DRUMBEAT SCHOOL. Weekly Newsletter. Dates for the Diary. Dear Parents and Carers

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1 DRUMBEAT SCHOOL Weekly Newsletter Dear Parents and Carers Please take note of Parents Evening dates that are coming up. This is a great opportunity to have good discussions with your child s teacher and to raise any concerns you may have. ParentPay has now been set up and do contact the school if you have any questions about this. Friends of Drumbeat is now a charity which we are delighted about. Please get involved by attending upcoming meetings. Have a good weekend. Marie Neave Executive Headteacher Dates for the Diary. Thursday, 9 February 2017 Awards Ceremony at Brockley Friday, 10 February 2017 School closes for half term Monday, 20 February 2017 Students back at school Friday, 24 February 2017 Parents Coffee Meetings Brockley: 11am 12pm Downham: 2pm 3pm Thursday, 23 March 2017 Brockley Parents Evening from 5pm 7pm Wednesday, 29 March 2017 Downham Parents Evening from 5pm 7pm Please don t forget to look at the list of events for each key stage group in the newsletter. Do you perhaps have an old Wii console at home that is not being used? We would appreciate a donation of one as we have lots of sports games and would like to start a Wii lunch club. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 1

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3 Friends of Drumbeat is an organisation composed of parents, carers, teachers and staff. The goal of all parent-teacher groups is to support the school, encourage parent involvement, support teachers and organise family events. It has recently been given charitable status which gives us lots of opportunities for fundraising. This is an excellent way to bring together parents, teachers and others to raise money for the school. We therefore have an opportunity for everyone to work together towards a common goal. FRIENDS OF DRUMBEAT All parents and teachers can get involved even if they only have a small amount of time available. The school will benefit from the additional funds it will raise and the increased opportunity for parents to be more involved in school life. Friends of Drumbeat aims to: Raise funds to help the school provide extra resources for the pupils. Run social events for parents and children and therefore provide an opportunity for people to meet and get to know each other and have fun. Organise meetings and Workshops to inform parents about education issues and other topics parent s would like to discuss. We continuously get together with committee members to look at ways we can support activities for the children in school and also opportunities in which we can provide support for parents and staff. If you would like to join Friends of Drumbeat, please us on adin@drumbeat.lewisham.sch.uk or contact Sheryl at the school office on We are creating our own school cookbook. We know so many of you make beautiful food and it would be great if you would share a recipe with us. It could be a recipe from your heritage or one that your child really enjoys. To submit your recipe, please log on to the website and use the parent access code b b. We need all the recipes by the end of half-term please. We will send all the recipes we receive off to the printers and have our very own cookbook printed. This could make a really nice gift for family or friends. The cookbooks will be sold for 8.50 each. A letter and order form will be sent home. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 3

4 PE Events coming up Date & Time Event & Venue Students Football 23 February South London Special League of their own 16 March South London Special League of their own 20 April South London Special League of their own 18 May South London Special League of their own 15 June South London Special League of their own Cricket TBC TBC TBC TBC TBC 7 February 10am Disability Open Day for Cricket Stephanie, Levi, Ghulam, Traivonn, (Beckenham Cricket Ground) Blessing, Donte, Daniel Velez Montoya Panathlon 8 March 11am Panathlon Plate Finals Jordan, Brendon, Pareise, Trevanie, Levi, (Crystal Palace National Sports Blessing, Donte, Traivonn, Agratha, Centre) Otugoma, Rae, Shaquille Swimming Gala 10 March 10am Inter Borough Swimming Gala 2017 (Westcroft Leisure Centre) Rowing TBC 17 March 10am National Youth Rowing Competition (Lee Valley Athletics Club) Andrew, Tony, Deresha, Joseph, Jordan, Traivonn, Agratha, Otugoma. Raeshaun, Donte, Levi, Ghulam (plus 8 students from KS3 TBC) Parents/Carers are welcome to come to the football and swimming gala but the other events are for students/staff only. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 4

5 EYFS & Primary Annual Reviews Annual Reviews and EHCP meetings are due to start at the end of February. Letters with appointment details will be sent out to you in the coming weeks. We encourage parents/carers to please try and attend on these dates due to staff and teacher availability. If, however, you are unable to attend the meeting please let Hendrina Smith know so the meeting can be rescheduled for later in the summer term. EYFS & Primary events coming up Tuesday 7 February Koalas bus trip (pm) Friday 10 February Stay and Play in Kangaroo & Koala classes (9:15 10:15am) Tuesday 7 February Kangaroos bus trip (pm) Wednesday 1 March Koala class trip to The Natural History Museum Wednesday 1 March Kangaroos class trip to The Natural History Museum Tuesday 14 March Koalas bus trip (pm) Wednesday 15 March Stay and Play in Kangaroo & Koala classes (9:15 10:15am) Friday 17 March Kangaroos bus trip (pm) Tuesday 21 March Koalas bus trip (pm) Friday 24 March Mother s Day Morning Tea Party in Kangaroo and Koala classes (10:00 11:00am) Friday 24 March Kangaroos bus trip (pm) Friday 31 March School breaks up for Easter Holidays and closes at 1pm. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 5

6 Live Music Now For the past three weeks, Zebra class and Chameleon class have been involved in a fantastic music project which has been run by three classical musicians, Rosie, Emily and John. They have been playing live recorder music to the children, including both modern and medieval pieces. The children have all been very enthusiastic and have enjoyed dancing, playing percussion and having a go at the recorder. They have been learning about concepts of counting, start and stop, fast and slow, and loud and quiet sounds. Most importantly, they have been smiling and laughing a great deal as well as communicating excellently with the musicians. The course culminated in a wonderful performance from both groups in Primary Assembly, finished off with a rousing recital of Dr Knickerbocker! Drumbeat School & ASD Service 6

7 Issue February 2017 Primary News This week the Primary Department had an assembly for Chinese New Year. We learnt about traditional Chinese New Year customs and how modern families celebrate it today. Each class in Primary shared the fantastic work they have done on the topic this week. We had paper lanterns, animal masks, fans and lots of dragons. Well done to all the classes for their great work and contributions. Great job Primary, and Happy Year of the Rooster. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 7

8 Crocodiles Class This week Crocodile class have been learning about Chinese New year. We have made our own dragons, Chinese zodiac animal masks and lanterns. We made a vegetable stir fry during our weekly cooking session and listened to the Chinese New Year Story. The children have enjoyed swimming lessons this half term and are getting more independent with dressing and undressing. In Maths we have been learning about size and pattern. In literacy we have been mark making and learning how to form the letters in our name. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 8

9 Issue February 2017 Lions Class On Tuesday the Lions class went to Central London by train. We walked around Trafalgar Square and saw the lions and Nelsons Column. We then went to the National Gallery to look at the paintings. After that we walked down The Mall and saw Buckingham Palace, unfortunately the queen was not in for a visit. We did see a parade down The Mall of soldiers on their horses. Here are some pictures of Lions class outside Buckingham Palace, Tyrell, Kai and Mahdi on the train to Charing Cross and the parade. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 9

10 Issue February 2017 Jubilee Class Jubilee has had a great week. In music we played a tune together. For this we had to count the beats and look and listen to what everyone was doing so we could play at the same time. We have continued our work on mountains and also had a day looking at Chinese New Year celebrations and trying Chinese food. KS3 Annual Reviews Annual Reviews and EHCP meetings are due to start in June. Letters with appointment details will be sent out to you in the coming weeks. We encourage parents/carers to please try and attend on these dates due to staff and teacher availability. If, however, you are unable to attend the meeting please let Hendrina Smith know so the meeting can be rescheduled for later in the term. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 10

11 Ocean Class Students in Ocean Class have been using the new block flat area to learn about house keeping skills. They have been busy making beds, washing clothes and ironing. On Thursday mornings they make their own breakfast in the flat area and use the dishwasher to wash all the crockery. Kieron was absolutely fantastic at putting the duvet cover on the duvet and Helena has been practising her new ironing skills at home. This week they are going to start to learn about polishing furniture and using a hoover. Have a look through all our photographs to see how well they are all doing. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 11

12 6th Form News Work experience at Dulwich Sports Ground Work experience for some of our sixth form students have started at the Dulwich Sports Ground. This placement is a safe and dedicated work environment for some of our students who would normally find a busy work placement too challenging to cope. Students usually access the placement as a group every Tuesday, with staff supporting and supervising. Their list of duties include sweeping and mopping the floor, stacking chairs, wiping the tables and making our own hot drinks at break times. We have been assured that we might have the opportunity to work outside during the summer months, helping the Groundsman to maintain the ground. Watch this space as we will be sharing updates on the students progress in the next few weeks. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 12

13 A New Weekly Tuck Shop has Opened on the Brockley Site. An exciting new venture has begun on the Brockley site. Every Friday morning there is now a Tuck Shop. We are selling delicious healthy snacks and drinks and are staffed by a small enthusiastic group of students from Ocean class. The students are enjoying using and applying their functional Maths and Communication skills. All classes on the Brockley campus come to visit the shop to buy a drink or something to eat. In order to make Tuck Shop fair and reasonable all items cost under 1. We have a spending limit of 1.50 and only two items can be purchased. Every week class teams are given a purple Tuck Shop ticket which is awarded to one student who has excelled in some way. This ticket can be exchanged for one specific item in the Tuck Shop. There are plenty of visual supports to help with communication, money skills and making healthy choices. Some of our KS4 students have been baking yummy goods to sell, such as sugar free cakes and vegetarian sausage rolls (our best seller) in their Food Technology lessons. Others snacks such as low calorie crisps and sugar free drinks are bought in. All allergies and food intolerances have been taken into consideration. The Tuck Shop has become a big success. We are using the money we make to buy in more stock so we are self-funding. Once we make a profit we would like to buy a proper till, unless some lovely person out there has one to donate. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 13

14 Brockley Campus School Council Meeting held Tuesday 24 January 2017 Subject Notes Who will do it? Welcome and hello We said hello Charlie ran the meeting & took the minutes Pareise, Deresha, Toni, Jordan, Blessing, Daniel and Stephanie were present Charlie and Sandra will take it in turns to run the School Council Meeting. Charlie asked everyone about how their resolutions were going. Several students were trying to eat healthier meals. We talked about several topics: - Meals students said salads were good, some food was a bit cold, queues could be annoying and please bring back chicken & sweetcorn pie! - We talked about the upcoming Red Nose Day. We discussed ways of making money selling cakes, cards, snacks and maybe doing sponsored events e.g. football match, etc. - Jordan asked if we could get a good punch bag for the gym. - We had two visitors today Janet and Nicola who are School Governors. We discussed their role in school and asked questions. Charlie will ask Richard Sandra will run the next meeting on Tuesday, 7 February at 2:30 in the Life Skills room. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 14

15 Useful websites for information Aspergers United - Autistica- Autism Education Trust Autism Speaks - Barnados Burgess Autistic Trust - Carers Lewisham - Lewisham Autism Support - lewishamproject@nas.org.uk National Autistic Society Scope - SENDIAS - SIGNAL - St Michael Associates - Teen Autism- The Curly Hair Project Wrong Planet Drumbeat School & ASD Service 15