st. joseph’s specialist school & college...
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St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter
Amlets Lane, Cranleigh, Surrey GU6 7DH
Tel: 01483 272449 Fax: 01483 276003
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.st-josephscranleigh.surrey.sch.uk
Volume 2
Friday 18th
December 2015
Letter from the Principal
Dear Families and Friends The end of term has arrived. There has been flurry of Christmassy events this week – see inside for more about the FestiviTea, Carol Services, visits from Father Christmas and disco. Today is Christmas Jumper Day. We are hoping to raise a good sum for Save the Children.
Last week the residential groups had a Christmas dinner and party which, according to one of the learners, was the best one yet!
On 9th December we held a very special Mass in celebration of the beginning of the Catholic Year of Mercy. A big thank you to the families and staff who attended and those that were able to join Father Colin and myself for refreshments. See further details of the Year of Mercy inside. Our Diocese held a Celebration Arts event for education leaders across the Diocese. Kath Hitchins, St. Joseph’s fantastically talented Art Leader, led a workshop at this event.
It is with great sadness we say good bye to Alex Ratcliffe, one of our Assistant Principals. She leaves us after only 5 terms, to join her fiancé in Cumbria. She will be greatly missed by learners and colleagues. We will not be replacing Alex at this time – Dawn Phillips, our remaining Assistant Principal will take on much of Alex’s role as Leader of Learning, passing on her KS5 Leadership role to another.
Rod Hunt’s year as resident artist also comes to an end – we will find it hard to find another to fill this role with as much passion and enthusiasm for helping our learners as Rod. If you know anyone who might be interested - do let us know – an advertisement will be placed in the new year.
You will be pleased to know that the retiring collections from the two Carol Services yesterday raised £300. This will be sent to help the mission we support in Yola, Nigeria. This year, as last, they continue to have a difficult time, often in fear of their and their children’s lives. This photos shows Nigerian children orphaned by the terrorist acts of Boko Haram, Nigeria’s militant Islamic Group.
We look forward to welcoming your son/daughter back to St. Joseph’s between 10.15 and 10.30 on Tuesday 5th January 2016. With our love and prayers for a Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year,
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St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter Page 2
Contents
Page 1 Letter from the Principal
Page 2 New staff members, leavers and congratulations
Page 3 Learner News
Page 4 Staff Profile: Vladi Kolev, IT Manager
Page 5 FestiviTea; Duke of Edinburgh at Sayer’s Croft
Page 6 Care: John Paul House visit a care home; Christmas party
Page 7 Year of Mercy Mass; Nativity
Page 8 Therapies News: Occupational Therapy tips; Makaton Signs; App of the Week
Page 9 Card and Bag Enterprise; Christmas Fair
Page 10 Science update: Super Humans, Stargazing; Christmas Disco
Page 11 Christmas Tree; Santa’s Visit; Christmas Dinner
Page 12 Court-Appointed Deputy Seminar; Wintershall Nativity; Christmas Jumper Day;
Stine Hanson (Teaching Assistant)
Nicole Best (Term Time Only Care Staff)
Lucy Meadows (52 Week Care Staff)
Catherine Eyres
Speech & Language
Therapist
Nicole Tootill
Teaching Assistant
Congratulations to Alex Ratcliffe, Senior Assistant Principal on her engagement!
Alex leaves St Joseph’s since the commute from Cumbria would be a bit of
nightmare. We wish her the best of luck for the future and hope she keeps in touch.
Rod Hunt
Artist-in–
Residence
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Page 3 St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter
Learner News
Congratulations to Sophie Lewis, who completed the YMCA Santa
Run on Sunday 4th December. 500 fully suited, booted and bearded
Santa Clauses took part in the run to raise funds for the YMCA.
Sophie attends the Yip4Youth short breaks scheme at the YMCA
East Surrey Sovereign Centre in Reigate. Sophie was a particularly
speedy St Nick, and, after running a merry mile, was the first of her
group to cross the line. Well done Sophie!
Sophie and George, Yip4Youth coordinator
Congratulations to our
Boggle winners! Hannah (left) received the
Learner prize from librarian
Lauren Robins whilst Kim
Maxted (not pictured), one of
our Finance Officers, won the
adult prize.
On Tuesday 1st December we were
able to take 5 learners to Grafham
Grange School to see a concert
performed by students from the
Yehudi Menuhin School. The
concert consisted of students aged 8
-13, playing a variety of instruments
including violin, piano and double
bass. This was an excellent display
of musical talent and an inspiration
to the learners that were present.
On Friday 13th
November, the Learners
and staff members of St
Joseph’s donned their
onesies for a good cause.
The total is just in and
together we raised £147
for Children in Need.
Fundraising for Children in Need
Last week several learners from, fittingly, St Nicolas’ class went to
St Nicholas Church to decorate our St Joseph’s Christmas tree. The
Cranleigh community tree event is becoming a popular annual
festival with schools and groups across the area decorating their
trees in a variety of different ways. The learners really enjoyed
looking at all the Christmas displays on offer. Our tree was based
around the theme, ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ and featured houses
and stars made by all the learners in St Joseph’s out of salt dough
(with plenty of festive glitter!). It was highly commended by all who
came for its imaginative interpretation of the well known carol.
Admirers also commented that it was lovely to see a tree with
decorations that were handmade.
‘Just the right place’
Adding the finishing touches
Getting to grip
with the lights
Christmas Tree Display at St Nicholas Church
Admiring our handiwork
Sophie’s Santa Run
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St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter Page 4
Twelve things about: Vladi Kolev
WHAT TYPE OF PERSON ARE YOU?
Describe yourself in five words: Patient, educated , and
What’s top of your to-do list? To improve ……
What’s your favourite biscuit? Coconut Biscuit!!!!
What’s your top holiday destination? Acapulco
What wouldn’t you do for £1 million? To change my past
Who would play you in a film of your life? This pleasure is only mine!!!!
COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES
The celebrity I’d most like to have as a teacher
at my school is: All my teachers were celebrities
As a child I wanted to grow up to be: Cosmonaut
My most embarrassing moment in school:
In the school choir - the teacher asked me what voice I was?
1: Tenor
2: Baritone or
3: Bass
I said - 5
If I’ve learned one thing, it’s: To not stop learning
I shouldn’t be telling you this, but: I still feel like I’m 15!
Tell us your best joke: .. and the pigs are flying!!
I am not 50;
I am 15
with 35 years of
experience!!
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Page 5 St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter
Our next Coffee Morning will take place on
Wednesday 20th January 2016 at 10am.
The theme will be Puberty.
Join us for a piece of cake, tea, coffee and a chat!
We look forward to seeing you there.
FestiviTea
Duke of Edinburgh at Sayer’s Croft
A group of 16 learners from KS4 & 5 received funding from the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme to attend an adventure day at Sayers Croft Field Centre in Ewhurst. We arrived at 10am ready for the first activity, orienteering. There were a number of different orienteering courses some with photos and some using maps. It was very muddy but the learners had great fun and it was good to practice our navigation skills before our expedition in the summer. Instead of a picnic lunch 'Cesca, Bill and Cam did a BBQ with sausages and burgers- who said you can't have a BBQ in December! The weather forecast was not great but we were very lucky and by the afternoon the skies had cleared. In the afternoon the learners had to overcome fears, try something new, show determination, perseverance and team work. The learners spent time climbing in the high ropes course and had a fantastic time. Many of them were initially very scared of being so high but they worked well together listened to the instructions and kept trying - it was fantastic to see. The day was such a huge success that we are planning another one in February. If you would like more info about the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme (available for young people aged 14 - 24) please email Cesca on [email protected])
Wednesday 16th December saw a very festive Coffee Morning. Parents, ex-learners and staff got together to celebrate Christmas with some yummy mince pies. Our FestiviTea raffle raised £75 for the local branch of the National Autistic Society. Thank you to everyone who supported the event. We wish you all a Merry Christmas!
mailto:[email protected]
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St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter Page 6
John Paul House visit to a Care Home
News from Care
On Thursday 3rd December, Jasmine, Sophia, and Lia went with the John Paul House staff to the Old Rectory nursing home. They were shown around by sisters Harriet, and Amy and her 22month old son Patrick. They met a lady who was 101 years old! She loved the cake we gave her. Mr Evans (below) enjoyed chatting to us and said our cakes looked lovey but unfortunately he has to watch what he eats. Jasmine particularly loved their indoor heated swimming pool and wants one at school! She was sad to leave the nursing home and she said it was really fun.
The Christmas Party for our Residential Learners was held on 8th December. They started off with a delicious Christmas dinner in the Dining Hall followed by a visit from Santa then had a wonderful time at the Christmas disco in Holy Family.
Christmas Party
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Page 7 St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter
On Wednesday 9th December, the entire school joined together for
a special mass to celebrate the launch of the Year of Mercy. The
Year of Mercy (or Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy) is a period of
prayer dedicated to the pardoning of sin and reflecting on God’s
forgiveness and mercy. It was declared by Pope Francis, and lasts
from December 8th 2015 to November 20
th 2016. At St Peter’s
Basilica in the Vatican City, and at cathedrals and churches all over
the world, the Holy Doors were opened, becoming ‘Doors of Mercy’, through which anyone may pass and experience
forgiveness for their sins through the power of God’s mercy. At St Joseph’s, the doors of the chapel became our own
‘Holy Doors’, as the school held its Mass for the Launch of the Year of Mercy. Learners gathered in the marquee on
the lawn, before beginning a procession to the doors. Father Colin
joined us to anoint the ‘Doors of Mercy’ with oil and incense, before
everyone passed through them into the chapel. The mass itself
focused on the theme of spreading forgiveness, and the loving and
merciful nature of God. It was a wonderful start to such an important
period of reflection, and the learners were both enthusiastic and full of
prayer as they entered into the Year of Mercy.
Mass for the Launch of the Year Of Mercy
St Joseph’s Nativity
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St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter Page 8
App of the Week
MyChoicePad Pro, by Insane Logic Ltd
A communication app that uses Makaton to aid learners who cannot communicate
verbally. This is the main communication app used at St Joseph’s. You can make
personalised grids focussing on the activities that the learners do. The new Pro app also
has built in games and activities that help to increase vocabulary, build understanding
and help the learner build sentences. The pro app has a library of 4000 Makaton symbols
that you can search for and learn the symbol and sign in order to support communication.
Christmas Crafts - a way to develop hand skills During the festive season there are lots of activity opportunities that you can ‘grasp’ onto as a way to help your
child develop their functional hand skills. Many of our learners here struggle with tasks that involve coordinated
and precise movements of the hand and wrist. In the Occupational Therapy (OT) department we are always
thinking of fun activities we can give to the learners that they will be motivated to engage with. At Christmas it
is a little easier as the theme has so many opportunities.
Here are some activities to think of over the holiday break:
Christmas cookie making
Make a snowman puppet using a
white sock or thick white tights and decorating
Making mince pies
Cutting out snowflakes to place on the windows
Pushing Cloves into an orange and hanging as an aromatic decoration
Making Christmas Crackers
Making Paper Chains
There are many ideas on the internet. We’d love to see some pictures of what you get up to over the break.
Have an amazing Christmas, with love from the Occupational Therapy Team.
Therapies
Makaton
Signs
of the Week
FREE
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Page 9 St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter
The card and bag enterprise has been very busy this term designing and creating
Christmas cards and goodie bags.
Having undertaken a questionnaire, the learners discovered which cards and bags were
well-liked and went straight into production. The sensory cards were very popular and
included a sensory pouch of liquid and sequins. Other favourites were made from
recycled maps and music and had a 3D effect.
The enterprise group had an order for 250 cards from a local
IT company, however, as they were new to the business
they decided they would make 50 this year. The customer
was very pleased with their cards and has placed an order
for 250 next year.
Charlotte, Hania, Ben, James, and Nathan have been very busy making the cards and
St Francis helped with Reindeer bag production in their work prep lessons. They set
up a production line with each learner having a specific job to do before they passed
the bag to the next person. Here Callum is adding the
personalised St Joe’s Enterprise sticker to the back of the bag and gave it to the person
adding the sweets.
Sales went well at the Christmas Fair and the enterprise certainly moved into profit. The cards
and bags were also put on sale in the front entrance so that visitors could buy them.
One parent has given the group very positive feedback as
her mother loved her sensory card and her nephew thought
his Christmas tree card made from recycled Marvel comics
was excellent!
Next term the enterprise group are making general greetings
cards, valentine’s day cards and bags and of course Easter
ones. If you have any ideas for the group or any specific
orders please contact us. Also we need a company name.
Can you think up a catchy name?
Card and Bag Enterprise
All the fun of the fair
The Christmas fair was a
huge success this year
raising over £1000! The enterprise groups did a roaring
trade making £70 on the handmade
cards and selling out on the
horticulture stall! The bric-a-brac was
stacked high and offered something
for everyone. As usual the toys flew of
the shelves and learners (and adults!)
enjoyed looking for treasure and that
special something. Once again the
shops in Cranleigh continue to
support us, especially 140, Cranleigh
pharmacy, Costa, Boots and the
recently opened gift shop 121.
Thank you to everyone who
supported us.
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St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter Page 10
Our next Stargazing night is Wednesday 20th January 2016
6 - 7pm
The meeting point will be the School Hall at 6pm.
Further information will be available nearer the time
Science News
You are invited to join us for another exciting night with the moon, stars and planets.
Our Key Stage 2 IPC (International Primary Curriculum) topic this half term has been Super Humans. We have been learning about how our bodies work, inside and out. We have supported our learning throughout the day in class with a Doctors role play area, super hero dressing up costumes and various arts and crafts projects such as making a real life papier mâché body.... lots and lots of paint, paper and glue! It was difficult for the Learners to think about the inside of a body. We looked at lots of videos but it was still a very abstract concept to imagine what was under the skin and what the heart and lungs, kidneys, liver and brain look like. We decided to take a look at the vital organs of a pig. The Learners used surgical gloves and dressed up as surgeons. They were able to touch the organs and really understand how the body works. The Learners asked so many questions and there was lots of group discussion and intrigue that emerged from bringing the lesson to life... not to mention some fabulous handwriting from a very reluctant writer!
Super Humans
St Joseph’s Christmas Disco
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Page 11 St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter
St Joseph’s Christmas Dinner On Tuesday 15th December, the lucky Learners and staff members were treated to a wonderful Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. Huge thanks to our hard-working catering
staff who made it happen, despite being down an oven!
Christmas events
St. Francis class went to Santa Fir to collect the
Christmas Tree they have kindly donated to us. The
learners chose the best one and watched it get
netted in the machine. It was the first tree of the
season to go out! Early in November the learner’s in
St Francis’s class wrote a letter to two local
companies to see if they could persuade them to
donate a Christmas tree to the college. They must
have been very persuasive as they were donated
two lovely trees from Santa Fir and Notcutts. We
would like to thank both companies for their
generosity. As part of the functional language skills
lesson the learners were supported to explain who we were and why we were
visiting them on this occasion. In fact when they collected the tree from Santa Fir
they were told that they were the very first customers to take a tree home this
year. A well-balanced 7ft tree was then put through the machine to be wrapped
up to fit in the bus to return to school. Whilst we were there the manager
presented them with Santa hats for the whole class. The two trees are helping
make the school and college look very festive and as you can see we love the
Santa hats!
St Joseph’s Christmas Trees
Santa’s visit to St Joseph’s St Joseph’s had a special visitor with a big sack of presents for all our learners. A huge thank you to Eagle Radio for the lovely presents! As you can see, our Learners loved them. They also kindly donated us a big polar bear teddy who has found himself a home in our Sensory Room.
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Page 12 St. Joseph’s Specialist School & College Newsletter
The next newsletter will be published on Friday 15th January 2016.
Tues 5th Jan Learners return to school between 10.15 – 10.30am
Wed 6th Jan 2.45 – 3.15pm Epiphany Liturgy
Wed 20th Jan 10:30am-12pm - Family Coffee Morning on Puberty
Wed 27th Jan Holocaust Memorial Day
Tue 9th Feb Safer Internet Day
Fri 12th Feb Last day of term – Learners finish at 1pm
Dates for your diary
Court Appointed Deputies Seminar
Wintershall Nativity St Joseph’s were invited to attend the Wintershall Nativity. A group of Learners and staff members went along for an evening of Christmas entertainment. Thank you to Wintershall for inviting us!
Christmas Jumper Day
St Joseph’s got festive to
raise money for TextSanta,
which splits 100% of the
donations between three
charities: Macmillan Cancer
Support, Make-A-Wish® UK
and Save the Children. The
money goes directly to
support vital work both in
the UK and abroad.
On Tuesday 1st December, St Joseph’s hosted a seminar for parents and families of learners over the age
of 16, regarding Court Appointed Deputyships. We were delighted to be joined by solicitors from a local firm, Barlow Robbins, who were able to offer a wealth of knowledge and experience to all of those who attended. Other areas covered during the seminar included assessing mental capacity, powers of attorney and key legislation and funding post education. Attendees gave very positive feedback regarding the seminar and it is something that we will hope to replicate in the next academic year. If anyone has any queries regarding Court Appointed Deputyships then please contact Jay Shekleton. Alternatively, information can be found online at www.gov.uk or by contacting Barlow Robbins directly.
http://www.gov.uk