Working in partnership with Hereward College
SEND IASS gave Hereward College a brief - to build a young peoples Website, to showcase the work that our young people with SEND do.
The lecturer's at Hereward College incorporated this Brief into the Level 2 and 3 ICT courses.
This project took just over a year to complete.
Chris and Eloise from SEND IASS visited Hereward College around once a month to look at the work being done. The students from Hereward came up with various grapics and webpages here is an example of some of the work that was completed.
This project created a great partnership between Hereward College and SEND IASS it also gave the students at Hereward a real insight into the world of work, and how to follow a design brief set by a company.
Here is some of the examples of the work that the students from Hereward developed for us, you will see that our mascot CHYP who features in our website was designed by a student incorporating our SEND IASS colours.
Yahya - Henley campus City College
In year 11 I was attending Sherbourne Fields school. I was 16 and I wanted to leave really badly but I had a discussion with my parents and we decided that I should stay on. I stayed there for another 3 years and left in year 14. Unfortunately, at that I did not pass my exam and only obtained 1 qualification in I.T. I feel that I did not do as well because I was not enjoying the experience.
The courses were at Sherbourne were picked for me and I didn’t really want to do them.
In my final year at Sherbourne I spoke to my careers adviser and they advised me to look at a number of colleges Henley College, Hereward and City. I visited all 3 and decided that Henley was the one for me as it felt like it was easy for me to get around.
I began at Henley on an Engineering course but it didn’t work out due to not being able to work with some of the equipment due to my physical ability. Frances Gibbons, who is the Learning Support and Safeguarding manager, spoke to me about transferring onto a suitable course. I decided to join the Media LV1 course. I passed this course and then moved on to the I.T LV2 course. I passed this the following year with MM. This enabled me to join the LV3 Extended Diploma Course in I.T. Last year I passed the first year with flying colours. I am now on the 2nd year of this course. I am currently going through the process of applying for University and I would hope to get on the Computer Security course at De Montfort in Leicester and then progress onto the post-graduate course in the same field.
I prefer college over school because I am treated like an adult. I feel that I have more freedom and independence here than when I was at school. For example, we are allowed to leave the premises here. People are more mature at college. The other students don’t care what your abilities are whether you are disabled or not.
I have found it easy to make friends here even though in my first year here I was scared that I would find it hard to make friends transitioning from special education to mainstream once again. The first couple of weeks were tough but I soon settled down. I had previously been in mainstream education at primary level but I was picked on and bullied. This was the main reason was I was scared about going into mainstream education again. At primary school I had no friends or no-one to talk to and I was a bit of a lone ranger. Luckily this hasn’t been the case here at college.
I can cope with the workload at college. I receive support in class but not in all of my lessons as I am learning to work independently now as well. This will help me when I go to university. I also access the workshop sessions and work independently at home as well.
I like to play football inside and outside of college as well as play magic gathering at break times. I also go to the college's Social Centre at dinner to play table tennis, pool and chess. I have a good laugh in there and I have made lots of mates in there too.
I am also learning to drive at the minute as well.
Learner support have helped in a number of ways whilst at college. They take notes for me in class. Sometimes they will scribe for me and help me through the process of getting things like a bus pass sorted or breaking down assignment briefs and looking at assignment schedules and helping with my workload.
Coventry Special School Shadow SEND Board
Wow! Haven’t we got news for you!
On 1 March the very first Shadow SEND board was hosted by Sherbourne School.
Three students from Sherbourne, two from Riverbank, two from Corley School and three from Baginton Fields Woodfield School sent their apologies and promised to be there next time.
Also there was some of our schools staff, Eloise from The CYHP shop and Meredith from the Local Authority.
Firstly we all introduced ourselves and talked about why we were at the meeting, it was good for the students from the schools to all get to know each other.
Meredith from the Local Authority showed us the new plans and design for the Local Offer.
We discussed what should be included in the Local offer and made some ready good suggestions, we thought it might be good to have some videos made by us to show what services are available in Coventry we thought it might be good to film the videos in the different buildings that we may have to go to.
We also talked a lot about how we could make the Local Offer accessible for everyone, we talked about how the words could be read back to you, and how we would like there to be a sign interpreter included on the website.
We discussed some of the services that our members use now that are not included yet in the Local Offer.
Meredith explained that once it is up and running we will be able to have a go at using it and finding out information. We will then be able to give further information.
We then had a break and Sherbourne had provided us with lots of drinks and Biscuits.
Next we decided if we wanted to design a pin badge for us to wear. We looked at different shapes and designs of badges and had a vote to see which shape and design we wanted. Some of the schools already have badges for their school councils and other activities and it was useful as some of the students were wearing their badges so we could all get an idea of what ours might look like.
We also considered what colours we would like to use, we looked at all of the schools different uniform colours and made the decisions from that. We also thought about how we were all from Coventry and we should maybe try to use sky blue in the colour.
We thought about what we could call ourselves, Cov AmbasSENDors is a name that was already about, but we also thought about some other names, as we felt it might be a bit long.
Eloise is going to come up with some designs that we can choose from next time.
The meeting then came to a close after we talked about what date to hold the next meeting.
Wow! Haven’t we got news for you!
On the 1st of March the very first Shadow SEND board was hosted by Sherbourne School.
3 students from Sherbourne, 2 from Riverbank 3 from Corley School and 3 from Baginton fields Woodfield School sent their apologies and promised to be there next time.
Also there was some of our schools staff, Eloise from The CYHP shop and Meredith from the Local Authority.
Firstly we all introduced ourselves and talked about why we were at the meeting, it was good for the students from the schools to all get to know each other.
Meredith from the Local Authority showed us the new plans and design for the Local Offer,
We discussed what should be included in the Local offer and made some ready good suggestions, we thought it might be good to have some videos made by us to show what services are available in Coventry we thought it might be good to film the videos in the different buildings that we may have to go to.
We also talked a lot about how we could make the Local Offer accessible for everyone, we talked about how the words could be read back to you, and how we would like there to be a sign interpreter included on the website.
We discussed some of the services that our members use now that are not included yet in the Local Offer.
Meredith explained that once it is up and running we will be able to have a go at using it and finding out information. We will then be able to give further information.
We then had a break and Sherbourne had provided us with lots of drinks and biscuits.
Next we decided if we wanted to design a pin badge for us to wear. We looked at different shapes and designs of badges and had a vote to see which shape and design we wanted. Some of the schools already have badges for their school councils and other activities and it was useful as some of the students were wearing their badges so we could all get an idea of what ours might look like.
We also considered what colours we would like to use, we looked at all of the schools different uniform colours and made the decisions from that. We also thought about how we were all from Coventry and we should maybe try to use sky blue in the colour.
We thought about what we could call ourselves, Cov AmbasSENDors is a name that was already about, but we also thought about some other names, as we felt it might be a bit long.
Eloise is going to come up with some designs that we can choose from next time.
The meeting then came to a close after we talked about what date to hold the next meeting.