Vale Mail Inside this issue

Headteachers Welcome ..............2

School Council .............................3

3BT—Trip to the Almonry ...........4

3BT continued... ..........................5

3AT and 3RE Gone Digital ............6

James Smith Award .....................7

3BT PAT Dog ................................8

4SH & 4DC SS Great Britain .........9

4SH & 4DC SS Great Britain .........10

4SH & 4DC SS Great Britain .........11

5LW & 5PB Work Experience ......12

5LW & 5PB Work Experience ......13

5LW & 5PB Work Experience ......14

E-Safety .......................................15

Residential...................................16

Residential...................................17

Careers ........................................18

Judith Syvret Staff Training ..........19

Class 3WP Stem Challenge Final ..20

Diary Dates ..................................21

Dear Parents /Carers

Welcome to the 2019, Spring Newsletter.

It has been a very busy term with lots of exciting events tak-ing place in school and outside in the local community.

From the contributions in this Newsletter and the class blogs on the website you can see how busy we have been. The term began with seasonal celebrations being shared, whole school in assemblies, including Wassail and Chinese New Year. We had a successful World Book Day event that saw many of our staff and students looking wonderful in their World Book Day, character costumes and sharing their fa-vourite books.

Upper School have had a very successful work experience with all the students having some form of employment en-counter during this time. This has included many local busi-nesses and organisations supporting us and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them.

Middle School has been working hard in the Arts and has cre-ated many musical and dance pieces for the Spring Celebra-tion, here this term.

First school have been remembering their dear friend Char-lotte, who died earlier this year. The children and staff con-tributed songs, readings and pictures that were put together to celebrate Charlotte’s life and many family and friends came together with First School to share these.

Cont...

2019

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Residential students have been very busy out and about in the local community and have taken part in activities such as swimming, cine-ma, local restaurants and many other exciting events. The care staff and young people organised a wonderful quiz for families and friends, that was very well attended and looked great fun.

We have had two new classrooms built this term and they look won-derful. Upper School are hoping to move into these new classrooms after Easter.

The school has had enough funds raised by several local charities and churches to re-equip our Sensory Room and this should be ready for all our youngsters next term.

This term saw the first SIBS event which is an opportunity for young people who have brothers and sisters at our school to meet together socially and share experiences and fun together.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our young people and staff for a wonderful term and wish you all a very Happy Easter.

Mr Stephen Garside Headteacher

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Dear Parents/Carers

We would like to tell you a few things about the Spring Term.

We have a very busy start of the year so far, with many exciting events happening. To start off the year, the ECO Warriors supplied homemade bird feeders and a daily delivery of seed, to help our birds through the winter.

The School Council also met and discussed what celebrations the students would like to do to celebrate our school been open for fifty years. The students decided they would like an evening perfor-mance, on July 11th 2019, celebrating every decade from 1969.The next day the students and staff would like to have a celebration Fri-day, with music and entertainment marking this milestone event.

A Spring Clean Campaign was also launched and many classes took part. The result of this is that our school grounds are litter free. The grounds also have wonderful spring flowers in them that were plant-ed by students last year as part of the horticulture initiative. Well done to all those who helped make our school grounds look so at-tractive.

The School Council also suggested more activities at lunch time and as a result of this have many different clubs. These include Choir, Rugby, Football, Lego Club, Drama and Cheerleading.

We would like to wish you all a very Happy Easter on behalf of the School Council.

Darren and Jack (Chairpersons)

The Almonry Museum

The Museum is a great

day out and has many

displays of rural life in the

Vale of Evesham.

This 14th Century build-

ing was once home to the

Almoner of the Benedic-

tine Abbey that was

founded at Evesham in

the 8th Century.

The Almonry Heritage

Centre, Abbey Gate, Eve-

sham Worcestershire.

WR11 4BQ

They are open (Mar to

Oct) Monday to Saturday

10-5pm and Sunday 2-

5pm and (Oct to Mar)

Monday, Tuesday and

Thursday to Saturday 10-

5pm

Class 3BT Trip to the Almonry Museum

4

The Evesham Almonry Museum

Ms Barton Teaching us about The Battle of Evesham

The Almonry Museum

Following the closure

of the Abbey by Hen-

ry VIII, the Almonry

became the personal

home of the last Ab-

bot, Philip Ballard,

whilst the rest of the

Abbey buildings were

sold to Sir Philip

Hoby who arranged

for the quarrying of

the stone.

Today, the Almonry,

two churches, bell

tower and cloister

arch are all that re-

main of what was re-

portedly the third

largest abbey in Eng-

land.

The Almonry has had

a varied career: ale

house, offices, tea

rooms, private home,

until it was finally pur-

chased by Evesham

Borough Council in

1929, opening as a

heritage centre in

1957.

Class 3BT Trip to the Almonry Museum

5

The children learning and recreating how school was many years ago in a Victorian Classroom.

The Class enjoyed looking at and trying on equipment

from the special Science Fiction movie event.

3AT

Classes 3AT and 3RE have gone digital in their home school com-munication, swapping diaries for the Class Dojo. On the Dojo we can share work, photos from our day, messag-es from home and homework- all from one app!

We also earn points for good behaviour, partici-pation and trying some-thing new- class 3AT designed their own points and reward sys-tem.

The children love it when there is a like or comment on their port-folio from their families and enjoy contributing to it themselves via the pupil app at school and home. Maybe your class will be next to join the Dojo!

Class 3AT & 3RE Have Gone Digital!

6

Our Classes amazing Artwork

Going Digital is great fun!

James Smith left the Vale of Evesham School in 2016 to do a Sports Course at Evesham College.

James successfully completed his Col-lege course and wanted to become a volunteer at his old school.

James has now been a volunteer for seven months in a KS3 class. He has been a wonderful volunteer and role model for our young students.

He was nominated by staff for the Young Solutions Try Angle Awards. James was successful in gaining this award, in the cat-egory of Adult Volun-teer.

We are very proud of James and enjoyed seeing him gain his award at the Worces-ter Bosch Group. He was presented this award by staff from Mazak, at a celebra-tion event held on Thursday 28th March.

James is awarded the Try Angle award

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James with his award.

We are very lucky in Middle School, we have a regular Friday afternoon visitor! Lottie the PAT dog comes to school with her adult Linda.

This week Cole took Lottie for a walk and they sat in the sunshine in the Sensory Gar-den.

PAT Dog visits Class 3BT

8

Cole and Lottie the PAT dog

Following another

refit, this time cost-

ing in the region of

£11.3 million, Bru-

nel's SS Great Britain

was re-launched as

one of the world's

most important mar-

itime museums in

2005.

M: "I enjoyed holding the heavy chain. The bedrooms were so small!" D: "I liked being on the deck driving the boat". J: "It was good being out of school". C: "Everything on the boat was interesting". A: "I spoke into a big microphone". R: "The smells were not so good!" A: The main highlight was the talking toilet, which was absolutely hilarious, as always. Then there was the Brunel museum, which included a short film which included a scene filmed at Didcot Rail-way Centre. At this point steam shot out from...somewhere, and blew in everyone's faces, including mine. C: "It was very windy. I slipped on the tiny stairs". K: "Everything was good. I liked going under the boat and on the top. I forgot to take my food!" A: I found it interesting trying to draw a circle on a moving train". K: I saw an old, massive ship". M: "It was very smelly and the weather was cold and miserable" H: "All the rooms were different on one big ship". G: I found it really interesting". K: "It was amazing seeing what life was like on the ship". Most of the students felt that they could recommend this venue to other classes.

In March 2019 20 students from 4SH and 4DC visited Isambard Kingdom Bru-nel's iron ship. about 170 years ago it was the cutting edge of transport tech-nology - the first large metal vessel and the first big ship with a screw propeller.

Exploring SS Great Britain 4SH and 4DC

The Students Reviewed Their Experience

SS Great Britain is a muse-um ship and former passen-ger steamship, which was advanced for her time. She was the longest passenger ship in the world from 1845 to 1854. She was designed by Isambard Kingdom Bru-nel, for the Great Western Steamship Company's transatlantic service be-tween Bristol and New York.

Brunel's SS Great Britain is

one of the most important historic ships in the world. When she was launched in 1843 she was called 'the greatest experiment since the Creation'.

By combining size, power and innovative technology, Brunel created a ship that changed history. His vision for the SS Great Britain made her the great-great-grandmother for all modern ships.

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10

11

Class 4SH & 4DC SS Great Britain Review

At these placements students spent 2 days to 5 days and between 3 to 8 hours a day. All

students enjoyed their experiences and challenges. All feedback from the placements was

extremely positive and some students are now going on to further placements as a result of

their hard work and achievement.

Work Experience for students 5LW and 5PB

This term students in Upper School have been finding out about work through work experience. In 5LW and 5PB students have been to lots of different places of work. A group of students went to Croome Court to trial different jobs.

This is what students did at Croome Court.

Day 1: Croome Court: The students helped to open the court for visitors, and worked on some conserva-

tion in action.

Day 2: Garden & Parks: The students spent the day out-side with the park team.

Day 3: Croome Church: The students helped our Opera-tional Support Team giving the Church a Spring Clean.

Litter Picking:

The students helped our

Duty Manager keep the car

park and RAF Visitor Centre

nice and tidy.

12

Other students went to:

Evesham Leisure Centre, Evesham

Soulsby Plant Nursery, Harvington, Evesham

Yarn and Good Company, Pershore

Freedon Centre, Bretforton, Evesham

Broadway Golf Club, Evesham

Nolimitz Trampoline Park, Redditch

Garage Art Group, Evesham

British Heart Foundation, Evesham

Students and Staff would like to say a big

THANK YOU to all the businesses and people

that have given opportunity and supported

them on their work experience. Such brilliant

support from our local community is always

really appreciated.

Work Experience for students 5LW and 5PB

13

Work Experience for students 5LW and 5PB

14

Once again, a huge Thank you for such brilliant support from

our local community, it is always really appreciated...

Parents against Child Sexual Ex-ploitation (PACE) offers a free online course for parents and carers to equip them with the knowledge to protect their chil-

Keeping safe online – get in the know!

March 2019

Vale of Evesham E-safety newsletter

What do you like

most about the

internet?

What is your fa-

vourite game/app/

site?

What could you do

if you saw a friend

online needed

some help or sup-

port?

How does the in-

ternet make you

feel?

https://keepthemsafe.safeguardingchildrenea.co.uk/

As a school, we pride ourselves on our up-to-date knowledge and train-

ing on E-safety. Part of our online safety program will see a regular E-

safety newsletter that we will send out once a term with lots of useful

information, links and guidance for you and your families.

There will be new and current information and updates available on

our school website as well, so keep an eye on there too!

A simple and effective way to get involved with your children and their

lives online is through discussion. By maintaining an open dialogue

with your child and encouraging them to talk to you about their inter-net use parents can help children access the amazing resources the in-

ternet has to offer whilst keeping them safe online.

15

Residential

It’s been a great term

in the residential

setting, we are officially

OUTSTANDING!

Lots of great activities

have been happening…

We had lots of fun at

Imagination Soft Play &

trampoline Park.

Freedom Disco and

Snoezelen

Residential “An outstanding Term!”

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Residential

Walks, Woods and

Forest

We had lots of fun at

Imagination Soft Play &

trampoline Park.

We even had a morn-

ing when the whole of

residential cooked

breakfast!

Residential “An outstanding Term!”

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This has been a busy term for Work Experience and we are pleased to add to our list of placements; the new Waitrose store in Evesham and the Heart of England Forests.

Easter update 2019 Careers Dept

We have had an ac-tive term with the stu-dents, attending re-views and meeting with some parents and carers. The stu-dents have been working hard and are using JED (Job Ex-plorer Database) to help them with ideas on careers and job choices . Staff have been delivering regu-lar Talentino careers sessions to upper school pupils and this has been go-ing well. The pu-pils are all start-

ing to think about the world of work and skills required for adult-hood. This has been a busy term for Work Expe-rience and we are pleased to add to our list of placements; the new Waitrose store in Eve-sham and the Heart of

England Forests. The pupils who are leav-ing us this year have started to apply for college.

Our annual Life Beyond School Event took place on the 12th March and we had a good range of pro-viders for both pupils and their parents/carers to take part in hands on ac-tivities, gather information and ask questions. A new update for schools within Worcestershire is that the county has been awarded Hub status for the Ca-reers and Enterprise com-pany and the group is known as the SEN Fo-rum. We have regular meetings to enable us to share expertise and infor-mation between the spe-cial schools in Worcester-shire. This is working well and helping the schools work towards the Careers Gatsby Bench Marks.

We wish you all a very happy Easter break and please feel free to contact us with any queries or concerns you many have.

Lyndesay & Ros

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Staff Training Judith Syvret

Staff Training at The Vale.

This term staff have spent their Monday evenings and training day learning about a wide range of subjects. We have looked at issues with a national profile and ones specific to SEND. Three areas we looked were Managing Anxiety, Communication Friendly Spaces and Colourful Se-mantics.

As you may know Mental Health and Well-Being is a national priority for schools at the moment. We looked specifically at issues around anxiety with Jay Hart, head teacher of another school in the Trust. We explored pos-sible causes, how to identify and strategies to manage. The sessions were very

useful, productive and thought provoking. Thank you Jay.

On our whole school train-ing day we had a notable guest speaker join us, Eliza-beth Jarman. We looked at how to adapt our learning environments to make them communication friendly spaces, where learning can be active. It was a really stimulating day, packed full of ideas.

A big thank you to 2 of our staff, Rachel Evans and Laura Wainwright, for lead-ing us in learning about Col-ourful Semantics. Colourful Semantics is an approach to support literacy develop-ment. They refreshed our existing knowledge and un-derstanding, reminded us of what a valuable approach it is and shared new develop-ments.

A reminder that our next full training day is on Monday 29th April. Staff will be working with CAMHS to look at mental health and ASC.

Judith Syvret

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Stem Challenge Final

On 22.03.19 Aa-

ron and me took

part in the

Worcestershire

STEM final at

Worcester Rugby

Club. There were

lots of school

there from across

Worcestershire.

We had a big

challenge of build-

ing a railway sta-

tion out of K’Nex.

We were a bit

nervous, and ex-

cited, when we

got there. We had

to do the chal-

lenge on our own

which was OK be-

cause we worked

as a team.

Leo and Aaron

From 3WP

Class 3WP Stem Challenge Final

20

JANUARY 2019 - JULY 2019 SPRING TERM 2019

SUMMER TERM 2019

Academic Year 2019 - 2020 AUTUMN TERM 2019

SPRING TERM 2020

SUMMER TERM 2020

TERM STARTS Tuesday 8th January 2019

PD Day - Monday 7

th January

2019 PD Day – Friday 25

th January

2019 HALF TERM Friday 15

th February – Friday

22nd

February 2019 PD Day - Friday 15

th February

2019 TERM ENDS Friday 12

th April 2019

TERM STARTS Tuesday 30th April 2019 PD Day - Monday 29

th April

2019 May Bank Holiday – Monday 6

th May 2019

HALF TERM Monday 27th May 2019 – Fri-

day 31st May 2019

TERM ENDS Friday 19th July 2019 PD Day - Monday 22

nd July

2019

TERM STARTS Tuesday 3rd

September 2019 PD Day - Monday 2nd

Septem-ber 2019

HALF TERM Monday 28th October – Friday

1st November 2019

TERM ENDS Friday 20th December 2019

TERM STARTS Tuesday 7th January 2020 PD Day – Monday 6

th January

2020

HALF TERM Monday 17th February – Friday

21st February 2020

TERM ENDS Friday 3rd

April 2020