Chirpy Chicks at Fairmead

A dozen cheeping chicks hatched in Fairmead's primary classroom last week and are now being nurtured by students.

The chicks are now a week old and are proving to be a massive attraction throughout the school community. After half term, primary students were asked to think of a topic they would like to study, and after much discussion they decided they would like to find out about Spring.

Students have been given the responsibility of caring for the chicks, which they have all really taken to according to primary teacher Amy Huskisson, who said: 'They know they have to be quite careful with the chicks and be really quiet when they are around them. The children have been really good at nurturing them and being responsible, and they have learnt an awful lot about the life cycle of a hen'.

Elmwood School Spring Fayre

Elmwood held their spring fayre on Friday 18th March, and welcomed many parents and members of the community into their school where they were able to purchase a range of handmade products produced by students as part of their enterprise lessons as well as taking part in a raffle, tombola and many other exciting opportunities.

sen.se SEMH Conference - 22nd February 2016

On Monday 22nd February 2016 over 400 staff from across 10 special schools and other specialist education providers got together for a collaborative training day in Yeovil.

The day saw two keynote speeches - delivered by:

Dr Margot Sunderland, Director of Education and Training at The Centre for Child Mental Health London and

Luke Rodgers, Founder & Director of Foster Focus, a triple award winning social enterprise.

These talks were followed by a series of workshops, delivered at Fiveways School by a range of practitioners covering a variety of subject areas under the overarching theme of Social, Emotional, Mental Health including:

Staff emotional resilience
Mindfulness
Attachment
Music Therapy

Comments from staff who attended the day include

'I found the whole day hugely informative and reminded me just how much our students have to overcome and how amazing they are. And that I need to keep learning to help them keep learning. Thank you'

'The day provoked conversations among staff that wouldn't have happened. Staff were also able to share the workshops with each other'.

' An excellent day. I can't wait for the next one. It was a great showcase for good practice and a genuine opportunity to network with colleagues from similar schools. Sharing ideas and experiences really boosts morale and motivates me to move forward to make greater improvements to what I/we provide. The day shone a light on all the good work that is taking place'.

The next planned joint CPD day is due to take place in March 2017.

Disabled musicians create music from brainwaves

Four members of a Paramusical Ensemble, who are unable to talk or move, are using ground-breaking technology to create music with the power of their minds.

The University of Plymouth and the Royal Hospital for Neuro-Disability developed technology to read the electrical activity in the brain and used it to create the piece of music.

The disabled musicians wear and EEG cap which reads electrical signals from their brain.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35557908

Penrose School Official Opening - 22nd October

There have been huge changes at Penrose School in Bridgwater over recent years. This small building which provided a base for 60 students with additional learning needs from the age of 4 to 19 has been totally transformed. As part of the Elmwood & Penrose Federation, it has been possible to re designate this school as a primary school for students with additional needs. This provides a nurturing environment where children can practice learning how to learn and how to work together. This prepares them for "big school" when at 11 years old they progress to Elmwood School which is our secondary school.

Penrose has been entirely re built to fulfil this purpose, and while students moved into this state of the art building last November, we officially opened the school on Thursday 22nd October 2015.We have been very lucky to have the commitment and hard work of a wonderful group of people who have made this fabulous facility as amazing as it is. Chris Jones - the architect who designed this gorgeous space, Graham Holt who put such care into building it to such a high specification and Hadleigh Wells who managed the project on behalf of Somerset County Council officially opened the school.

To arrange a visit please call the school on 01278 411222