Leland has been busy at home in the kitchen demonstrating his cooking skills. He has engaged in recipes sent home promoting independent living skills. Leland has made chocolate crispy cakes, cookies, fruit kebabs, ice lollies and sandwiches. He has used skills including chopping, mixing, weighing and measuring. Well done Leland!
Aycliffe School – Bake Off Competition
Well done to everyone who participated in our very first ‘Bake Off Competition.’ The results are in and we can confirm that:
All the entries for Aycliffe School’s Bake Off competition have been collated. Both learners and staff have been very creative in the kitchen and I’m sure you will be very impressed!
Please can you follow the link and vote for your winner. Voting will close on Wednesday 10th June at 5.00pm.
https://www.ne-as.org.uk/forms/bake-off
During her time at home, Ava has enjoyed helping her family around the house completing tasks such as washing and gardening. She has been practising her times tables and created posters to warn other of stranger danger. It is lovely to see all the fun she is having.
Ged has been keeping very busy and active whilst at home. He has been going for long walks in Cassop Vale and Durham. He particularly likes a path where he can see the trains. Ged has been out riding his bike and accomplished 7 miles on the Lanchester valley bike track at Bear Park! He has enjoyed cooking at home; helping to prepare meals and snacks. He has also spent time in the garden putting his horticultural skills into practice.
Since George has been working from home he has thoroughly enjoyed playing games with his family he has learned a lot of about IT and has used his computer to make a virtual city. He is loving going out on his scooter and riding up and down the street whilst his dad is on his bike. He also been watching the news and discussing his opinions with his family.
During this period of completing work from home Josh has done a range of tasks including fixing, maintaining and riding his bike. Josh has also been completing different projects with the help of his mum and dad and has been building and working on some different items that need be repairing in his home. Josh has done a range of new activities whilst he has been at home and it was lovely to see the pictures.
A Children's Book about the Coronavirus - click to download
Please click to download:
I am writing to provide information with regards the coronavirus infection.
Government guidance to schools and the situation at North East Autism Society
The School and College receives daily updates from the Department for Health and Social Care, Public Health England, and the Department for Education. This guidance is published at the links below:
There are no confirmed cases of coronavirus from any pupils, learners or staff attending our school’s/ or College. If a pupil or learner begins to develop the symptoms of coronavirus (fever, cough, difficulties in breathing), parents should use the NHS 111 service to seek medical advice. In the event of a confirmed case, the NHS and Public Health England will advise parents on the course of action to take, and where necessary, will contact the School/ College to advise us on the actions that should be taken in School and College.
The Department for Education has launched a helpline for young people, parents and staff to raise questions about the coronavirus outbreak:
The Society’s Senior Management Team is reviewing the government’s guidance daily, and will take all necessary action to protect the pupils, learners and staff of the School and College, taking advice from Public Health England, the National Health Service, and the Departments for Health and Social Care and Education.
Trips and visits
All trips and visits scheduled in the coming months will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, seeking relevant advice where necessary. Further information will be shared with parents of pupils and learners participating in planned trips in due course. At the moment, it remains our intention to run these trips, but we will keep this under continual review, based on any updated advice from the Department for Health and Social Care.
Offsite Curriculum
For those pupils who access our Offsite Curriculum provision it is business as usual but we will be checking in advance before we attend daily activities to ensure that the facility is open. In the event that an activity centre, such as a library is closed we may need to adapt the curriculum, but in any event we will ensure that the needs of our pupils are met.
Communication with parents
The School/ College will continue to keep parents and carers informed through the School/College website, text messages and through written communications, acting on the advice of the relevant public bodies. To do this, it is vital that we have accurate and up-to-date contact details for all parents.
Communication with students
All students have been spoken to regarding good hand hygiene (hand washing techniques) and the NHS ‘Catch It, Bin It, Kill It’ advice. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has recommended the use of e-Bug to teach students about hygiene.
Information is displayed around the School/ College to remind students of this. Hand sanitisers are already installed around the school. Tissues are also available in every classroom.
The message of the School/College to students has been one of reassurance, and we trust that parents will support this message. As adults, we are able to recognise that some information shared on social media is inaccurate but young people may struggle to interpret some of these messages correctly. The BBC News website has published a helpful guide for parents speaking to young people about the current situation:
School/ College closure
We will provide further details regarding school closure should this happen but please be reassured that this will be a last resort and we will only close if the Government officially instruct us to do so.
Our priority is to ensure the health and safety of our children, young people, adults, employees as well as the continuity of our services.
We will continue to comply with government and public health organisation guidance in order to keep everyone safe.
If you have any further queries regarding this situation, please contact your child’s/ learner’s class teacher/ key tutor or email the School/ College directly at [email protected] and your email will be forwarded to an appropriate member of staff.
On February 10th Aycliffe School held its first Inventors Week, which aimed to encourage pupils to develop their creativity through a range of different activities. Students were given a variety of different building materials, including Lego, Duplo, recyclable rubbish and K’NEX and tasked with using these materials creatively to build their invention.
Each student was instructed to select a material they preferred and to design and create at their own leisure. Trainee Teacher, Kelly Hindmarch, said: “I wanted to offer something different to the students, something that they would get in a mainstream school; that gets them out of the classroom and into a new environment.”
At the end of the week, teachers rated each of the students’ designs and reward badges were given for first, second and third place. Kelly Hindmarch, said: “It’s amazing to see what the students invented throughout Inventors Week, it has allowed many of them to come out of their shell and express themselves creatively.”
Aycliffe School held its annual Christmas fete on Tuesday 17th December, which featured a range of stalls enjoyed by students and their families. Everything on sale was designed and created by students from the school, items included Christmas decorations, candles, fudge, cakes, juices, digital photographs and ornaments. Vice Principal, Tracy Train, said: “Students have worked very hard in the weeks leading up to the fete to produce a range of excellent quality and unique Christmas gifts. “We are very proud of what our students have achieved.”
The Christmas fete also featured an array of side activities such as tombola and raffle. Tracey added: “Extra activities organised by the students included a photo with Santa and a snowball game, which involved throwing snowballs at teachers, also proved a great success.”Well done to all the students, family and friends who turned up and participated in the fete, all money raised will go to support students at Aycliffe. We wish you all a merry Christmas.
From everyone at Aycliffe School, we wish you a very merry Christmas.
The learners from class three asked if they could celebrate and learn more about Harry Potter for one of their themed weeks. They worked together to plan a whole school Harry Potter afternoon. This was a really difficult task to organise, however, all learners worked together using a range of skills, such as, problem solving, communication, multitasking, budgeting and creativity to make this event a huge success.
Throughout the week they enjoyed; dressing up, making and tasting butter beer, completing the sorting hat quiz to find out which house they would be in, drinking different potions, potion making and magical science experiments, Harry Potter themed cake decorating, visiting Fred and George’s joke shop and having their photo taken on platform 9 ¾.
The drama club helped us to celebrate Halloween by a portrayal of Room on the Broom!
They have been practising weekly at Drama Club and delivered an exciting rendition that was engaging, interactive, and fully enjoyed by the audience. The full story was told which included the witch, a cat, a dog, a bird and a frog! Who all after helping the witch to find her belongings, that kept falling from her broom saved her from the dragon who wanted to eat ‘witch and chips’ for his tea! A ‘fang-tastic’ time was had by all at the Halloween party.
Learners took part in a range of activities to support and promote their development of skills:
Over the last few weeks students in the Sixth Form have been using an IT software package to create their own computer game. Carl created a game and called it ‘Object Hunt’, all students enjoyed playing the game and it has motivated them to create more complex and challenging levels within the game.
This week saw the arrival of modular building to complete an extension on the school creating four extra classrooms. Students were excited to see the crane lift the buildings into place. Samuel joked “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but this school was!”.
On the 27th of September learners took part in an outdoor education session in North Yorkshire at Brimham Rocks. The session enabled the learners to kinaesthetically explore and discover the historical area. Brimham Rocks are a collection of unusual rock formation covering 50 acres that came into existence through glaciation and erosion dating back to 320 million years ago. Learners were able to explore over, under and through the rock features. Although the afternoon was very wet, this did not stop learners enjoying and achieving during their weaselling experience. It was great to see learners help and support each other in an environment that was completely unfamiliar to them. Learners demonstrated good social communication skills and a positive attitude.
Our students have had a very busy week upon their return to school. They have been working very hard to develop their skills including, communication, social interaction and healthy living.
Students in class two enjoyed a travel training session to the Botanical Gardens in Durham. The students engaged in a sensory walk around the gardens which had a range of different plants and trees. After a spot of gardening, they accessed the café and enjoyed socialising with staff and peers.
On Friday, 20th September students and staff at Aycliffe School donned their denim and blue outfits to raise money for children affected by life-altering genetic disorders. During our Jeans for Genes Day, everyone enjoyed a coffee and cake afternoon and raised £50.01 for the charity.
Well done to everyone!!