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VEC

life Achieving Through Believing

Victoria Education Centre 04

Issue

2012 December

Termly Newsletter of news and events for parents, our patrons and supporters.

News In Brief A Huge thank you goes to John Lewis who have donated £2000 to VEC to help fund our comprehen-sive work experience initiatives. Over the past 2 years they have also supported our program with work placements at the Poole store. The Genes for Jeans day raised £120 for research into genetic disorders and a further £130 was raised on Pink Day for cancer charities. For our Children In Need efforts for 2012 £189 was collected and handed on for good causes THANK YOU everyone. The “Seen But Seldom Heard” video on YouTube now has nearly 1500 hits please logon, watch and “like” as this could be broadcast on national television. Thank you to everyone who bought a Christmas wish from Michelle Barnes this year they are now on our big tree outside the front entrance. Thank you to Michelle and AJ for helping to sell the Christmas wishes and if the number of wishes adds to the strength of the wish, then we should all be happier and healthier in 2013! Michelle raised £23.00 .

New Radio Station For New Year!

We are delighted to announce that the school has successfully bid for funding to equip a dedicated 'radio station' in school which will be officially launched in 2013. The funding will allow us to buy a state of the art studio that our

students can use to create

programmes, conduct interviews and showcase their own music produced in their digital music classes. The

programmes will initially be broadcast

securely within school over the internet

with the station being based near the

MILE room so that anyone passing can

make requests and dedications. Several

students are already drawing up ideas

for their own programmes. Principal

Chris Davies, “Radio stations have

become very popular in schools as they

provide a fantastic opportunity for

students to be involved in the planning,

preparation and production of a live

radio programme. What a great way to

learn new skills in a fun, engaging and

exciting environment. For our

VEC Radio Station Gets Green Light

students I see it as a way for them to

learn different communication skills

and to improve confidence and self

esteem. As well as the obvious radio

shows the team who are developing

this new venture aim to use it as a

way of connecting the whole school

community (and as we develop the

world!) to showcase work completed

in the classroom through podcasts

and to share original music

compositions”.

In conjunction with this exciting news

we will be running a competition

among our students to come up with a

name for our radio station - so why not

spend some time over the Christmas

holiday thinking of a winning name!

We will collect your ideas next term

and announce the winner when the

radio station is ready!

Inside This Issue Pages

All The Latest News 1 to 9

Sparkle Update 10 and 11

Residential News12 and 13

P.P.G. News Letter 14

SaLT News 15

Sports Report 16

Performing Arts 17 and 18

Odds and Ads Back Page

Classroom Catch-up 19 to 23

2

Your ECO Schools Committee

By Lisa Frett

The Eco Schools Initiative

The eco-schools committee is made up of a wide group of people from all areas of the school, including pupils, teachers, ESWs, maintenance staff, ICT specialists and governors all working towards a green flag award. Pupils and staff will work together with all departments to make VEC a greener environment. We will organise activities, projects and collate information on how we can reduce the amount of waste, save energy and re-cycle as much as possible. Students on the committee are, Kayleigh Willcox, Alec Ross, Torin Van Breda, Jagdev Rathaur, Holly Dobell, Scott Howlett, and Reece Collins. Two students from each class will be chosen every term to be ECO-RANGERS. They will be responsible for checking the re-cycling and saving of energy in their class with an award given to the greenest class at the end of term. The award will be made from re-cycled materials chosen and designed by the students. As part of the scheme we will work closely with horticulture and our own woodland as well as the

local area. We hope to organise field trips to Hengistbury Head and Mudeford Quay to help with beach clean ups. There will also be visits from people who create art and everyday useful things from recycled material. The eco-schools committee hopes everyone will

get involved in some practical and fun activities

and get VEC the top green flag award.

VECLife Winter 2012

I trained as a teacher in the mid 70s and they were strong on Child Development and Theory of Education but very weak on practical advice about teaching. The one piece of advice was „don‟t smile until Christmas‟. It was recommended as the way to maintain strict discipline in your busy classroom! Before the hope-filled story of Christmas took over from the long dark winters of pagan Europe people just had to have some celebration in the long dark days of mid-winter. Now the truth of Jesus coming to save us has taken over and truly Christmas is something to smile about. As you‟ll see from the contributions to this magazine it‟s been a long and full autumn term. At VEC we‟ve had lots to smile about along with a few sad times. We expected Rachel to return with us all in September –but that was not to be, and as the Rev Sue Gowling the minister at St George‟s Methodist

Church, Boscombe said, „She‟s up in heaven now creating her own sort of marvellous mayhem‟ Nick was planning to complete his final

year in Post 16 with us, but his whole life was cut short and we are so sad at losing him. It seems unfair that they have been taken from us missed so much whilst we have had so much to get on with. But living life is good and being here at Victoria has been very good, and very busy. Building on the cultural aspects of the Olympics and the poetry project in school there have been continuing links with Bournemouth University and the „Seen but Seldom Heard‟ project has been continuing and documented in a moving film shown in early December. Travel and Transport has been the theme for the term and music, poetry and Lion King. So, please enjoy the following pages as you catch up with what we have been doing, but above all on behalf of everyone here at Victoria have a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year…… and don‟t forget to smile!

Foreword Don’t Smile ‘til Christmas

By Phil Thompson

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New VEC Website Launches Soon

Katie using her iPad for communication

With all the excitement about the radio station still reverberating there is more exciting news in the offing. Due to go live in the very near future is our brand new school website. Rob Belbin and the team have been busy stuffing it full of interesting content for student‟s parents and any other interested browser who may be looking for a

school. As well as a comprehensive guide to the services we provide there will be a school community section, multi-media galleries and a regularly updated news and events section so that wherever you are you can keep in touch with all the latest information from VEC.

VECLife Winter 2012

An Apple F r Every Teacher

an iPad for each class, and to this end we have recruited the help of the classes themselves in raising some of the money needed. Vice Principal for Education Simon Brown: “Together we can make a difference. There's a reason why everyone's talking about iPads... their accessibility features are amazing, they are instant and easy to use and they really can be used as assistive devices for our students. From apps that help with orientation & mobility to high-tech communication application software, the iPad is becoming a go-to device for children with special needs.” Teachers and TA‟s will be looking for innovative ways to raise funds with raffles and cake sales through to auctions and tombola already being considered. Class Teacher Jen Williams “The iPad has been a fantastic resource in class. I use it with students at all levels and for a broad range of activities, from very simple visual work to

numeracy and literacy. It’s been great for

motivating and engaging the students”.

Along with the Ipads we will also be purchasing a synch and charging trolley so that they can be centrally managed and kept secure.

Motivation: The iPad has many benefits for students

New technologies and their applications are constantly under scrutiny at VEC to see how best we can use them to augment our students learning and to better enhance their learning experience using newer more exciting ICT access methods. With the advent of the iPad revolution we have been keeping an eye on the development of this innovative device especially within the context of special needs and have been using two for mainly our lower school classes for some time. We believe now is the right time to expand our use of the iPad in the Classroom and to bring it‟s benefits to all our students at VEC. The benefits of the ipads within special needs are manifold. Ease of

access is number one with no need to operate a mouse and with Bluetooth technology a growing number of Apps are switch accessible. The low cost of Apps as opposed to PC software is also a factor but there is also a growing community of special needs schools who are sharing their knowledge on the internet. The App store even has a special category for special needs and special education Apps. Our aim is simply to provide

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Footlight Performers Step Up

Tom’s On Target

By Belinda Ellicott

Building Work Begins In Earnest

Building work has now begun here at VEC on the new state of the art hydrotherapy pool. The diggers have moved in and the turf has been cut. To date, the old walkways to the sports hall have been demolished and the foundations are being dug. Students and staff alike are all very excited about the prospect of having this fantastic facility at our school. Watch this space for updates.

Harry has been playing the trumpet for some time now and is a local celebrity as one of the players of the Bournemouth Carnival Band, but his talent has now also been recognized by

Dorset Music Service and he has been invited to join the prestigious Dorset Youth Jazz Orchestra by Colin Francis, his trumpet tutor. This entails meeting up in Bovington once a month with other talented young musicians and playing

together and the opportunity for Harry to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in May – watch this space for further details nearer the time.

Harry Joins Top Jazz Band

Students of Wimborne‟s Footlight Performance

Academy challenged parents and grandparents

to take their ballet exam, all in the aid of The

Sparkle Appeal! 26 adults trained hard for 6

weeks culminating in a nerve wracking ballet

exam earlier this month. Miss Leanne Dade

(Manager of Footlight) who conceived the idea

and trained the budding ballerinas said “I am

extremely proud of what they have achieved. It

was a fantastic success and everyone loved the

experience especially the children who helped

their parents with their homework, whom I‟m

sure now have a greater appreciation of the

art!” Footlight raised a healthy £3,456.78 for the

Sparkle Appeal”.

A huge thanks goes out to all involved in this excellent venture.

VECLife Winter 2012

Tom Johnstone was awarded a trophy cup for his marksmanship in the target shooting in a Paintball shoot-out recently held here. Well done Tom.

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VECLife Winter 2012

Summer Fun: Is Angus ordering a drink?

Summer Ball Sensation

By Belinda Ellicott

This year our Leavers‟ Ball was planned by a

committee of students who decided that the only

theme we could embrace was the Olympic and

Paralympic Games. We were lucky to have one of

the torch bearers, Robert Ewins, to carry the

Olympic torch down the red carpet while Harry

Bassett played a fanfare before the presentations

of all our Leavers. We were also treated to

performances from Charlie and the Chocolate

Factory, The Baroque project and Shakespeare

for Schools‟ Romeo and Juliet, along with music

provided by our very own Sean, Mike, Johan,

Tom, Aaron and James. Jon was our official

photographer, Sue P made the most fabulous

cake and Stuart provided us with party fare. The

highlight of the evening was the vote for our own

Prom King and Queen with Greg Love and Lucy

Willers taking the crowns for these titles followed

by a performance by Lauren Taylor as a tribute to

all our friends who couldn‟t be there. With such a

great time being had by all we can hardly wait for

next years event, so be sure to save the date in

your calendars – Friday 19th July 2013!

Poole Town Band Sparkle At Fundraiser

We would like to say a HUGE thank you to the Poole Town Band who have raised a fantastic sum of around £300 for our Sparkle appeal. A concert was held on the 27th October at St Luke‟s Church in Parkstone. The event was kindly sponsored by Druitts Solicitors of Bournemouth. In the Photo are L to R Chris Clifford, VEC Staff member Kirsten Watts, Alison Clifford and Band Master David Evans (Kirsten‟s Dad). The Poole town band will be visiting our school for a Christmas treat in December to entertain our students.

A message to all from InTouch

Thank you all so very much for the wonderful Harvest gifts you all so kindly collected for me – I was overwhelmed!! I am truly grateful for your caring hearts for our poor, wandering, homeless friends. Thank you, too, to those who loaded up their cars and delivered all the bags and bags of „goodies‟. God bless you all, love from Muriel .

Harry Joins Top Jazz Band

A huge thanks goes out to all involved in this excellent venture.

Thank you’s to Chris, Kirsten, Alison and David

Lauren entertains

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By Ingrid McCallum

Shoebox Record Breaker

Changing Places-Changing Lives

How many times have you been out shopping or on a visit and when you need it most you just can‟t find the right place for that toilet break or somewhere to be able to change properly? Now, thanks to a new initiative help is at hand. The Changing Places Consortium has launched its campaign on behalf of those people who cannot use standard accessible toilets. This includes people with profound and multiple learning disabilities and their carers, as well as many other disabled people. They need Changing Places toilets with enough space and the right equipment, including a height adjustable changing bench and a hoist. Thousands of people need the Changing Places toilets that would help them to enjoy the day to day activities many of us take for granted. Thanks to the hard work of our many

campaigners across the UK, there are now over 450 Changing Places toilets. This month alone new toilets in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland,

England and Jersey were added and progress is

being made on many projects across the UK.

Changing Room toilets within a 10 mile area around VEC are listed below.

Lower Gardens Public Toilets Lower Pleasure Gardens, Exeter Crescent, Bournemouth, BH1 2AQ Tel: 01202 451199 Kinson Hub Wimborne Road Kinson, BH11 9AW Tel: TBC Email: kinson@bournemouthlibraries.org.uk Pelhams Park Leisure Centre Manor Farm Road, Kinson, Bournemouth, BH10 7LF Tel: 01202 437801 Moors Valley Country Park Horton Road Ashley Heath, near Ringwood Dorset, BH24 2ET 01425 470721 For more information and to locate other facilities when planning your day out please log on to: www.changing-places.org

On Friday 28th September two of our talented students took part in “Britain‟s Got Special Talent” at the Dolphin Centre in Poole. Chelsea and Hugo competed against students from the Minstead project after winning the “VEC‟s got talent” heat at Victoria School. Both Hugo and Chelsea performed dance routines with Hugo dancing to music he had composed himself. There was great excitement as the results came in with Chelsea coming Third and Hugo winning overall. Certificated were handed out by Councillor Carol Evans, the Mayor of Poole.

VEC’s Talent Rewarded

A very HUGE Thank you to everybody who took part in making these Boxes! Every Box matters, because it‟s another happy child somewhere in the world and it feels good to be part of it. We have definitely beaten last year‟s target!!!! This year we got 64 boxes! WELL DONE everybody!

VECLife Winter 2012

Chelsea and Hugo doing us proud

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Staff News

Class MH Teacher Margaret Hopwood got married to Paul over half term. “We had a lovely day and I‟d like to thank Carol for doing such lovely flowers”. Congratulations Mrs Humphreys! We would also like to welcome new Teachers Hillary Stewart-Dunk, Esther Curry and Beth Kay (as seen in last issue.) who are settling in well. Well met also goes to new Rehab Engineer Andrew Besant, kitchen staff Mark Hodges, Sue Rawson and Rachel Charlton. E.S.W‟s Sarah Marshallsay and Jan Dol. R.S.W. Chelsea Cobb and a new nurse on the team Joanne Roberts. We look forward to working with you all. We bid farewell with many thanks to Sam Barnes, Emma Haynes, Sue Long and James Turner.

The new Mr and Mrs Humphreys

VECLife Winter 2012

By Ceri Vosper

In Times Of Need

VEC has recognised the need to support staff with a special emphasis on the times when a student is especially unwell. The new group known as „The Beacon‟ will meet monthly and will allow staff the opportunity to discuss students, past or present. If staff want to share personal experiences that will be welcomed with an emphasis on allowing all who attend an opportunity to talk or not as the case may be. The groups will be led each month by a different person from the „Beacon‟ team, their aim being to facilitate discussion. Please look around the building to see our posters and a further explanation of what the group is hoping to achieve, the time and date of the first meeting will be highlighted after Christmas. See you in the New Year.

Stop Press: Stop Press: Stop Press: Stop

Building work news Just in from Site manager John Arrowsmith : “On 7

th and 8

th Jan the

steels will be delivered and by end of Jan we should have an erected steel frame with a roof. And we are still very much on course for a 23-08-13 target completion!

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Harry Redknapp Drops By

School patron and football Supremo Harry

Redknapp dropped into VEC on the 20th

November. Harry came by to check on the

progress of the phase one hydrotherapy pool

building works and to catch up with some of our students. Harry also met some of the construction managers from Morgan Sindall, the firm carrying out the work. Chatting over tea and biscuits Harry was giving no clues away about his plans for

possible future employment and told one student that his favourite team at the moment was

Bournemouth (watch out Eddie Howe?). Rounding off his trip Harry then met and chatted to our

Horticulture students.

Esther Curry and her students chat to Harry over tea

PMLD is often a defining term in the lives of some of our students, but when this acronym is attached to resonance board sessions, it takes on a new meaning – positive and meaningful learning and development. Resonance boards have been in use for years to encourage deaf people to perceive sounds. Evelyn Glennie, the amazing percussionist who is profoundly deaf, stands on a wooden platform for her performances, to enable her to “feel” the music played .I could never have known at the time, but I had an early introduction to the theory! My father was a bass drummer in a Salvation Army band. The side-drummer, known as Uncle George, was blind, and my Dad communicated musical instructions to him through touch on his drum! The idea of resonance boards was developed for deaf-blind children in the 1980s, and for the last 14 years or so, the Soundabout Education Centre near Oxford has been using music to unlock the potential of young people with severe disabilities. The Centre trains staff in special needs settings to use sound and music to create meaningful

opportunities for communication. During sessions with a resonance board, any response is

acknowledged as intentional, the student sets the pace, and no response is perceived as a

response. It can be a “safe space” from sensory overload, or an intensive interaction time. The

students‟ response to silence, to pauses, to not being continually prompted to respond is

observed, and used to guide the session.

Reverberating aids are used sensitively according to students‟ responses. Some students lie on the board, sit on the board, or sit beside it with bare feet and their hands on it. The smallest movement on the resonating surface produces a sound that is amplified and experienced audibly and as

vibration. It is such a simple piece of equipment, cheap to make compared with so much of the equipment our students require, and encourages active listening, responsiveness, turn-taking, and a general feeling of well-being.

A Sound Therapy

By Hazel Noyon

Young Alexander benefits from a tried and trusted therapy.

VECLife Winter 2012

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Up, up and away with Kiteright

About me: Gary Hawkins, 46 years old, Senior Nurse for people with a Learning Disability in the NHS specialising in working with people with complex behaviour problems. I have been kitesurfing, land kiting and wakeboarding for about 10 years. The initial Idea: I have for many years in my role of working with people with multiple and complex challenges, taken them kiting both in work time and my own time. Initially this was as a way of engaging disengaged individuals, however over time I started to see clinical improvements in their behaviours and reduction in medication. I also started to see increases in self esteem, im-proved relationships and family dynamics in many individuals in crisis, both children and adults. My original aim was to set up a small local charity to promote access to kite sports for people with a learning disability and associated behaviour problems. Concept development: Having set up a very successful local kite club up last year I quickly realised the power of social me-dia . I was very quickly approached privately by a number of members who used kiting as “self therapy” for a multitude of sensory, mental health and physical disabilities just from that small local sample. This included people who have sight or hearing loss, cerebral palsy, dyslexia, dyspraxia, post traumatic stress disorder (war injured), learning disabilities, mental health challenges, anxiety symptoms, depression, autism and drug dependency to name a few. It quickly become evident that kiting was a massive positive force in peoples‟ lives that can make a real difference to their future. Kiting is so much more multifunctional than many sports yet this therapeutic potential has never been fully researched or explored. Long term aims: The Project has the support of the national governing body the BKSA (British Kitesports Association). It is hoped that over time the charity can train clinicians, teachers and other specialists in a specialised kite instructor course for people with differing needs. Kiting can then be used as a therapy in many differing areas for both children and adults. I have had interest from Barnardos for example to work with disengaged children and young adults as community projects, the MOD to look at working with war wounded at Headley Court working with PTSD and amputees as well as a number of special schools to work with children with Cerebral palsy, autism, behaviour and conduct disorders. The scope of the project is im-mense. The project is very much in its infancy and the research will take 2-3 years. In the mean time I hope to run generic access to kiting events to raise the profile of the charity nationally.

My aspirations: To make this charity the single international charity linked to kite sports whose aims and objectives are multifunctional and inspirational and one that touches many people‟s lives in many different ways in all parts of the world. Working across all forms of disability and challenge I aim to form strong part-nerships links with other charities to collaborate in research and fundraising.

The charity will work across ALL age ranges .. from zero to hero .. as I believe that the sport can really make a difference to peoples lives. If you would like more information please logon to www.kiteright.org You can also follow them on Facebook here www.facebook.com/KiteRight

Former VEC student Scott who has benefitted a lot from working with

Kiteright.

This months spotlight feature article is about Kiteright, a registered charity which aims to use all kite sports to help improve lives of many people that would not

normally be able to access the sport.

VECLife Winter 2012

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By The Sparkle Team

Sparkle Update VECLife Winter 2012

As you may have noticed the building of the new pool has started!

It is anticipated that the pool will be completed for the start of term next September – this will call for a huge celebratory event! Thank you to everyone – staff, students, parents, friends and supporters who have made this possible! Harry Redknapp helped us celebrate the unveiling of the contractors‟ sign – further proof that things are moving forward! Sparkle news and a round-up of fundraising since September The Sparkle Golf Tournament planned for Tuesday 9

th October got off to a wet start at

Remedy Oak Golf Club which only got wetter and after about 4 holes of golf, 17 teams of soaked golfers made it back to the golf club for warming showers followed by lunch, a charity auction and raffle. It looks as though we will raise in the region of £6,000-£8,000 which is excellent. But what about the golf? The tournament was rearranged for Tuesday 27

th

November – which again was an extremely wet day following an extremely wet weekend – the course was too wet to play so we have rear-ranged once again and now are planning a spring tournament on Tuesday 19

th February.

Thank you to all the very patient and generous golfers who continue to support us.

„A Touch of Sparkle‟ Charity Ball proved very interesting to organise if a lot of hard work and a few sleepless nights before tickets started selling well! 110 people attended this official launch of Phase 2 fundraising on Friday 26

th October at The

Italian Villa, Compton Acres for a wonderful meal, charity auction and raffle with music by Airheadz trio led by Tracy Payne who stepped out of her usual swimsuit attire for the occasion! Jason (who can usually be seen fixing VEC telephone system) and his band The Fey Kits proved a hit with all those dancing. The wonderful amount of £7840.14 was raised at this event and we also raised the profile of the Sparkle Appeal and VEC with a wide range of “new” people who attended and through the publicity and photos in Society Magazine. Sparkle Ladies Christmas Evening was another successful event in a busy few days on Friday 2

nd

November at Royal Motor Yacht Club. Although a well attended event with RMYC giving us the venue at no cost, less money was raised than last year due to only securing partial sponsorship. However, almost £900 has been added to our funds and again we have raised the profile of the appeal still further – more photographs appeared in the Society magazine. The Black Sheep Motor Cycle Club – Motorbike Mayhem was sandwiched between these two events on Saturday 27

th October – an extremely

cold but sunny day saw around 30 motorbikes followed by two mini buses of VEC staff and stu-dents set off from Avon Valley Country Park and wend their way through Dorset to VEC for hot drinks and a great selection of cakes kindly made by staff and parents. £230 was raised and they are already planning another event in September ably assisted by Paula Allcroft.

The Black Sheep escort us on the big day.

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Can You Help Us?

Sparkle Appeal looking for Volunteers Would you like to help us with a variety of events throughout the year? We get a lot of help and support with school-based events but would also like to have a group of people who could help with other Sparkle events from time to time. If you are interested in helping or finding out more, please email me – lholmes@victoria.poole.sch.uk We are also interested in new ideas for events and links with new businesses or organisations – so if you have any ideas or contacts, please let us know.

Events for 2013

Friday 15th March, - The Sparkle Charity Race

Night, VEC Sports Hall

Wednesday 20th March – Sponsored Walk

Bournemouth Sea Front – Bournemouth

to Flaghead Chine

Sunday 21st April – The London Marathon –

still places available

Sunday 22nd September, The Poker Run, The

Black Sheep Motor Cycle Club - VEC

VECLife Winter 2012

Sparkle Christmas Fair was another really enjoyable event which took place on Saturday 17

th November and

which has raised £3,500 so far. The total is rising daily due to Reception Christmas and Book sales so a big thank you to Chris Tarring for supervising the sales and for all staff who continue to buy these items. The Hamper Raffle ticket sales are also raising a significant sum. This fair would not have been possible without the generous help of staff and parents who helped prepare goods for sale, making gifts, baking cakes and donating lots of wonderful items and raffle prizes and running the stalls on the day. Thanks also to all those who helped clear away afterwards – a vital part of the process! It would be lovely if more people could help next year to make the fair bigger and better – we will be looking for willing volunteers later in the year! A huge thank you to Michelle for selling Christmas Wishes and raising £23.00 – good luck with your Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Local schools and colleges Bournemouth Collegiate School are holding another ball to raise funds for us on 26th January Talbot Heath School and Bournemouth School for Girls continue to support us and we have recently received £ 242.00 and £168.00 respectively. Bournemouth and Poole College who raised just over a £1000 for us last term are continuing their support with two groups of students organising two events for us in March. Look out for more information in the new term about a Race Night and a Sponsored Walk

Thanks Michelle!

Corporate supporters – We would like to acknowledge the support we receive from corporate organisations and recently we have received donations from Siemens Poole and John Lewis. A wonderful team of cyclists from two local companies - Enhanced and Inspire - cycled to Paris and some of them even cycled back to Poole! We are hoping this fantastic effort will have raised in the region of £5,000.

Wishing all staff and students a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year

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By Claire Hunter

Brownsea News

Residential Round-up

Purbeck unit have celebrated 2 birthdays this term. James Bradley turned 15 and chose to take a trip to poole park to feed the ducks, the unit later on enjoyed dominoes pizza for dinner. Ray was very excited to be celebrating his 18

th

birthday. He had a drastic haircut with 25 people watching choosing the Mohican style and later on dying it bright green for his night out on the town. Ray had an amazing birthday and a headache to go with it the next morning. We warmly welcome Chelsea Cobb to Purbeck unit and hope she is settling in well. We are very excited to be having a new addition to Purbeck unit at the end of the month. George Kettle will be joining us and making the unit complete. We have Christmas shopping booked in soon, the students are very excited about going to see the Christmas lights and decorations and buying presents for their families. We are currently planning a unit trip to the pantomime and for a Christmas meal out.

By Jordan Ballett

Purbeck News

Ray with friends sporting his new “Barnet”.

By Hazel Noyon

Durlston Update

Durlston unit has shrunk a little since our last report – and no! its not because we wash more! Some students have moved on – Jade and Giordan to Talbot Manor, and we see Tobi during the school day . Staff are visiting Jade and Giordan regularly as we miss them so much. Those of us who are still here continue to enjoy each others‟ company, and the variety of activities throughout the week – including “Happy Feet” music and movement, Faith Group and Music Club. We have plans for the weeks leading up to Christmas, which are bound to include shopping! In the meantime, we shall continue to relax with our lights on around the room, listening to music, feeling safe and supported to express ourselves together.

Durlston on a recent Football themed night.

VECLife Winter 2012

Brownsea unit has done many exciting things so far this year but what sticks out in our memories most was a trip to see Diversity at the BIC to start off the school year. They were so accomplished and fluent that one felt that we were flying round the stage with them as they danced. Lauren has taken on the challenge of a singing audition at a local college where she hopes to study come September 2013. We may

Continued Opposite...

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By Lee Wasson

Around Sandbanks

Sandbanks Unit have had a great term. Firstly we‟d like to welcome George Roberts who is our first full time weekly boarder. The football fairies visited us in October and left us with Sky TV in the common room which has gone down a storm with the Sky Sports addicts. There was a football themed night too (Who ate all the Pies?) Liam Drummond and Jon Kirkpatrick went Paintballing in the woods on a school day! We celebrate 2 birthdays this term. Abbie Graham was 9 on the 10

th of December and beat the rest

of the unit at Bowling to celebrate! Jon Kirkpatrick will be 19 on the 25

th December. We have a

couple of trips out planned near the end of term with Christmas shopping and going to see Sleeping Beauty at the Pavilion. We‟d like to wish

everyone at the school a very merry Christmas and a Happy New year from us all on Sandbanks unit.

Abbie Celebrates her big day

yet be saying “ she was a student at VEC a product of our nurturing” as she hits the high notes and sings her way round the world and into the hit parades. Tom hit the high heights of 19yrs of age by clubbing in Bournemouth to celebrate and was joined by Lauren ,&

Residential Faith Group is held every Wednesday from 6pm-7pm. Students attending are encouraged to share

their opinions and experiences on a wide range of topics always with lots of singing, signing and laughter.

With Hazel Noyon

R.F.G. Residential Faith Group

Faith Group continues to be a lively, laughter and song-filled hour on a Wednesday evening! We have thought about a variety of stimulating topics this term, allowing us to share how we feel about things. Subjects include – Harvest, Eid, Divali,

Remembering, World Porridge Day, Dance and Movement, and Hanukah. We say “thank you” to Stuart for helping Faith Group to be a more

holistic experience for us, by being willing to fit our evening meal into the theme , - for example,

preparing delicious vegetable samosas to help Hafiz celebrate Eid with us.

We miss our friends Rachel and Nick very much, but they are celebrated in the songs we enjoy,

which we know they enjoyed too. News from

ex-faith groupies is positive. We are in touch with Jade and Giordan, and hopefully after Christmas they will join us for Faith Group again. Liam was visited by Margaret and Alison in the Summer, and seemed settled in his new home. Greg is happy in his new environment too. Lucy is in contact with us, doing o.k. but says being grown-up isn‟t all its cracked-up to be!!

We love singing and signing together, and

though we do try to learn new songs to fit the

themes we think about, its always the same

favourites that are asked for week after week!

Sorely missed! Jade and Giordan

VECLife Winter 2012

Ray plus a load of staff. Photos were taken and a good time had by all. We as a unit would like to wish all our friends and work colleges a Very Happy Christmas and New Year and look forward to hearing all your stories of the festive season over a coffee at the start of the January term.

14

PPG News letter With Nicky Greenway

VECLife Winter 2012

Dear Parents and Carers, I hope you find the Factsheet below on benefit changes at 16 years of age useful – of course benefits are always changing so we shall keep you updated. Our next PPG meeting is on Wednesday 30

th January and will be focusing on

the respite/day care provision in our Children‟s home, including a tour and information on fees and access. Please remember, everybody is wel-come! Do you have any used equipment at home that your child has grown out of? If so, and you wish to find a new home, please contact Ceri

Vosper, Head of Therapies, on 01202 758322. Perhaps we can help. We hope to see you at the parent gathering before the End of Term Service next Thursday and wish you all a lovely holiday over the Christmas period.

15

A word of caution at party time

By Sarah Gilling SaLT NEWS

Where have all the therapists gone?

In preparation for the building work the SaLT team have moved to the top floor of Carmel House. Our phone number remains the same. Please call the school and ext 212 to reach us.

The Speech and Language Therapy team

stand out from the crowd!

You can now easily spot one of the Speech team when you come to school as we are all wearing lovely purple polo shirts and black fleeces, with the symbol for “communication” (see photo). We hope this will make it easy for the students and visitors to identify us.

Our New Logo

Christmas Song

Staff and students have been learning the

signs to “On a Starry Night”, to help celebrate

Christmas together. If you‟d like to join in with

the signing at the carol service please see the

words and signs below.

Parent signing workshop

Nicky ran another successful signing workshop to introduce parents to Makaton in September. The next "Makaton for Parents" is being held on Thursday 31st January from 1.30 - 2.30pm. Please let us know if you will be attending. Would you be interested in an informal baby and toddler signing session in the New Year? You would be welcome to bring along younger family members to learn some signs together. If so please drop Nicky an email: nmearing@victoria.poole.sch.uk Please remember that party food can be a choking

risk for many of our students with eating and drinking difficulties. They may help themselves to or be given food which they would not normally eat, and which are not the recommended texture/ consistency. Instead of sausage rolls, drumsticks and pastry snacks, those on a soft diet should opt for dips, snacks which dissolve in the mouth e.g. quavers and skips, pieces of soft frittata/Spanish omelette, soft sandwich fillers e.g. pate, mashed egg or tuna mayo. Avoid dry, hard, crunchy, tough, chewy and crumbly textures. The National Patient Safety Agency reports that: 76% of choking incidents involve solid food, and food items described fit with our descriptions of “High Risk foods” 25% of items causing choking was meat 19% of items causing choking was bread or toast. Please read the feeding guidelines carefully and make sure you always have them to refer to at every meal/snack time Think about how tiredness, stress and distraction can lead to choking Make sure you have the right texture/ consistency for the student Please supervise students with party food at all times. Ask the SLT team if you are worried about a student

Have a happy and safe Christmas!

VECLife Winter 2012

16

VEC Sports Day 2012

Report

The

With Katherine Birtwell

London Paralympic Games 2012

As a school we applied for lots of Paralympic tickets to take some of our students to see lots of different sports at a high level. In total we have taken 41

students to various different sports they included: Swimming,

Wheelchair

Basketball, Sitting Volleyball,

Table Tennis,

Boccia,

Equestrian, 7 aside football, Wheelchair Tennis, Wheelchair Rugby, Wheelchair Fencing and Power Lifting. Some of the students got to see Great Britain compete in a range of sports, as well as seeing them win gold. The atmosphere was incredible and the students were so excited to be a part of this amazing

Paralympic Games in London!

On the 18th July we had our School Sports Day. The

theme was Paralympics and Olympics as they both

were coming to London in the summer. We had two

torch bearers to carry the torch when each team

was parading around the sports hall. There were 10

teams each with an Olympic venue to dress up as,

for example Greenwich Park where the equestrian

events are, the students and staff dressed up as

horses and jockeys. In the morning we had a

parade around the sports hall to show off all the

costumes that people made. After they announced

the winner of the parade it was onto the sports in

the afternoon. We played different games that staff

and the students took part in. There was a lot of

The Stoke Mandeville Games

On the 2nd

October we

took 11

students to the

National

Junior Games

at Stoke

Mandeville

where the

Paralympics

were born. There were lots of sports for the

students to compete and to have a go at. The

students got involved in all sports these are

just some of the sports: Wheelchair Rugby,

Wheelchair Football, Bowls, Fencing, Power

Lifting, Athletics, Swimming and Wheelchair

Basketball. All the students competed in

different sports and we had one student that

won Boccia and Table Cricket and another

student won Boccia which was amazing. They

also got to see two GB fencing team members

have a match. On the last night they had a

disco to show their moves and to celebrate

their achievements from the four days that they

have been competing.

water involved which the students loved seeing

the staff get wet! Everyone joined in and the

students were enjoying themselves. After the 3

games, the winner was announced.

VECLife Winter 2012

17

Sensory Monday Journeys

Mondays are now our dedicated sensory drama days! The drama studio is transformed into a miraculous wonderland of delicious adventurous, filled with bubbles and songs, sleigh rides and magic carpets, wizards and wands, snow queens and princesses and even a steam train or two. Some of our younger students and those on a sensory drama curriculum have been whisked away to lands never dreamed of before now. They have sung and danced the blues with „Belle‟ and „Jack‟ at a train station in the „Deep South‟, they have travelled with Gerda to rescue her friend Kai in the land of the evil Snow Queen and flown on a magic carpet to a fairy tale kingdom far, far away. Who knows what adventures will await them on their return after the Christmas holidays!

Seen But Seldom Heard an update I am pleased to let you all know that the „Seen But Seldom Heard‟ performance poetry project will continue throughout this year. Bournemouth University are funding both our poets, Liv Torc and Johnny Fluffypunk, to come into school once a month to continue their work with our students. We are hoping to end the year with a schools and arts festivals tour of our work and the completed documentary. Our aims are

To promote access and inclusion in

education and higher/further education establishments

To promote awareness of young disabled people and their talents.

To promote awareness of how vital

creativity is as an outlet for expression , communication and self development.

On the 7th December the launch of the

documentary of the project took place at

Bournemouth University. Annette Brooke MP

attended as well as the Head of the Media School

and many more Senior Managers and lecturers

from the University. Our students met

paralympian Silver and Bronze medallist Ben

Rushgrove, who has filmed a powerful

introduction to our film. (See Poem overleaf ).

Drama and Creative Arts at VEC Curtain Call

By Annie and Matt

VECLife Winter 2012

He‟s our man! Jagdev and Dave with Ben Rushgrove

18

VECLife Winter 2012

Salad Cream on Toast I normally think about my disability in a bad way

But it’s just a fence that you need to climb over

Into Richard Branson’s hotel on the moon.

To become a famous basket ball player,

Or a gymnast, or an actor

Or simply drive a car…

To do a wheelchair long jump

And perform in Ibiza and all over the world

On an eternal adventure

With Evil Kanevil, Bart Simpson and Mr Bean.

To always look up and never look down

On a never-ending water shoot on an uphill slide.

To be a writer or a director and create strange things

Like a musical forest in a haunted castle

Or a magical electrical wheelchair.

To make people realise

That disability is just a silhouette

That disappears.

As the headlights of WHO WE ARE

Shine through the mirage.

Now I see disability in a good way…

Poem written by: ’the Poetry Sensations’

Performance and Dance at VEC. With Belinda Ellicott

Body Language This term as part of their Monsters creative arts project, Class EC attended a performance of “We Are the Monsters” at Pavilion Dance and took part in a workshop based on the show afterwards. They have designed their own monsters in class, created movements based on these and com-posed music for their monsters as well as learning about different monsters in drama and going on monster adventures. Class GN have been learning about 50‟s dance styles and created their own hand jive based on car fixing movements to use in their Greased Lightning film. Dance club have been learning about Victorian

social dance and are to be featured in the

“Christmas Carol” film as guests at Mr Fezziwig‟s

party.

Hugo finding inspiration

19

“I believe that‟s mine” Torin with Santa

By Carolyn Nelms

This term Class CN have enjoyed exploring

unusual vehicles. One of our favourites was this

steam -powered car called Jessamine (see

right). It sounded just like a steam train and

could go up to 30miles an hour.

Classes CN and NH had great fun when they

visited Longfleet School in Poole as part of a joint

project on friendship. The children from Longfleet

also came to VEC and we taught them to sign the

song „You‟ve Got A Friend In Me‟.

By Esther Curry

Class EC went on an adventure to see Santa in

The Dolphin Centre Poole. As part of our travel

and transport topic we caught the train from

Bournemouth station to Poole then went to visit

Santa and his elf in his Grotto. The children loved

the train ride and enjoyed waving each other off

and they received some lovely gifts from Santa.

By Maria Caluori

All the info, From Oaks to Post 16!

EC JW

CN NH

MC

JWI Explorers

VF

Post 16

Classroom

Catch-up

Busy As A Bee With Class MC

We have been doing lots of singing and signing in

class. Enjoying time with „Pets and VEC‟ during

LEAP activities. Enjoying mark making and messy

play in corn flour. Finding magnetic things around

VECLife Winter 2012

Class EC Visit Santa

CN on Cars and Friends

20

By Sally Thornley

Car Crazy Or Just Crazy?

In November Class JW thought they would stick to the very interesting topic of „transport‟ and embark upon a trip to Beaulieu Motor Museum in the New Forest…and wow did they have fun! We were lucky enough to have with us our newest addition to Class JW George Kettle who joined in with the fun and seemed to get on brilliantly with his new class mates. They saw lots of different modes of transport, from HUGE old

-fashioned London buses…. to tiny little cars that some of

you may recognize (Brum Brum).

Our delightful new girl Heather (only with us on Thursdays)

came along for the ride. In fact she had passed an advanced

driving course just the day before and so decided that it might

be a fun idea to take Jacob for a ride. Of course he accepted,

like the little gentleman he is.

As we explored the museum and cars through the ages we

came across some dodgy characters from the olden days,

some unrecognizable young geezers (can you guess who

they are? See below.) and a couple of very sophisticated

young ladies…

A good time was had by all students (and staff!). The staff worked very hard to make it a brilliant day for all…and bril-liant it was. A big THANK YOU to all involved! (Oh and a big “Happy Christmas” to all from the nutty ladies

in Class JW).

VECLife Winter 2012

21

By Gill Tuttiett

Winter Fun With Explorers

use this area a lot. They were given permission to go over to Carmel House at lunchtimes to mix socially with the „Posties‟, which several of them do on a regular basis. This allows them to keep up the friendships they built up during their time in Carmel House. We now have the promise of a room to use in Main School, to be set up for KS4 and visiting „Posties‟, during their breaks. The class is looking forward to this very much! The new students in the class have settled in

very well, and they have become a lovely class!

VECLife Winter 2012

By Janine Williams

All Change For Class JWI

Class JWi – now the only full-time Key Stage 4 class at Victoria Education Centre and Sports Col-lege – used to be on the first floor of Carmel House, surrounded by Post 16. However, with the creation of an additional Post 16 class, it was decided that all of the Post 16 students should be in Carmel House, and Class JWi should move across to the Main School. We now live in what was the Music Room, by the double fire doors. In order to accommodate 10 students, the new classroom had to undergo a major make-over during the summer holidays, with new wiring for operating and networking ten PCs, a replacement sink area, new lighting and a repaint! The result was amazing, and, when the students returned in September, they were delighted with their new classroom. Some of the students who had been in Carmel House found the adjustment to life in the Main School a little difficult, as they discovered that most Break activities were aimed at younger students. So Liz (Education Support Worker in Class JWi) developed a small area to one side of the Play Hall with a sofa and magazines, where the class could congregate during Breaks and Lunchtimes. They

By Class BK

The BK Report

This year class BK recently having evolved from class FS have all been participating in their own different activities.

Hugo Lucas Rowe has been participating in most drama activities and most sports activities all year round. Having performed his musical dance for VEC got talent Hugo has carried on his passion for drama, dance, music, writing, acting and more.

Lauren Taylor on the 7th of December auditioned

for a music college called ACM (Academy of

Contemporary Music) and is still waiting to hear the results.

Kayleigh Willcox recently received an iPhone app that helps her speech sound better due to her stutter. For more details ask the speech and language therapy. Kayleigh is also involved in the student council helping the school to be-come even more accessible for students.

David Young travelled to Brazil to work with a

day centre contributing to the opening

ceremony of the Olympics.

Explorers has had a very good term with a trip to Bournemouth Travel Interchange and a visit to see Father Christmas at Stewarts Garden Centre. The children have enjoyed covering the transport and travel topic and have taken part in many fun activities. During LEAP on a Friday afternoon the

students have really enjoyed taking part in the Lion King workshop. They have also taken part in the school assembly for Harvest and will be joining with other school members in Jingle Bells for the end of term service at St. Aldhelms church. We would all like to wish you a very happy

Christmas from everyone in Explorers.

22

Some of Post 16 have opted for a new science

course this year. The main emphasis is on practi-

cal sessions to observe everyday phenomena ex-

plained by science, but we are also linking with the

EcoSchools project to investigate environmental

issues. If you happen to have wandered past GN‟s

form room on a Wednesday afternoon, you may

have heard chicken calls (from a plastic cup con-

traption we made), heard oohs and ahhs at the in-

credible floating paper clip trick, loud crashes as

By Margaret Humphreys

Posties Opt For New Science Course

By Margaret Humphreys

MH Busy Being Magnificent

VECLife Winter 2012

The Magnificent MH

we tested the strengths of various materials,

and been astounded at the incredible sugar

crystals we grew. We also toured the school

looking at decomposition, and are in the proc-

ess of setting up an outside experiment on

how long it takes various items to decay.

Please don‟t touch! Well done to all the stu-

dents and staff who have looked up new

„Facts of the Week‟ and been so enthusiastic!

MH have had a busy term being magnificent, and

working at all sorts of projects towards achieving

their ASDAN programmes.

We have really enjoyed cooking cheese straws and

Mexican dip, snow topped fairy cakes, mince pies,

swiss roll, and biscuits to decorate the Christmas

tree. We froze some food ready for a Christmas

party. Jess is the washing up queen, Max is chief

taster, and Chelsea makes sure we don‟t burn

anything – usually!

The party planning has also linked in with

numeracy work – counting place settings,

measuring and pouring out ingredients, and check-

ing to see what needs filling again.

In our communication work we have been using the environmental control room, and switches to send messages and choose our favourite

activities. Rhys appears to be having assistance to phone Santa about a carrot delivery for the rein-deer. Megan has enjoyed using the

phone – and even talked to everyone in class when she was off sick one day.

All of us have been practising passing items along

or putting things in specific places. Nicole has

been especially excellent with her PECS symbols –

handing them to staff when she wants a specific

item. Thank you to everyone who has helped us

this term, and especially to mums and dads for the

interesting news and pictures regularly sent from

home. Happy Christmas from all of us

23

By Class ACO

By Class GN

We went on a class trip to Haskins garden centre. We went on the big blue bus and Gary drove us there. We decided to do a class secret Santa. We had to buy the present when we went out. We had to keep it a secret! It was really hard. We had lunch in the café, it was very nice. We had been given a donation, Georgia‟s sister had done a sky dive.

VECLife Winter 2012

GN Visit Haskins

Class ACO organised a Christmas Party for all

the students in KS4 and Post 16. We sent

e-mails to all the classes and staff who were

involved. We had to organise music, sound

system, food, venues, games, tables, chairs,

feeders, decorations, menus. We sent out a

survey afterwards and everyone said how good

it was.

ACO Organise Shindig

And Finally ………….

By Hazel Noyon

24

Victoria Horticulture

Christmas Door Wreaths, Christmas Table Decorations, Winter Bedding Plants, Winter

Baskets and Planters made to order. Open Monday to Friday 9.00am—3.00 pm

For All Your Horticultural Needs! NB. Due to ongoing building works parking will be at a premium. We will

be happy to assist customers in carrying purchases to their cars or where possible deliver.

Upcoming Events

January 2013

Friday 18th. Parents Afternoon and Evening.

Education 4.00 - 7.00PM

Therapy and Residential 3.30 - 6.00PM

February 2013

Friday 15th. Training Day

Monday 18th - Friday 22nd. Half Term

March 2013

Creative Arts Week 18th-22nd

Friday 22nd. Special Schools Yoga Day (all day)

VECLife

Issue 04

Victoria Education Centre 12 Lindsay Road

Branksome Park

Poole

Dorset

BH136AS

Compiled written and edited by Jon Godber unless otherwise stated. Victoria School, Winter MMXII

Children Open Category

Under 16‟s

Open To All Bournemouth Methodist

Photographic Competition

Prize for each category There are 4 Adult categories and 1 Child category

Entry £1 per photo with all profits going to Bournemouth Church Housing Association

& Victoria School in memory of Rachel McLean

Adult Categories Landscapes

Natural World Olympics & Royal

events 2012 Open

Closing Date 13th January 2013

For T’s and C’s and entry form see

Sue Stratis or Jon Godber