Employability Day
On Wednesday 24th April we had five employees come into Wilson Stuart to work with the year 14 students to improve their personal CV’s and then have an opportunity for an interview.
The employers who attended were from Cadburys, Aston Villa and service Birmingham.
All the students arrived at school dressed for the occasion with the boys in particular looking very much the part in their suits.
The students were each able to work independently with an employee to identify their skills, qualities and experiences. Each student was then interviewed by three employees in a “real” interview situation. Following their interview each student was given feedback on their performance at interview.
Both the employees and the students found the experience very rewarding. 
YMCA Visit
On Thursday 2nd May, 3.1 visited the YMCA Orchard in Erdington where they met the Manager Ed Lawrence, Support Worker Jamie Spence and resident Vishane Bent. The pupils asked questions they had prepared in advance and found the visit informative. 
The honest answers given by Vishane changed their perspective about homeless people and gave them an understanding of the issues that they face and the support available. The visit was part of an English project on the topic of homelessness.
The group are currently reading a play version of ‘Stone Cold’ by Robert Swindells where the central character ‘Link’ finds
himself homeless and tells of his experiences.
Bhangra Dance Workshops
On Friday 19th April, all the students celebrated Vaisakhi, which represents a harvest celebration and the arrival of a New Year for our Sikhism followers. We invited Jag and Anil from Dance Ansar into school to teach us a harvest themed dance. Everyone learnt the dance during workshops throughout the day and then the whole school performed the dance together in a special Baisakhi assembly at the end of the day led by some very enthusiastic staff members. 
We were joined by parents and relatives during the day and everyone involved learnt a lot about a new religious festival and also had a good physical workout while dancing the day away!
World Champion Irish Dancer Performs For Primary Children
The primary children were spoilt on Wednesday 13th March, when an amazing Irish dancer ‘Victoria Taylor’ performed a soft and hard dance.
All the primary children congregated in the hall, carrying handmade Ireland flags and green, white and gold balloons. When Victoria started to dance there was electric in the room, everyone was quiet as mice and watched her elegantly float and fly around the room – it was beautiful.
The second dance was not so quiet! Victoria was wearing her hard shoes, which have plates of metal attached to them. We all watched in anticipation for Victoria to start, then after a long introduction ‘BANG’ she jumped and threw her feet to the floor, everyone in the room jumped as the sound of the metal hitting the floor roared around the room.
Victoria is an inspiration to us all, she has been dancing since she was 7 years old. She found Irish dancing very difficult when she started, always falling down, bruises on her legs, but she always got up and tried again. Just like children at Wilson Stuart they also don’t give up! 10 years later Victoria is ‘the best in the world’ Winning the world championships at the age of 15, a title she justly deserves.
Even the people who are the best at something in the world, started at the beginning and had to overcome obstacles. If you work hard like Victoria and don’t give up when things get tough, you may also be the best! – What could you be the best at?
Wilson Stuart Horror Film
Over the last few weeks at Wilson Stuart something Spooky has been going on. Lurking in the Community room some of our students have uncovered something terrifying! ARK Media and First Light Productions have been running filming workshops for a number of our pupils, Filming will take place this Wednesday with David Proud as the lead actor. David played Adam Best in Eastenders a few years ago and was the first full time disabled actor on the Eastenders set. The film is too be submitted to the Edinburgh Film Festival later this year so we wish the Crew and Students the best of luck in making the movie.
Loudmouth
On the 6th of february 2013 Wilson Stuart had a performance company ‘Loudmouth’ in school supporting the education of Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 pupils around sexual health and behaviour.
The day consisted of 2 workshops which incorporated growing up/puberty and various aspects of bullying.
Children sat in their groups supported by their TAs and form teachers. The first workshop consisted of a 50 min drama scene where 2 children experience changes in their friendship and feelings from year 6 to 8. This followed by repeated scenes which contributed to discussions.
The second workshop started with a 20 min drama scene on various bullying in children and adulthood. The session finished with statements which were very specific to our children at Wilson Stuart and revealing traffic light cards to show whether it was appropriate or inappropriate. The fabulous performance captured the staff and childrens’ attention and was enjoyed by all.
New Facilities Grand Opening
Thank you very much to former Wilson Stuart Head Teachers Mrs. Anne Tomkinson and Mr Colin Grantham for opening the new outdoor facilities at school on Wednesday. Appropriately named The Grantham Gazebo and The Tomkinson Tower in recognition for all their hard work as Head Teachers at Wilson Stuart School. The ribbons were cut to announce the opening of the new features, built over the summer and are now ready for our pupils to use. Continue reading
Maths Day
On Thursday 8th November, all the children at Wilson Stuart took part in a Maths Day. Some of the Primary students started off the morning by going to Storywood School to watch a Maths performance. The performance was about planets and spaceships with Maths aspects of counting, partitioning, tally charts and time tables incorporated. During the afternoon, Primary and Secondary children worked together and EYFS had children from Storywood working with them. The children participated in a range of Math’s activities linked to a firework theme. There was Maths trails, breaking codes, patterns, money problems, co-ordinates work as well as much more. The day ended with a real firework display outside which the children loved. A fantastic day had by all!
Parents Impact Training Day
Lots of parents came into school on Friday 2nd Nov to find out how they can help to improve their child’s writing.
The Parents’ Impact Training started by giving parents a special writing pack that included punctuation and vocabulary pyramids and step by step help for writing recounts. There was a short explanation of how to use the pack and then everyone went into the classrooms to work with their child.
Research has clearly shown that the children who achieve the most are the ones who get support at home. Over the next 6 weeks the parents are going to help their child to write a series of recounts using the pack to improve the writing and move their child onto a higher level.
Thank you to all the parents who came into school we had a fantastic turnout and really value your time and support.