School Update 4th June
Dear Parent
We are hoping this finds you well, as we finally start to experience some sustained warmer weather.
With another half term under our belts we’re excited to have some time to plan for the remaining few weeks of the academic year and the run up to the summer with preparations for 2021-2022 underway.
Humanities Venture trip to Maiden Castle
Towards the end of term it was Spirit’s turn to explore Maiden Castle in Dorchester, following a most successful visit from Flair.
With the weather being touch and go we made the decision to give it a go and promote some team building, resilience and Bear Grylls characteristics within our student group.
The trip certainly provided this opportunity for our students to show tremendous determination overcoming the blustery weather conditions and complete a tour of the entire Hill Fort which provides such an immense amount of history dating back to 3500 BC.
Spirit were duly rewarded with a Mcdonalds Pit Stop, games on the minibus and Mr Wright’s rendition of The Greatest Showman.
Learning
Whilst Spirit were away at Maiden Castle, Flair were ‘home alone’, undertaking some blended Humanities project work looking at Tribes, during Families and Diversity week. Some impressive research produced creative models of tribal houses, detailed powerpoints and studies of cultural food, clothing and flags.
Our KS3 students worked independently and imaginatively both as small teams and individually.'
Students’ learning plans are due out to you imminently. These will comprise termly targets across the curriculum, with provision and outcomes detailed also. The plans have been created by Kate, our SENCo and subsequently developed by the learning and therapy team, with her leadership.
Now that restrictions are easing, we are looking at possible formats of parent - team meetings at the end of term so that your child’s progress can be discussed.
In the same vein, we are also implementing a number of parent workshops over the coming academic year in order to deliver more detail of aspects of our provision e.g. therapy.
Therapy
Our highly specialised team continue to work hard across different areas of their fields, collaborating as ever with the learning team and supporting through learning sessions as well as through 1:1 time.
Sara, Lianne and Karen work closely with Kate to assure a dynamic and systematic delivery of relevant therapy, in line with EHCP targets and specialist reports.
Students are enjoying their OT and SaLT provision as part of an enriched weekly tapestry, working in a range of areas within our schoolhouse and also taking advantage of our beautiful grounds, therapy in themselves…...
Staffing
Following a huge volume of strong applications for our specialist AWS LSA role, we are delighted to welcome Charli Fry and Nicky Hoskins to our team.
Both are scheduled to start in June, initially sharing a role to provide specific students with specifically targeted support where required across the school day. Nicky and Charli were a hit with our students, bringing warmth as well as a wealth of experience in different areas. They cannot wait to get started!
Richard Davis also joins us, as a lead for Life Skills and Games & Outdoor Pursuits. He has settled in well over the course of the last few Wednesdays, bringing a fresh face and plenty of hands-on, applied learning to the week. He has a range of experience in different school settings, both mainstream and independent across a breadth of curriculum areas. Welcome Richard!
Another very welcome addition to our team is Marie Lye, who joins us each afternoon to clean our school building top to bottom - we have breathed a sigh of relief at this additional support, particularly given the outdoor nature of our school and levels of mud! Marie brings a friendly face, down to earth efficiency and plenty of experience of working within a school..
Clubs
Lunchtimes are enriched with the offer of different activities in line with student interests. Many ideas have been put forward and we are rotating clubs during this longer break time for those who need / want the input and stimulation. Other students enjoy the opportunity to just ‘be’....
Abbot’s Way Extra
As a development to our current after school care arrangements, we are offering an increasing number of clubs to run between 4-5pm, for which there will be a charge of £4.
Starting after half term, pending a viable level of interested numbers:
Tuesdays - Ball Games
Wednesdays - Green Fingers Gardening Club
Thursdays -Jewellery making
Please let Sue know if your child is interested in any of the above, via office@abbotsway.co.uk
ISA
We were delighted to attend the (virtual) annual conference and the South West Heads meeting, both events led by the Independent Schools Association, who provided excellent training, updates, networking opportunities and a chance to catch up with our fellow colleagues.
Planning Update
Our latest application is prepared and ready to be submitted, this time with a pre application and a detailed Travel Plan as requested this time around.
There have been lots of conversations with supporters of our application who are helping us to link with Somerset Highways to ensure this process is processed as speedily as possible.
We will be sharing yet another link with you to voice your continued support of the school’s application to expand to 40 students and support more much needed placements.
Sun Protection
As we enter (hopefully) warmer months, please ensure students are attending school with sun cream already applied. We will provide “spray” sun protection and encourage students to apply this themselves as and when required but please, where possible feel free to pack students with sun protection and we will also encourage them to apply it independently.
We will be releasing details of various upcoming activities and learning opportunities across the next few weeks as we head towards an exciting climax to the academic year.
Student numbers and interest remain extremely healthy, with daily enquiries and frequent visits sustained. A measure of the need for our unique provision - exciting times!
As ever, if you do have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us.
Hoping you all enjoy a peaceful restful end of the week and we look forward to seeing everyone again next week
Best wishes
Hellen, Gareth and AWS Team