Wilson Stuart School
Wilson Stuart SchoolSummer Term A Special Academy
Newsletter Summer 2014
W
e have again enjoyed a hugely successful and happy year in school. Five staff members are leaving us at the end of this year, Faculty Leader Graham White is retiring after 29 outstanding years of service, TA Juliet Nelson is retiring, French Teacher Nicola Davison has obtained a promotion at a Leicester College, Jenny Tipping is leaving our Active Society to take up a PE post and Phil Andrews is leaving his TA post to qualify as a Teacher. We wish all of them well and really appreciate the fine work they have done for school.
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We have put a lot of effort in building on our partnerships with parents this year. We were all very pleased and very proud of the feedback from the July parents' evening that was the best ever. Building work has just started on our new 16-25 classrooms which will be open on September 29th. We are all very excited by this development which will be a real boost for us. On behalf of everyone at school can I thank you for your continued support and engagement over the last year, it is so important to us and very much appreciated. I hope you enjoy a really great summer.
SteveHughes - Head Teacher
Oily Cart
Open Day
We have been fortunate to have been visited by nationally acclaimed theatre company Oily Cart for our PMLD students. Oily Cart has been performing its unique blend of theatre to children and young people in schools and venues across the UK since 1981. They create innovative, multi-sensory and highly interactive productions for young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities. Together with a vast array of multi-sensory techniques, they create original and highly specialised theatre. We watched the performance called 'TUBES' which looked at the number of different ways you could use a tube. It was a wonderland conjured up from a fabulous variety of tubes – tubes filled with sound, tubes glistening with kaleidoscopic colours, tubes that puff out gentle breezes and the scents of the natural world – our pupils bounced, swung, spun and swayed in luxurious leaf chairs. We all left inspired, motivated and tubed.
The Wilson Stuart Open day on May 1st proved to be a tremendous success. Over 120 people from a variety of backgrounds visited to look around our school. They were able to view and also take part in a wide range of activities that had been organised on the day. Visitors saw all the departments of school, ranging from Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Sixth Form, with our 19-25 students doing a fantastic job for us as tour guides. Many lessons featured exciting interactive activities, and there were also sessions which showcased the terrific facilities we have in school. Our Teachers and Pupils really enjoyed meeting the visitors and having them take part in their lessons. We have had some brilliant feedback from the day. Upon leaving, all of our visitors were delighted to be presented with a special Wilson Stuart goody - bag which has quickly become the latest and most exclusive "must have" accessory!
www.wilsonstuart.co.uk
Wilson Stuart School
Summer Term
St Martin's Parish Church trip
The Hive Home-grown Presentation Students from The Hive enjoyed a fantastic afternoon with the Gardening Club members from Witton Lodge Community Association on Thursday 22nd May 2014. Our students put together a fantastic power point presentation about what they have grown and sold at Home-grown @ The Hive and then confidently and enthusiastically presented it to the club members.
This term students from 3.2 and 3.3 visited the parish church of St Martin's by the Bullring. The day began with a special welcome from Ollie Preston, education officer at the church, who asked students to be still and then write down or draw what they felt. Students were amazed by the size of the church, the quiet inside, and the calming sound of running water. They then went on to learn about St Martin and how his example of helping others is part of what the church does today, and the importance of prayer. The students asked great questions thoroughly testing Ollies knowledge. The visit ended with a quiet moment in the side chapel, where students were invited to light a candle and experience a moment of stillness. Straight after the visit to St Martins, everyone had a special treat at Pizza Hut. The restaurant put all the tables together and they were loaded with really healthy things like salad and fresh water, but for some reason the biggest smiles came when the pizza and ice cream were served! It was a really great day and the students represented Wilson Stuart school with the usual excellent standard of behaviour and hard work.
6th Form Tea Party
The students then went on to both ask and answer questions about what they have done since we started in September 2013. It was wonderful to see how the students have all grown in self confidence and maturity since we first started in September and as you can see from the email sent to us the students enthusiasm certainly was an inspiration to all.
Primary Residential In May, 10 Primary pupils visited the Pioneer Centre on residential. We left school on Tuesday and went bowling on the way. All the children did well and there were some strikes had also! In the evening, we unpacked and settled in, ate dinner, and finished with a disco before bed. Wednesday was packed with activities, starting with assisted climbing and abseiling, which all the children participated in. After lunch the children enjoyed big bounce, an inflatable assault course and flat bed. Next was archery followed by a campfire where we sang silly songs and toasted marshmallows – it was lots of fun! Thursday, we went to West Midlands Safari Park for the day and saw lots of different animals. We fed the goats, watched a sea lion show and had a discovery session where we touched a snake and a cockroach. Friday was time to come home. We packed and prepared the buses and on the way home went to the Wyre Forest for a walk around the woods following a Gruffalo trail. The children had a fantastic week not only having lots of fun but also developing their independence skills.
As part of their Asdan course, 5.4 were required to host an event. The class decided to organise an afternoon tea party. Each pupil picked a dinner lady to invite. They designed and made their own invitations and worked together to make the food for the party. The dinner ladies all said how much they enjoyed the event and loved the food the pupils had made. 5.4 did a great job! www.wilsonstuart.co.uk
Wilson Stuart School
Summer Term
School Games Final
Sixth Form Show!
Wilson Stuart School took four teams to the Birmingham School Games Finals, two in the table cricket competition and two in the goal ball competition. In goal ball both teams started well and took some wins over Priestley Smith who then came back with their A team to narrowly beat us in the first stages of the competition. In the next round the Wilson Stuart teams played one another with B team narrowly winning and going through to the finals against Priestley Smith’s winning team. The Wilson Stuart A team then played a bronze medal match against Priestley Smith B team and were victorious finishing overall in 3rd Place. In the final Wilson Stuart played superbly having improved all day, but unfortunately they were unable to get any goals due to the outstanding performance of the Priestley Smith captain who blocked everything. Priestley Smith finally managed to break through Wilson Stuart’s defences however and claim two goals winning them the game and the title. It was an excellent performance from both Wilson Stuart teams who came away with 2nd and 3rd place medals. Over at Edgbaston the table cricket teams were competing hard and the A team easily sailed through to the finals against an excellent Hall Green Team. It was an extremely close game but after some excellent precision shots to score maximum points, Wilson Stuart A team became Birmingham Champions 2014. The B team also played valiantly throughout the tournament and improved with every game they played and made it through to the 3rd place play off, where an excellent performance made them the victors in the match claiming bronze overall.
On 10th April the 6th Form performed their annual production to a packed audience. It was an extra special performance for students and staff as it was in loving memory of Imani Young. This year we braved writing an original script. It incorporated lots of songs from West End and the story centred on the difficulties faced by Jim (Stephen) and Rose (Shannon) as their two, very different, schools merged. However, true love eventually won and both the schools and the couple concluded the show with a “happy ending”! Yet again the students out did themselves with their enthusiasm and commitment. Their confidence was outstanding and all students played a significant part in the production. A special mention must be given to Chad who helped direct the show and did an amazing job. Staff also put in a sterling performance. Paul Weston’s Mr Parrish the Head teacher was so convincing Mr Hughes may need to watch out for his job! The show also included a special performance of “Time Of My Life” from Dirty Dancing by our very own staff Boy Band “No Direction”. Finally technical support was fantastic thanks to Amber.
Which came first the chicken or the egg? At Wilson Stuart, the eggs came first, in an incubator. We were all able to watch the chicks hatch over the 3 days! It was such an amazing sight to see new life struggling to emerge from an egg. The children and staff were egg-cited and learnt a lot about life cycles, birds eggs, growth and care, in their science lessons. In case you are wondering the chicks all went to good homes!
“It was an extremely close game but after some excellent precision shots to score maximum points, Wilson Stuart A team became Birmingham Champions 2014”
www.wilsonstuart.co.uk
Wilson Stuart School
Summer Term
The Hive Butlins Residential
3.1 Think Tank Trip
On the 16th of June, The Hive (19 to 25) embarked on their first residential as a group. 10 students and 7 staff members as well as one of our 6th form students, travelled for 4 hours on the coach to the lovely Bognor Regis!
Written By Lackshhya, A KS3 Pupil. On 3rd of July we (3.1) went to the Think Tank, The first thing we did when we got there was visit the sensory garden, my favourite bit was when I tried to balance the ball on the water fountain. In the sensory garden there was a lot of water games and a lot of stuff where you had to test your strength. After we finished playing in the sensory garden, we went into a theatre to watch a movie called Open Ocean. Then we had our lunch. After we finished lunch we went in the planetarium. After the planetarium show finished some of us went to the gift shop and I got a Lego star wars space ship set and a toy dinosaur. Then we all went back to our bus and travelled back to school.
The students took part in many activities such as Bowling and Archery. We managed to sweet talk the beach security to open the gate of the path leading to the sea to give all students in wheelchairs the opportunity to get their toes wet.
Swimming Gala Written By Ciarian, A KS4 Pupil.
A great time was had by all.
“...we were entertained by DJ Reece and his choice of tunes!�
On Wednesday 9th July, 3 students from 4.1 were very lucky to get off timetable to help out in this years secondary swimming gala against Victoria School. We were very happy that Wilson Stuart School came 1st, everyone who won got a gold medal. And the helpers had one too. Even though that it was very warm it was a lot of fun and everyone cheered for their team.
Dates for the Diary Sept
Ash End House Farm On Wednesday 4th June the Communication Group went to Ash End House Farm. We were invited along by 1 Voice - A network and support group for children and young people who use communication aids. Despite the torrential rain everyone had a lovely time. There was time to meet the chicks, find an egg for breakfast and even groom a pony before lunch. During lunch in the barn, we were entertained by DJ Reece and his choice of tunes! Later there was time to get together with other communication aid users and chat before heading back to school.
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www.wilsonstuart.co.uk
Teacher training day Most Pupils return to school Caterpillars, Bees & Butterflies return Jeans for Genes Day National Junior Games McMillan Coffee Morning Harvest Festival Students Break Up for Half Term Teacher Training Day Whole School Parents Evening Christmas Bazaar Primary Christmas Concert (am) Mince Pie Morning Secondary Christmas Show (pm) Party Day End of Term (Students leave at 2pm)