Pupil VoiceIssue 6 Sixth Form & Futures

Febr

uary

202

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Principals Update

First of all, I’d like to thank the parents and carers, staff, trustees and local police for their positive participation to the communications (social media) forum held this term. Hopefully you have already noticed some changes to the type of communications coming from school and the how often we are sending this out to you. This change is a direct result from the forum discussion, focusing on what you value and look forward to in terms of communication. Additionally, we will start trialling ‘Tapestry’ across the academy to increase our communication, using photos, videos and diary entries, of how your child/ young person is progressing on a week-to-week basis. Look out for this development next term, and please tell us what you think.

Another aspect of school that we are considering is the inclusion of Active PSHE (Personal, Social, Health Education)/ Wellbeing interspersed at key times in the school day that is built into the timetable. This will help to slow down the day to facilitate the practice of key life skills including personal care, hygiene, appearance, behaviour, resilience, and mindfulness. We are proud of our exceptional academic achievements and outcomes, however we also value the development of the whole person as this is what will ultimately enable our pupils, staff (and you at home) to feel stability and contentment to maintain wellbeing.

In a separate forum soon, I look forward to sharing and discussing wider insights into the work that I am involved in nationally regarding schools funding, SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) developments at Parliament, and a call to Pause Ofsted to re-think their use of grading schools and the impact this has on children, staff, and communities. There is a lot of work that we do that will improve the system.

Have a great week!

This half term student council have been preparing for their involvement in the St David’s Day Choir performance by the Welsh Male Voice Choir at Theatre Severn. The students will be representing the Academy at the evening by sharing information about the Academy, how we are involved with local community projects and inclusion links that we have. Through the weekly student council meetings the students are developing the skills and confidence needed to communicate in front of unfamiliar people and how to share their thoughts and feelings. The students have also recently met with the student council from Prestfelde and have discussed working together on a community project. There will be more news on this collaboration in the next newsletter.

St David’s Day Choir

Complex Needs Focus

Whole School News

A number of complex needs classes make a weekly Educational Visit to a local supermarket, Morrisons. During these lessons students undertake an activity which will become part of their everyday lives as they move into adulthood. Students are supported to follow a shopping list as independently as possible finding items within the store. Tasks such as; looking at the shop assistant, collecting money from a wallet, before presenting it to the checkout assistant, collecting change, storing it safely and remembering to collect the items just purchased may seem routine to many people but many of our students have to put in a huge amount of effort to complete these tasks. Many students with complex needs are non-verbal and use alternative methods of communication. PECS is one of the methods that our students use to choose and order their snack at the café. By using pictures and presenting them to members of the café staff our students are able to communicate their requests and staff in the café become more aware of how to support students using different methods of communication. We recognise and really value these lessons and the important role that learning in the local community takes to ensure our students are able to lead as independent an adult life as possible.

Dear Parents and Carers

Department News

6th Form is always very busy with developing life skills within real life situations, we have started 2020 with as great a range of scenarios as ever. Work Experience has continued at Monkmoor Police Station whereby the students are making lists of seedlings to buy and deciding where to plant them. The group who attend Telford Town Park have been busy removing moss, sweeping leaves and preparing the Crazy Golf Course for the new season. Students are having to remember to take their own lunches, organise their work clothing, and a few are even making tea for the group in the staff room at their work placement.

The students are also being encouraged to manage their health and wellbeing at places like Tickwood. Health is part of the 6th Form curriculum, and not only covers aspects such as eating well and keeping clean, but also taking part in activities that are enjoyable and challenging. The group who attend Tickwood have increased their confidence to the point where they are now hiking up hills which they used to shy away from.

Our dance group consisting primary and secondary pupils went to Prestfelde School to the first of our exciting dance projects. The group have been rehearsing over lunchtimes for Shrewsbury’s Gotta Dance 2020 and for Prestfelde Dance Festival in March. This day began to prepare the dancers for the upcoming events spent the day at Prestfelde to learn and practice their routines and show it to other schools. The Dancers were fantastic, they picked up the routine extremely well and even went first when performing at the end of the day. The pupils got so much from this opportunity, they had a taste of what it would be like on stage and were overwhelmed by the applause and praise they received from other schools which they did back showing great sportsmanship.

Extended Schools

Sixth Form Department

Futures DepartmentFifteen Futures students recently took part in a two night residential visit to Leominster. The aim of the visit was to consolidate and develop independent living skills that they have been learning within college sessions.

Students undertook in a range of activities including food shopping, exploring facilities within the community, housekeeping, preparing meals and recreational activities.

Before the visit, students had planned what they would like to eat and helped to produce and cost a shopping list. They used this to complete their shopping at the local supermarket.

We all took part in a challenge where we had to find out about services and products available within the local community

Recreational activities included bowling and team building games. On our last evening, we visited a local restaurant for a meal. All students felt the students was a positive experience and looking forward to future opportunities to develop their skills further.

Dates & Events to note

Some of the Lower primary classes attend the school games outdoor activities festival. Where they worked together as a team to solve problems like crossing the Shark infested waters, balancing on spots and getting a ball down the pipes. Many of the problems set meant that they had to communicate well to solve problems as a team. Co-operation and teamwork were key.

Following our success at the Netball development day in December, a coach offered a special netball training session for our gifted and talented players. We also invited Southall School to attend this with us and we had some great matches at the end of the session. If pupils want to play more

Para netball there is a club that takes place in Telford twice a month. Please contact school if you would like more

details.

Two students continue to attend the School Games Junior Leadership academy and

have grown in confidence, as leaders, from week to week. They have

now run their second event for Key stage 1 children in Shrewsbury. They were excellent at organising their games, standing up in front of a lot of children

and adults and explaining the games and ensuring everybody had a great time.

Sports Update

Contact:

Tel: 01743 563287www. www.severndaleschool.org

Visit:

Woodcote WayShrewsbury, SY2 5SH

Everyone valued.

Everyone included.

Everyone learning.

We are all concerned about our children’s safety on line and how best to protect them. There are new and unsafe apps available to our children/young people all the time. Whilst this is only part of the solution, Facebook has added a CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) safety app. Through this app, young people will be able to access advice, help and support from the CEOP Centre. Crucially, young people will be able to report instances of suspected grooming or inappropriate sexual behaviour directly from their profile to specially trained investigators.

If your child/young person has a Facebook account, access to apps and the internet, take a look at this new CEOP app and explain to your child/young person how they can use it to keep themselves and others safe.

If your child has a Facebook account and they’ve not added it yet then they should add the app. Once added to their profiles, users will receive regular messages from CEOP and its partner organisations who operate ‘behind the button’ to make children safer. The page will look at topics that teenagers care about, such as celebrities, music and exams, and will link these subjects to questions about online safety.

Safeguarding Update

April

3rd

Back to school

Last day before half term

June

20thEveryone FestivalFebruary

24th

Last day before Easter HolidaysFebruary

14th