newsletter - kestrel house · july 2016 newsletter we would like to officially welcome piglet to...

An integrated therapeutic approach for children with Autism

A note from the Headteacher

July 2016

Newsletter

We would like to officially welcome Piglet to Kestrel House School, as she has recently attended a meeting, when she agreed to attend school termly and come to assembly and visit our classes. Piglet is a popular member of our community and the pupils love having her in school as she is so friendly and sensible.

Thank you Piglet!

School Dog

Welcome to our end of year Newsletter. We are almost at the end of the Summer term and this half term has passed very quickly! Thank you to all parents who attended our Achievement and Leavers Assembly last Friday. Thank you also to Simon Mendoza our Learning Mentor for organising this event as he does annually. The pupils have all made good progress this year and we have celebrated some amazing individual achievements.Congratulations to Elm Class on their AQA awards and a big thank you to Kairi Reiter, our Lead for Teaching and Learning who has initiated and support this award scheme, along with the ASDAN programme across the school.

Sadly we are saying goodbye to 2 pupils this year: Antonia Wiseman, who was one of the first pupils at the school when it opened in 2008, and Ashraf Azim who was at the

school when he was an infant and returned at the end of the last academic year. Antonia is now 16 and will be starting at St Elizabeth’s School and Centre in Much Hadham, Hertfordshire. Ashraf will be transferring to Key Stage 3 provision at Riverside School in Haringey. We would like to wish them both good luck for the future.

I would like to welcome Rahiem Nelson, who started at Kestrel House this half term and has settled in very well to Olive Class. We will be welcoming more new pupils in September and re-opening Maple Class for our Key Stage 2 pupils. A big thank you to Sinead Walker, Assistant Psychologist, who is leaving to do her doctorate this term, and Elaine Hanlon who is also leaving to work at a school in Enfield. We are welcoming the following staff in September: Hamed Salari – Olive Class Teacher, Jessica Arnold – Oak Class Teacher, Jeff Knowles Maple Class Teacher, Alistair Roberts – School Administrator, Alexandra Barry – Assistant Psychologist, Carla Williams – LSA, Clare Burns – LSA, Marzena Blacha – LSA.

Please remember that school finishes at 2pm on Thursday 21st July 2016. We look forward to seeing all our pupils back on 8th September 2016. I would like to take this opportunity to thank parents for their continued support over the past year and I hope that you and your families have a peaceful and enjoyable Summer break.

2 | Kestrel House School Newsletter – July 2016

Whole School Trip to ELHAPOn the 8th of July everyone at Kestrel House School went on another fun filled trip to ELHAP, a special needs adventure playground.

We had lots of fun in the outdoor area, which includes swings, see-saws, slides, a sandpit, a wilderness area, a tree house and a tunnel. The students also enjoyed playing in the indoor area, which has Soft Play, an Art Area and a Play Room.

School news news


School news news


Benefits of YogaI’ve been working with children with special needs, and in particular autism, for 5 years as well as teaching yoga to my daughters, one of whom is on the spectrum.

Yoga can be a welcome relief for kids with autism as it provides a calm space to learn movements that make you breathe more deeply and feel better in your own body.

The ancient tradition of yoga is designed to be calming for the nervous system. For children with autism who are coping with sensory overload, this calming effect of yoga encourages focus and concentration.

One to one Yoga therapy sessions are tailored to meet children’s individual needs and can focus on building core strength or flexibility for better posture, developing balance and co-ordination to help with fine and gross motor skills or practising poses to build strength and a sense of grounding.

Yoga also helps with body and spatial awareness and helps children to regulate their emotions through breathing exercises, songs and sequences of movements.

Most of all, kids on the spectrum love yoga and it is wonderful to see the benefits they gain each week.

Emma Charvet

School news news

AQA Unit AwardsWe have recently become an approved centre with AQA and now offer all of our students the ability to achieve AQA Unit Awards.

The Unit Award Scheme (UAS) is a unique recording of achievement scheme, rather than a qualification.

It offers everyone the opportunity to have their achievements formally recognised – no matter what this is, how old they are, how long it takes or how small the learning step might be.

During the Summer Term the Elm Class students were the first ones to follow the scheme and they all have been working very hard.

We have now received our first certificates back from AQA, which will be given out during the Achievement Assembly.


Class news news


Class news news

Playing with PigletElm class enjoyed spending time with Piglet, the Kestrel House school dog, who is going to visit more regularly next academic year. They held her lead, and fed her with some doggie treats. Well done Elm Class!


Chestnut Class enjoyed a daily outing at the local Elthorne Park with plenty of physical activities, playing with our friends, interacting and taking turns.

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Chestnut Class


Class newsnews

Oak ClassThis term Oak Class has been learning about Forces in Science. They had great fun pushing and pulling each other around the classroom on the wheelie board. They found that pulling was harder than pushing.


Class news news

Olive ClassOlive class have had a busy half term. We have welcomed Rahiem into our class – he loved our weekly trampolining trips! We also had some special visitors from Wild Science. The children got to meet lots of creatures, such as a snake, a spider and a guinea pig. We also learned about pushing and pulling in Science. Well done Olive Class!


Class news news


Multi-Disciplinary TeamMDT news news

In joint Speech and Language Therapy and Psychology sessions students have been learning social skills including what it means to be a ‘good friend’ and topics they can talk about with their friends. There has also been a focus on the development of flexibility skills.

Jenny has been learning vocabulary (nouns and verbs)and has enjoyed imitating the associated actions after the Speech and Language Therapist.

At the end of this term, we will be saying goodbye to our Assistant Psychologist, Sinéad - she is about to embark on her doctorate training in order to qualify as an Educational Psychologist. She expresses having immensely enjoyed her time at Kestrel House School, particularly working closely with teachers, students and their families.

We will be welcoming Alexandra to Kestrel House School in September. She has previously worked in another Acorn school and as such is very experienced in working with children with complex needs and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

newsletter - kestrel house · july 2016 newsletter we would like to officially welcome piglet to...

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