Today was a special day, the other part of my London Marathon. The staff at Charlton Park Academy kindly allowed me to visit the school to have a first hand glimpse of what goes on.
Upon arrival, I observed a young man communicating with the lady who turned out to be Tracey, my host for my visit. The conversation were completely normal with one significant exception – the young man was communicating using a tablet like device. Aside from that, everything about the conversation was “normal”. As the receptionist ended her telephone call and I announced myself, Tracey heard and introduced herself before completing her conversation with the young man. Before he left, he was introduced to me. I heard what he was doing and he heard of my involvement. He too would be helping the school with a project of his own! I was then taken through to William’s classroom. We often hear of school teachers talking about classes being large in size and the difficulties they face. In this case, those difficulties are magnified with the children really needing one on one support, not just for the learning aspects of their education, but also to help with their mobility such as lifting them out of their chairs so they can experience a degree of freedom. As I approached the group, William’s class teacher Karen gave me an overview of the work they had been doing and then showed me around the other parts of the room. The dark room, a favourite of William’s, contains images which glow in the dark as well as a projector which displayed moving images on a wall. Add to that some bean bags and it was easy to see why the children would like this room. As we headed back to the group, Karen explained that they had been enjoying British Science Week. They were just completing a session of mixing colour, patting clear packets containing coloured powder which caused the different colours to mix. It was nice to sit with William and help him a little and to watch him respond by continuing the activity. Although there is no verbal communication, the children are given picture cards to help them identify items they want to use or play with. William chose a bar containing a series of small bells and took great delight moving the bells to make a gentle noise. Soon afterwards, we moved to look in on two other rooms, the first with a young man with his teacher. Again, although non verbal, he was able to take in our conversation and respond when asked a couple of questions. In the second room, the children were about to start another sensory activity involving corn flour and water. Add in some colour and a tray for mixing and the children were in their element. It was interesting to hear that although not mainstream education, the school is still required to help the children reach certain levels of education. The children I visited were of a level equivalent to between 9 months and 3 years of age and although progress is slow, they make good progress with the wonderful support of the teaching staff. There are two things which struck me on this visit. First of all, it’s very simple to put all of the children into a single bracket and think they all need the same support, however, it is far from it. It is very clear that each child has their own very different needs. Although that must be extremely challenging, the staff just get on with it without fuss. Add into that the children are not able to communicate verbally and it becomes even clearer the challenges both they and the teaching staff face. Secondly, the positive relationships which exist between the teaching staff and the children is very obvious. They are all happy and although they cannot verbalise, their smiles speak volumes. The visit ended with a brief chat with Shirley, the school’s Director of Finance and Resources. Shirley and Tracey had made the arrangements for me to visit and so a nice end to my visit to be able to meet. It’s difficult to put into words the true value of what the school and its staff do. Everyone involved there really does make a huge difference to the lives of the families whose children attend, but most importantly, to the children themselves. Having taken the time to visit, and even removing my personal interest, I can still say I have chosen a great charity to support.
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ABOUT MEHaving completed 5 marathons between 1999 and 2016, I decided this year, I would try to do it properly and plan my training! Alongside, I wanted to keep a blog as it went along, partly to look back on, and partly to help anyone else who may benefit from my own experiences. Archives
November 2023
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