Issue 52 January 2018 DRUMBEAT SCHOOL. Weekly Newsletter

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1 DRUMBEAT SCHOOL Weekly Newsletter Dear Parents and Carers A big thank you to Claire and Michelle for coming forward to be Parent Governors. These roles are vital for our school and their time and effort will be much appreciated. Our Governors have been in visiting classes this week and have been really impressed with the fantastic work that the students are doing here. Sadly we have had to say goodbye to Eziah today. We had a lovely assembly and we wish him and his family all the best with his future. Have a good weekend. Marie Neave Executive Headteacher Dates for the Diary. Wednesday, 31 January Coffee Morning at Brockley from 10am Topic: Growing up & relationships (girls) Friday, 9 February Coffee Morning at Downham from 10am Topic: Meeting Sensory Needs at home Friday, 9 February School breaks up for half term Monday, 19 February Students and staff back at school Wednesday, 7 March Drumbeat Downham Football team taking part in the South London Special League Football Tournament Wednesday, 14 March Parents Evening at both sites from 5-7pm Parent Governor Elections The nominations for this election have now closed and since only two nominations were received for two places the following parents have been elected unopposed: Claire Seiler Michelle Charlesworth Thank you for your support. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 1

2 The following pupils received Headteacher s Star Awards this month: Jonthan Ogunya (Waterloo Class) received a certificate for being an excellent play leader and helping his friends to have someone to play with. Elijah-Blu Fearon (Waterloo Class) received a head teacher's award for his excellent progress in reading. He is so proud of how well he can read an unfamiliar text, he loves to show new people. Well done Blu! Abdullahi Mohammud (Victoria Class) received a Head Teacher s Award for Maths. He has made excellent progress in being able to focus for longer on his Maths tasks and can now add coins together to make a total of up to 20 independently. Hamza Blake (Waterloo Class) has been working on division in maths with numbers to 70. Today he learnt to partition the numbers into tens and units to help him calculate the answer without using any counting equipment. He was also able to show all his working out. Keep up the good work Hamza! Drumbeat School & ASD Service 2

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5 Drumbeat Christmas Project Thank you to all the donations that we received and especially to our young people for all the hard work. Our Christmas Project was a great success. As you know students from KS3 have been busy collecting donations, preparing hampers and also travelled by public transport to the venue where the project took place. Here they supported volunteers and staff from the Voluntary Services Lewisham. Our students help and interaction was fantastic and greatly appreciated. We are very proud of our students as their work made a difference to a lot people s lives this Christmas. We are looking forward to starting a new Community Project this year. Waterloo Class Piccadilly Class District Class Drumbeat School & ASD Service 5

6 Useful Information February school holiday cycling course Week commencing 12 th February at Downham Leisure Centre Moorside Road BR1 5EP Age restriction: 7+ only This course is aimed for children who have not learned how to ride a bicycle yet or would like to improve their cycling skills to Bikeability Level 1 The session takes place in an off-road venue in small groups and is perfect for your child to learn basic bike control skills. Please bring your own bicycle and helmet, no bikes will be available for loan. These sessions are very popular so each trainee can only be signed up to one session each during this half term to allow more children to have a go. Blue Badge Scheme: Consultation on eligibility The consultation period began on 21 January 2018 and will run until 18 March Please ensure that your response reaches us before the closing date. If you would like alternative formats (Braille, audio CD, etc), please contact vida.browne-campbell@dft.gsi.gov.uk Please reply online or if this is not possible you may responses to bluebadge.consultation@dft.gsi.gov.uk. Hard copy can be posted to: Vida Browne-Campbell Department for Transport Traffic and Technology Division 3/27 Great Minster House 33 Horseferry Road London SW1P 4DR Please visit the website for more information: Full details and online booking Drumbeat School & ASD Service 6

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8 Bike club Bike club has been learning to use a bike to travel safely from one place to another. They have been working on looking at the surroundings, crossing roads, steering the bikes across different terrain and maintaining the bikes. We hope that some of our children will become independent travellers in the future. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 8

9 Crocodile Class In Crocodile class, we have been learning all about transport and have been creating some fantastic artwork to put up on our display. We have also had lots of fun in PE, playing turn taking games and pulling each other on the dolly boards. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 9

10 Zebra Class Zebra have been busy learning about machines in the environment. We went on a machine walk around the school and found many things that use electricity. The students had an opportunity to use the toaster and microwave to prepare food during the cooking sessions and use the cd player to listen to some audio stories in class. We made some lovely fans and dragons to mark the celebration of the Chinese New Year and the children particularly enjoyed some Chinese food tasting. They were able to express which foods the like and which they don t like. Prawn crackers and spring rolls were quite popular. No one liked the smell of soy sauce! Zebras continue to work hard on their weekly literacy and numeracy targets and they are making fantastic progress in many areas. The students really enjoy their music sessions with Lee during which they are developing their listening skills and expressing themselves through music. Continued on next page Drumbeat School & ASD Service 10

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12 Leopard class day out at City Airport Leopard class went on a trip to City Airport as part of our work on machines. We took the Woolwich ferry and then drove to the airport. We looked at the machines that are used in the airport and then watched the planes take off and land. We all had a fun day and we are looked forward to our next trip to the Transport Museum. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 12

13 Lions Class Attention Autism Session Drumbeat School & ASD Service 13

14 Bongo Class Bongo class have settled in really well after the Christmas holidays. We have been working hard on a variety of different topics. We have been learning about ordering food and drink items in English and creating our own menus. Soon we will be testing out our new skills at a local café. We have also read the book The Iron Man and making models of the main character. In maths we have been looking at different shapes and how they can make up parts of a picture. We have looked at the properties of different shapes and investigating how to decide different shapes which are being described. In Computing we have looked at programming robots and giving them instructions to follow. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 14

15 Work Experience A day in the life of Drumbeat Pupils at Keetons Community Centre The group were focused and completed their cleaning routines without support. Fantastic sweeping and mopping! Next week we will extend their personalised routines. We will be looking to see if they can remember where the cleaning equipment is stored without prompts. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 15

16 Laban Music and Movement Project at Drumbeat Brockley Key Stage 4 and 6 th Form students have been preparing for a show that will be taking place at the Laban Centre. Dancers and musicians from Laban have been coming in each Thursday to work with students at Brockley; they are currently collaborating in order to create a performance piece that will involve a storyboard created with ideas from Drumbeat pupils that will be expressed through movement and original music. So far, the students have been very creative and energetic and have impressed the Laban group with their use of imagination and free expression. We will keep you posted on our progress and give details about the final show which will be on Tuesday, 20 th March at the Laban Centre. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 16

17 Panathlon Multi Sports Competition at Evelyn Grace Academy, Brixton Students have been very active this week taking part in the regional Panathlon Multi Sports Competition at Evelyn Grace Academy. Students represented Lewisham along with other local schools and took part in a range of sports and gained medals in the following events: Pareise Weldegabriel and Ruth Bopili won bronze medals in polybat. Daniel Velez-Montoya and Levi Martin won silver medals in table cricket. Kelsyie Pacquette and Ademola Aderounmu won silver medals in curling. Jordan Logan-Cross won a gold medal in the javelin and two silver medals for bean bag throw and long jump. The Lewisham team came third overall and are now through to the Plate Competition which takes place on Monday 26 th March at Crystal Palace Sports ground. Medals to be awarded to all students involved in the next whole school assembly. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 17

18 Drumbeat Family Forum Coffee Mornings The Coffee Mornings are open to all Drumbeat parents and carers. Please attend as many as you feel relevant to you. Date & Time 31 January at 10am Site Theme Led by Brockley Growing up & Relationships (Girls) This session is aimed at parents of older students and will include an overview of puberty and periods. This will be followed by a workshop on relationships, including how to keep safe when out and about, developing independence safely and the challenges of developing relationships. There will also be some information on keeping safe online and what parents should look out for. There will also be time for questions and discussion within the group. Sandra Taylor Sarah Mitchell Katie Denton 9 February at 10am Downham Meeting sensory needs at home How do your child s sensory needs show in their behaviour at home? Always on the move? Refusing to get in the bath or shower? Problems tolerating normal household noises like washing machine or hoover? Come along to this session to find out more about sensory difficulties for children with autism, and share ideas for things to try at home to make everyday life easier. Rosie Hallett Drumbeat Occupational Therapist 23 February at 10am Brockley Meeting sensory needs at home As young people with autism grow into adulthood, sensory behaviours can change and families may need to find different, more age appropriate ways to support these; the young adult who wants to walk around naked at home, teenagers still sleeping in bed with parents etc. Come along and share your experiences and ideas for dealing with teens and young adults sensory needs at home. Rosie Hallett Drumbeat Occupational Therapist 9 March at 10am Downham Support services in Lewisham what s available to you? An information morning for parents to gather information regarding services for available for families with disabled children. Sheryl & speaker 27 April at 10am Downham Helping your child with their eating Lots of children and young people with autism have difficulties with eating and drinking from a young age, leading to some of them having very limited diets. This workshop is for you if you would like to make some changes at home to extend the range of foods your child will try, and to find out about our approach to feeding difficulties at Drumbeat school. Rosie Hallett Drumbeat Occupational Therapist Drumbeat School & ASD Service 18

19 Date & Time 11 May at 10am 18 May at 10am 23 May at 10am 8 June at 10am 20 June at 10am Site Theme Led by Downham Puberty for Girls Puberty can be a challenging time for any young person including young women with Autism. At Drumbeat we use tailored made individualized systems to help support students understanding, and the practical management, of the changes that happen to the body. This session will offer practical examples and ideas of tried and tested methods to support families and young people to cope with such changes. Downham Puberty for Boys Puberty can be a challenging time for any young person including young man with Autism. At Drumbeat we use tailored made individualized systems to help support students understanding, and the practical management, of the changes that happen to the body. This session will offer practical examples and ideas of tried and tested methods to support families and young people to cope with such changes. Brockley Mental Health & Teens with ASD Mental illnesses like anxiety and depression are more common in teens with ASD than in the general population, but the mental health of young people on the autistic spectrum is often overlooked or misunderstood. Come along to this session to find out more about how to recognise signs and symptoms of common mental health problems, how to respond to and support your teen if you are concerned, and where and when to seek extra help. Downham Benefits do you know what you are entitled to? A workshop for Downham and Brockley parents looking at Benefits entitlements and how to go about making a claim. Brockley Communicating positively through behavior All behaviour has a purpose and can sometimes be your child's only way of communicating their needs and feelings. Through discussion in this session, we will look at how to get a better understanding of your child's unique behaviours including the ones that can be more challenging. Bryony Bowen Head of KS3 Rachel Fisk School Nurse Bryony Bowen Head of KS3 Rachel Fisk School Nurse Dr Emma Mahoney Clinical Psychologist Sheryl & speaker Dr Emma Mahoney Clinical Psychologist Drumbeat School & ASD Service 19

20 SCHOOL TERM AND HOLIDAY DATES 2017/2018 WITH STAFF TRAINING DAYS (UPDATED JULY 2017) AUTUMN TERM 2017 AUTUMN TERM 1 HALF TERM HOLIDAY AUTUMN TERM 2 CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY Monday 4 September Staff Training day Tuesday 5 September Students first day of term Friday 20 October - Students last day before half term holiday MONDAY 23 OCTOBER FRIDAY 27 OCTOBER Monday 30 October Staff Training day Tuesday 31 October - Students back from half term holiday Monday 20 November Staff Training day Wednesday 20 December - Students last day of term* THURSDAY 21 DECEMBER MONDAY 1 JANUARY SPRING TERM 2018 SPRING TERM 1 HALF TERM HOLIDAY SPRING TERM 2 EASTER HOLIDAY Tuesday 2 January Staff Training day Wednesday 3 January - Students first day of term Friday 9 February Students last day before half term holiday MONDAY 12 FEBRUARY FRIDAY 16 FEBRUARY Monday 19 February Students back from half term holiday Thursday 29 March - Students last day of term* FRIDAY 30 MARCH FRIDAY 13 APRIL SUMMER TERM 2018 SUMMER TERM 1 HALF TERM HOLIDAY SUMMER TERM 2 Monday 16 April Students first day of term Friday 25 May Students last day before half term holiday (MAY DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY WILL BE TAKEN ON 7 MAY) MONDAY 28 MAY FRIDAY 1 JUNE Monday 4 June Students back from half term holiday Thursday 19 July Students last day of term* Friday 20 July Staff Training day *THE SCHOOL WILL CLOSE AT 1PM ON THE LAST DAY OF THE TERM Drumbeat School & ASD Service 20

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