DRUMBEAT SCHOOL Weekly Newsletter Dear Parents and Carers We have had a great half term and a good start to the year. I have been delighted to hand out more Headteacher Awards for amazing work in literacy from Kirsty and Johanna. I have been in Rebecca s class to witness some exceptional maths teaching where pupils produced bar graphs and pie charts for their favourite PE activities. Thank you for making sure that your children arrive on time every day and are so well presented in their uniforms. Have a restful break. Marie Neave Executive Headteacher Dates for the Diary. Monday 23 Friday 27 October Half term holiday Monday, 30 October Staff Training Day Tuesday, 31 October Students back at school Wednesday, 1 November Kangaroo Class Stay n Play 9:15 10:15 Friday, 3 November Coffee Morning (Downham) at Topic: Communicating with your child talking, symbols & signing Friday, 10 November Coffee Morning () at Topic: Post 16: what happens next? Friday, 1 December Kangaroo Class Stay n Play 9:15 10:15 To prevent lost belongings, please label all of your child s possessions especially coats, jackets, sweaters and shoes. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 1
Kirsty Kakou & Johanna Jeramekeyomar (District Class) Kirsty and Johanna received the Headteacher s Star Award this week for their outstanding writing. Congratulations to both. Johanna s writing Kirsty s writing Drumbeat School & ASD Service 2
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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 Site Theme Led by 3 November at 10 November at 14 November at 21 November at 8 December at 12 January at Downham Communicating with your child talking, symbols & signing At Drumbeat school we encourage all types of communication. Using visual forms of communication such as pictures and signing can really help a child to be understood. Is your child learning to use PECS at school and you would like to use this at home too? Has your child got a few words but you would like some tips on how to teach them more? Then come along to learn about how you help your child communicate. Post 16: What happens next? Do you want to find out the process that happens when your son/daughter reaches Post 16? Do you want to find out what provision is available? Access to Funding An opportunity to look at how you can access funding for the family. The Family Funds is just one example. Benefits from Age 16yrs What is your young person entitled to? At aged 16 there are a number of changes to benefits you may already claim to claim, for example if you receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA) this will be replaced by Personal Independence Payments (PIP). Similarly you can claim for Education and Support Allowance ( ESA). This workshop will give you information about how to make a claim and tackle difficult questions. Downham Using visual supports at home make & take session At Drumbeat we believe that using visual supports can help a child to learn, communicate and become more independent. We understand that it can be hard to make pictures and symbols at home and also understand the best way to use them. Would you like a set of visual instructions for home to help your child get dressed by themselves? Do you need a communication board to help your child talk to you whilst you play together? Then come along to our make and take session where you will be able to take home lots of different types of support as well as talk to the therapy team to design visual supports that are right for you and your child. Downham Money Management So Christmas is all done and dusted and we may have overspent more than we should. This session will look at how we managed and budget our funds and keep on track. Hannah Robinson Drumbeat Speech & Language Therapist Sheryl & Sean Richings School Business Director Hannah Robinson Drumbeat Speech & Language Therapist & Rosie Hallett Drumbeat Occupational Therapist Sheryl & speaker Drumbeat School & ASD Service 4
Date & Time Site Theme Led by 26 January at Growing up & Relationships (Boys) This session is aimed at parents of older students and will include an overview of puberty. 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. Andy Brown Sarah Mitchell Katie Denton 31 January at 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 23 February at 9 March at 27 April at 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. 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. 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. 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 Rosie Hallett Drumbeat Occupational Therapist Sheryl & speaker Rosie Hallett Drumbeat Occupational Therapist Drumbeat School & ASD Service 5
Date & Time Site Theme Led by 11 May at 18 May at 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. Bryony Bowen Head of KS3 Rachel Fisk School Nurse Bryony Bowen Head of KS3 Rachel Fisk School Nurse 23 May at 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. Dr Emma Mahoney Clinical Psychologist 8 June at Downham Benefits do you know what you are entitled to? A workshop for Downham and parents looking at Benefits entitlements and how to go about making a claim. Sheryl & speaker 20 June at 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. Dr Emma Mahoney Clinical Psychologist Drumbeat School & ASD Service 6
ITALIAN Club Our Italian classes started very well this term. Our Italian students Charlie, Raphael and Humaid have been very busy in learning Italian through different subjects. Through Maths, they are learning to count up to 30. In Communication, they are learning to express their feelings. In Italian grammar they are learning how to use the verbs to be and to have appropriately. Finally in each lesson we are doing a bit of Geography, learning about Soon we ll start again with our trip to visit an Italian shop where our students can practise their Italian. We will also be going back in the kitchen to learn traditional Italian recipes and carry on the work started last term with the Bar Capisc. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 7
Issue 44 20 October 2017 Primary Football On Wednesday the primary football team went to play in a tournament at Long Lane Football Club. There were 8 other special schools at the tournament and the Drumbeat team played 4, 10 minute games. All the pupils tried really hard and we put in some great performances considering it was the first tournament of the year. We managed to win 1 of our 4 games. All players in the team received a medal for their hard work.here is a picture of our team before our first game and after they received their medals. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 8
Issue 44 20 October 2017 Leopards Class This week Leopard class have been studying the Solar System and investigating the planets in the Solar System. We have been listening to songs and learning to name and match the different planets. In art we have started to make a model of the Solar System. we are making each of the planets by blowing up balloons and then using coloured paper to cover them. In Maths we are working on shapes and we have been going around the school to find different shapes in our local environment. We have had lots of fun doing this. Drumbeat School & ASD Service 9
Jubilee Class Jubilee Class and a few pupils from District Class went to visit the pumpkin farm. We walked in the fields and picked our pumpkins. There were orange pumpkins and white pumpkins. There were so many types of squash. We talked about all the different kinds and different colours. The pupils also went into the corn field and picked some beautiful colourful corn. When we got back to school we washed our pumpkins because they were very muddy. It was a great day for all of us. Continued on next page Drumbeat School & ASD Service 10
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Parent Coffee Morning Post 16: What happens next? Do you want to find out the process that happens when your son/ daughter reaches Post 16? Do you want to find out what provision is available? Then come to this informative morning Date: Friday November 10th at - 11.30am Venue: Drumbeat Calling all Campus Parents! Free Reading Workshop Drumbeat from to 12:30pm Friday 17th November 2017 No need to book just turn up. The aim of the workshop is to enable you to support your son/daughter with their reading development and will Include: information about how Autistic young people learn to read; strategies and techniques that we use to support this, and a practical session so that you can learn how to do this too! Drumbeat School & ASD Service 12
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