WE APOLOGISE FOR NOT UPDATING THE WEB SITE FOR AGES -
ALL WE CAN SAY IS WE HAVE BEEN VERY BUSY!
OUR MOST RECENT ANNUAL REPORT COVERING ACTIVITIES 1 SEPTEMBER 2001-31 AUGUST 2002
CAN BE DOWNLOADED BY PUSHING THE 01/02 "ANNUAL REPORTS" BUTTON ON THE HOME PAGE
HERE, THOUGH, TO UPDATE YOU ON ACTIVITIES SINCE 1 SEPTEMBER 2002,
IS
CHILDREN'S WORLD'S LATEST AND MOST RECENT NEWS
FROM 1 SEPTEMBER 2002 UNTIL 7 MAY 2003
THE AUTUMN TERM 2002 MUSIC/DRAMA TOUR
FOR CHILDREN WITH SEVERE LEARNING DIFFICULTIES
AND PROFOUND AND MULTIPLE LEARNING DIFFICULTIES
SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2002
This Drama Tour took 90-minute weekly sessions to 5 different special schools in Somerset and (what was) Avon
(Penrose in Bridgwater, Baytree in Weston-super-Mare, New Fosseway in Bristol, Limegrove in Bath & Selworthy in Taunton)
each week for 5 weeks in the first half of the Autumn Term 2002.
An average of 20 children participated in each session, meaning that 500 child-sessions were achieved.
We decided that this term's Tour would have a musical theme, and we devised a format whereby the children met a" Space Pilot" who took them
each week in his flashing space machine, to meet "Professor Tune", who lived on the Music Planet.
Each week the children would take a new musical instrument
to the Professor and he would input its sounds into his amazing Music Machine. The Music Machine took in the sounds and then
produced a series of symbols that were clues to different songs (e.g. Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Old McDonald Had A Farm, etc.) which
the children would then learn and sing. Mixed in with these musical activities there were number recognition exercises, shape sorting exercises,, etc.
to aid the children's curricular learning. At the end of the Tour, each school was left with a CD of the songs they had learnt, and these are
being used regularly by all the schools for recap and recall.
All the schools were delighted with the Tour and said that they felt their pupils benefitted considerably.
SPECIAL INTEGRATION WEEK FOR BRIDGWATER SCHOOLS
NOVEMBER 2002
Yet again, we were commissioned by Elmwood Special School, Penrose Special School and Hamp Junior School in Bridgwater to run a
special Integration Workshop Week for them during the week of 5 November. Approximately 60 mixed-ability children took part in
5 days of Puppetry and Integration workshops, creating a splendid, large-scale performance which was presented on the Friday
afternoon to parents, friends and all the children of Hamp Junior School to great applause and acclaim.
SPECIAL INCLUSION WORKSHOPS TO CELEBRATE
NATIONAL INCLUSION WEEK - NOVEMBER 2002
To celebrate National Inclusion Week, and to further develop our Inclusion work, we took the best of our previous longer inclusion
workshops, undertaken in 2000, and created special "Cream of Inclusion" Days. These were tailored to meet the needs of different schools:
in some schools one class received a whole day of workshops, in other schools 3 different classes received a 90-minute session each,
(with all groups opening and closing the days togethe), allowing a whole Year Group to participate.
Day-long sessions were run at Westfield Primary School in Radstock, Wells Central Junior School, Elmhurst Primary School in Street,
Westover Green Primary in Bridgwater, St. Benedict's Primary in Glastonbury, West Pennard Primary
and Brookside Junior School in Street free of charge.
With the assistance of Year 4 children from Brookside Juntior School in Street
and Year 7 pupils from St. Dunstan's Community School in Glastonbury, we created two different videos for younger and older
children. The video for the younger children showed children in different classroom and playground situations,
with questions printed on the screen asking the workshop children to comment on the behaviour observed.
Was that kind? Is anyone being left out? What is happening here? How could the situation be made better? etc.
The older children's version of the video told two different stories - one, where a child was feeling left
out, lonely and unhappy at school, and one where the opposite was true.
The workshop children were asked to highlight the differences, comment
on their thoughts and feelings and suggest ways to prevent unhappy situations occuring.
We also created a 5' x 5' material spectograph hanging for each class we worked with, which depicted a playground.
The workshop children were asked to draw a hand-sized picture of themselves and place it on the spectograph,
giving thought to where they wanted to be, what activity
they wanted to be taking part in, who they wanted to be playing with, etc.
Paddy Hill and Charlie Miller, Children's World's 2 Chief Play Leaders, ran 3 x 90-minute sessions in the school hall each day, during
which they led a variety of exercises on the themes of teamwork and group dynamics. Mask work was undertaken to illustrate
different emotions, followed by discussions. "White men" sketches (where Paddy and Charlie acted out different non-inclusive scenarios) were
watched by the children. Discussions followed which highlighted the non-inclusive behaviour portrayed,
and the children proffered different ideas to improve situations.
While one class would be working in the school hall with the Children's World team, the other two classes were in their classrooms
with their teachers, working on either the video or the playground pictograph.
Children's World supplied Teachers' Notes for these sessions and the teachers felt their sessions and discussions went very well.
The videos are now being used by the schools with other classes, and many of the schools are still using the pictograms
as classroom tools to show how cliques of children sometimes exclude other children, etc.
"Thank you so much for giving us such a good day last Friday. The children all thoroughly enjoyed the day and staff now have
some good, new ideas to work on for inclusion and behaviour management. We would love to hear of any future projects.
We found the morning session with the hall session and video very helpful, we particularly liked the masks as so many children
are unable to read facial expressions. The backdrops you provided were wonderful, we all appreciatetd how professional our displays became and
the scenes provided good talking points in class. We hope to keep them as a feature in school. Well done!......."
TEACHER IN CHARGE OF SLRB, WESTOVER GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL, BRIDGWATER.
THE SENSORY DOME AND SOFT PLAY INFLATABLE TOUR - DECEMBER 2002
With Christmas coming up and with no specific tours on the road,, we decided to send our Sensory Dome and our lovely new Soft Play Inflatable
around special schools for children with severe learning difficulties and children with profound and multiple difficulties free of charge.
6x1-day visits were undertaken(to Baytree in Weston-super-Mare, Avalon in Street, New Fosseway in Bristol, Ellen Tinkham in Exeter,
Fosseway in Midsomer Norton, Selworthy in Taunton and 2 visits to Culverhill in Bristol) and a lot of fun was had!
"It cheered everybody up", "Amazing - I liked bouncing and jumping over the middle", "It's good fun to bounce", "It makes you laugh",
"It makes me feel bouncy and happy", "It's something to look forward to", said the pupils of Culverhill Special School (MLD/EBD) in Bristol,
and the CULVERHILL CLASS TEACHER wrote: "At Culverhill we use a behaviour management system where we record good behaviour with
ticks and inappropriate behaviour with crosses. These are then followed through with either rewards or sanctions. We found that the second day of
the bouncy castle was an excellent reward for our children and promoted excellent behaviour during the last days of term which can be a very
excitable and therefore difficult time for our pupils. Thank you very much for thinking of us when you had some free days.
We have certainly enjoyed it and would love to welcome you back soon."
ONE-DAY SPECIAL SLD/PMLD MUSIC WORKSHOP DAYS - DECEMBER 2002
The 5-week SLD/PMLD Music Tour in the first half of the Autumn Term, where each school had received 5 weekly visits,
had been very successful. We wanted to take something similar to special schools who had not received the weekly visits.
We therefore created a new format, using the "cream" of the Music Tour material, so that we could undertake special 1-day visits.
Paddy Hill and Charlie Miller, our 2 Chief Workshop Leaders, undertook 6 of these special days
(Fosseway in Midsomer Norton, Lark Rise in Trowbridge, Fiveways in Yeovil, Avalon in Street, Critchill in Frome & St. Nicholas in Chippenham)
in December and a further 2 (Warmley Park in Bristol and Baytree in Weston-super-Mare) in March 2003
Basically we took the most successful activities from the 5-week Tour (most notably the song symbol recognition activities) and melded them
with a new Jungle Soundscape activitiy, which led by a small performance by the workshop children
to the rest of the school at the end of the afternoon.
"The introduction song was enjoyed by all pupils. Every pupil, even those without speech, were able to contribute either with switches,
Big Macs or the waving of an instrument - a very successful, inclusive start to the day. The awareness of the needs of all pupils continued with
the use of symbols and signing. It was a difficult group with range of conditions from SLD to PMLD and severe and complex needs.
As always your tour captured all the pupils' imaginiation - they all wanted to participate
and came away having learned in the most positive of environments."
CLASS TEACHER, AVALON SPECIAL SCHOOL, STREET.
We are very pleased with this new format and hope in future to be able to run 1-day visits for special schools
which are too far away from Glastonbury to be included in our longer tours.
TRANSITION FOLLOW-UP VISITS - DECEMBER 2002
During December we ran follow-up visits for Year 7 children who had moved up to Bishops Fox Secondary School in Taunton in
September, having received Transition Workshops from Children's World in July. Similar sessions were held at Crispin Secondary
School in Street and at Frome College. These took the form of "How's it Going?" sessions, and the schools' staff felt that they were
of real value to their students. We also undertook a Transition Day in March for Woolavington Year 6 students, and in July we will be
undertaking more transition workshops for the Crispin Federation of Schools
and hope to also work with the Glastonbury and Wells Federations of schools in coming years.
"An excellent first experience of bringing the different feeder schools together in a safe environment. The new Year 7 pupils you
worked with seem more at ease than in prrevious years."
SPECIAL NEEDS CO-ORDINATOR AND DEPUTY HEAD, CRISPIN SECONDARY SCHOOL, STREET.
6-WEEK MLD/EBD TOUR - JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2003
This 6-week Tour provided 6 x 90-minute sessions to groups of 15-20 children with moderate learning difficulties and emotional and
behavioural difficulties from 6 different special special schools(Avalon in Street, Westhaven in Weston-super-Mare, Fosseway in Midsomer
Norton ,Summer field in Bath and Elmwood in Bridgwater) during January and February 2003. The overall aim of the Tour was for each school's
students to produce a Personal Health and Social Education video. Each school's video told the story of a student character who gets into different
difficulties within school life (e.g. bullying, fighting, smoking, truancy, etc.) The videos highlighted decision-making moments in the student
character's life and the consequences of those decisions. The resulting videos are being used in each school as a basis for PSHE discussions with
different classes..Workshop discussions asssited the children (who were ll years plus and many of whom had Educational and Behavioural
Difficulties) in assessing whether a decision is a good or bad one for them, and encouraged a positive outlook and esteem for self and others.
We hope these sessions will have assisted the students in future decison making
.
ONE-DAY MLD/EBD WORKSHOPS - MARCH AND APRIL 2003
We were so pleased with how the MLD/EBD 6-week Tour went, that, as with the SLD Tour, we decided to create 1-day workshops for children
with moderate learning difficulties and especially for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.
8 X MLD/EBD visits were undertaken (Florence Brown in Bristol, Critchill in Frome, Kingsweston in Avonmouth, 2 at Bartlett's Elm in Langport,
2 at Kingsdon Manor in Kingsdon and at Fairmead in Yeovil) during the second half of the Spring Term 2003.
We continued the "behaviour" theme, and under that banner, we undertook various team-building activities, trust work, mask work and video
work, and then finished off each day with the "Team Challenge" - a series of co-operative games, designed to test the mettle of the children in real
situations and help them observe team dynamics and their own performance within a team.
These workshops were deemed very successful by schools' staff and we hope to take this work further. We were particularly pleased with the
sessions for children who had emotional, and behavioural difficulties and one special school is hoping
to book Children's World to undertake regular ongoing sessions for their pupils.
"We would like to thank you all for the day with Paddy and Charlie today. It was very enjoyable, and we noted that, as Charlie said, most of the time
any disputes amongst the participants were quickly over! The level of sophistication of language Paddy and Charlie used to address the
children was very good, as comprehension can be a problems. The delivery was clear, and the use of the microphone certainly helped
those who find difficulty concentrating on listening to instructions. The morning session we found fun and exciting, as some children
were already looking forward to certain activities which they had experienced on a previous visit. All action suff with the parachute went down very
well. The masks session was a revelation, certain pupils making contributions which pleasantly surprised us.........."
CLASS TEACHER, CRITCHILL SPECIAL SCHOOL, FROME
ANTI-BULLYING WORKSHOPS - SPRING 2003
During the second half ofthe Spring Term we also undertook 5 days of Anti-Bullying workshops with different schools (Wembdon St. George,
2 days at Chilton Trinity in Bridgwater and 2 days at St. Dunstan's in Glastonbury) working with Years 4, 7 & 8 pupils, and, with the
help of St. Dunstan's Community School, have created a video, acted out by Year 7 students, about bullying in school playgrounds.
We have another Bullying workshop lined up for a Dorset School very shortly and hope to keep theseBullying Workshops as a regular part of our
repertoire, as ths students enjoy them and schools' staff believe them to be of real value.
"Thank you very much for the Anti-Bullying Workshop you ran for the Year 4's at our school yesterday. All the children valued
it and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to have a whole day's PSHE with such valuable content. We all thought the workshop was run
in th right way and at the right level for Year 4 chihldren, and the Year 5 children also gained from the presentation at the end. The workshop
backed up the work we already have in place in the school, but delivered it in a way we could not do with your expertise in mime, drama
and music. The children will remember it for many months to come."
CLASS TEACHER, WEMBDON ST. GEORGE'S PRIMARY SCHOOL
UPCOMING:
INTEGRATION AND PUPPETRY WORKSHOP WEEK TOUR - APRIL & MAY 2003
We are currently half-way through our Summer Term Integration and Puppetry Workshop Week Tour. We have just completed a
week with Limegrove Special School, Summerfield Special School and Widcombe Junior School in Bath. This week we are working with Baytree
Special School and Milton Junior School in Weston-super-Mare, and during the week of 19 May we will be working with Penrose Special,
Elmwood Special School, Westover Green Primary School's Speech and Language Unit and Hamp Junior School in Bridgwater.
ARTS WEEK - JUNE 2003
We have been commissioned by Brookside Junior School in Street (a Beacon School) to run an "Arts Week" for them in early June
working with all 330 of their pupils. We are having trermendous fun devising "Arts Week", which will include drama, dance, poetry,
music, voice work, painting and craft work - culminating in a big parade and performance on the Friday afternoon - if it proves to be
as successful as we hope, then "Arts Weeks" could join the repertoire of workshops and activities we can offer to schools in the future.
LIVERPOOL INTEGRATION PUPPETRY WORKSHOP WEEK - JUNE 2003
We have been commissioned by a set of Liverpool schools and special schools to undertake a 5-day Puppetry and Integration Workshop.
This is thanks to our web page! A Liverpool teacher wanted to undertake some integration work, felt it would be stupid to reinvent the wheel,
went on to the web and found us! And then she raised the money needed and booked us to undertake the work. Hallelujah!
TRANSITION WORKSHOPS- JULY 2003
We have again been commissioned by the Crispin Federation of Schools to run Transition Workshops for Year 6 students from the
8 feeder schools, and are looking forward to this very much, as last year's workshops were such fun.
CD PACKAGE
We are continuing apace with completing our interactive, inclusive CD package. Feedback from the draft CD's we sent out has been
extremely positive. We are following up on every suggestion proffered and hope to re-record all tracks and complete the Teachers' Notes by
the end of the summer for distribution to schools in the Autumn Term 2003.
BULLYING VIDEO
We are considering expanding the 3 Video pieces we have already created on the themes of Exclusion and Bullying and creating more pieces.
If we can find a grant-giving trust to fund this, we would like to create 1,000 videos or DVD's with accompanying Teachers' Notes,
and distribute these free of charge to schools throughout the South West.
BIRTHDAY PARTY
Children's World will be celebrating its 22nd birthday on Bank Holiday Monday, 26 May 2003, and we will be holding a FREE,
celebratory party from 2.00 p.m. until 5.00 p.m. in the Abbey Park Playground, Glastonbury.
There will be performances, inflatables, giant inflatable animals, games and lots of fun, so do come along if you are in the area!
CHILDREN'S FESTIVALS
THE 4TH BRISTOL CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL WILL TAKE PLACE ON
25,26,27,28 JULY 2003
THIS WILL BE A WONDERFUL EVENT - FOR FULL DETAILS PLEASE CLICK HERE
THE 22nd GLASTONBURY CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL WILL TAKE PLACE ON
1,2,3,4, AUGUST 2003
THIS WILL ALSO BE FANTASTIC - AS ALWAYS! FOR FULL DETAILS PLEASE CLICK HERE
THE SENSORY DOME
The Sensory Dome with lighting, sound, special effects and specialist toys is still available (for very reasonable hire fees)
for use by special schools and out-of-schools groups working with children who have special needs.
COLOUR LIGHT MAZE
WE HAVE JUST BEEN GRANTED £15,000 TOWARDS THIS EXCITING PROJECT, AND NOW URGENTLY NEED TO
FIND A FURTHER £15,000 TO COMPLETE THE PROJECT,
SO AS TO HAVE THE MAZE ON THE ROAD EARLY IN 2004
The Sensory Dome is a great success, but is not perfect. The sound of the blower is too loud, it is difficult to get a good enough
black-out in school halls for the special effects, and it is awkward working in school halls as the Dome has to be deflated at lunchtime, etc.
Children's World plans to obtain a Colour Light Maze, and we are currently designing one in conjunction with Play Solutions of Bristol.
This will be a 30m diameter, all-weather, inflatable structure that the children can enter and explore. The structure will be made of many different
colour, and the light shining into the Dome will create a truly wonderful ambience. There will be a large central area where workshops and sensory
performances can take place for up to 50 children at a time, and 4 separate pods( down exciting passages) which will each be a different colour
and atmosphere, where more sensory activities will take place (e.g. one pod might be blue and cool and shiny, one pod might be
red, warm and fiery, one pod might be devoted to inter-active sound creation, and one pod might be devoted to projected images.)
©Copyright-Play Solutions
If we can obtain the Colour Maze, it will tour special schools throughout the West Country, run special integration days and undertake
work on under-privileged estates, and much more.........
©Copyright-Play Solutions
We estimate that the Colour Maze and all the equipment needed will cost approximately £30,000, of which we have now raised £15,000 - we are
currently applying for the remainder of the budget to various grant-giving trusts. If we can obtain this wonderful, specially designed to our own
specification, structure, it will be of enormous benefit to the area - if anyone has any ideas of possible funders, please get in touch!
FUNDING AND CHARGES
SMALL CHARGES ARE MADE TO SCHOOLS AND SPECIAL SCHOOLS FOR THE REGULAR 6-WEEKLY TOURS
(APPROXIMATELY 30% OF THE COST), WITH CHILDREN'S WORLD FINDING THE REMAINING FUNDING ITSELF
ONE WAY OR THE OTHER (GRANT-GIVING TRUSTS, PROCEEDS FROM CHILDREN'S FESTIVALS, CAFES AT THE
GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY PERFORMING ARTS, ETC.)
(ALMOST ALL THE 1-DAY WORKSHOPS UNDERTAKEN DURING THE PERIOD SEPTEMBER 2002 AND MAY 2003 WERE
PROVIDED TO THE SCHOOLS AND SPECIAL SCHOOLS COMPLETELY FREE OF CHARGE.
WE CANNOT ALWAYS AFFORD TO DO THIS, BUT ARE DELIGHTED TO BE ABLE TO DO SO WHEN FUNDS ALLOW.)
THE WORKSHOPS BELOW ARE CURRENTLY
ON SALE TO MAINSTREAM SCHOOLS AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES:
ANTI BULLYING
PEER PRESSURE
TRANSITION
INCLUSION
VIDEO WORK
BEHAVIOURAL WORK
TEAM CHALLENGE DAYS
DINNER LADIES' GAMES TRAININGS
PLEASE RING ARABELLA CHURCHILL ON 01458 832925 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Use your "Back' button or click Sunny below to return to the main menu
