FOR CHILDREN WITH MODERATE LEARNING DIFFICULTIES

In the first half of the Spring Term 1999 Paddy Hill and Charlie Miller undertook a Movement Tour for children with moderate learning difficulties. On average 20 children from 7 Special Schools (Elmwood in Bridgwater, Fosse Way in Radstock, Monkton Priors in Taunton, Avalon in Street, Florence Brown in Bristol, Culverhill in Bristol and Kingsweston in Avonmouth) each received a 90-minute workshop session per week for 4 weeks.

The children learnt to move and express themselves in a dance-like form, and explore issues around the theme of"Bullying" in all forms of life. Each group created an 8-10 minute video of their movement piece. This Tour was extremely successful. Bullying is a most appropriate, timely and useful subject for Children’s World to cover, and we would like to return to it at some stage in the not-too-distant future.

Lyn Pavey, Class Teacher at Avon Special School in Street wrote: "Twenty pupils ages 9-12 were involved in discussion and play about bullying. Everyone enjoyed it, including the staff. The pupils were able to relate it to their own experiences at home and school. Lessons were learnt by all. Once again, thank you."

Jenny Warner, Class Teacher at Culverhill Special School wrote: "We would like to thank you all for bringing us the Movement Tour. All the pupils enjoyed these sessions and were very proud of the parts they played in the final video. These sessions were of great benefit to staff who were able to observe a variety of new activities and the pupil responses to them. The specialist input from musicians and dancers was recognised by the pupils and gave them the confidence to try out the activities to the best of their abilities. The session leaders worked well with the resident member of staff and followed any hints on how to deal with pupils experiencing any difficulties. The whole tour was also full of fun, energy and enthusiasm."

Ruth Wiley, Class Teacher at Fosse Way Special School, wrote: "As there is evidence of bullying in most schools, the Movement Tour provided an opportunity to focus in on this subject. It really made the children aware of how frightening and lonely it is to be bullied, and the video provided us with the opportunity to discuss it further in the classroom

."Fred Bunker, Head of Lower School at Kingsweston Special School, wrote: "The children taking part came from our top junior classes. We all felt that the work was of great value, and the response from the children was very good. They needed some time to learn what was expected of them, and were really beginning to enjoy it by the end of the sessions! Our difficult boys in particular stayed in the group, even though they weren’t allowed to be top dogs! The children haven’t all seen the video yet as it took Paddy quite a time to finish editing it — but I am sure they will enjoy it.

CHILDREN'S WORLD MUSIC TOUR

For children with profound and multiple learning difficulties, and for children with severe learning difficulties

During the Autumn Term 1998 Paddy Hill, Children’s World’s Chief Playleader, and Nik Palmer of Parachute Theatre undertook a Music Tour for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties and severe learning difficulties at Avalon (Street), Limegrove (Bath), Kingsweston (Avonmouth), Fosseway (Radstock) and Penrose (Bridgwater) Special Schools. An average of 15 children at each school each received a 90-minute session per week for 5 Weeks.

The Music Tour helped the children explore the noises that different instruments make, listen to different sorts of music and experience the feelings that arose from them, and to move in different sorts of way to different sorts of music. Each group of children also created and recorded a piece of ambient music on the theme of a train journey through a spooky wood, underwater and into space. This is the first time for many years that we have provided workshop sessions for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties — the teachers were very pleased that these children with the most severe difficulties were also included this time, and felt that the work was of real benefit to their pupils.

Ruth Wiley (SLD Co-Ordinator & PMLD Tutor at Fosseway Special School in Radstock) wrote: "Everyone enjoyed the SLD Music Tour and benefitted from the experience. Staff who work with PMLD pupils were especially pleased to be involved, since as you are no doubt aware, this is an area often thought to be too difficult to include. As regards content: this was interesting and provided a wide range of music making."

Jean King (Head Teacher of Avalon Special School in Street) wrote: "As always, the Children’s World Team did an excellent job. All the pupils who took part in the Tour were included in all the activities. The team ensured that all the pupils experienced every instrument and all of them were involved in the recordings. The whole Tour was full of fun and enjoyment and the pupils looked forward to their weekly sessions. The benefit they gained was two-fold: firstly it assisted them in becoming involved and co-operating with others and secondly it gave them musical experiences they may not have had before. Paddy and Nick were very quick to realise what the needs of the pupils were and were able to adapt for particular children, especially those without sight or mobility. Thank you again for your work with our pupils