PCSO Visit

On Friday our monthly VIP club were joined by PCSO Berry and PCSO Barfoot.

They came to the Oasis with mountains of equipment, which the children were then able to explore, close up.

This provided a great opportunity for our children not only to find out about all the things the police carry, but also to meet the people in the uniform.

The PCSO's spent a lot of time with our children, helping them to have a go at dressing in the equipment....

What a fine figure he makes!

they also looked a handcuffs and an 'asp'.

However the crowning glory of the afternoon was the Police car!

All the children had a go at waking the world up with the car's siren....it was loud.

This was a fantastic hands-on afternoon. The children got to investigate an officers equipment that normally they could not see, they also got to meet and talk with the PCSO's to discover the 'human side' of the Police service. 

Thank you PCSO Berry and Barfoot!

(sorry for the noise!)

Firework In-Reach

Our theme for the November In Reach was Bonfire Night. Our pupils and our guests were presented with two activities to fill the afternoon. 

Rolling out and decorating 'Firework biscuits' was the first located in the school kitchen.

Accompanied by parents or caters, this provided a little 1:1 quality time.

In the hall was the second activity, creating firework pictures using a washing up brush!

The pupils thoroughly enjoyed banging the brushes to get a good firework pattern.

But we are never narrowly prescriptive, so when the hands and fingers were suddenly being used, we were impressed at the effects created!

The In Reach sessions at Kings Copse not only are lots of fun, they also give adults attending a chance to catch up or even make new contacts, whether from Open Sight, the PROVI (mobility officer) or the STAVI ( VI teacher advisors).

A surprise addition this month was Ms Stout, the teacher in charge of Great Binfields VI resource in Basingstoke. 

Thank you to all those who attended, it was a good session with some great work (I have kept all the paintings safe and ready to pick up next month). Surprisingly there were no biscuits left at the end of the day! 

Special visitor

We had a special visitor to our VIP Friday club before half term, Tom McInalty and Brunel theGuide dog 

Tom came in especially to talk to our VI pupils about how he maintains his independence as an adult with a visual impairment.

Brunel came for all the attention! The children had a good question and answer session with Tom, while Brunel had a break. The key message Tom gave was, always know you can ask for help to make sure you can be as independent as possible. 

Thanks for making the time to come and see us Tom & Brunel. 

Out next VIP Club visitors are our local PCSO's, hopefully with a police car!

First In Reach of the Year

We started our new academic year with an In Reach all about autumn.

After a quick circle-time introducing everyone who came along, including some new faces, the children were presented with a huge pile of leaves, bark and berries that had been gathered by the Oasis staff over the last couple of weeks.

Each child was given the task of making an Autumn collage.

This was very hands-on! With the addition of Pom-poms, smelly pens and all sorts of collage materials, there were soon some fine pieces of art work being created. 

We were also joined by representatives from Open Sight, our local VI charity, to make connections and offer support or advice to attending parents and carers.

It was great to see so many new children attending. Next months In Reach will celebrate Bonfire Night. 

Y6 Residential Visit

The Year 6 Residential to Brownsea Island was a great success for the second year running. This applied to our VI pupils as well. Last Year all three pupils attended for the entire week. They experienced a brilliant range of activities provided through the week, raising confidence cooperation and independence.  This year one pupil had the same experience and rose to all challenges fantastically.

Our second  pupil did not attend the whole week, but was taken from school, midweek to meet up with the class when they made landfall in Poole.

After meeting up on the quay...

We headed off to Scaplen's Court...

Where after a brief reminder about the Tudors....

The whole class travelled back in time to meet Ned, a Tudor Steward.

The pupils were then taken to meet Goodie, the Good Wife and introduced to some Courtly Tudor dancing.

Then to the kitchen to make tasty Tudor dishes.

In the 'compact' court yard the children were taught the 'Snail', a common dance. 

Then Ned and Goodie came out of role and de-briefed the children.

Then fish 'n' chip lunch...yum!

In the afternoon we went to the RNLI lifeboat station in Poole Harbour.

All the children enjoyed this hands on tour of the boats and kit of this fully operational station. 

The day ended with saying goodbye to Year 6 on the quayside and headed back home.

We all had a great day, thanks to all at Scaplen's and RNLI, the children learnt so much, while really enjoying themselves. 

 

Braille club begins.

This week saw the first Braille club of the year. This term children in year 1 and year 6 have been offered the opportunity to start learning Stage 1 Braille on a Thursday lunchtime. 

The children started by using 'sleep shades' to get an understanding of how Braille works if you are sight impaired. The cohort also includes one of our VI pupils who uses Braille as her main medium. This provides brilliant inclusion for all pupils. 

Bursledon Update

This weekend was the re-opening of the Bursledon Brickworks, which included the unveiling of the brick sculpture that our pupils contributed to. 

You will need to hunt, but within the structures built are the tactile bricks that we made.

Art Week

For Art Week the Oasis spilt into two. Our part-sighted pupils, using iPads and modified materials, remained in class to learn alongside their peers. However our Reg. blind pupils came together to form a small group that needed to follow their own project focusing on touch and texture.

 

To kick start this week, the Reg. blind group visited Roche Court, a sculpture park near Salisbury. Here, with special permissions from all of the artists, the children were given a guided 'touch tour' of a varied selection of sculptures.

 

Students with Christopher Le Brun ‘Union Horse with Two Discs’ 2001 © the artist and the New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park

The children were able to fully explore each sculpture. There was lots and lots of talk, with some really interesting ideas coming from the pupils.

Students with Peter Randall Page ‘Shapes in the Clouds’ 2013 © the artist and the New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park

 Some of the sculptures were amazingly tactile. 'Shapes in the Clouds' drew our pupils in with veins of marble that were tracked around the massive form of this sculpture.

 

 Students with David Annesley ‘Orinoco’ 1995 © the artist and the New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park

 Whereas the simple shape and curves of 'Orinoco' proved to be a real favourite.

 

Students with Eva Rothschild ‘Someone and Someone’ 2009 © the artist and the New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park

For some sculptures, a verbal commentary was needed at the start to enable the pupils to build a whole picture in their minds eye of what they were feeling.

 

Students with Peter Randall Page ‘Parting Company II’ 1996 © the artist and the New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park

 But for all the sculptures, nothing would beat hands-on investigation.

 

Students with Laura Ellen Bacon ‘Split Forms’ 2012 © the artist and the New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park

Students with Laura Ellen Bacon ‘Split Forms’ 2012 © the artist and the New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park

 After our tour, the children then went to the Education room to work with clay. They used the inspiration of the mornings investigations to create their own art work, including clay arches and clay weaving!

 

On returning to school, the Reg. blind pupils then embarked on a week of art inspired by the Roche Court Visit.

 

The children made tactile tiles and pinch clay hedgehogs.

 



We also had a go at making BIG tactile sculptures using chicken wire and 'modroc'.

 

Inspired by 'Orinocco', one of our pupils made 'Wave Rider' linking together this visit with our recent Paulton's Park visit sponsored by the Rotary Club.

 

 

The final challenge for the week was 'What's in a box?' where pupils were asked to design and make a tactile environment inside a box.

 

 

 

At the end of Art week all the classes shared their work, including the Oasis.

 

There were some lovely comments from sighted peers, who were surprised at the variety and size of the artwork the VI pupils had produced.

Where our Reg. blind pupils had been separated from their classes for the week, it was very important to reconnect and share what everyone had achieved.

 



A pupil with VI sharing his artwork with his class mates.

 

Thanks to all at Roche Court, we had a brilliant and inspiring visit. Thanks to all the artists who allowed our pupils to explore using hands. Finally thanks to all the pupils for their great art work!