St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter
Amlets Lane, Cranleigh, Surrey GU6 7DH Volume 6 Tel: 01483 272449 Fax: 01483 276003 Friday Email: [email protected] 10 July 2015 Web: www.st-josephscranleigh.surrey.sch.uk
Letter from the Principal
Dear Families and Friends
I hope you have had time to enjoy the wonderful weather we have been having. It could not have been more perfect for our Sports and Fun Day last week. As you will see from the Sports and Fun Day article inside, the Aqua Zorbing was a favourite, as were the field events and swimming races. Many of our learners were proudly showing off as many as 5 or 6 medals and some even more! But no show from Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, who had threatened to try to take the Egg and Spoon title from Frank! As usual the afternoon events were also a hit. It was great to see so many family members enthusiastically clapping along to the music, during our amazing fashion show and dance routines. Sophie, a lass who left us several years ago, came and was able to tell us that after successfully completing a catering course at Guildford College she has been offered a full time job at Millie’s Cookies in White Lion Walk, Guildford – a wonderful achievement. This week Dr. Jean Ware, Professor and Reader at Bangor University was with us all week, leading sessions for our staff, as well as colleagues from local schools. The sessions have included topics such as Life without Levels, Learner Voice and Research Lesson Study. I am on call this weekend, so am not able to join the party of colleagues and learners attending the Red Bull Soap Box event at Alexandra Palace, but will be catching up with the 1 hour long programme on Dave TV at 6 pm on Sunday. I am really hoping to catch a glimpse of our car and driver! Only nine more learner days until the Summer break is here. Nine learners as well as one or two colleagues are moving on to pastures new. St. Joseph’s is but a station on the pathway of life, some making a longer stop than others. I will be especially sad to see Maggie Thomas retire. She has worked at St. Joseph’s for over 20 years as TA and Teacher and will be greatly missed by learners and staff alike. If you would like to say goodbye to her in person you can catch her at the Leavers Mass or the KS4/5 Presentation Evening. Hoping your weekend goes well. With our love and prayers
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Gwyneth Russell joined us this week as the Dannielle Nunn joined us Therapies Admin this week as a 52 week Assistant Care Worker.
Thierry Dupoux, Sally Peacock, TA Charlie Butler, 52 Week Deputy Team Leader Care Worker (Dominic Savio)
Many congratulations to Reggie Raven for successfully completing the HLTA assessment process. He demonstrated competence in all 33 HLTA standards.
Contents Page 2 Staff News; Page 3 Staff Profile: Catherine Eyres, Speech & Language Therapist Page 4 St. Joe’s Enterprise; Investors in Careers Page 5 App of the Week; Make £10 Grow Page 6 Cranleigh Carnival Page 7 Creative Media News Page 8 Stick Insects looking for a good home; Feeling Good Week Page 9 Feeling Good Week Photos Page 10 Sports News Page 11 Trip to Chichester Water Sports Centre; Magda’s Recipe Book Page 12 Speed Limit Reminder; Dates for the Diary Page 3 St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter
Catherine Eyres Speech & Language Therapist What type of person are you?
Describe yourself in five words: Organised, Calm, Friendly, Chatty and Happy Chatty Friendly Happy Calm Organised What’s top of your to-do list? Stop procrastinating and start my 70 therapy target evaluations
What’s your favourite biscuit? Chocolate Chip Cookies or Chocolate Digestives
What’s your top holiday destination? I’d love to go to Australia or New Zealand!
What wouldn’t you do for £1 million? Hold a tarantula
Who would play you in the film of your Scarlett Johansson life?
Complete the following sentences
The celebrity I’d most like to have as a Professor McGonagall from teacher at my school is: Harry Potter
As a child I wanted to grow up to be: A vet or a teacher
My most embarrassing moment in school: Being forced to audition for the school choir in front of the whole class even though I cannot sing.
If I’ve learned one thing, it is: That lists are useful for everything!
I shouldn’t be telling you this, but ….. I eat way too much chocolate
Tell us your best joke Two fish are in a tank. One turns to the other and asks ‘How do you drive this thing’? Page 4 St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter
St. Joe’s Enterprise St. Joe’s Enterprise is an integral element of education at St. Joseph’s as it gives our learners the first step towards experiencing the world of work and helps prepare them for Work Experience placements either in the local community or within the College itself.
Each term, all Key Stage 4 and 5 learners take part in a different Enterprise Group run along the lines of a small business. They then sell their products at school fetes and local events. Any profit made is fed back into the enterprise to reinvest for the next project.
We have now produced a catalogue of current products which will be available at reception. Orders can be taken for wooden goods (plain wood or painted and/or decorated) at reception if not in the display cabinet. Take a look next time you visit.
Ceramics, cushions and art work are also for sale when stock is available.
Investors in Careers
Last Monday, Elizabeth Whicheloe visited to reassess the school for the Quality Award, “Investors in Careers”, as the award only lasts for three years. The areas she particularly focused on were assessing the evidence that St Joseph’s :-
Renewed its commitment to careers education, information, advice and guidance and the Investors in Careers standard. Maintained the Investor in Careers standard during the lifetime of the original award. Provided evidence of innovative practice.
Throughout the day Maggie Thomas and Caroline Sanders presented evidence to Elizabeth and introduced teachers, therapists, members of the SLT and of course a forum of learners, to talk about the curriculum, therapies, work prep, PSHE, Citizenship and work experience. She scrutinised development planning for Work Related Learning, curriculum planning, assessment, learner’s work collections and photographs and work experience diaries.
She was particularly impressed with the school’s move, since the last assessment, to integrate therapies into the classroom and daily living skills as she could see the benefit to all learners. Naomi Harding’s speech therapy project was a good example of this, as she has been supporting the learners with interview skills and developing social skills for the workplace. Alongside this she and the WRL STA have been developing positive partnerships with local work experience providers, offering support and advice to their staff. This has been beneficial to both the learners and the providers. Elizabeth reflected, “Mainstream schools could learn a lot from this practice.”
Elizabeth was pleased to re award St Joseph’s the “Investors in Careers” standard as we are exceeding what is statutory regarding careers education. This Quality Award will remain with us for a further 3 years. “This really is one of the highest accolades an organisation can receive for excellence in this area of work and is definitely something the award holder can be very proud of. The IiC standard is about improving students’ awareness of opportunities, raising their aspirations and working with them to ensure they achieve their full potential.” 2015 Investors in Careers website.
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App of the Week VisTimer or VisTimer Free - £1.49 or Free Catherine Eyres & Claire d’Urban Jackson - Speech & Language Therapists
VisTimer or VisTimer Free by Mindful Tools This app provides both a numerical and a pictorial countdown so learners are able to easily see how long they have left of an activity. The VisTimer Free app has maximum time of 10 minutes whereas the paid for app can countdown for 23 hours and 59 minutes.
This is great for learners who struggle with the concept of time and how long they have left. It can be used to depict how long is left of a chosen activity or of a work activity.
The colour of the pie chart and the finished tone can be changed to suit your child.
Make £10 Grow
Does money grow on trees? It did in John Bosco! They cut up their £10 to make a money tree and then sold it at a profit. This was one of a number of novel money making ideas that we saw this year.
John Paul House decorated stones and turned them into little animal paper weights. These sold really well making a healthy profit of £25.96. St Cecilia`s ran a very popular Baby photo quiz, St Luke`s kept up its classroom tradition with homemade ice cream. The biggest profit award goes to St David`s who made a grand profit of £40 washing cars.
Thank you to all those who participated, we raised a total of £148.12. The Ideal Ideas council has chosen to put the money towards new scooters, these will be ordered shortly and ready for use in September. Helen Van-Mol
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Cranleigh Carnival
Last Saturday, in glorious sunshine, Maggie, Shirley, Lester and Caroline set up a gazebo and stall at the Cranleigh Carnival to sell Enterprise products made by our learners. The stall was busy most of the day and customers commented on the high quality of the products. They were helped by ex pupil Sophie and her father, who was great at drawing in the crowds. They took a range of goods with them including bird and bug boxes, herb teapots and hanging baskets, pottery creatures and pots. There were also cushions, picture frames, key rings and paper mache hearts and birds for sale. Some of the learners came to see the stall after having walked in the carnival procession. Ex learners Daniel and Craig came to see Maggie and Dawn and they spent some time at the stall talking with us all about their memories of St Joseph’s. The Lion’s mascot came to see the stall too, pictured right with Maggie. The total profit for the day was £309.60. All this money will be given back to each Enterprise so that they can reinvest it.
Here are some photos of the learners taking part in the Carnival.
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Sonic Randomness & St. Cuthbert’s Go On Holiday Screening! Reports by Ellie Russell
The summer term sees a big focus on finalising the film projects we have been working on throughout the year in Creative Media. On the Monday afternoon of feeling good week we took the opportunity to have a screening of Lee and Frank’s film ‘Sonic Randomness’ – with popcorn!
Lee and Frank scripted, wrote, acted and voiced the entire film together under their studio name Lee Symons Productions! We had a great turn out and the film was very well received. Both Lee and Frank worked incredibly hard on their film and were very proud of their achievements. Well done guys!
The screening also featured the short film by St. Cuthbert’s based on a summer holiday. The up-beat soundtrack and slap-stick humour got us all in the mood for our summer jollies!
Media Trip To Brighton
We also took full advantage of the recent scorching weather and headed down to Brighton with some of the media team. We captured some location filming on the beach and Brighton Pier for Lee Symons Productions next instalment of Sonic Randomness (On Vacation!). We had a full production team, including Jamie on Camera and Rune on Clapper Board starting and ending each scene. It was a fantastic day and a perfect way to wrap up this year’s Media course with sunshine and fish and chips by the sea! Watch this space for the next Sonic blockbuster....! Page 8 St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter
Stick insects looking for a good home
After the successful stick insect project which was trialled earlier this year, we now have several stick insects in need of a good home. Any families who wish to have an unusual addition to the family please inform your son/ daughter’s class, or alternatively contact Reggie Raven who will answer any questions. The stick insects provide responsibility and ownership for learners (or anyone else wishing for a pet) and are very simple to look after.
Last week was Feeling Good Week at St. Joseph’s. This was what Feeling Feeling Good means to learners Eddy and Charlotte
Funky dancing in the street
Everyone acting Week
Eating rice Fun day shopping
Living a wise life Eating good food
Intelligence is morale Enjoying fun times in summer
Nothing ventured nothing gained Learning new things
Great fun in the sun Involving good friends and family
No sadness and no tears needed
Going on holiday Great fun in the sun Opportunity to relax
Often a party Going on a fun holiday to Los Angeles
Days of feeling good Opportunity to relax
Often parties Eddy Days of feeling good
Charlotte Page 9 St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter
Feeling Photos
Week Page 10 St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter
Sports News - reports by Fairley Allan
Sports Day Last Friday was our Sports and Fun Day, with sport dominating the morning’s activities. We had three sports zones – track and field events on the front field, a mini swimming gala in the pool and aqua zorbing in the adventure play area. On the field, highlights included a very fast-paced staff versus learners relay race, and the more traditional egg-and-spoon, popularised at last year’s event when the Countess of Wessex took part. Also very popular were the space hoppers that performed the duel role of being ridden followed by being thrown when they doubled as wellington boots. For the uninitiated, aqua-zorbing involves being inserted into a giant inflated ball and rolling around on the surface of a giant paddling pool. Personally, just the thought of it makes me feel queasy, but the learners who had a go found it a thrilling experience. Both our electric cars were out on show – our Greenpower track car which will be back in action at Goodwood in October, and our older car which has been converted to compete in the Red Bull Soapbox Race in London this Sunday. For this race the car has had the ground clearance raised to cope with the speed humps of the urban road course, and the motor removed so that it is powered entirely by gravity plus the dead-weight of the pilot, the svelte Andy Pusey. Make a date to see the action on TV on the Dave channel at 6.00pm on Sunday evening.
Introducing Baseball Last Monday we played baseball for the first time. Although often thought of as an American game, baseball in fact originated in England and was imported into the US by migrants in the 18th century. Played with teams of nine players, it provides a faster-paced and easier to play game than cricket, and also doesn’t require a wicket. Our trial game proved popular with learners and staff, and may become a coached sport offered to Key Stages 3, 4 and 5 as part of the regular Thursday afternoon sports session.
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On Wednesday St. David's and St. Nicholas' classes travelled to Chichester Water Sports Centre to take part in a splash adventure. All the learners who wanted to take part, supported by staff, had a go on an inflatable ringo ride pulled by a motorboat. The adrenaline was pumping as the instructor was whizzing through the water on the speedboat with us at the back. The weather wasn't great but everyone was in a good mood. We decided not to go to West Wittering beach for our picnic lunch as it was too windy. Andy, our supply TA loves sailing and so he took us to his sailing club. We ate our sandwiches looking at the marina.
Here is a photo of Magda with her completed recipe book. An e-copy will be available on the school website very soon. Magda says she plans to expand the book with more recipes for all to try next year. At the moment there are five sections - all with symbols - Soups, Main dishes, Salads, Sauces and Desserts.
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Please remember when driving up and down the school drive or across the gravel area in front of the school building that the speed limit is 10 mph. We would be grateful if you could adhere to this speed limit at all times. Thank you.
Dates for the Diary
Summer Term
10.30am - Red Bull Soapbox Challenge @ Alexandra Palace - sold out view on the Dave 12th July channel at 6.00pm
14th July Bastille Day - French focused event in school
14th July 6.00 - 7.30pm KS 1/2/3 Presentation Evening
16th July 12.00 - 1.30 pm - Family Coffee Morning Event CANCELLED
16th July 2.00pm - Leavers’ Mass followed by tea
20th July 6.30 - 9.00pm - Leavers’ Presentation Evening
21st July Last Day of Term - Learners finish at 1.00pm
Next Issue The next issue will be published on 21st July 2015