1 Voice Charity Fundraiser
Pupils from the Communication group held a fund raising event in aid of 1 Voice charity. The students, who use hi tech communication aids, planned a coffee morning and raffle raising over £300. They worked on the publicity, guest list, nagged parents to make cakes, and decided who would do the washing up. The 1 Voice charity is close to their hearts because it promotes “A world where the voice of every child and adult, however they communicate, is listened to and heard”.
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.
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.
.
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!
Continue reading
