newsletter - kestrel house

The Christmas Show ‘Hey Ewe’

December 2016

Newsletter

2 | Kestrel House School Newsletter – December 2016

A note from the HeadteacherFirstly, I would like to welcome our new students and their families to Kestrel House School. Darius, Elyon and Ryan are all settling in well and enjoying themselves in Maple Class, getting to know the staff and their friends across the school.

We have had a very busy and positive term so far, and have welcomed several visitors to school, which you will see in this newsletter. We are also happy that our links with St Gilda’s local primary school continue and St Gilda’s pupils visit weekly at lunchtimes. St Gilda’s will also be attending our annual Christmas Pantomime, performed by Dazzle and Fizz next week.

We are particularly pleased that our school dog, Piglet has been visiting regularly to say hello to the children and help them learn about looking after animals. Thank you Piglet!

Our pupils are all enjoying their weekly trips to access local amenities, and practicing their social schools and communication in these contexts. As you know, Kestrel House School remains committed to achieving best possible outcomes for our pupils, and we will, as usual be continuing to work hard this academic year to realise this vision.

A big thank you to all the parents and grandparents who came to our Christmas Show ‘Hey Ewe’!

Thank you to Simon, for co-ordinating and producing Hey Ewe! The pupils and staff all worked really hard to make the show fun and enjoyable, well done everyone!

Kestrel is continuing to develop links with our closest Acorn school, Heath Farm, in Kent. www.heathfarmschool.org and we have welcomed Heath Farm staff to visit us, as well as several Kestrel staff visiting Heath Farm to share good practice.

Please remember if you would like to discuss anything regarding your child, the MDT team are happy to take calls regarding queries you may have, or, contact your child’s class teacher, our Lead for Teaching and Learning, Kairi Reiter, or myself.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2017. We look forward to seeing the pupils back at school on 4th January 2017. All staff will have safeguarding training on 3rd January, so the school is not open for pupils on this day.

School news news


School news news

ReadingDear Parents,

Kestrel House School attaches significance to reading. When learning to read children develop language and listening skills and they are prepared to understand the written word. When the rhythm and melody of language become a part of a child’s life, learning to read will be as natural as learning to walk and talk. Reading books stimulates the children’s imagination and expands their understanding of the world.

At school our students work on books from the Oxford Reading Tree. These are on topics of interest to the children, they’re illustrated and have simple, familiar vocabulary. The Oxford Reading Tree series is well established.

Each Friday your child will bring one book home. Please read the book with your child and write some comments in the home book. Please try to comment on what your child could read, what they learnt and what was difficult for them. Please send the book back each Friday.

Even after children learn to read by themselves, it’s still important for you to read aloud together. By reading stories that are on their interest level, but beyond their reading level, you can stretch young readers’ understanding and motivate them to improve their skills.

We really value your support.

Thank you for your help


Children in NeedOn Thursday 17th November we held a Children in Need fundraising event ‘The Big Spotacular’ at Kestrel House School.

The pupils and staff enjoyed dressing up and buying and selling spotty cakes to raise money to help disadvantaged children and young people across the UK. Dunn’s the bakers kindly donated some spotty cakes for us to sell.

We raised £85 and want to thank you all for your generous donations!

School news news


School news news

School CouncilThis half term our School Council meetings have focused on safety. The students have been engaged during the activities, which have focused on strangers and the importance of keeping personal information safe.

Piglet is joining in the festive celebrations with her lovely antlers

Piglet


Maple Class

Class news news

This half term Maple Class have been visiting the local Soft Play Centre at Michael Sobell Leisure Centre. The whole class love going and we all get lots of exercise in when we do go!

Maple Class also have three new pupils; Elyon, Darius and Ryan.

We’d also like to welcome Milena who has become our new Learning Support Assistant.


Olive class have made great progress in their Rock climbing trips this term. At the beginning of the term our students were not able to climb more than a few steps and had difficulties climbing back down, but they didn’t stop trying to reach higher and higher. Most students can go all the way up the climbing walls and some are breaking their personal best every week, we are getting better at using our feet to climb down.

Olive class students have also begun to cope much better with the sudden changes on the trips, leaving the climbing centre is not a big issue anymore. The students are very good at helping out the staff at the climbing centre before and after climbing sessions.

Class news news

Olive Class


Class newsnews

Oak ClassThis half term Oak Class have been learning all about celebrations. For Halloween we had a spooky sensory tray filled with cobwebs, slime, bats and eyeballs!

We made colourful fireworks with different types of paint on Bonfire night and looked at lights and rangoli patterns for Diwali.

We helped to raise lots of money for Children in Need by making and eating yummy cakes and we are now getting excited for Christmas with lots of music and art activities.


Class news news


Class newsnews

Elm Class had a visit from The London Museum of Docklands. They visited Elm Class and taught us what it was like for the children during world war two. Elm Class dressed up in children’s clothes of that time and wore name tags and went on an imaginary train to the countryside just like the children of that time would have done.

Then on the 22nd of November we visited the museum and took pictures in the air raid shelter. We did an activity of what it would have been like when the air raid noise went off and we watched a short film of London being bombed. The children enjoyed both sessions.

Elm Class


Class news news


Therapy newsnews

Speech & Language Therapy

This term the students have continued to have Attention Autism sessions in class groups. Here Maple class can be seen engaging really well by looking during the adult led activity. The approach uses common strengths seen in Autism (visual learning, practical tasks, memory) and targets the development of attention, engagement and language skills in a highly visual and multisensory way.

Training has been given to new staff as well as activity ideas to teachers and class teams have started to regularly incorporate the approach as part of their curriculum.


Therapy news news

Music TherapyMusic therapy sessions take place on Tuesday’s at Kestrel House School.

Students are referred to music therapy for different reasons such as to develop social interactions, to offer opportunities for communication through a non-verbal medium and to develop social skills such as turn taking, listening and waiting.

Students may have group or individual sessions of music therapy which take place on a weekly basis.

In music therapy students may play on different instruments, sing and move and create music-based stories.

Callum attends 1:1 music therapy sessions. He has been exploring the guitar with the music therapist.

Three students from Elm class attend group music therapy sessions. We have been working on participating as part of a group, initiating play, taking turns, playing together and as soloists and exploring our voices.

Alex attends 1:1 music therapy sessions. Alex often initiates turn taking activities using the drum.


Staff news news

Meet our Assistant PsychologistAnne Wagner

I have over eight years of experience working with children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders and associated Special Educational Needs, with a particular focus on their social development and active participation in their daily activities. While completing my Masters in Child Psychology in France, I was part of a multi-disciplinary assessment team in a CAMHS-like setting. My subsequent PhD, undertaken jointly in Psychology and Education at universities in France and Canada, involved carrying out an in-depth case study of a child with autism, whom I observed in his home, nursery and special school. I also have experience teaching in special schools, implementing evidence-based interventions for children with ASD, and working in close collaboration with the pupil’s parents and carers – always focusing on the best learning and development outcomes of children with ASD.

• PhD in Psychology University of Lyon (France) and PhD in Education from University of Quebec at Montreal (Canada)

• (single case study of a preschool-aged boy with autism: research focusing on the strategies used by adults to support the child to actively participate in mealtime conversations and exchanges that are supported by visual supports (ie. joint book-reading, use of symbols), whom I have observed in his family, mainstream and special education environment)

• Graduate member of the British Psychology Society

• Started working at Kestrel House School in November 2016

New BabyMarzena Dadok gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Cecilia.

Congratulations and welcome to the world baby Cecilia!


Other news news

Leaving PartyWe are saying good bye to Rafael this term, and would like to wish him all the best, as he joins Our Lady of Lourdes mainstream school in Enfield. Kestrel House has been working with Our Lady of Lourdes regarding a gradual transition process for Rafael and this has been very successful.

We will miss Rafael but we are very happy he will now be with his siblings and are confident he will continue to make great progress.

Thank you also to Rafael’s family in supporting this process.

Parent SurveyWe would be grateful if you could fill out the anonymous parent survey attached to this newsletter and return it to myself or Alistair via your child’s home school bag after the Christmas break. This is based on OFSTED questions for parents and will help us to identify any areas you feel may need addressing in terms of understanding and responding to your views and your child’s needs.

Please return this by January 6th 2017. Thank you very much.


Other news news

Headteacher AwardsClass Child Date of Award Reason for Award

Elm Fernando

14/10/2016

For reading and comprehensionChestnut Jessica For using more wordsOlive Dipo For staying in the green and using indoor voiceMaple Jama For good signingOak Winston For settling back in after illness

Elm Alex

17/10/2016

For good communication during Bucket TimeChestnut Mark For good writingOlive Jediael For sitting in assemblyMaple Malcolm For good signingOak Callum For joining in with circle time

Elm Elijah

04/11/2016

For writing short familiar wordsChestnut Ogulcan For calm behaviour at swimmingOlive Rahiem For taking partMaple Elyon For settling in wellOak Jenny For trying new food

Elm Fernando

07/11/2016

For completing a maths testChestnut Zyed For calm behaviourOlive Jediael For working better in a groupMaple Darius For using PECS at snack and choosingOak Winston For independent work

Elm Arafat

14/11/2016

For responding to rewards systemChestnut Medhane For independent work at workstationsOlive Dipo For helping outside classMaple Malcolm For trying hard on the puzzleOak Meghalan For settling in well

Elm Jessie

21/11/2016

For using the ipad in EnglishChestnut Jessica For use of verbal languageOlive Ridwan For accepting changes to his scheduleMaple Elyon For use of PECSOak Ben For independently walking up and down the stairs

Elm James

28/11/2016

For socialising in the playgroundChestnut Ogulcan For good writingOlive Rahiem For collecting the registerMaple Jama For good writingOak Joshua For starting new attention autism activity

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