Gosling News - The GOSH School newsletter, December 2019

GOSLING News

The Children’s Hospital School at Great Ormond St Issue 39 Autumn 19/20

www.gosh.camden.sch.uk Twitter: @Gosh_School / Instagram: @gosh_school

Thank you for taking the time to read our most recent Magazine – as Headteacher I am always so proud at what our pupils achieve during their time at our school and this magazine captures just a few highlights. Continuing education and supporting children and young people to remain engaged in learning is at the heart of our teaching – our teachers approach each lesson with patience, sensitivity and above all creativity so that an individual’s needs can be met.

One parent wrote ‘Her teacher represents fun, learning, exploration and childhood….’

And another ‘The extra care and effort you have put in has made A even more eager to learn and helped lessen the blow of lengthy hospital stays. It has also been wonderful how well you have linked into her school at home to keep her on track and stay involved with her class, again preventing her from getting behind.’

Understandably school may not always be the first thing the family considers when they begin their admission in hospital. However, we know that once we start working with a pupil it quickly becomes an integral part of their hospital admission and plays an essential role in providing a sense of normality and continuity with the world outside, where hopefully they transition back to after their stay in hospital.

Our school places enormous value on personalised learning which creates challenging, innovative and enjoyable learning experiences for all.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about our approach please contact Tyah our comms officer t.pinnock@gosh.camden.sch.uk

SCIENCE

During Science week pupils enjoyed practical activities around the theme of ‘Journeys’. They had fun making some conductive or electric dough and experimenting with it to make LEDs light up in different ways. Another activity involved making and testing a range of flying devices to see which travelled the furthest or fastest. Pupils also rose to the challenge of making their own wind up cars and competing to find the fastest one. Some pupils also produced posters on a Science topic linked to journeys. Well done everyone on your fantastic Science work!

WEEK

11th - 15th March ‘19

EGGS

LIVING

Leading up to Easter our pupils took part in the ‘Living Eggs’ project which we run annually. Pupils watched the chicks hatch from their eggs and, after a period of incubation, watched them grow, held them, fed them and cleaned out their living space. Lots of other learning opportunities grew from taking care of the chicks including writing a chick fact book and poetry about chicks and their life cycle. Everyone was very excited to be able to see the chicks hatch and hold them – we often had a line of visitors waiting to see them at break and lunchtime! We even learnt how to work out, by the colour of their feathers, which chicks were boys and which were girls.

STEM

The schoolroom students were inspired by both a visit from the GOSH 3D printing lab staff and a visit to the actual lab here in the hospital to learn more about the heart and how it works. They had fun making a variety of models of the heart to help learn about its structure and how it works. They also really enjoyed talking to some of the bio-engineers who work closely with surgeons at GOSH to plan some very complicated heart and neurocranial surgery.

THE

BIG

DEBATE

In June this year we ran our first ever ‘Debating Week’. The aims of the week were to encourage pupils to form opinions, give opinions, listen to others, practise agreeing and disagreeing and also develop their persuasive writing skills. A different question or motion was posed to pupils each day and they also had a chance to ask their own questions to spark a debate on an issue they care about.

The question

‘Should animals be kept in zoos?’ provoked a lot of discussion.

Only endangered animals should be kept in zoos – Xavier, 12

Animals need to roam and learn how to catch their food – Lily, 11

Animals should be free but if an animal is ill it might need to go to a zoo for help – Lacie, 7

They shouldn’t be kept in zoos as there isn’t enough space for them – Raphael, 8

As many of our pupils work in isolation with their individual teacher, a lot of the debate work took place online in the form of written comments on our community Google+ page and through the medium of Minecraft. In a specially created ‘Debate World’ in Minecraft, pupils explored the land encountering a variety people, all of whom shared different opinions on animal welfare.

After meeting everyone, pupils made up their own minds on the issue and added their ‘for’ or ‘against’ vote to the debate wall, which gave us a clear view of pupils’ opinions at the end of the week.

We’ve continued to use our Google+ debating community since then for pupils to engage with a new debate question each month. So far, we’ve tackled what age children should be before getting their own mobile phone and whether school uniform should be banned.

MATHS

WEEK

8th - 12th July ‘19

At the end of the summer term we had our Maths week and our theme this year was ‘money’. Students, of all ages and from all over the hospital, took part in Maths activities based around money. Have a look examples of their work.

Left: Counting

with Arya on Kangaroo ward.

Right: Value for money with Vlad on Eagle ward.

We were also lucky enough to have two visitors come to speak to us, too!

Dawn Khajadour, from the Bank of England spoke to the secondary students about her career in banking and specifically her role in the Bank of England.

Kerry White from the Tower Mint came to speak to the primary students about designing coins. Kerry showed us the fantastic 50p coin collection the Tower Mint designed to commemorate the 90th anniversary since Peter Pan author JM Barrie gifted all his rights in Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. We were inspired by the design and asked students across the hospital school to design their own 50p coin inspired by what 2019 meant to them. The competition was judged by Raphael Maklouf, the Chairman of the Tower Mint, and you can see all the winning entries on the following page. All of the winners were kindly gifted a complete set of Peter Pan 50p coins.

Well done to everyone who took part in Maths Week.

Watch out for Maths Week 2020!!!

Left: Drawing a 50p coin by Ashley on Koala ward.

Right: The Peter Pan edition

50p coin.

What does 2019 mean to you?

Alfie

Evie

Bonnie

Teagan

Lydia Hasan

CHEFS

ADOPT A SCHOOL

Thanks to our ongoing Chefs Adopt a School programme which runs monthly throughout the year, we were visited by Chef Pete from Coutts bank, Chef Clive from The Garrick Club and Chef Derek from Rothschild bank. All chefs led their own individual session with the children making a variety of different foods.

… taught the children different chopping methods and how to make a tasty healthy salad - all the produce the children used came from his rooftop garden on top of Coutts bank!

He also taught the children how to make a mango hedgehog which they all loved.

… led a summer dessert themed session where the children were able to make their own trio of desserts including a meringue swan, summer berry muffin and mixed berry Eton mess in a glass! The children had so much fun learning about the different fruits and where they grow.

The children always have such a fun time with the visits from the Chefs and always get to take their amazing creations with them to enjoy with their families, friends and ward staff!

… led a great pizza making session!

The children were able to learn about the different toppings and where they originate from and got to make their own pizzas using toppings of their choice. Chef Derek brought lots of ingredients with him so many of the teachers were also able to get involved in making their own pizzas too!

VISITORS

OTHER

During the summer term as part of a scheme of work on animal welfare, both the primary and secondary students in the school room were visited by the north London charity All Dogs Matter. During the visit the children were able to ask questions about the role of their rescue centre and talk about their own experiences of dogs. They also got to look at the charity’s website and see the dogs who were waiting to be homed. The visitors kindly brought some dogs along which the children could pet and ask questions about.

To end the session all children were given the opportunity to choose some names for new dogs arriving at the rescue centre. Since the visit we’ve found out they have used all of the names suggested by the children:

Joe

Sho- Sho

Diesel

Daisy

Jo - J o

We were also very lucky to have workshops led by Bletchley Park. Students learnt about the history of the Enigma Machine and how it was used to send coded messages during World War II. Students also made their own Enigma machine using a Pringles tube!

ter x De

Holly

An gu

s

POETRY

WEEK

30th SEPT - 4th OCT ‘19

Poetry Week 2019 was a huge success. The theme was ‘Truth’ and students at GOSH and UCH took part in writing about different ways of showing truth and also how it can be stretched.

Poems were written as haikus, as boasting poems, as secrets, using two voices and pretending to be sorry.

There were also some excellent performances. The work was shared on Google+ so that students and their teachers could read the poems and see how wonderfully creative our pupils are.

The focus wasn’t only used in English lessons as students in STEM combined their Sphero programming with the poems they had written and used the ideas of ‘boasting’ poems in Science.

The competitions were very hard to judge as the standard was so high but here are the winners: Early Years: Malinsa for her poem ‘Through My Window I See’ where we had to guess what she could and could not see.

Primary: Rafi for his fabulous haiku on food.

Primary: Lucas for his wonderful poem ‘Word of a Lie’.

Primary Performance: Angelina for writing and performing her poem ‘Word of a Lie’ which was funny and beautifully read.

Secondary: Teagan for her clever ‘boasting’ poem that helped us learn about the lungs.

Secondary Performance: Mariama for writing and performing her poem ‘My Teachers’ which she read with excellent expression.

CURIOUS

MONDAYS

Here at the hospital school we offer educational input for children from the age of 2 years who have long ward admissions. We work within the guidelines of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum (EYFS). We endeavor to provide the best experience possible for our pupils during their time as inpatients. With that in mind we have introduced ‘Curious Mondays’. During our ward sessions, where appropriate, we focus on how children are using the ‘Characteristics of Effective Learning’ during a child-initiated session. We bring a selection of activities to provide an enabling environment where they can explore freely and be more ‘in charge’. If you have any questions about how we work with children in the EYFS, please come and see us in the hospital school.

Here are some of our curious pupils in the Early Years!

Arya is 3 and is on Kangaroo Ward. She never knows what to expect on a Monday from her teacher Kate!

Abdul Rehman is 4 on Squirrel Ward - his curiosity is set free on Mondays with Brigid.

Sumayyah is 2 on Fox Ward – teacher Emily never knows in what direction Sumayyah will take the session!

MATHS

OF THE MONTH

Each month, pupils at the hospital school work on a ‘Maths of the Month’ problem or puzzle and share their work using our online Google+ community. In September, students completed an activity titled ‘Roll a Picasso’ and here are some of the pieces of art that were produced as a result.

FRIENDSHIPS

WARDS

ON THE

Children taught on the ward can share their learning with others by video call. They have fun sharing their ideas and building friendships along the way. Jack and Bruno enjoyed giving each other instructions to build lego models while Angelina and Evie wrote a recipe for friendship and learnt about each other’s talents. Rafi and James shared their love of cooking when making cookies during their design and technology lesson and Amal and Evie performed their Makaton video of ‘Courage’ by Pink, to the wider school community.

MAGIC

ITS A KIND OF During the first half term of this school year, the primary schoolroom worked hard on their topic ‘It’s a Kind of Magic’. With learning based around magical fiction, pupils wrote poems, created 3D magical scenes, made wands, painted pictures, designed and made magical creatures and much more. Here is some of their work.

SKIES

TO THE

Ronak took to the skies and enjoyed lots of work about his favourite subject – aeroplanes! We were lucky enough to be able to email Kara, who works at Heathrow. She answered his questions, sent some gifts and invited him to come and visit. He made posters, books and carried out maths calculations all linked to his topic.

BOOK

REVIEW

Reading for pleasure is something we encourage for all our pupils. In the schoolroom at GOSH every afternoon starts with time for quiet reading. Here is a review of a recent read from one of our secondary pupils.

GALLERY

OCTOBER

The hospital school partners with many organisations in the local community to enrich different aspects of the curriculum that we plan for our pupils. One of our strongest links is with the October Gallery. We regularly take groups of children and young people to visit the gallery and, for those who cannot leave the hospital for such visits, their education team also runs workshops in the school rooms at both GOSH and UCH and in our Activity Centre during school holidays.

This autumn we took pupils to see their latest exhibition ‘Life through extraordinary Mirrors’ – a group exhibition on place, identity and human experience. Pupils got to explore the works, discuss their favourite and least favourite pieces and then take part in a hands-on workshop where they created their own identity portraits inspired by the works around them.

SEND

We have been journeying under the sea and looking at what we find.

Leo found the bubbles, he initiated popping them.

Jaden found the sea turtle, he enjoyed exploring it with his hands.

Tye enjoyed watching the water fall, he used his arm to signify the start of the activity.

SCHOOL

OTHER

Fahida on Giraffe ward This term I have been learning all about the Ancient Greeks. It is what my class are learning. I have made mosaics and written a book. I also found out about pots and houses. It is a great topic to learn, you should try it!

Jess on Fox ward This is Whizzy the Wizard!

But don’t worry, he usually only does good magic!

Jack on Giraffe ward I have been learning about WW2. My Dad met a German pilot who told him this amazing story.

She has been completing some spooky pieces of work on the ward.

NEWS The main character, Maia, begins a new life with relatives who live beside the Amazon river in South America. As Maia travels by boat down the Amazon she sees houses built on stilts to prevent flooding. Izzy looked at images of houses like these on the internet and then used Minecraft to create a house on stilts similar to the ones that Maia saw from the boat.

In the schoolroom, Izzy was reading ‘Journey to the River Sea’

by Eva Ibbotson.

Nerea on Elephant ward has been learning about life during the Tudor period just like her home school class.

Nerea was keen to learn about the succession to the throne and showed great determination in her research. She collated her research together on this very informative poster, which she is looking forward to taking back to her home school.

Samaviya on Eagle ward was inspired by Nerea’s Tudor work and made her own poster about Henry VIII.

SPORTS

DAY

8th JULY ‘19

At the end of the summer term pupils took part in 2019’s hospital school ‘GOSH Games’. With special Sports Day passports in house colours, pupils earned points for their house by participating in a range of indoor and outdoor events. All the events engaged pupils in developing their coordination, strength, concentration, reactions, focus, aim, stamina and, most importantly, pupils were encouraged to keep practising and do their best.

Some traditional events included the egg and spoon race, juggling, keepie-uppies, wet the teacher, hula hooping and hoopla and some modern additions to the games included new-age kurling, completing an obstacle course by programming a small robotic toy called a Sphero and measuring reaction time on a computer game.

2019’s winning house was

PRIZEGIVING At our Prizegiving service the next day, prizes were awarded to Sports Champions of all ages who had shown particular skill in one or more of the events. Friendship awards were also given to those who demonstrated special care or support for others during the games and Determination awards went to those who showed real effort even in events that they found challenging.

We were also very lucky to be joined by a special guest, former GOSH patient and Paralympic athlete Olivia Breen, who spoke to the pupils, families, teachers and hospital staff who attended the event about her own personal journey to becoming a ‘Sports Champion’ and the determination it took to get there.

Other special awards presented at Prizegiving were Bronze Level Arts Award (Trinity College London) for two secondary pupils, the Tower Mint Prize for designing a new 50 pence piece, a Special Friendship award and a Star of the Year award. Some prizes were presented to pupils in the hospital chapel where the event took place and some were sent up to wards, where pupils joined the service remotely.

AWARD

ARTS

Five students achieved their Bronze Arts Award in the summer term. They took part in a wide range of arts activities including music, drama, photography, batik, creative writing and many more. Some students went on a visit to the October Gallery and others worked with artists visiting the hospital.

Each student’s portfolio was original to them and they all invested their time, effort and talent to create some excellent work.

Michael, Kaychanel, Teagan, Jeff and Sophia!

A huge congratulations also to Jessica who has gone beyond our school reward system, earning many house points for herself and Team Savannah. She has worked incredibly hard throughout the year and was awarded ‘Star of the Year’ at our end-of-year prize giving in July.

Well done, Jessica!

SUMMER

IN THE CENTRE

Summer in the Activity Centre was a huge success this year. Over 800 children and young people visited the Centre to take part in a full range of creative workshops.

We began by welcoming Jim Parkyn from Aardman Animation who has worked on films like Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run and Shaun the Sheep. In this fun, hands-on session the young people got creative with clay and discovered how to make their own model of a famous character from Wallace & Gromit.

The holidays continued with many opportunities to get creative and try new things. Including; gaming in the Den, T-shirt design, rock painting, dance, sculpture, photography, cross-stitch, clay, cartoons and storytelling.

We were also joined by experts from the National Portrait Gallery, making wigs, punk fashion, pom-poms and animations.

There was lots of gooey, gloopy, glorious slime fun. We enjoyed getting messy making slime using a tried and tested safe slime recipe.

Many more exciting partnerships with the October Gallery, Discover Story Centre, Tiny Toes Ballet, The Rig, The School of Noise and The Movement Factory created a fantastic summer of fun.

Watch out for more exciting activities coming in the next holiday!

ART

WITH LIZ

The term ended, before the Summer holiday, with a sketching trip to Coram’s Fields.

Children made folded sketchbooks then used watercolour and pencil to sketch views that caught their eye.

The Autumn term started with the secondary art group looking at everyday items as inspiration for their artwork.

Some young people on the wards made sketchbooks full of drawings of everyday items in their rooms.

Meanwhile, the primary art group made their own oil pastel and acrylic paint scraperboard London skylines. They looked at the contrast between colour and dark paint as they scraped their images into the surface.

LTC Working with a child or young person with communication difficulties?

The ‘Let’s Talk Communication’ pack is now on all inpatient wards!

Includes: Includes: Makaton signs, symbols, choosing boards, Makaton signs, Symbols, Choosing Now and Next boards and more!! boards, Now and Next boards and more!

Speak to your play worker/specialist for more information or call the hospital school on ext.

8269 and ask for the SEN team.

ACTIVITY

THE

CENTRE

Level 2, Southwood Building

Open to everyone INPATIENTS, OUTPATIENTS & SIBLINGS of all ages

Monday - Friday 10am -12.30pm & 2pm - 4.30pm a drop in space with:

• Indoor and outdoor toys/activities • Arts & crafts • Gaming and much more Pop in so we can explain more about what’s on offer.

Tel: 020 7813 8273 or email: activitycentre@gosh.camden.sch.uk