Latest news at Ashmount School......

• Ashmount named as ‘Special School of the Year’ in National Communication Awards

  Mon 27 Mar 2017

  Ashmount School has been awarded the SEN (Special Educational Needs) School or Group of the Year Award at an awards ceremony in London for its continued commitment to developing our pupils’ communication skills. The 2017 Shine a Light Awards, run by Pearson in partnership with The Communication Trust, took place on 23rd March 2017 and were hosted by singer and theatre star Gareth Gates.

   

  The 2017 Shine a Light Awards is a national awards scheme that celebrates innovative work and excellent practice in supporting children and young people’s communication development.

   

  Ashmount School was praised for having shown strong commitment to developing pupils’ communication skills to ensure that they are empowered to meaningfully input into decisions affecting their own lives as they grow up and mature.

   

  The school has also become a Speech and Language Therapy hub for the East Midlands and coordinates a wide range of language groups, providing support and training for parents, caregivers and staff in local schools.

   

  The school has created a communication team that delivers efficient, coordinated support. We have created 16 language groups involving pupils who use VOCA (Voice Output Communication Aids), Eye Gaze, Makaton (sign language) and spoken language and have developed an assessment toolkit as well as a switch/AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) assessment library for use by parents and partner schools.

   

  Abi Steady, Deputy Head and Strategic Lead for Communication at Ashmount School, said: It is an honour to have received this national award. Above all it recognises the outstanding efforts our pupils and staff make every day in an attempt to open doors in young people's futures.”

   

  Gareth Gates, host of the 2016/17 Shine a Light Awards, said: “The dedication of Ashmount School is outstanding. Being able to communicate with confidence is often taken for granted but for many it is an everyday struggle. I have found my stutter crippling at times but I have learnt ways to manage my difficulties with the support of others.

   

  “It is heart-warming to know that children and young people across England are getting the support they need to develop and achieve goals that may not have been possible otherwise. Ashmount School should be extremely proud of its award.”

   

  Chris Hall, Director of Clinical Assessment at Pearson, said: “Congratulations to Ashmount School for their SEN School or Group of the Year achievement. The dedication to improving its pupils’ abilities is amazing; the innovative use of language groups and reaching out to their local area means the school is empowering so many children and young adults."

   

  “This is the fifth year we have run the Awards and we remain blown away by the standard of applications. They give an amazing insight into the unsung work that is taking place across the country to improve the speech, language and communication skills of children and young people.”

   

  Octavia Holland, Director of The Communication Trust, said: “Congratulations to Ashmount School and everyone who triumphed at the Shine a Light Awards. They have shown what can be achieved when expertise, enthusiasm and dedication is given to children and young people who struggle to communicate. These Awards highlight the very best practice that is taking place in settings across the country. We would like to say a huge thank you to Pearson for their long-standing support.”

   

  (Pictured are Deputy Headteacher Abi Steady and Lead Communication Mentor Kirsty O'Connell collecting the award from Gareth Gates) 

   

  

• Red Nose Day Fun

  Mon 27 Mar 2017

  Many thanks to everyone who helped us raise funds for this year’s Red Nose Day appeal.

   

  We sold all 200 of our red noses to pupils, parents, staff and visitors to the school.

   

  Our Key Stages 4 and 5 students held cake sales, raising over £170, and pupils enjoyed being given the opportunity to wear something red to school on Friday 24^th March 2017.

   

  Our Fancy Dress Red Nose Day Disco, held from 6.00pm-7.30pm on Thursday 23^rd March, proved really popular with our pupils and their families too.

   

  In total, staff, pupils and their families raised over £300 in support of Red Nose Day.

• National Science Week (10-19th March 2017)

  Fri 17 Mar 2017

  During the week beginning Monday 13^th March, we have been holding a series of Science-related events across the school to engage and inspire our pupils with science, engineering and technology, in support of National Science Week.

   

  These have included a series of in-class workshops led by our teachers and teaching assistants, as well as visitors from the Mad Science Company and students from Loughborough University, offering our pupils the opportunity to take part in a range of hands-on experiments.

   

  Many pupils have been on educational visits to the local trampoline park to investigate how forces work on our bodies or to the local garden centre to find out more about how plants grow.

   

  Our Forest Schools Coordinator Maria Gallagher has been leading a range of forest skills sessions for pupils of all ages across the school, and pupils have had the opportunity to handle and observe a range of animals, including snakes, hamsters, snails and stick insects.

   

  Many of our classes also received visits from Duggie the Dog, our resident Pets as Therapy dog, who has now visited the school on several occasions, and never fails to raise a smile from our students or staff.

• World Book Day Celebrations - Friday 3rd March 2017

  Fri 03 Mar 2017

  Thank you to everyone who helped make World Book Day such a success.

   

  Pupils and staff were invited to dress up as their favourite book and comic characters on Friday 3rd March 2017. 

   

  You can take your book token to your local bookseller (there’s lots of them out there – and swap it for one of the TEN (exclusive, new and completely free) World Book Day books!

   

  Or, if you’d prefer, you can use your book token to get £1 off any full price book instead! And if you’d rather get an audio book, that’s fine too! It’s your choice, just as long as the book or audio book costs at least £2.99.

   

  Then all YOU have to do is take your book home and enjoy it.

   

  The World Book Day book tokens are valid from Monday 27 February–Sunday 26 March 2017.