Visit to Saint Gerardus March 2012

Six members of staff from Lakeside School visited Saint Gerardus School in Belgium for 4 days.  We also met our colleague, who spent two weeks work shadowing within the school, sharing her knowledge of Intensive Interaction and learning more about teaching stories and communication. 

We were greeted at the school by all the students and staff who made us feel very welcome.  We learnt about the oganisation of the school and funding of the whole establishment.  It was interesting to see how the multi-agency approach works, all within the campus of Saint Gerardus. 

The school building was very well planned for the needs of the pupils, there was plenty of space for independent movement. All students were entitled to equipment to help them increase their mobility and access the curriculum. We visited Ter Heide provision which provides care for people with multiple difficulties.  This highlighted the different approaches to SEN education in the UK and Belgium, which was interesting to see.

We had a presentation prepared by a secondary student in English, using his Tellus computer.  He was a nonverbal student with multiple physical difficulties, who used his foot and hand to operate a computer programme to communicate with us. We were very impressed with this technology, and will investigate similar equipment in the UK.

Staff from Lakeside and the Podebrady, then  taught a planned lesson around the theme of the Circus, through out the school.  In the afternoon students presented their activities to the whole school. We said good bye to all the students and staff and thanked them for their hospitality.

Through out the visit we were made very welcome and enjoyed the planned hospitality from the whole school. 

Onze meeting in België is achter de rug. We hebben onze partners ontvangen in onze school. Op donderdag maakten ze kennis met de kinderen. In de namiddag brachten we een bezoek aan Ter Heide in Genk. Vrijdag verzorgden onze gasten een activiteit in de verschilllende klassen. De kinderen genoten ervan en probeerden enkele woorden te zeggen in het Engels. In de namiddag genoten we samen van de zelf verzorgde cirucusvoorstelling die ons circusproject afsloot.  Aan het einde toonde elke klas wat ze gemaakt of gedaan hadden tijdens de voormiddagactiviteit met de Comeniuspartners. We waren allemaal verrast toen de Tsjechische partners het lied "Vrolijke vrienden" volledig in het Nederlands zongen.
Zaterdag bezochten we Brussel waar onze directeur Ludo een rondleiding gaf. Natuurlijk was er ook  nog tijd om te shoppen. 's Avonds werd de meeting afgesloten bij een lekker maal.
Er werden weer heel wat ervaringen uitgewisseld tijdens deze meeting. We kijken dus al uit naar de volgende.

Contactmeeting in Belgium

Van woensdag 14 maar tot zondag 18 maart zijn onze Tsjechsiche en Engelse partners in België op bezoek. We kijken er naar uit om hen kennis te laten maken met de kinderen van onze school.

From the 14th of March until the 18th our Czech and English partners will visit Belgium. It will be our second meeting. We are looking forward to let them meet the children of our school. We will show them how we work and let them be part of our school for a few days.

Twin Space

I have just linked Twin Space to our blog.  May be I should also put a link on e twinning.

Our Teachers

Here at Lakeside we are very excited about our first Comenius visit abroad!

We are trying to learn some Dutch.

Lots of the words are like English, so that is helpful!  We hope we can speak a little Dutch and understand a few things when we visit in March.

Het verhaal van Molletje/ The story of little Mole.

Het verhaal van Molletje kregen we uit Tsjechië. Het wordt nu verteld aan alle kinderen in onze school. We leren Molletje kennen. Hij is heel beroemd in Tsjechië. Molletje vertelt ons iets over Praag met zijn mooie bruggen en gebouwen. We leren ook iets over Podebrady. Dat is de stad waar onze partnerschool is. We hebben het mineraalwater uit Podebrady geproefd en dat is best lekker. Het is mineraalwater met een kersen of sinaasappel smaakje. We hebben ook lekkere koeken uit Tsjechië geproefd. Dat alles zat in de zak bij het verhaal van Molletje.

On the picture you can see children enjoying the story of little Mole (krtek). It's the story we got from our Tsjech partnerschool. We enjoy the story very much. Little Mole is telling us something about Praque with his beautiful buildings and bridges. He also told us things about Podebrady, the city where our partnerschool is. In Podebrady they have delicious mineralwater with a cherry or orange taste. We also taste Tsjech cookies, we like them very much.

Skype and Sensory story

We hope to Skype to the Czech Republic soon.  Let's hope the internet connection works!

Love the photos of our sensory story Lenka.  I hope all the students enjoy it.