Today we visited Red Gates school again, however this time, we experienced more than we did before.
In our pairs, we went into allocated class rooms, and met the children and their teachers. We were there to observe the lesson and understand how the children learn, we needed to do this because it would allow us to be able to think of more affective ideas for our workshop as for them to work how we want them to, they need to be appropriate as the children won't be able to do them if the ability needed is too high.
The students are in the middle school department of the school, and our class consisted of children aged 8-9 however their mental ages are a lot lower. We were given this age group as the art coordinator teaches in this department and it made sense to work alongside her.
The lesson started by getting everyone settled into the classroom, and the first activity was stretching and dancing to the song 'Up Town Funk'. I could see that the students really enjoyed this and made them smile, it also allowed them to let off any energy which they have so that when they were ready to learn. Once they finished the dancing and movement, they sat down in a semi circle around the teacher's desk where the teacher had played calming music/sounds which you could tell relaxed the students after their very energised starting activity.
When the students had calmed down, the main teacher of the class (Carrie) had the children to introduce us by asking what our names are using simple sign language and speaking.
Once we had been introduced to the class, they sang a song which teaches them about the days of the week, they associated the days of the week with colour and smells to help them learn.
The students were very focused around routine as they had a time table which they had one student adapt it to how the day is going. This allowed them to have structure and be aware of the coming topics.
Carrie then done an example/demonstration on the kind of idea she wanted the children to follow with their art lesson, however, because of their learning difficulties, the teacher realised that the students might not copy what she had done but at least if they see her doing it, it would allow them to try it for themselves.
We then got our aprons on and started the art lesson. The lesson consisted on allowing the students to explore the paint and colours within their own terms as it helps then learn about having independence. One of the activities was having a spinning wheel, which we placed paper on to, so that the children could choose a colour (which by them choosing, allows them to have that independence) and pour some on to the wheel with the paper on it. Like how Carrie showed an example of what kind of idea she had the children to do, only one of the students independently span the wheel after remembering what he had seen, but the activity was still good for the pupils as they were looking at colours, paints and glitter and deciding for themselves what they wanted on their art work.
On another table, it was covered with paper, and there were trays, paints and objects such as; toy cars and paint brushes, which the children could choose between, and they poured the colour into the trays, dipped in the object they had chosen and then either pushed the cars/brushes along the paper. The teachers want the students to try to acknowledge things such as patterns and repeating something which some of the students had found independently buy working it out themselves.
After the lesson, we packed up the mess as it got VERY messy, and then me and my pair (Florrie) were given a booklet which included all the children's likes and dislikes so that when we are thinking of ideas for our workshop, that we can take their preferences into consideration and also make sure we don't include any of the dislikes as it could make our workshop not go as well as we would want as the students wouldn't co-operate if they don't like it.
Tuesday 14 June 2016
Saturday 11 June 2016
Meeting with Deputy Head of Red Gates School
On Friday 10th June at 10am, we had a meeting with the Deputy Headteacher of Red Gates School, Melissa Hendry, and the art co-ordinator of the school. Before the meeting took place, me and my group (including our group teacher Claire) met at Café Nero to make a plan of the kind of things we would ask the deputy headteacher and the art co-ordinator, and I wrote down the questions we had all came up with to ask them. We needed to do this because we didn't want to turn up to the meeting without being prepared and we needed to get as much information from them that we could, so that the meeting would be worth while and that we could have the information to work with as it would help us have more of an insight on the kind of sessions we could do with the students.
Personally I think that the meeting went really well, they were very open to our suggestions and seemed very interested in the kind of things we wanted to do. We found out that the school was currently working on their art department as they are working towards an art award for the school, which meant that our project will not only help us but it will help them too. The meeting wasn't actually that long, it was only around half an hour, yet we found out so many helpful notes which would influence the kind of activities we would do with the children. I had been the one to note down the questions and answers when being there at the meeting and here is what kind of thing I had got written down.
Questions and answers from the meeting:
What we can and can't do?
- we aren't limited so we can do a lot and are free what most ideas we will just have to run it through and check that it will be ok with the school
How long are the session(s)?
- longest half an hour but we are welcome to have more than one workshop at the school as half an hours work might not be enough for our work. The reason for the sessions only being that long is due to the concentration of the children. They have learning difficulties meaning that their ability to concentrate is harder and they could become distracted if the session is longer than half an hour.
How many classes will we be working with?
- in pairs so around 4 classes in the middle school department I think she said years 3 and 4
Rotating workshops or specific workshops for the classroom?
- decided on each pair sticking with one class through the whole thing and working with one class, so that means when we find out the different abilities of the pupils we can revolve our workshops on what kind of thing they are able to do.
What time of day would we do the workshops?
-Melissa did say any part of the day but the best thing to do is the morning so that we are there when they start and don't disrupt their day as routine is very important.
What's the best date?
- they were very flexible with dates except school trips but our next visit is Tuesday 14th June where we will just observe the lesson, see how they work and get to know the students.
Anything we need to consider?
- as the pupils have special needs they can kick, punch and bite.
What do the student enjoy?
- they are very visual and also would involve lots of movement.
What kinds of learning difficulties?
- autism, all round severe learning difficulties in general, meaning their cognitive developing age is around 3months - 2 years old but their actual ages are around 7-9 years old.
How could we communicate best with the students?
-many students are non-verbal so lots of pictures and signs and also simple sign language called makaton.
Has she got any concerns or ideas?
- same with the things we need to consider really, just to be aware and also said about movement!
Extra information from meeting:
- we can do more that one session if we wanted to as we might need to do more as each session is only half an hour.
- 8 children in each class same age but different abilities which she will send an email to us for which we should consider our activities as there will be a range.
- is we need any signs or symbols printed out we can email them to her and she will sort it out for us.
- if we use any equipment, it needs to be non-toxic as they like to put everything in their mouths
I think that one of the most important things that they said to us was that: - it is more about the process and experience the children have with doing art rather than the outcome
Personally I think that the meeting went really well, they were very open to our suggestions and seemed very interested in the kind of things we wanted to do. We found out that the school was currently working on their art department as they are working towards an art award for the school, which meant that our project will not only help us but it will help them too. The meeting wasn't actually that long, it was only around half an hour, yet we found out so many helpful notes which would influence the kind of activities we would do with the children. I had been the one to note down the questions and answers when being there at the meeting and here is what kind of thing I had got written down.
Questions and answers from the meeting:
What we can and can't do?
- we aren't limited so we can do a lot and are free what most ideas we will just have to run it through and check that it will be ok with the school
How long are the session(s)?
- longest half an hour but we are welcome to have more than one workshop at the school as half an hours work might not be enough for our work. The reason for the sessions only being that long is due to the concentration of the children. They have learning difficulties meaning that their ability to concentrate is harder and they could become distracted if the session is longer than half an hour.
How many classes will we be working with?
- in pairs so around 4 classes in the middle school department I think she said years 3 and 4
Rotating workshops or specific workshops for the classroom?
- decided on each pair sticking with one class through the whole thing and working with one class, so that means when we find out the different abilities of the pupils we can revolve our workshops on what kind of thing they are able to do.
What time of day would we do the workshops?
-Melissa did say any part of the day but the best thing to do is the morning so that we are there when they start and don't disrupt their day as routine is very important.
What's the best date?
- they were very flexible with dates except school trips but our next visit is Tuesday 14th June where we will just observe the lesson, see how they work and get to know the students.
Anything we need to consider?
- as the pupils have special needs they can kick, punch and bite.
What do the student enjoy?
- they are very visual and also would involve lots of movement.
What kinds of learning difficulties?
- autism, all round severe learning difficulties in general, meaning their cognitive developing age is around 3months - 2 years old but their actual ages are around 7-9 years old.
How could we communicate best with the students?
-many students are non-verbal so lots of pictures and signs and also simple sign language called makaton.
Has she got any concerns or ideas?
- same with the things we need to consider really, just to be aware and also said about movement!
Extra information from meeting:
- we can do more that one session if we wanted to as we might need to do more as each session is only half an hour.
- 8 children in each class same age but different abilities which she will send an email to us for which we should consider our activities as there will be a range.
- is we need any signs or symbols printed out we can email them to her and she will sort it out for us.
- if we use any equipment, it needs to be non-toxic as they like to put everything in their mouths
I think that one of the most important things that they said to us was that: - it is more about the process and experience the children have with doing art rather than the outcome
Friday 10 June 2016
Start of our Community Unit
This is a project I am involved in which didn't quite start out as planned... My group was originally placed at The Valence School in Sevenoaks, however unfortunately they had to pull out. This meant that we didn't have anyone to work alongside with for our project.
My group then had to find our own placement, this meant that we had to research different places which were in the area or around London and Kent as that was the distance we were willing to travel. We looked at a variety of types of placements for instance we looked at: Schools in general (Nursery, Primary and Secondary) then also specific schools for physical and learning disabilities, then care homes, hospices, charities, organisations and foundaions.
After all of us searching all day I sent an email to all of the places/people we found such as; Swiss cottage, Woodcote Primary School, Beyond Autism, Linkprim, Red Gates School, Garwood Foundation, Axcis Maggie's centre, Safe lives, Northease school, The Holmewood School of London and Insightsesc. The email read:
"To whom it may concern,
I'm a student at The BRIT School in Selhurst, and at this time of the year us as students are asked to be involved in a community based project.
I am one student from a group of lovely Year 12's who are supposed to be starting a project today with a special school for students with physical disabilities and complex needs, however unfortunately the school this morning have had to withdraw.
The aim for us 10 BRIT School students along with my teacher Claire Gildersleve, is to develop drawing-based workshops for people who need particular provision. Ideally we would visit the group of individuals we will be working with early on (next Tuesday or Friday would be ideal, but we could push it back a bit) and then we will spend some time back in our lessons generating ideas based on our experience of meeting our 'clients', and then in around the second week of July we will deliver the workshops to the people we have catered for.
My group then had to find our own placement, this meant that we had to research different places which were in the area or around London and Kent as that was the distance we were willing to travel. We looked at a variety of types of placements for instance we looked at: Schools in general (Nursery, Primary and Secondary) then also specific schools for physical and learning disabilities, then care homes, hospices, charities, organisations and foundaions.
After all of us searching all day I sent an email to all of the places/people we found such as; Swiss cottage, Woodcote Primary School, Beyond Autism, Linkprim, Red Gates School, Garwood Foundation, Axcis Maggie's centre, Safe lives, Northease school, The Holmewood School of London and Insightsesc. The email read:
"To whom it may concern,
I'm a student at The BRIT School in Selhurst, and at this time of the year us as students are asked to be involved in a community based project.
I am one student from a group of lovely Year 12's who are supposed to be starting a project today with a special school for students with physical disabilities and complex needs, however unfortunately the school this morning have had to withdraw.
The aim for us 10 BRIT School students along with my teacher Claire Gildersleve, is to develop drawing-based workshops for people who need particular provision. Ideally we would visit the group of individuals we will be working with early on (next Tuesday or Friday would be ideal, but we could push it back a bit) and then we will spend some time back in our lessons generating ideas based on our experience of meeting our 'clients', and then in around the second week of July we will deliver the workshops to the people we have catered for.
Would there be any possibilities that we could run this project with your organiastion?
If you have any queries about our project and the logistics, please don't hesitate to contact me or my teacher at email: cgilders@brit.croydon.sch.uk. We will also make a courteous telephone call this afternoon to inquire further as to whether this could be a possibility.
Thank you for your time,
Kind regards,
Liberty Rose Cheverall
BRIT School Student."
We then got a few replies, one was from Penny East at Safelives, who said she would pass on the message to someone higher who would be able to make the decision, however we didn't hear anything past that, also from Claire Baldock who is the Deputy Headteacher from Woodcote Primary School, she seemed as though she would have loved to help, however their summer term was full of other events which meant that it wouldn't be possible. She was also an ex pupil from The BRIT School and said if anything else came up, that we should consider the school again. We then got another reply, this one was from Cheryl Moore who is the PA to Headteacher of Northease Manor School who said that she will pass on the message to the school's business manager (Michelle Hunt) however again we didn't hear back from them. Then we got a reply from Phoebe Campbell who is the PR Manager England and Wales for Maggie's centre, and she said she was thankful for us considering Maggie's however she didn't think it would be the right thing for the centre so she had to decline.
After these emails which were't very promising, we got an email from Melissa Hendry who is the Deputy Headteacher at Red Gates School which sounded encouraging. She was very interested and thought it sounded like a lovely thing for the school to be involved in and was very interested in meeting us and started right away. She briefly said her opinion on how she thinks it would work best, due to how the children's reactions towards a group of 10 students, that the students would find it better if we were split into smaller groups so that the children would co-operate with us best, and that we can spread throughout the department. She then gave us her phone number which we could contact but was also interested in meeting. We thought that the best idea was to actually meet in person with everyone and to know where we would be working.We then arranged for the ten of us to meet on Friday 10th June with both herself and also the art coordinator of the school.
After I had been in contact with Melissa Hendry, we also got an email from Victoria Bower who is an Art and DT teacher at The Holmewood School of London (THSL) where she seemed also interested in our project. However, with this response, she said that the group sizing was a little big and suggested a group of 3/4, this wouldn't have been quite the best placement as we was needing for us all 10 students to be part of the same placement. This meant that we had to decline her offer but said that we would consider THSL in the future for other projects.
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