VECLife Summer 2012

7/29/2019 VECLife Summer 2012

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By Rob Belbin

Ready? Set? Go! IntroductionHello and welcome to the Summer edition of VECLife. Well! What abusy Summer it is this year what

with the Jubilee celebrations, Euro

2012, Wimbledon, England hostingSouth Africa in the test arena andthe icing on the cake the Olympic

and Paralympic games. To add our own stamp on the

proceedings this months issue isvery much sportingly themed with a

wealth of sports stories andreportage, bringing you a complete

picture of our sporting activities hereat VEC and how sport enables our students in so many ways. Also in

this issue an unmissable megaSparkle announcement, an excellent

blog on our recent Sports Week andif you missed our stunning recentdrama production you can catch upin “curtain call”. Add to the menu a

Royal visit and our usual mix of news, views and all things VEC andyou are in for a tasty dish indeed.

Finally I‟d like to thank allcontributors with a special thanks

going to Ann Harden who is retiringthis term for her great photographic

contribution over the years.

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Issue

2012

Summer

Achieving Through Believing

VictoriaEducation Centre& Sports College life

Inside This Issue

Sparkle Special News P3

Brazilian Odyssey! P5

VEC Parachute Jump P6

PPG News with Nicky P18

Classroom Catch-up P19

VECTermly Newsletter of news and events for parents, our patrons and supporters.

News In Brief

Victoria EducationCentre is now live onFacebook. Our page is

administered as abusiness page so you donot need a Facebookaccount to access it. Besure to log on regularlyto keep up to date withforthcoming events,photos and videos andeverything else VEC.

£200 was raised for Sparkle in a recent bakesale. All manner of

scrumptious daintieswere on sale in recep-tion. Thanks to all whocontributed.

This years Tesco vouch-ers for schools schemehas been brilliant. Every-one has been so consci-entious in bringing intheir vouchers we havemanaged to get an ex-cellent total of 29,078.

Also donating their vouchers to us this year were Barclays BankCanford Cliffs andWessex Water. Theclasses benefiting thisyear are JensLammering‟s life skillsgroup, Class CN, ClassJWI and Post 16 MHwith books, videocameras and a wholerange of support

materials on order.Thank you one and all.

After so much speculation and anticipation GreatBritain‟s Olympics and Paralympics are now fast

approaching us. It seems only yesterday that so manystudents and staff were crammed into the fitness roomto watch the historic moment when IOC presidentJacques Rogge made the dramatic announcement thatLondon had beaten Paris in the race to host the 2012games.The sense of excitement and togetherness wasoverwhelming in that room with so many students andex students knowing that this once in a lifetimeopportunity was coming to our country. Since that daystudents and staff at Victoria have built on so manyexperiences and successes to enhance the value of the games letting them influence what we do everyday. Each and every student demonstrates realcommitment to the Olympic and Paralympic values of,Respect, Excellence, Friendship, Determination,Inspiration, Courage and Equality no matter what their age or ability.In sport our students continue to succeed at thehighest level competing at Regional, National andInternational levels and its with great excitement thatwe will watch our ex student Maxine Moore representGreat Britain in the F32 Club throw in the Paralympic

Games. Of course all this would not be possiblewithout the huge efforts of so many staff who give upendless…. Continued Overleaf

Hello, Goodbye P8

SaLT News P9

Resi Faith Group P11

Performing Arts News P12-14

Residential News P15

Sports News Extra P16



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By Rhiannon Beer

Continued from Overleaf

time in evenings and weekends to support thestudents, without them none of the achievementsof which we are all so proud would be possible.

As we move forward there is still so much to lookforward to in sport, through the Paralympic andOlympic work done Victoria has become nationallyrecognised as a centre of excellence in sport and

this is sure to bring many more opportunities for all of our students in the future.

We would like to wish everyone a very happysummer of sport, if you are lucky enough to havetickets, are travelling with the school to the Para-lympics or watching on the TV enjoy watchingand being proud of everything we have achievedas a school and country in this amazingopportunity for us all.

VEC Chosen For Charity Scheme

VEC has been selected to take part in theCommunity Matters Scheme by John Lewis

Poole. Every three months each shop selectsthree community groups to help. Customers thenbecome directly involved in deciding how mucheach nominated group receives, by using a tokento vote for the organisation they'd like to support.Each shop has £3000 to donate which will besplit between the charities according to theproportion of the vote they've received fromcustomers. This means that if a charity receives31% of the votes, it'll receive a £910 donation.Charities will receive support in whichever way

will benefit them the most, either in the form of John Lewis products, volunteering time fromPartners, or as financial support.

From the last VEC life many of you mayremember that a group of us were intraining for the moonwalk – 26 mile walk

around London at night, wearingdecorated bras to raise awareness of breast cancer, on the 12th May. I amdelighted to report that we all completedthe challenge and would like to thankeveryone who supported us either throughdonations, sponsorship, purchasing cakes,badges or bacon butties. We would like toextend our special thanks to Sue Stratisand Andre Kirby for giving up their time

and driving the team to and from London.

Moon Girls Report



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Ramon Meets HRH

Sparkle Update We’ve Made it!!!!!!!

We have raised £2.8 million for the new hydrotherapy

pool due to the generous donations of time and money

from a wide range of local supporters, VEC staff,

charitable trusts and local businesses.

Thank you to everyone!

Monday 9th

July – a visit to remember To celebrate the official start of the new hydro-therapy pool, VEC welcomed Princess Anne tounveil a plaque to commemorate this wonderfulmoment. During her visit, Princess Anne talkedto many pupils and staff and watched KieranCollins dig the first turf. Lucky pupils who metthe Princess were Sophie Pritchett, RamonHansford, Sam Bird and Danielle Crowe pre-sented a posy. Other local „celebrity‟ guests at-tended including Chris Jarvis, Harry Redknappand Esther Rantzen. Chris and Harry were es-pecially welcomed by staff and pupils and spent

time signing autographs. They are both lookingforward to returning to VEC in the near future – Chris will be performing his CBeebies Show on17

thAugust – a free event for pupils and their

families.

A round-up of fundraising since AprilStaff and students have been really wonderfulthis term organising events from dress downdays to cake sales to raise funds and 11 staff are sky diving too! So thank you to you all!

A big thank you to Kieran Collins' Granddad whoregularly sends us a collecting tin - since Aprilwe have received £65.00The Red, White and Blue Day raised £73.26 – so thank you to everyone who took part and do-nated.Paula Allcroft has been a great support to theSparkle Appeal by organising events, collectingraffle prizes and sky diving – thank you Paula for all your support.Thanks also to Chris Tarring who manages the

reception book sales – this is great for staff and

for Sparkle and since April has raised £130.00These may be smallish amounts when compared tocharitable trust donations, but they mount up andare very welcome.

Local schools and collegesBournemouth Collegiate School visited in May to

present us with a cheque for £4,372.14 which wasthe proceeds from a Winter Ball that the School or-ganised – through contacts at the school, we havealso received money from two other charitabletrusts.Park School have held a number of events thisterm and are sending us a cheque for £2,000 about£400 of this will be match funded by Barclays whichis a welcome bonus.Talbot Heath School have adopted Sparkle astheir charity of the year and so far we have received

£275 from one form‟s charity week. Green Cottage Riding Centre donated the proceeds

Continued Overleaf



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from a charity day which raised £300 for us.Allenbourn School are also supporting Sparklethis year and held a fun sports day in June whichVal Ford attended with some of our students.Bournemouth and Poole College’s Community

Fest‟ took place in May and we are expecting toreceive about a £1,000 from this event.

Corporate supporters – We would like to acknowledge the support wereceive from corporates and in the last threemonths the following companies have donated toSparkle: Barclays (Poole), Goadsby & Harding.Siemens Poole, John Lewis, Rotary Club of Christchurch, Copyrite Business SolutionsCharitable Trusts – we have recently receivedsome generous donations from Charitable Trustswhich have really helped us raise the last £150,000and put some money into the Phase 2 pot!Montague Thompson Coon Charitable Trust,Leeds Building Society Charitable Foundation, C WWhite Charitable Trust are just a few.

EventsThe London Marathon and Grand Shaftesbury Runwere just two of the events in the past few months

and to date these have brought in over £12,000with still more sponsorship monies to come in.

Tuesday 9th October - Charity Golf Tournament, Remedy Oak Golf CourseCalling all golfers – we still have places available

for 4-Ball teams to take part in this wonderfulcharity tournament at the exclusive Remedy OakGolf Course. £450 per team to include baconbaps and hot drink on arrival, 18 holes of golf,half-time drinks on 9

thtee, celebration dinner

and prize-giving, raffle and charity auction. En-ter a team and support Sparkle‟s 2

ndcharity golf

tournament – the first one was so successful,raising £8,398, and it would be wonderful to doeven better this year.Friday 26

thOctober – The Sparkle Charity Au-

tumn Ball, The Italian Villa, Compton AcresMore information coming very soon on this won-derful event - tables of 10 are available. This willbe a very special event as we celebrate the suc-cess of Phase 1 of the Sparkle Appeal and offi-cially launch Phase 2.Saturday 27

thOctober – Black Sheep MCC

Fancy Dress RunThe Black Sheep Motorcycle Club is holding afancy dress run starting from Avon Heath Coun-try Park at 12:00 noon and riding through Dorset

to VEC – Paula Allcroft has organised refresh-ments so come along and see all the bikes closeup.Friday 2nd November - Sparkle LadiesChristmas Shopping Evening - Royal Motor Yacht ClubFollowing on from the very successful event lastyear, we will be welcoming you to a shoppingextravaganza. You can start your Christmasshopping – or for those organised people – buyyour last minute gifts. More information comingsoon.

Upcoming Events

Christchurch

With thanks to our corporate sponsors….



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The Governor’s Report By Carol Sammons

The APAE dancers will be arriving in England onthe 15

thJuly and will hopefully find time to visit the

school, so let‟s try to make them feel as welcomeas they made us. The performance will take placeon 28th July on Weymouth beach.

By Mike Whitlock

On May the 16th

Amy Hunt, Lauren Hood, MikeWhitlock, and Dave Young along with others fromlocal performing arts groups Remix and Double Actleft for Florianopolis Brazil to meet with studentsfrom APAE, an organisation much like our ownwhere a few select students have been chosen to

perform alongside our group to perform “Breathe” ashow which will mark the opening of theParalympics sailing at Weymouth. A lot had to be done in two weeks so the dayswere long and often very hot but everyone workedvery hard learning the story and dance movesready for the opening ceremony. Mike Whitlockreports“ It wasn‟t all work though, the staff andstudents of APAE made us feel so welcome, assoon as we got off the plane we were greeted by APAE with a big welcome banner along with T.Vand newspaper reporters. APAE also made surewe enjoyed all that Florianopolis had to offer withdaily trips out to beautiful beaches, turtlesanctuaries, BBQ‟s, boat trips and even a footballmatch. The food was amazing, even the chocolatepizza which for Dave was his two favourite foodstogether at last.Quite emotional when it was time say good bye,everyone had got to know each other very well bythe end and the APAE students had made us gifts

to remember our time in Brazil, like we‟re ever going to forget such an amazing experience .”

Ola Brazil

The six monthly GOVERNORS‟ LINK meetingshave been completed and despite small

numbers attending, some useful discussionshave taken place. We are exploring ways tointeract better with students, staff and parents,both formally and informally. It is hoped tocontinue Governors‟ Link sessions next term butin a slightly different way. Watch this space!

SCHOOL VISITS by Governors – to the class-rooms, practical sessions and events – havecontinued and hopefully will become more fre-quent. Following a recent Board meeting, CeriVosper, Sarah Gilling and Carolyn Nelms gave a

presentation on “How to get the best out of your Governors‟ visit” which was extremely helpful.

Governors will be present at the School BBQ andon Sports Day where they hope to meet as manyparents and students as possible.

Finally, the Governors of Victoria EducationCentre would like to thank every member of staff for their inspirational and intuitive work at theCentre and to the parents who help with and sup-port the school‟s events and activities. Governorswill continue to offer their support andencouragement at all times.



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£1000 Raised After Parachute Jump

After their leap for Sparkle andover £1000 raised, our intrepidparachutists Andre, Paula and

Gemma were totally exhilarated.Read Paula’s thrilling account

below.

Up early and really excited (nervous)- The day was finally here. Car packed up we were soon on our way,the sun was out and there was onlylight cloud - perfect weather for leap-ing out of planes!We arrived at the airfield and went tosign in and get trained - this is whenwe realised Andre hadn't bought hisforms with him. Hoping to be on thesame plane we decided to wait for Andre's wifeand family to drive to Salisbury, on anunexpected day out, with it. We did our training - watched a dvd and practiced jumpposition by laying over a box! Then began thewaiting, first for the form to arrive and then to getcalled for our plane ride. The plane was going up

quite frequently to start with, but clouds startedrolling in and the plane trips slowed. Finally, after another couple of hours came the call - a suddennew surge of adrenalin and we were off acrossthe airfield to get kitted up.One group ahead of us, we stood round in our jumpsuits, harnesses and odd hats! But the

plane didn't move. Half an hour went passedand still no breaks in the cloud, we took off har-nesses, we were in for another wait. A break in the clouds sent everyone running, theplane was off - we were next. Crammed into theplane watching the ground get further away, theexcitement built. Then we were there 10,000feet. Doors open the rush of cold air wasdeafening. Andre first - gone - no time to thinknow. Suddenly I'm on the edge of the plane andwhoosh, tumbling, flattened out and then thecameraman joined us, waving and smiling as we

hurtled downwards, through the clouds, unableto hear anything, the rushing wind was soloud. In no time at all the main chute wasdeployed and we waved goodbye to the

cameraman. Who, still in freefall, fell like astone passed away from us.Now it was almost silent, we were able to chatas we floated down. Circling above Old Sarumcastle the views were amazing. Then somehigher energy flying as we steered the para-chute ourselves to do fast circles. Then it wasFEET UP, FEET UP, FEET UP - time to land -gracefully on our bottoms!Running round on an adrenalin high, with fixedgrins and wanting to go again.

Now what shall we do next????

Paula: Making it look easy.

A thumbs up from Gemma



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Matt, Mike, Annie & Belinda – Winners!!!

By Linsey Palmer-Malt

Staff Awards Night 2012

Chris Davies hosted this year‟s Staff Awards Eveningwhich we moved to July so we could enjoy a lovelyevening in our beautiful grounds!! Well, the weather put paid to that plan and we had to revert back to our usual evening indoors. Once again Stewart Fitt pre-pared an amazing meal which was enjoyed by all.

Invitations were sent to staff who have completed

Significant Training over the last year or who have

been nominated by their peers for going Above and

Beyond the call of duty i.e. Outstanding Contribu-

tion. Trophies were also presented to staff who

have competed over 15 years Service.

This year we recognised the following people:

Long Service Awards: Presented by Peter Jennings (Chair of Governors) and Carol Sammons(Chair of Staffing & Support Committee)40 Years (yes 40 years) – Teresa Spiers (NightStaff)25 Years – Carolyn Nelms (Teacher)15 Years – Diane Kennedy (Night Nurse),Julie Cox (Teacher), Jen Price (Admin),Sue Barker (Admin), Ann Harden (MFL Teacher),

Shirley Platt (Personal Care)Training Awards went to:

NVQ3 in Teaching & Learning: Julia Rogers

NVQ3 Children & Young People: Sean Mogg,Zenaida Dixon and Paula Ford

NVQ3 Business & Administration: Linsey Palmer-Malt

NVQ4 Care: Shirley Platt, Lenka Hnilova

Maybo Train the Trainer (Physical Interven-tion): Sean Mogg

NSPCC Safeguarding Train the Trainer:

Nicky Greenway Post Graduate Paediatric Dysphagia Qualifi-cation: Nicky Dawes

Management Matters: Sean Mogg, AnnieCheer, Alina Chiuda, Val Ford, Marcia Savage, Peter Calcutt and Paula Ford

STA Level 2 Aquatic Teaching: Vicky Francis,

Tracy Payne, Sharon Pritchett and Fraser Smith

The Team Award went to the Creative Arts

Department who were nominated by many staff and

especially the Senior Leadership Team who wish to

recognise the amazing contribution that they make

across the whole School.

Outstanding Contribution Awards went to:

Catrin Waugh-Baker (LLSA) for her contributionin leading our Victoria Goes Baroque project.

Jens Lammering (WRL & Transition Co-

ordinator) for constantly going Above and Beyond thecall of duty.

Carmel Bending (LSA) received special recogni-tion by an outside Inspector for her work and so re-ceived the Education Outstanding Contribution Award.

Martin Cook (PE Assistant) for contribution toSports both in school and on all our many Sports trips.

Sarah Gilling (Head of Speech & Language Ther-apy) was nominated by every member of her team for her outstanding professionalism and leadership.

Tony Rudd (Personal Assistant) who daily enter-tains large numbers of students at lunchtime and fillsthe break with laughter was recognised for his Out-standing Contribution.For the first time the Governors presented an award

which went to Jen Price (Clerk to the Governors) in

recognition of her many years service.

Teresa Spiers - 40 Years Service



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Say Hello And Wave GoodbyeHere we have a closer look at our leavers and joinersfor this term. Sadly it‟s time to say farewell to some of our staff, three of which have a combined service of 54 years!

Julie Cox has been a lower schoolclass teacher with responsibility for Literacy and has been with us for over 15 years. She is looking forwardto retirement and travelling the world!She has made a huge contributionnot only as a class teacher butthroughout the whole school, leadingand supporting events. She has

served our children so well, bringinginnovative ideas to her lessons and ensuring a highlevel of professionalism, variety and lots of fun times!We wish her every happiness and success.

Ann Harden has been teachingFrench for 18 years and like Julie isplanning to fill her retirement daysabroad and in the sunshine! She hasalways remained committed to theschool and has endeavoured to ex-

plore new innovations and opportuni-ties for the students. Many of our stu-dents have been able to achieve

French qualifications and will be forever grateful to Ann. We thank Ann for all she has given to the Centreand send her our very best wishes.

Christine Hepburn also retires thisterm after 21 years serving usadmirably as our school seamstress.Christine started in 1991 and as well

as her general duties she has alsohelped with specialised jobs for OT.Thanks for all those stitches Chris! And good luck in whatever you do

next.Fraser Smith joined us in 2009 and takes up a newfull-time post as Key Stage 3 Co-ordinator at thenearby Quay School and we wish him every successin his new role.Marianne Harding also joined our staff in 2009 asmusic teacher and will be taking up a new full-timepost as a Learning Leader at Dame Hannah RogersSchool in Devon. We wish her every success for thefuture.

From September, Beth Kaywill join us in the upper schooland will take the lead for English. Beth has worked withus before, teaching Englishwith some of our Key Stage 4students in 2010/11. Beth iscurrently teaching English and

Media at The Burgate School in Fordingbridge.We look forward to „officially‟ welcoming her (back) to the team in September.

Esther Curry will also join us inSeptember as a class teacher in the lower school. Esther iscurrently at Oakhurst Commu-nity First School and has manyyears experience of teachingclasses from Year 2 to Year 6.

She has also worked with trav-eller children as part of an outreach service.Esther will take over from Julie Cox and is do-ing some transition work with Julie this term soyou may get a chance to say „hello‟.

Our new Paediatrician Dr DelHoward also starts inSeptember. Del writes -“I am a Consultant Paediatri-cian specialising inNeurodisability. Up until now Ihave always worked in Lon-don, and have been a con-sultant in Islington for the past

8 years, but have just moved to Poole with myfamily. I am really looking forward to meetingall the children & young people, and to workingwith all the staff at Victoria. I have had aguided tour already and it looks like a wonder-ful place! I will be holding clinics on Thursday

mornings. When not at Victoria, I can be foundat the Child Development Centre in PooleHospital”.

We also wish Sophia Seymour, Mike Moran,Kate Newsham, Christina Chase, and SophiaRailing good luck after their invaluable contri-bution to our school.



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Wedding bells! Nicky Dawes is preparing for her wedding to Paul on 7th September. When she comesback to work she will be Mrs Mearing! We wish Nickyand Paul a very happy future together.

Thank you to all the parents who came along tolearn some Makaton signs. We had a look at someof the signs your children are learning in school andplenty of opportunities to practise them. There willbe another opportunity to come along for some

signing fun with Nicky on Thursday 27th September at 1.30pm -2.30pm – put the date in your diary now!

The SaLT Team have been continuing topromote signing through the signs of the week.This term we have been learning these signs:

Staff news: welcome back Lorraine! We aredelighted to have Lorraine back on our teamafter her maternity leave. She is the proudMum of beautiful baby Isabelle! ( baby photo tofollow shortly!)

By Sarah GillingSaLT NEWS

Staff news: Goodbye toKate! We sadly had tosay thank you and good-bye to Kate who did asterling job coveringLorraine‟s maternityleave. Kate left us totake up a post as a SaLTin Weston Super mareand we wish her all the

best in her future career in Speech &Language Therapy .

54321

The SLT Top Ten Tips For Good Communication

6 1097 8

Kate Moves On To Pastures New



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As it happened by Katherine Birtwell

The National Sports Week Blog Spot

National Sport Week Day 1National Sports Week started with a bang! We

began with our own version of the opening

ceremony, which consisted of celebrating different

countries and the lighting of our own Olympic torch.

Then we had a world sports day where each class

competed in different sports. Sports included

polybat, table cricket, balloon basketball, kurling,

boccia and target boccia. Each class was rewarded

for showing Olympic and Paralympics values. They

all enjoyed the day and we have lots planned for

the rest of the week.

National Sports Week Day 2Today has been really busy for all involvedwith different groups of students going off sitefor sailing with sailability, boat trips on thewheelchair accessible dolphin boat in Poole,trips to AFC Bournemouth, ice skating and

trips to Wonderland Adventure Park.Back at school, groups have been Olympic

swimming, playing giant games and on a mas-

cot and adventure hunt. Some children have

been trampolining, some have been relaxing in

a yoga class and we have been playing wheel-

chair basketball.

National Sports Week Day 3Grand Prix Day! It was a whole school event.

The day started with all competitors having a

practice on their track. There were 2 tracks, onefor electric wheelchairs and the other was for

students that needed pushing. By the end of the

morning they needed to do a timed lap - all the

students were determined to get a good lap

time. Also there were lots to look at like different

cars and motorbikes which the students were

allowed to sit in. In the afternoon the main event

kicked off with both tracks competing for the

grand prix title. They had to do as many laps in

30 minutes as possible. We also had safety cars

to slow the track down which the students loved.

They had to have 2 pit stops within the 30 min-

utes for drinks and wheel servicing. All the stu-

dents enjoyed the day and are all looking for-

ward to it next year.

National Sports Week Day 4It was another full day of activities today. There

were lots of classes out on trips such as dol-

phin boat, sandbanks beach, AFC Bourne-

mouth tour and lots more. We had activities

here at school like mascot hunt and adventure

hunt which all the students have learnt differ-

ent skills in sports, cheerleading and dance off

training for tomorrows dance off competition.

We had a boat race today in swimming and

also they did some synchronized swimming.

Continued Overleaf



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The Colour Of Faith

Residential Faith Group is held every Wednesday from6pm-7pm. Students attending are encouraged to share their opinions and experiences on a wide range of topics always

with lots of singing, signing and laughter.

The Residential Students‟ Faith Group has had achallenging/thought-provoking term. Back in April,having learned that the international children's‟charity UNICEF was raising funds for their work by“selling” colours (-the average computer/

Smartphone/tablet can apparently display16.7million colours!!) we decided we‟d like a colour named after us. We chose to be yellow and Liamwas set the task of choosing the shade and gettingus registered. He duly delivered – and what is nowknown as Faith Group Yellow (see below)

Still on a colour theme, we have also thought abouthow school could become a “greener” place. Thisincluded students being given the opportunity tomoan about some bad staff habits!! The students

really hate staff forgetting to turn lights/cd players/

With Hazel Noyon

tvs off in empty rooms. Alongside talking and listening to eachother ,we have enjoyed some new songs tosing and sign-along to. Two students regularlytell us we sing too fast for them to fit the signsin, so there‟s always laughter too! We have welcomed Tobi and Kaine to our group on a Wednesday evening. Some of our valued contributors to Faith Group now move

on to the next phase of their lives away fromVEC, and we shall miss them so much. Butwe know from all they‟ve given us that theyare more than equal to any challenge, and willgo on to inspire others as they have inspiredus. So – an enormous thank you to Liam,Greg, Jade and Lucy. To quote one of our fa-vourite songs at Faith Group – “Some call it faith, some call it love, some call

it guidance from above, you are the reason

we found ours‟, so thank you – you‟re all

stars!”

R.F.G.Residential Faith Group

National Sports Week Last DayThe day didn‟t start well as the weather was

bad, but that didn‟t dampen the mood for

another exciting day of activities. First we

had a big tournament playing balloon volley-

ball, all the students participated and arereally determined to do really well for there

country they are representing. It was a very

competitive morning but the USA team won

the tournament by winning all their games.

We had a whole school dance off and they all

took part and enjoyed, the effort for all stu-

dents was great. Then we had a closing

ceremony to end a fantastic week of different

sports and activities. We announced the win-ners for the week and gave out prizes.

Our Faith Groups Colours



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Drama and Creative Arts at VEC

Curtain Call

By Matt Saunders

Scrumdidilyumptious!This year‟s school production was Charlie andthe Chocolate Factory. Weekly rehearsalsstarted back in February. Tuesday‟s were theactors rehearsals and Wednesdays were thedancers and movement rehearsals. The firsttime both elements came together was a weekbefore the show at the De La Salle Theatre!

I am always surprised and inspired by the waythat our students cope with what we throw atthem. We spend months rehearsing in theDrama Studio at school and then a week beforethe show we move it to St Peters, and givethem just two full days of rehearsal before per-formance day. On top of that we expect them toremember their lines and movement while get-ting used to a brand new space. Every singlestudent involved should be proud of them-selves, because if you did not come and see or you have not heard, the show was a huge suc-cess. Our students did us and more importantly

themselves proud.

I don‟t think I could pick any one student out, be-cause every single student has achieved so much.Whether it be just getting on stage, remembering aline or movement, or taking a lead role. Each stu-dent has grown in so many ways. They are a testa-ment to the staff that support them.

Speaking of staff I would just like to say a hugethank you to those involved. It sounds cliche, but itreally would not be possible to put on something

like this without their time (often voluntarily) anddedication.I had an email from one of the student‟s parentscongratulating us on a fantastic show, but onething they said stayed with me and reminded mewhy we do what we do.

“ …for me it was the smiles on their faces as

they clearly were having the time of their lives whichwas the most poignant.”



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Oily Cart are a specialist theatre company thatspecialize in sensory theatre and deliveringunique performances tailored around eachindividual audience member. We were veryfortunate to be visited by Oily Cart from 16

th –

20th

April 2012 with their amazing andground-breaking show “Something in the Air.”This was a huge undertaking and involveddelivery of a huge specially-designed 6 metre

high rig that was erected in the Sports Hall.There were aerial acrobats, performers, asensory room and specially designed chairs andwheelchair platforms that allowed 6 studentseach supported by a member of staff to go upinto the air to be amongst the performers. Eachchair had an operator who worked to eachindividual student‟s wishes ensuring that nostudent went higher than they wished. Thisproject was very kindly funded by The John Thawfoundation, Happy Days Charity and a private

sponsor Miss Janet Hall.

This was truly a magical experience – thecompany created the most beautiful performancespace and students were transported to another world of sensory experiences that alsoencompassed science, movement and live music.For most of our students the opportunity to go ona fairground ride does not exist and so this was

such a wonderful experience that every studentembraced wholeheartedly – even those who wereinitially nervous. By the end of the week news

Performance and Dance at VEC. With Belinda Ellicott

Body Language

had spread throughout the building at VEC and

when I came into work on the Friday there was acrowd of people peeping through glass windowsof the door to see the magic for themselves.

Here are some student comments:

“My favourite bit was the bouncing.”

“I liked it when the green and red peoplesang our names.”

“I liked the green tree people who played onthe saxophone.”

“I liked everything. It was all really good. Iwish they’d come again.”

“I really enjoyed watching the person in thehoop and spinning around in my chair.Thank you.”

“Thank you for taking me up high and beingkind.”

“I wish we could do this every week.”

We hope to invite Oily Cart back again with their next show as it was such a wonderful experi-

ence.For further information about the show please

see Oily Cart‟s website www.oilycart.org.uk

http://www.oilycart.org.uk/





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By Annie Cheer The Seen But Seldom Heard Project'Seen but seldom heard' is a project that a group of KS4 and Post16 students have been working onduring their LEAP sessions for the summer term.Linking with Bournemouth University, the Media

School and two professional poets, we embarkedon a quest to bring performance poetry to the veryheart of our school, and explore, with 13 of our young people, what it is like to be a young disabledperson in today's society, and how they feel othersperceive them. The project has been a huge suc-cess and the achievements are many. A collectionof powerful and moving poems, written by our stu-dents. A beautiful multi media performance thatcelebrates the wonderful diverse meansof communication that our students use. A perform-ance at Weymouth Pavilion's 360 dome tent as part

My name is Jagdev SinghMy name is Jagdev SinghIf I could I would change everything.It all started at Bellemoor SchoolWhen life became cruelBombs going off in my headA feeling I remember and dread.I was picked up by St JohnAnd his paramedics didn't turn the sirens on.When I was eleven years and ten months, mylife turned on its headWhen I was eleven years and ten months, Ilost my street credWhen I was eleven years and ten months Ihad a brain injuryWhen I was eleven years and ten months Igained a disabilityI could not walkI could not talkI could not eatI could not drinkFortunately though... I could still thinkSix years down the line I am recovering.And even though I see life through a solar eclipseI still have a vision.

My name is Jagdev SinghAnd I am changing everything.

of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. A book of their po-etry ensuring that their poems will last forever and be shared among many. But most impor-tantly of all, our students who have given their

heart and soul to their writing this term , have amessage for you. They show us that poetry is for everyone, whether you use a communicationbook, a VOCA, signing, symbols, or your voice........ You have a voice.........it is a beautifulvoice...........so use it. 'Seen but Seldom Heard'books will be available to buy early in the newacademic year, and of course all proceeds will gotowards The Sparkle Appeal. The performance atWeymouth takes place on the evening of the 30th August and tickets can be purchased throughmyself or the Seen But Seldom Heard website.

For The People Who Stare

For the people who stare

Get to know the person you’re staring at.


What’s your problem?


Try to step in my shoes.


Don’t. It makes me feel scared. For the people who stare

These are our words…..Listen... It makes me feel sad.


Everyone is different but judgement takes over.


I can’t do anything about it.


People are always scared of what’s different.

For the people who stare You are disabled to me. I am disabled to you. We are all aliens on this world.


I am crazy but I’m just me, don’t look at my wheelchair.


I am open like a magic door.


I am pretty white teeth but yellow on the inside.


I am an actor, gifted with every emotion.


I am a titanium spine worth £1000’s on Ebay.


I am my own person.


I am a unique cloud, always different every day.


I am Shaun the funny sheep.


I am a football Nickipedia.


I am full of a thirst for knowledge.


I want to see a change for the better.For the people who stare

I am everything that I am, I can’t change. I wouldn’t change it for the world.

http://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/seen-but-seldom-heard/



15

have learnt how to care for others to the higheststandard possible.Wishing you all a very happy holiday, andlooking forward to September and the newchallenges that it brings.

Durlston at the ZooBy Ewelina Jankowska

Purbeck Unit NewsBy Jana Chlastakova

Purbeck‟s last meal was very successful, wechose to go to our favourite restaurant calledDays in Bournemouth. We all enjoyed eating asmuch as we could as it was an all you can eatbuffet. We were lucky with the weather so wetook a stroll to the beach which was lovely.We are sad to be losing Nick and Liam, we had

so many great times and memories and wewish them all the best in the future.We would also like to wish good luck to DavidSatherley as he is moving on and thank him for his great contribution to Purbeck this year.

By Johan Vierbergen

On Brownsea our aim is for students to excel in all

aspects of life and this term they have performed

exceptionally well by being at the top of the school

Football Fantasy League! Every Monday after as-

sembly they come in showing off their certificates

and proudly display them in their bedrooms. Well

done to Lauren, Lucy, George, Nick D, Scott, Tom J

and Greg, you have worked very hard this year!

Thank you for everyone who supported the Sparkle

Appeal cake sale. We have made over £200 thanks

to you and no-one has fallen ill, that I know of!

Thank you to everyone who contributed a cake,

cookie, flapjack, cupcake and even some foreign

delicacies!

Brownsea’s Top Achievers

We‟re going to the Zoo, zoo, zoo, How about you, you, you,You can come too, too, too,

We‟re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo. Despite the bad weather forecastDurlston Unit went to Marwell WildlifePark and had a grrrrrreat time. James hadhis face painted and transformed into aTiger Grrrrrrrrrr!

Residential Round-upWith Sharon Nix

As we approach the end of another school year,we often reflect on the terms gone by; good andbad, we learn from our mistakes, and the youngpeople help us to form a vibrant and happy livingenvironment. It is a sad time for the staff onResidential as we say goodbye to students andstaff who are moving on; however sad we are tosee them go we wish them all the very best of luck. We are happy in the knowledge that thetime spent with us has been happy, enjoyableand we have taught them the skills to be as

independent as they possibly can, and the staff



16

Report

The

With Katherine Birtwell

London Marathon

On Sunday 22nd April three students went to compete in the London mini wheelchair marathon. We could not

have had a more perfect day, beautiful blue skies but not too warm and the boys were all hoping to improve

on their times from the previous year. They all had good starts and all three boys managed to come away

with new Personal Best times.

DSE Boccia ChampionshipsWe travelled to Sheffield with 6 students on the 27th April for the

DSE Boccia Championships. We got to the centre for 9:30am to

start the competition. There was a slight delay before our first stu-

dents played and the competition was fierce with senior National

Players. All the students did really well and gained valuable ex-

perience, playing with determination and courage. One of the stu-

dents qualified for the quarter finals but unfortunately didn‟t win.

Table Cricket Regional’s

Our students were all up for this year‟s table cricket regional‟s in

Taunton on the 23rd April. We had a full team with 2 students

acting as reserves and as soon as we arrived they all had to get

straight into their game. They played really well throughout the

competition beating all the other teams to get to the final. In the

final they supported and encouraged each other and they were

working together as a team. They fielded first so then they

knew what score they had to beat. When they started batting

you could see the determination within the team. They batted

really well and won the regional‟s so they will be going to the

National Competition in July at Lords.

National Boccia SheffieldOur students gained a place at the Nationals in February

when they competed in the Regional Boccia. We took 4 stu-

dents to the Nationals for the weekend in Sheffield. The

standard was incredible - there were GB squad members

and a lot of boccia England players. Our students played

really well in their groups. They gained a lot of experience

playing and seeing players like Nigel Murray, Zoe Robinson

and Dan Bentley. The whole weekend really benefitted the

students and made them determined to practice and be-

come better players for next year‟s competition.

EXTRA



17

Exeter Athletics CompetitionOn the 15

thMay, 11 students went to Exeter to compete

at South West Regional Athletics Competition. They all

learnt and had experience at competing at a high level.

There were track and field events including javelin, shot,

wheelchair slalom, 100m, 1500m and relay. The compe-

tition was of a high standard and their determination to

do well came through. They were competing to gain a

place at the National Athletics in Warwickshire in July.

Martin thanks all the staff who helped run the events and

support students.

VEC Students To Represent The South West

Nine of our students have qualified for the disability sport events National Athletics Championshipswhich is taking place at the university of Warwick Coventry, Warwickshire. They are going to be partof a 60 athlete team representing the south west of England. Events include the 100 meter wheel-chair race, shot putt and javelin. The SW England team are defending champions.

Table Cricket FinalsWe arrived in London on the 14

thJune for the table

cricket finals on the 15th. We all had to wear black

table cricket t shirts as this was our team colour.

There were 2 group tables, we had 4 games to play

and we won all 4 to get to the final. They played so

well in the final but they lost to Oakfield. They

played so well as a team and our captain got the

captaincy for England table cricket.

On the 5th

July we took 5 students to the New

Forest to start their Duke of Edinburgh

expedition. We dropped the students at thestart and they had to navigate their way to the

campsite. The students did really well working

as a team and using their map and compass.

When they arrived at the campsite they had to

cook their meal. Each student helped make

their pasta and tomato sauce, then they

washed up and dried up afterwards. They all

slept in a tent and had an amazing time. We

had to abandon on Friday as it was raining.

They all achieved a lot in a couple of days, it

was a great experience for them all.

D of E Expedition



18

Hello to ALL parents!

It is hard to believe that 2 years have passedsince our Parent Participation Group began.Since then a very successful Informal CoffeeGroup has also been established meeting regu-larly at Café Rouge. This has proved reallypopular and is organised by Clair Dibblin one of our parent Governors.

Events that have been held this term have in-cluded a VEC led minibus trip to Kidz South Ex-hibition in Reading. Feedback was good withparents being able to look at equipment and pro-visions from national suppliers.

Our main event was the Mythbusting DirectPayments seminar led by Mike Felstead fromDorset Children‟s Services. This was a crucialinformation sharing opportunity for parents to

understand how funding is allocated for SocialCare and how support and guidance can also beaccessed through locality teams and the Com-mon Assessment Framework (CAF) – an alter-native to Social Care. We shall continue to pro-mote this awareness for parents, particularlywith the advent of Individual Budgets for familiesof disabled children in 2014.

The PPG changed its format in May to a Thera-pies Question Time which gave the opportunity

for parents to ask questions or raise any con-cerns. We are hoping to hold similar events inthe future and would welcome ideas andfeedback from you on what as parents, you feelwould be beneficial.

PPG News letterWith Nicky Greenway

It would be good to offer more training events aswe have a wealth of expertise within the schooli.e. S.A.L.T., Moving and Handling, Sex and Re-lationships, Behaviour Management and Be-reavement.

Events for Autumn Term 2012:

Tuesday 16th

October: Teenager 2 Adult Tran-sition Event for parents and carers of youngpeople aged 13-24 with additional needs or dis-abilities. The event is designed to help thoseyoung people and their parents / carers under-stand what lies ahead as they move into adult-hood. There will be representatives from a full

range of Post 16 providers and across Childrenand Adult Services. The event will be held atKingston Maurward, Nr Dorchester (DT2 8PY).

Wills, Trusts and Deputyship Orders Seminar (back by popular demand). Date to be confirmedin Autumn Term.VEC Transition Event – Spring Term 2013.

PLEASE note that in September I shall becompiling a register of staff who are willing todo sessional work in their spare time, usuallypaid for by direct payments. Please e-mail meif you would like me to put you in contact withthese staff.

[email protected] hope you have a lovely relaxed and sunny holi-day and look forward to seeing you all in Septem-ber.Nicky

Head of Student Support Services

http://www.parentcarerforum.co.uk/



19

By Sally Thornley

All the info From Explorers to Post 16!

J C J W

CN N H

MC

J W I E x p l o r e r s

V F

P o s t 1 6

Clas

sroom

Catch-up

Class JW

This term a visit from a story teller from Treehouse

Theatre made us laugh. We‟ve been learning about

plants. We have grown plants from seed, explored

plants and learnt about food from plants. We‟ve been

finding out about farm animals, having fun with ducks

and lots of fun at the farm.

By Nicky HewittThis term, class NH have been busy, exploring therainforests, learning about the animals and plantsthat grow there. We also have been studying farmsand farm produce. We had a fantastic trip toFarmer Palmers!

Class NH

We went to visit the farm, as an introduction to

this term‟s topic of „food and farming‟. We met the

piglets and fed the baby goats, they were very

hungry! We went for a walk around to meet all of

the animals. Tiago liked the noisy turkey and

Hope enjoyed stroking a lamb.

By Maria Caluori

MC Talks To The Animals



20

By Amy Hunt chance of a couple of alpacas for „Pets @VEC‟?!

Our final trip was to Honeybrook farm,

Wimborne. We were able to wander around thebeautiful farmyard and surrounding fields andmeet various different animals – including somevery nosey chickens which seemed to enjoyfollowing us round the farm! The staff atHoneybrook were very helpful and spent sometime with us in the pets‟ corner showing us therabbits and guinea pigs as well as bringingChloe the Shetland pony over to meet us all.When we left the pets‟ area we were taken tothe „hatchery‟ where we were able to hold day

old chicks and ducklings and we were evenable to see an egg mid way through the hatch-ing process and listen to the beak pecking awayinside the egg!We have really enjoyed our trips this term and

would recommend all 3 visits to others, good

fun had by all!

Down On The Farm With JC

Class JC have had great fun this term exploringour „Food and farming‟ topic. We have been verybusy and have been on 3 different trips to supportour topic.We started the term with a trip to King-ston Lacy. Mr Jennings, a VEC governor, volun-teers at Kingston Lacy and he was able to takeus all on a tractor and trailer ride around the es-tate. The weather was beautiful and we all enjoyed seeing the herd of Devon red cows as wellas the resident flock of sheep – although theyweren‟t particularly keen to come very close tothe tractors! When we had finished our journeywe had a picnic lunch and then got back in the

minibuses and headed off to Barford farm – an„ice cream farm‟! We all had a choice of flavoursand enjoyed sitting out in the gardens in the sun-shine – a tough day‟s work! Our next trip was to Kingston Maurward animalpark. We were greeted by a lady, called Gill, whoshowed us around the park and introduced us toall of the different animals. We really enjoyedmeeting the animals - a 5 day old lamb, a coupleof grumpy looking donkeys, some very cheekygoats, some smelly (but quite cute!) piglets, some

ponies and foals and 2 spitting alpacas calledBen and Jerry! We learnt a lot about the animalsand we were particularly interested to learn thatalpacas can be useful in keeping foxes away, any



21

By Joanne, Jacob, Connor and Tom

Class CN Busy As Bees

On Friday 6th

July we had a bee man called Peter

come in to talk about bees. He told us some inter-

esting information that we didn‟t know before. We

learnt that bees collect nectar and keep it in their

tummies. Female bees do all the work. They look

after the baby bees, clean the hive and feed the

queen with royal jelly. Bees only live for 6 weeks,

except the queen who can live for 2-3 years be-

cause she only lays the eggs.

We tried the smoke machine that Peter uses when

he is working with the bees. The smoke smelt like

cigarettes and we had to go outside so that we did-n‟t set the alarms off. He also wore his special suit

with a net over his face.

Then we looked at a honey comb. We noticed thatit was a pattern of hexagons.

Peter brought some honey made by his bees just

round the corner from our school. We dunked bis-

cuits in it. It was sticky and gooey. It tasted sweet

and delicious.

Thank you for coming, Peter. We really enjoyedyour talk.



22

By Kate BaldwinKB Waxing Lyrical

By Janine Williams

JWI Builds Community Ties

As part of National Sports Week, Class JWiparticipated in a community project that involveddesigning and creating a pathway on Sandbanks

beach. They spent several Art sessions creatingdesigns, painting bricks and checking that all wasready. On Thursday 28 June, they spent the wholeday on the beach, working in teams, consulting theplans they had drawn up, selecting the right bricks tocomplete the pattern and laying them to create thepathway.The day was not all hard work, however! They also

managed to fit in some kite flying, „sunbathing‟ and

racing in the beach wheelchairs. Everyone agreed

that it was a fabulous day – thank you, Mrs Calcutt,for organising it!

JWI, building ties with the community

Post 16 KB have been saying it with poems!During their basic skills lessons the studentshave been coming up with poems by way of saying thank you to the Oily Cart Troupe for their wonderful performance here. The studentsalso made some gifts to give the performers aswe were told that they like „red things‟ – Hollymade a mobile of red butterflies and Joe

Scoates made red horses.



23

By Margaret Hopwood

The Post 16 MH Review

We have had a splendid Summer term and havebeen very pleased to welcome Nicole into our class. She already had a number of lessons withus, and has settled in very happily to the new rou-tines. We have been having maths lessons in thedark this half term – using UV lights and fluores-cent paint to practise visual tracking, shapes andmark making. Nicole has been delighted with theUV bubbles and loved rolling items into the paintand across the paper, and exploring all our glowingobjects. She is sometimes bemused by the madantics of the staff, but usually joins in when she re-alises we are harmless, and possibly even quitefun.

Our favourite lesson is still food technology, and wehave loved sniffing, squishing and tasting all sortsof different ingredients, and produced some pass-able dishes. The most impressive was „Foolproof Cheese Souffle‟, which lived up to its name: theleast convincing was „Best chocolate cake recipeever‟, which didn‟t. Jade wins the award for break-ing the most eggs in one go. She still has (wethink) the longest reach in the school, and lovesexploring all the items around her. She has givensome excellent responses in switching, and in her „messy maths‟, including 101 ways to wear jelly,

and hide and seek with playdough.Max also enjoyed „messy maths‟, discovering the joys of plastering with coloured porridge. He hasalso shown some great responses to bubble work.One lunchtime our classroom did look like a snowscene as we got rather carried away with bowls of foam and bubble mixture – but great tracking fromMax, and also repeated reaching for the foamybowls. On the strength of this we hoped he wouldvolunteer for all the food technology washing up,but alas, bubbles in that context were less fun.Rhys has charmed us all with his chatting, re-

sponding to voices and sounds around him, andtaking turns. He and Liam have particularly enjoyed trialling resonance boards. Thanks to Hazelfor organising these and demonstrating them.Rhys is developing fantastic listening skills, andhas been able to scratch back responses to the„caller‟. He has also been a relaxed and happyparticipant in Stuart‟s (physio) yoga sessions,growing increasingly tolerant of different move-ments and stretches. He has had a brilliant firstyear in Post 16.We all enjoyed being outdoors with horticulture dur-ing our „Experience of Work‟ week. We potted upsome plants, and made a hand scrub with differentnatural ingredients. These were then marketed

and sold on to lucky friends and colleagues. Thankyou to Carol Mitchell and all the horticulture team for their patience and flexibility. Jamie went to AdventureWonderland for his week, and was so successful hegot to be Duty Manager twice! He had a great time,

greeting children going on the rides, instructing thedrivers when to start and stop, and trying on all theanimal hats in the gift shop. We were particularly im-pressed at how well he managed to relate back to usdifferent events that had happened during the day, andhow other students had got on.Liam has continued to make achievements with hiscommunication skills, and has enjoyed showing off histalents to any work experience students who havewandered into our path. He spent most of his‟experience of work‟ week laughing and making eyes

at the horticulture students. It was more an experienceof how to dodge work. A useful skill! He had a chanceto sit in a sports car on Grand Prix day, and was proudto pose for pictures. Some of Liam‟s most amazingwork has been achieved using assistive musicaltechnology with Mike.We have worked hard at our ASDAN modules, and we

are proud to announce that Jade, Jamie and Liam

have all passed their Towards Independence modules

with flying colours, and are just awaiting moderation

from the external examiner for their Personal Progress

Portfolios. Fantastic achievements from all of them. All three of these students have now completed Year

14, and will be leaving the school this July. We wish

them every success and happiness.



Open Monday to Friday 9.00am—3.00 pmFor All Your Horticultural Needs!

Victoria Horticulture

There are currently seasonal reductions on bedding plants!Don’t Miss Out!

Orders are now being taken for hanging baskets &containers which can be supplied or bring your own for planting.

Please, please use us rather than the big garden centres as our pricesare as good & often better.

Our helpful staff are really looking forward to seeing you!

VECLife

ssue 03

VictoriaEducation Centre& Sports College12 Lindsay Road

Branksome Park

Poole

Dorset

BH136AS

Tel: 01202 763697

Compiled and edited by Jon Godber. Victoria School MMXII.

Term Dates 2012 / 2013

Documents

VECLife Summer 2012