Kisimul Group News

Summer Fayre

This year’s Summer Fayre has had a dramatic revamp and promises to be big and better than ever before. It falls on July 4th – American Independence Day and, therefore, has a strong American/Wild West flavour. Some of the old favourite games and stalls remain but you can look forward to a host of new American/Wild West themed attractions including ‘surf simulator’, ‘archery’, ‘saloon bar shootout’, ‘Wild West Horse racing’ ‘Wild West bouncy castle’, ‘cactus hoopla’ and plenty of entertainment. Refreshments will be available in the form of ‘I-cycles’ traditional ice-cream, muffins, BBQ and popcorn, candy floss and cakes. In particular, the raffle will be given a big push this year as “The Friends of Kisimul School” attempt to purchase a Motor Home for all the pupils at Kisimul School and the young people in our Adult Units to enjoy. Some of Kisimul School’s staff will be in fancy address – feel free to join in! See you there!

Kisimul Summer Holiday 2009

This year we took a group of pupils from our 16+ site at Acacia on holiday. This was funded by Kisimul School who funded the house, and the summer and winter fayre committee funded the spending money, so thank you to all concerned. We took 5 students and went to Scarborough for 5 days, where we rented a large house with excellent facilities in an ideal location, close to the beach.
 


The pupils had a fun packed week where they spent time doing various activities during the days which included trips to Bridlington, Whitby, the Sea life sanctuary and many more. The evenings were spent in the house with an evening meal, including a barbecue followed by trips to the Arcades of nice walks around the Peasholme Park. I am pleased to say that all the pupils had a great time and I am sure they will all have their own memories and favourite parts of the week. The staff is already thinking about next year's holiday.

Summer and Christmas Fairs

Each year we hold a Christmas Fair at the Swinderby School. This has been a regular attraction at Kisimul since we moved to the Old Vicarage in the early 1980's.The style of the event is in the spirit of a village fete but with a Christmas theme. It is held outdoors under cover but occasionally it will be inside the school building if the weather is too bad.We have a variety of stalls ranging from tombola to home produce. There is a barbecue and we try to invite a local brass band to play seasonal music.

The children are involved with helping to produce crafts and items for sale as much as possible and parents, staff, visitors and people from the local community attend. There are games for the children to enjoy and of course there is also a visit from Father Christmas who sits in his grotto to receive visitors.The raffle is always a popular attraction and we always try to have a range of prizes for everyone. Donations are always welcome. Tickets are usually on sale from half term in October.

A Summer Fair is also held annually at our Acacia Hall campus. This event is very popular with everyone and as expected, has a summer theme. There are many stalls and a larger variety of outdoor games such as "beat the goalie" and "open the box" as well as all the usual stalls and attractions.Money raised from the fairs goes towards projects, equipment and resources for the children to use.

Recent purchases have included several Nintendo wii games consoles, computer games, disco lighting and sound equipment for the weekly club and a large donation towards a summer holiday at the seaside for a group of children.

Woodstock House - Phase 2 Opens in August 2009

In August 2008 the Kisimul Group opened a third school at Woodstock House in Long Ditton, Surrey. After purchasing and converting the former conference and training centre, the school opened Phase I of the development, which consisted of 18 residential and 22 school places.

Woodstock House is set in 8 acres of beautiful and tranquil Surrey countryside and we plan to make the most of these wonderful gardens. A Woodland Eco Walk has been designed and landscaped around the perimeter of the site with walkways and paths linking up all the facilities on the site. The site is complying with the DCSF guidelines to be sustainable by 2020 and we are working hard to be as ecologically friendly as we can.

The first sixteen pupils are now happily living and learning in this excellent facility which has been refurbished to a very high standard. The school will be run in the same child-orientated manner in which the schools in Lincolnshire are, with the same philosophies, therapies and teaching standards.

Our first Ofsted inspection reports for both the Education facility and the Care Home have been received and they reflect the excellent service that has been provided in the last eighteen months.

Several of our very experienced staff relocated to Woodstock or took secondments there to ensure that we provide the very same high standards of care and education. These staff work alongside our dedicated employees who have joined us from local communities.
The school's Ofsted report contains the following quotes:

Read the Woodstock House Ofsted Report 2009.

Read more about Kisimul School - Woodstock House.

Purpose-built gymnasium

Exciting news! We have now been given planning permission by our local council to build a new gymnasium. Work will start on the existing land where our old school classrooms used to be.

Currently children do games and activities at the local village hall, but it will be a great asset to the school to have this facility in house. Our children will gain an indoor recreation area for when the weather prevents outside activities, and a great sporting and games facility.

As part of the new gymnasium project the swimming pool will get a face lift. The new gym will link to the pool area, and a new changing area and toilets are planned. The pool itself will receive an upgrade and we plan to install underwater lighting to make our swimming sessions a multi-sensory experience.

Transition Challenge

This is a new ASDAN course which is to be covered by all pupils in Key Stage Four.
 
The Year 10 and 11 curriculum is made up of key subject areas including English, Mathematics, Science, Design and Technology, ICT, Religious Education, Citizenship, Community, Expressive Arts, Sports and Leisure and Work Related Learning.

These subjects are then broken down into five modules, Knowing How, Making Choices, Feeling Good, Moving Forward and Taking the Lead. Over the course of a year KS4 pupils will cover activities for each subject and each module at least once (more in some cases), which means that on completion of the course they will be awarded an externally accredited, nationally recognised Certificate of Achievement. 

The criteria for passing the course is based upon the level of support each pupil requires to undertake each task, for example spoken help, physical help, gestural help or whether they can complete an activity independently or through sensory experiences.
 
The certificate awarded to our pupils will be graded according to the level of support most used by them throughout his course.
 
This course was undertaken at Kisimul for the first time in 2008-9, and so far the feedback and the response from the pupils has been very encouraging. They appear to be responding well to the different structure of the lessons and have been completing tasks competently with a variety of levels of support being used depending on the task in hand..