ISSUE 41 SPRING 2022
GOSLING News The Children’s Hospital School @ Great Ormond Street & uch
www.gosh.camden.sch.uk Twitter: @Gosh_School / Instagram: @gosh_school
MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER
Welcome again to our Gosling Magazine which gives you an ‘access all areas’ look at the work of our incredible pupils and staff. Every week at our school we choose awards for determination, friendship and engagement and as you will see from examples of their work this is always so hard to choose just one pupil! What I will say is that everyone has continued to show an exceptional level of determination navigating their way through the challenges each individual faces and for that I am an exceptionally proud Headteacher. We've also had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate our School’s 70th Birthday back in April 2021. Across the page you can see the original letter from the local education officer, currently kept in the hospital archives, announcing the start of teaching at GOSH. Our online birthday party was a huge success and we welcomed Matt Shaw our CEO at GOSH and our friend the British astronaut Tim Peake both of whom took questions from our pupils and took part with great enthusiasm in our party games! So as we travel through our 71st year our next exciting step is designing a brand new school as part of the new Children’s Cancer Centre aiming to open in 2026. We look forward to sharing and listening to design ideas with you all and can’t wait to share plans as soon as we can! As always a huge thank you to everyone we work alongside who help make our work as a Hospital School that much stronger day by day.
STEAM WEEK
In the Autumn term the students really enjoyed participating in various activities linked to the theme ‘The Name of Life’ during STEAM week. They learnt about the famous scientist Carl Linnaeus who devised a two-part naming system to help classify plants and animals. The activities included: designing their own special species and describing how they were adapted for survival; drawing a portrait of Linnaeus’s pet racoon; identifying plant species and finding out the taxonomy of different plants and animals; using microscopes to observe living things and designing their own mythical creatures. Take a look at some of the great pieces of work.
MORE FROM STEAM WEEK As part of STEAM week, in Computing lessons pupils learnt how to use Photoshop to create mythical creatures. These involved carefully selecting two animals and then using the clone, eraser and select tools to blend these two animals together. To make the animal look convincing, pupils also needed to adjust the hue, saturation, brightness and levels across several layers. Here are some mythical creatures created by pupils from the Mildred Creak Unit.
Pupils at GOSH took part in our Enterprise scheme during the winter term. As part of their work they learnt about designing logos, managing a budget, working as a team and how to advertise effectively. Our students were joined by Amy, via Zoom, from the GOSH charity to learn more about the history of the charity and where the money raised will be spent.
We raised
£189
for the GOSH Charity
Pupils then used all of their enterprising skills to design, make, advertise and sell Christmas decorations to raise money for the GOSH charity. We created our own JustGiving page and raised an amazing £189. Thank you to everyone who supported the sale. Take a look at the items we made and watch out for our 2022 project!
ENGLISH: THE VICTORIANS
During the Christmas term, the pupils from the Mildred Creak Unit worked on developing their understanding of the social issues during Victorian times. This included reading a range of Victorian texts, both fiction and nonfiction, exploring how children were educated (including punishments), living conditions for both the rich and poor, jobs, and some inventions.
IMAGINING GOSH IN THE FUTURE
We’ve been working with the Public Realm team here at GOSH to explore ways to improve people’s experience out on the streets surrounding the hospital. Using an activity designed and created by artist Una Knox, pupils created 3D tunnel pictures of how they’d like Great Ormond Street to be if anything were possible. Two common themes came up in their responses: nature and play. Lots of pupils imagined meadowy scenes and encounters with animals when thinking about their dream street. They also wanted to discover things to sit on, climb on and swing on. Many expressed that the noise on Great Ormond Street is something that bothers them both inside and outside the hospital. They imagined hearing the sounds of a rainforest or their favourite music instead of traffic. As we begin 2022 there are exciting plans afoot to transform a parking bay directly outside the Paul O’Gorman building into a parklet – a small shared green space for people to sit and relax. We know that pupils and their families would welcome this change and we look forward to seeing how Great Ormond Street may transform further in the years to come.
CHARLES DICKENS AND HIS CHRISTMAS CAROL
At the end of the winter term 2021, students took part in a whole school production of A Christmas Carol. They spent some time learning about Charles Dickens and his involvement in the early days of Great Ormond Street and UCH during the Victorian era, including how he gave special talks and readings of his novels to raise money to help the hospitals to develop and succeed.
We were delighted to see our young people participate in a variety of ways - from acting and directing, to designing the titles and animating scenes using stop-frame technology and computer graphics. Many students helped to create the music for the production by playing instruments, singing, and even learning Makaton to join in with the song, ‘Put a Little Love in Your Heart’. With a little help from their teachers, parents, guardians, play team specialists and nurses, the students of our school put together a tremendous show which was recorded and edited into a video for them to watch with their families.
Here are some examples of their amazing work…
u o y k n Tha
to everyone involved!
MUSIC
The topic during the Autumn term was ‘Identity’ and students learnt how to use GarageBand on the iPads to compose their own pieces of music. They recorded a chord progression using Smart Guitar, added a beat using the Smart Drums and even wrote their own lyrics.
The following term, students in the schoolroom formed a rock band, and practised and performed their own version of ‘Danse Macabre’ by Camille Saint-Saëns. They used graphic scores to help them learn the melody then added their own lyrics to fit with our whole school production of A Christmas Carol.
Nilofar has enjoyed joining in with The Tempest story. She learnt to anticipate and tap the pulse and rhythm of Caliban’s arrival using two hands and two drums. There is lots of magic in the story, just like when exploring sprays of twinkling fibreoptic lights!
CHEFS ADOPT A SCHOOL
In December, we were very lucky to have an online Cookery class with Chef Mark from Buckingham Palace. He showed us how to make Christmas jumper biscuits and a reindeer cheesecake. Our biscuits were fit for a Queen!
WELCOME WEDNESDAY In January 2021, whilst still spending much of the week working and teaching remotely, we launched a weekly primary group session on Zoom which we named ‘Welcome Wednesday’. As the name suggests, all of our primary aged children are welcome to join. During the last 12 months, we have continued with these sessions, with staff taking turns to host the sessions and occasionally we’ve had guest hosts. Together we have carried out science investigations, shared stories and poems, planted seeds, learnt to sign using Makaton, explored number patterns, completed STEM challenges, learnt about the history of our school, created pieces of art, made Christmas decorations, written books, played games, completed ‘Mega-Minds’ brain gym activities and much, much more. We have been joined by the V&A museum, GOSH Arts and, one of our favourite writers, Michael Rosen. Those children in isolation for long periods have really benefited from this community and have enjoyed learning together.
Primary Group Sessions
HANDS
ART
We used our hands to inspire our art. Students both in the schoolroom and on the wards thought about how hands communicate or tell a story about each person’s life. We went back in time to the earliest handprints found in caves in Argentina then looked at hands across time, cultures, we recalled famous hands in art - past & present, and of course looked carefully at our own hands. Students started by drawing their hands on huge sheets of paper in charcoal. Next, they made wire hands, sketched them in ink before casting their hands in Modroc.
Exploration of materials, finding a creative voice and using art as a way of thinking and problem solving continues to be the inspiration behind the fantastic work made by the children and young people.
MAKING VESSELS Students in the schoolroom thought about the theme of ‘transformation’. Using equilateral triangle sections made from white foamboard, each student worked into the surface using watercolour, ink and collage. They chose their own themes. Next, each section was glued together transforming the flat foamboard into a 3D creation. Thinking about how each vessel would balance was challenging. Finally, the edges were painted to disguise the foamboard further.
DEVELOPING AN IMAGE USING DIFFERENT ART MATERIALS INSPIRED BY
Käthe Kolwitz (1867-1945)
Self-portraits were made using graphite sticks after students looked at selected images by the artist Käthe Kolwitz. Kolwitz’s art focuses on human experiences and her use of line, light and dark give her work an emotional energy. Clay was rolled flat, and the sketches inspired different ways to draw into the surface. Finally, printed images were created by drawing into Styrofoam.
Albert worked extremely hard during his hospital admission on a range of Science challenges and proved himself to be an amazing scientist. He was awarded the
‘Mayor’s London Scientist: Crest Awards - Superstar’.
ALBERT, THE SCIENTIST
Albert made predictions, tested his ideas, made careful observations and recorded his results.
BLAKE, THE HEAD CHEF
Blake has been in the kitchen all term long cooking up some delicious treats! He has decorated biscuits, made pizza, fruit salad, ginger biscuits, 15’s, banana cake and much more! Squirrel ward staff have enjoyed sampling all of his yummy cooking. Blake also took part with his sister Pixie in a ‘Chef’s Adopt A School’ Christmas cooking session!
Dylan has enjoyed exploring cars in school this term. He used his right hand to post the cars into the little tube, and smiled every time Kai made a ‘bruuummm!’ sound. After a while he started to copy the ‘bruuummm!’ sound and laughed every time Kai copied it back! Great work Dylan!
SPLAT!
BEEP! BEEP!
Layla has really enjoyed exploring the new
‘SENSEMicro’ equipment. She worked hard to track and hit moving targets – the beach balls were the most fun - they exploded into a paint splat! Layla also was able to track the fish swimming in the pond. Great job Layla! Yahshua loved using the play food and microwave so in November, we decided to make sandwiches. Yahshua made 4 different sandwiches – cheese, cheese with honey, cheese with jam and cheese with banana. He had to cut the cheese so that it was the right size for the bread. He worked hard to spread the honey and jam all over the cheese and he sliced the banana. He cut his sandwiches into 2 or 4 pieces. He said that he doesn’t like bananas, so he thought his mum would eat the cheese and banana sandwich!
Y U M M Y
We have been engaging in a wide range of projects in Computing including physical computing, programming, website design and graphic design. Students on several wards have been learning how to modify classic games such as Super Mario using JavaScript. Lucas on Fox ward modified his Mario game so that it featured Bowser as the main character. This involved changing both the JavaScript code and editing the character’s sprite sheet image using Photoshop. He also changed the code so that Bowser had 999 lives.
COMPUTING
Nathan on Elephant ward wanted to replace the original Mario with a Tanooki Mario. He also edited the JavaScript so that Mario could fly. In the school room, we have been learning how to program using Python. Alex created a Geography quiz which selfmarks and provides feedback. Josanna created an adventure game where players can answer questions and save puppies.
Across various wards we have been learning how to build and control robots using Lego Spike Prime sets. Lucas on Fox ward has completed several projects including a robotic arm and a self-driving car which follows a line. These projects are particularly challenging as pupils first have to build their robot, then they have to program them using a block-based language. Many students have also started making their own websites. All these websites are coded using industry standard tools and languages such as HTML and CSS. Ismaeel on Leopard ward managed to add images, video, text, fonts, colours and a navigation menu in his first two lessons.
Oscar loved playing the ‘Ring Around Bells’ with his switch during a sensory story!
SEND -
SWITCHES
We have been exploring switch pressing cause and effect with our great range of new resources.
Layla made her own pictures with the Art Spinner!
Miles enjoyed controlling the waterfall switch, and learnt to control the water flow on his favourite spinner!
Oscar has been working hard to take part in a range of sensory stories. Recently he has been finding out all about a new story – Star Wars! Oscar used the switch to play the famous intro music! Sometimes he was able to wait for his teacher to say 5,4,3,2,1…..before pressing the switch as well. Oscar also enjoyed exploring our ‘Jibber Jabba Jibber Jabba Jabba the Hut!’ prop with his hands, and ‘floating’ with Yoda using the fan! Fantastic work Oscar, and may the force be with you!
SCIENCE DISCOVERY CREST AWARDS
At the end of the Autumn term, Lucas and Libby worked together via Zoom on a Science challenge called 'Stop the Spread'. They designed and made a handwashing device and produced some materials to help children understand the importance of handwashing. They were delighted to receive their Discovery Awards. Congratulations to them both!
A hand-washing device made by one of the pupils
Using Minecraft, MINECRAFT Mirac and Lucas worked alongside each other to design their ideal hospital entrance. They included farmyard animals and bright, welcoming flowers. It was important to them to include glass in their design, to let in natural light.
ONCE UPON A MATHS STORY
This Autumn Term, ‘Once upon a maths story’ was introduced to explore how stories can be a used as a tool for encouraging and inspiring mathematical concepts to be discussed and investigated. This term we looked at the book ‘Bracelet’s for Bina’s Brothers’ by Rajani LaRocca. Children developed the mathematical concept of pattern through colours, numbers, shapes and rhythms! The secondary pupils enjoyed creating their own sequence of numbers and finding the nth term!
MATHS WEEK
In Maths Week we focused on patterns and behaviours within the animal kingdom. Central to this was the Turing Pattern Project created by Dr Natasha Ellison. Within the project our pupils looked at the work of Alan Turing and learnt about algorithms and how they can be related to the animal kingdom. Students then calculated their own algorithms based on the colour makeup of a pufferfish. The work our students have completed will be used as part of a national project on designing a pufferfish. On the first day of Maths Week we were lucky enough to Zoom Dr Ellison (who is now studying for a postdoc in Mississippi). She inspired our pupils with her love for maths and also her honesty when discussing her career path.
Alongside the Turing project students created their own repeating patterns inspired by animals including making tails! They used Venn diagrams to sort animals into those with spots and or stripes. Pupils understood the importance of monitoring animal behaviours for their health and wellbeing both in captivity and the wild. They used their monitoring to create bar charts and pie charts highlighting the animals’ behaviours.
Anusia and Danielle from Whipsnade zoo showing us the giraffes.
To round off a fantastic week of Maths we were joined virtually by two of the keepers from Whipsnade Zoo. They showed us the giraffes and zebras and taught us about the patterns of their markings, adaptations and their behaviours!! Thank you for sharing your amazing work with us!
In computing, we looked at how computers can codify colours using numbers. Our students on the Mildred Creak Unit were asked to match colours and numbers in the same way a computer would in order to recognise animal print patterns. We also learnt about how selfdriving cars and other intelligent systems use computer vision and AI to recognise images based on the numerical codes that these computers “see”. Finally, students were asked to devise their own colour codes and create pixel art based on what they had learnt. Here are some of these creations:
We used one of the most loved picture books, Michael Rosen’s We’re Going On A Bear Hunt as way of engaging pupils of all ages with Geography and History. The project had a distinct Early Years flavour and reached EXPEDITIONS & across both of our school sites. We looked at explorers through history EXPLORATIONS and engaged in map reading too.
We’re Going We recreated the Bear Hunt story in on a Bear Hunt different ways and the highlight of the week was our sessions with Michael Rosen himself. His humour and stories were a much-needed boost to pupil and staff morale at the end of a challenging academic year. He inspired older pupils with excerpts from his book Many Different Kinds of Love where he uses poetry as a way of coping with illness. Some of our pupils wrote poems about their own challenges. Michael gave our pupils encouragement and retweeted a fantastic poem by Samaviya.
Malakai Ocansey was involved in our project from the beginning and helped develop some activities. He engaged with other pupils in his bay and on Google Currents too. He also included his friends from his home-school as he conducted some research into favourite famous bears and collected data on their votes. He is a huge Michael Rosen fan and enjoyed learning about some of his poems and meeting him on Zoom.
Nathaniel was introduced to the book for the first time. He was then inspired to create his own version of the story, using his love of Marvel superheroes.
Albert enjoyed the group session to create his own sensory version of the story. He was able to use it to retell the story and could remember the different sound effects.
One of our primary pupils worked on a variety of tasks. She started by finding out about famous explorers from the past and marked on a world map where they had explored. She was able to get out of the hospital and meet her siblings to complete the ‘Bear Hunt’ in the local area. They found the 10 bear pictures that were hidden in the streets around the hospital and with them, 10 letters. They used the letters to spell ‘Paddington’, the famous bear who was missing from our trail.
She created her own ‘Compass Directions’ challenge for others to solve that featured things they had encountered during their hospital stay, e.g. ‘meds’, ‘obs’, ‘sanitiser’.
He also wrote and illustrated his own version of the story which he titled, ‘We’re Going on a Rare Superthings Hunt’ which he based on his favourite toys that he was collecting at the time.
Albert wanted to find out more about someone who had explored space so he found out about astronaut, Neil Armstrong and created a passport to record what he had found out.
LOVE FOR READING
Book reviews by pupils in the schoolroom
DIVERSIFYING our picture book collection
Like many schools, we have been reviewing our picture book collection to ensure that our pupils can see themselves represented in the books we use. There are so many wonderful picture books available but we often turn to well-loved, classic picture books as the familiarity can be reassuring for children. However, we also want to offer pupils a window into new experiences through their imagination and what they can see in the pages of picture books. We have many books which do not reinforce gender stereotypes or specific family structures. We have researched and purchased books which show different places and ways of life. Some of these books explore specific topics around diversity, but others simply ensure representation within a variety of storylines. Please ask a teacher if you want more information or a recommendation.
In October, Florentina’s school were working on the book Supertato. We set up a shop and wrote shopping lists but the evil pea was always causing trouble. Florentina decided to make her teddies into super heroes to try to stop the evil pea from making a mess of the supermarket. She used BOOK INSPIRATIONS material to make cloaks and decorated masks for each of them. She gave them names and decided on what their superpower would be.
In the Autumn term, Zack’s homeschool friends were learning about biographies. Zack chose to research and write about an idol of his, the chef Rick Stein. Zack and Rick Stein share a love of seafood. Zack earnt a Determination Award for his finished piece.
Well done, Zack!
BUILDING THE CHILDREN’S CANCER CENTRE
An Artist In Residence Project
The hospital school will be moving in the nottoo-distant future. After many years being homed in two former wards in the Southwood Building, the school will be relocating to the new Children’s Cancer Centre (CCC) upon its completion in 2026. The size and scope of the planning and building work for the new CCC presents lots of learning opportunities for pupils. The first such opportunity is a particularly creative one. GOSH Arts has invited the school to be part of an Artist In Residence (AIR) project which will run in the lead up to the first digger being onsite on Great Ormond Street in 2023.
Teachers and pupils will be engaged in every stage of the project, from setting the goals for the project, to recruiting an artist or collective and organising how they will work with us. We’ve already started work and chosen a focus: The Arrival Experience – Journeys. Here you can see some of the ideas teachers and pupils had for what an entrance to the hospital might be like if anything were possible. We’ll share more of our work on the AIR project in the next edition.
HOSPITAL SCHOOL TURNS
70 On May 1st 1951 two teachers arrived at GOSH for the first time in its history to introduce school lessons for patients. Mabel Schulen, who went on to become the first headteacher of the hospital school, recorded an interview in 2003 as part of an oral history project. At 83 years old she reflected on her time teaching at GOSH. She recalled how, initially, many doctors had been sceptical about the introduction of schooling for patients, fearing it may do more harm than good. Fortunately, today there is far greater understanding of the benefits, both academically but also in terms of mental health and overall wellbeing, of continuing with education during a hospital admission. Indeed, it is now a right enshrined in law.
70
In the interview Mabel also describes the teaching materials she used – a book of nature, coloured pencils (no such thing as felt pens in the 1950s), an atlas and some paper. Today our teachers still use all these things but also take laptops, ipads, robots, programmable devices and other adaptable technology to wards that can help enhance children’s learning experience and connect them with the world outside their room. At the end of the interview Mabel is asked what she would wish for the school and she answered ‘… a space of its own.’ In the near future, with a new space for the hospital school in the planned Children’s Cancer Centre, Mabel’s wish will be coming true. During our celebrations we asked pupils what their wishes would be for our future school and you can see some of their answers in the display we created, an image of which is above.
The Children’s Hospital School – Spring 2022 We are continuing to operate in line with the Covid-19 guidance set out by the two Trusts within which we teach. We are able to offer both in-person and online lessons to long-stay inpatients. To discuss arranging teaching for your child during their admission you can: Call the school from within the hospital on Ext. 8269 Call the school from an external line on 020 7813 8269 E-mail us at hospitalschool@gosh.camden.sch.uk
We look forward to hearing from you.