Another fantastic week for the Awesome Archie team 🎉 My week began with a super exciting email. As you may remember from last weeks post, Archie and I are now delighted to be collaborating with Autism Unlimited. This is something that we are really chuffed about. I was contacted by Jenny Chapman (Autism Unlimited training coordinator) who asked me if I would be interested in completing the Tier one Signalong training . I have already completed and LOVED the beginners training and once my tier one has been completed I will have a licence to be able to educate the kids I support in schools. SO EXCITING!
We are currently creating a brand new assembly to incorporate this theme and we will deliver this in schools across Dorset and Hampshire as of March 2023 🙂
Thanks Jenny for this incredible opportunity, I cannot wait to get started 🙂
Donated in-school support.
This week we have donated to two different schools. One received a “Post Office” role play kit and the other, a Chemistry set… child appropriate of course 😉
These two kits were donated by YOU. You improved the effectiveness of two schools, that are desperately trying to provide a well rounded but individualised education to children with special educational needs. Thankyou!
We (as always) are gratefully still collecting out grown children’s clothes and shoes. Each term we proudly take donated items to the Dorset Children’s Foundations Treehouse . Each item supports families of children with disabilities and kids in the local community. It is such a joy to see what your donations do to help. THANKYOU. Sarah Miller, Hannah and Toby, Thankyou for your AWESOME donation this week xxx
Staff that go above and beyond.
At Awesome Archie non profit we sadly hear stories daily from parent/carers that are left hurt or disappointed by a school, LEA or service. This obviously breaks my heart but I get it. It wasn’t so long ago that we were in our own horrendous and genuinely scarring fight for our own son. However, this does mean that when I hear or experience those that are going above their job description to help a kid in need I LOVE IT and I cannot help but name and shame!
Two awesome educators have made me weep with joy this week and I cannot wait to thank them publicly. First, Mrs Linda Poulter, the ELSA at the Priory School in Christchurch. This week I spoke to Mrs P about a situation that I needed her support with. The matter is personal and, of course, private so I will not disclose the ins and outs but Linda spent an entire afternoon caring for a child who is suffering with some emotional turmoil and I am forever grateful. Being an ELSA is an incredibly tough job. Not only is Linda a fulltime teaching assistant, which let me tell you is a job in itself, she lovingly takes on the role of emotionally supporting those under her care. Linda Poulter, you are truly awesome.
Finally, this awesome creature…
This is William Gilpin’s Beech class teacher, Miss Dalton. I have been lucky enough to work or volunteer in schools for well over a decade now and am blessed to get to meet many teachers. I have been volunteering in Miss Dalton’s class since September of 2022. In our class we have a fairly high number of children with special educational needs and it is my privilege to go in and help those children catch up with any work that they may have missed or go over what they may not have understood. We all know that every child learns differently and some take a little while longer to process what has been taught. I can honestly say that I have rarely seen such an incredible teacher. Miss Dalton is endlessly patient, continually encouraging and teaches every single child in her classroom to their own ability and understanding, she meets them where they are! The children absolutely adore her and I am so incredibly grateful for the work she puts in every single day.
Thank you Miss Dalton for allowing me to be a small part of Beech class and keep up the unbelievably awesome work!
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Rebecca Clapcott.