listening to

the CBSO Musicians, Class 4 got to

meet “Mr Clock”.

Chinese Dance Workshop

On the 30th January, pupils had the opportunity to take

part in a Chinese dance workshop. Chinese New year was

celebrated with fan and ribbon dancing. A Chinese dance

artist modelled dancing techniques using the fans and

ribbons; all the pupils had the opportunity to use these

items in the workshop. The workshop ended with a

mesmerising and tranquil performance by the artist

Festival of Wheels On Friday 28th

March we hosted

an event called the

'Festival of Wheels'

in partnership with

the Inner Wheel.

An organisation for

females only,

created 90 years ago by partners of men who attended

Rotary Club meetings.

As part of their 90th National Anniversary celebration,

each Inner Wheel Club had to find a partner who they

could work with on a Wheels Project. As we have a

constant need of wheeled items, we were an ideal partner

and the event became a celebration of our new

partnership. The Club and the Rotary Group plan to raise

money for the school to donate further wheeled items!

Other organisations also offered their support, with the

Fire and Police services bringing police cars, bikes and fire

engines and Wizkidz Karting provided accessible go karts

for the children to try out.

The day was a fantastic success and lots of money was

raised to be put towards the purchase of accessible

tricycles to be used at break and lunchtimes, as well as

being used as part of the PE Curriculum. In addition, the

Inner Wheel donated a new super lightweight

wheelbarrow for our green fingered students to use when

gardening in the school grounds.

Staff communication aid training This term all staff have had training on the many different

types of Voice Output Communication Aids (VOCA’s) used

by some of our students in school. This was only made

possible by the pupils themselves kindly allowing us to

keep their Aids overnight. Thank you to all those pupils!! It

was a real hands on experience which gave staff the

opportunity to find out for themselves how much effort

and time is required to use a Communication Aid

effectively.

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Wilson Stuart School Spring Term

After a long trip on Monday, we arrived and

explored the surrounding area. In the evening,

after a hearty meal, the Instructors took us to

the Archery range in order to practice our use of

a bow and arrow. Some students did very well,

and some staff certainly did not!

On Tuesday we went to the nearby canal for

some Canoeing. This was the most amazing day

for all involved and something many of us had not

experienced before. Although a bit cold with some

rain in the air it was still a day never to forget.

The evening was chilled out with a good film.

Wednesday we stayed on-site to have a go at

rock climbing, abseiling, and zip-wiring. For many

of the students this pushed them to the

extremes of their comfort zone, and allowed

them time outside of their wheelchairs. This day

was the epitome of what Bendrigg is all about –

pushing yourself to the limit, and experiencing

Bendrigg Trip Diary On the week beginning the 17th of March, Wilson Stuart took a small group of children from

Key Stage 3 to Bendrigg Lodge, in the Lake District for a week of Outdoor activities.

new things. It was great

to see that everybody

overcame their fears and

took part!

Thursday, saw a trip to

the Ingleborough show

Cave near Clapham. Two

groups were formed to

explore the limestone cave and to learn about the

rock formations inside. The day was topped off

with an evening disco, where everyone learnt to

do the “Lackshhya”. Afterwards, there was a

presentation of certificates to all students for

participating. Meanwhile, the staff spent the

evening packing the students’ extensive wardrobes!

Friday we woke up early to pack the coach, and

to have breakfast to set us up for the journey

back home. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed our week

away and many were sad to leave.

Thank you to Mr Dawson for organising another successful trip, and to all the staff for their constant support. Lastly, thank

you to the students for their enthusiasm and good behaviour which made the week enjoyable for everyone involved.

Parents massage group This half term Loretto

has been working with

Butterflies to develop a

peer massage group.

Pupils have been

learning massage

strokes linked to their

numeracy topic on

shape. Parents came

into class to see what

their children had been

doing in school and learn a few of the massage strokes

themselves. It was really well attended with even baby

brothers joining us for a mini massage. The group was a

great chance for parents to get a free massage off their

children.

Maths workshops In February Monkeys teamed up with a group of children

from Bray's school to participate in a Maths morning. They

visited us for a 'using and applying' morning with the

theme of 'Ice World'. There were a range of different

activities for the children to move around including hot

chocolate making, mint making, clothes sorting, snowman

picture building and snowball aiming, all with Maths links.

The morning was a great success, the children made new

friends and next time we hope to visit Brays for another

fun filled Maths morning.

Also in February 3.3 had a joint maths lesson with pupils

from Queensbury school on a Chinese new year theme.

They had 4 rotating activities which covered work on all 4

areas of maths; each activity ended with a timer and self

assessment. Activity 1 was sequencing the year of the

animal. Activity 2 was creating a pictogram from a tally

chart. Activity 3 looked at coordinates and carrying out

instructions on a grid. Activity 4 was creating symmetrical

animals. The lesson ended with a quiz on all 4 areas. 3.3

enjoyed the opportunity to work with and get to know

Queensbury pupils.

“Parents came into class to see what their children had been doing in school and learn a few of the massage strokes themselves.”

Wilson Stuart School Spring Term

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Dates for the Diary Apr 28 Teacher training day 29 Pupils return to school May 01 Open Day 06 Primary Residential till 9th 12 SATS week 19 Exams week 23 Parents learning experience day Jun 03 PFPA meeting Jul 02 Induction day 03 Parents evening 07 Butlins residential till 11th 14 Primary sports day 15 Secondary sports day 17 PFPA End of year disco 18 End of Term

5.4 and 19-25 TESCO trip On the 3rd March 19-25 students

worked with 5.4 as “buddies” –

helping them complete their

ASDAN Personal Progress unit of

“Myself and Others”. Course

requirements are to “meet new

people” and to “take part in an

activity with new people”.

Consequently we met in the café

and after chatting (and eating!) we

went shopping. 5.4 students all

had some money and the 19-25

students supported them in the choosing of items as well

as at the checkout. The joint venture was a great success

and we are hoping to work together again later this year.

Caterpillars dress-up The children in Caterpillars have enjoyed dressing up in

their role-play area. The topic this term has been ‘Night

and Day’ and so they have been looking at different types

of clothes and what we would wear for going to bed, going

to school and going out for the day. Obviously any excuse

was used to try on the dressing up clothes! Can you tell

who they really are?

Power2Inspire Charity Swim

In March, John Willis who is raising money for his charity

Power2Inspire, visited Wilson Stuart School as part of this

challenge to swim 1000m in 50 swimming pools across the

UK in 100 days. Wilson Stuart was John’s 18th pool.

John completed his 1000m swim in just over 45minutes on

Friday finishing 40 lengths of the swimming pool, some of

the students from Wilson Stuart kept John company by

also challenging themselves to swim as many lengths as

they could in the same time.

Following the swim John led an inspirational talk with the

students about his disability and how he has overcome

different barriers in his life to achieve all the things he has

done so far in his life.

Homegrown @ The Hive Students from The Hive (19 to 25) have worked incredibly

hard in all weathers since September to clear out and set

up the school poly tunnel. The transformation has been

incredible and it’s fantastic to see all the seedlings, plants

and vegetables growing within, and the students lovingly

planting up, watering and caring for them.

We invited Mr Hughes to officially open our new business

venture ‘Homegrown @ The Hive’ at our grand opening.

Our students enjoyed selling pea plants, bean plants and

potato plants to many of the staff who attended.

Homegrown @ The Hive will be open at regular intervals

selling a range of seasonal vegetables, fruits and flowers.

Please look out for emails and posters to inform you of

opening times.