These videos are excellent for early language development. They are very engaging for children and model important early language and concepts. This is useful for early years children who need support with their spoken language. Below is one of her videos but you can find the whole channel here.
Great sign-along stories made especially for SEN schools.
A charity that helps to buy SEN buggies, either a double buggy or single buggy. You can find out more about SEN buggies here.
Lego Therapy is a structured, play-based approach that uses LEGO building activities to promote social interaction, communication skills, and problem-solving abilities in children.
Read the latest Gesher Gazette below! Please click on the link below to view the video links.
Click on the link below to view the latest Gesher Gazette:
Read the latest Gesher Gazette below! Please click on the link below to view the video links.
Click on the link below to view the latest Gesher Gazette:
For the Autumn Year 9 project, we explored how to Respect, Engage, Accept, Care for, and Honour the world around us. This was linked to our school values and emphasised our R.E.A.C.H. goals. It was important for our students as they mature to begin thinking about their lives in and outside of Gesher School and how to be impactful within our community. Through this project, we aimed to teach students how to expand our window of tolerance through respecting and caring for ourselves, others, and our environment. Students explored the R.E.A.C.H. goals through scenario workshops, collaborative activities, observational drawings and self-reflection across multiple subjects including PSHE, Performing Arts, Art, Media, and P.E. As a final product and exhibition, students hosted a wellbeing day with a focus on the R.E.A.C.H. goals.
Teacher’s Reflections
“The project proved to be engaging and meaningful, aligning seamlessly with the start of the term and facilitating a smooth transition for students. However, lacking a core subject, the project struggled to capture the desired level of student engagement initially. The structure of the secondary timetable posed challenges, hindering Project-Based Learning (PBL) from becoming a central focus in the student’s learning journey. Despite these obstacles, the exhibition was a success, with students taking pleasure in showcasing their work to parents. The collaborative effort of many teachers played a crucial role in supporting the students and ensuring the success of the exhibition.”
– Tianna Maciver
Students’ Reflections
“I found the iceberg activity really interesting as the parents gave different opinions than mine and it was interesting seeing how everyone thought about each neurodivergent trait.” – Bea
“I really enjoyed my mindfulness workshop and I was really performing for everyone. I used my script and I really enjoyed playing my classmates games and having all the parents here.” – Moshe
“My highlight of the project was the Q and A. It was fun because we got to discover what the parents liked and didn’t like.” – Rafael
This term, students embarked on a reflective journey in which they identified whether life is fair and what equalities they may face, as well as personal triggers and how to overcome them. This project linked to the school’s R.E.A.C.H goals, and emphasised the importance of Respect, Engagement, Acceptance, Care and Honour to those around us. Through this project, we aimed to teach students how to communicate their needs in a situation they may feel is unfair and learn to build resilience. Students explored Animal Farm and looked at writing narratives with a similar theme. They also considered things that are enjoyable and calming to them, to help them get to a regulated state when needed. Students were able to apply their knowledge of plot mountains as part of narrative writing in English, to make an emotional plot mountain models. Students also explored mental health and wellbeing careers to better understand people in the working world whom they can turn to for support as they progress beyond Gesher. In Art, students created self-portraits inspired by the artist Frida Kahlo. For their exhibition, students created a gallery displaying their portraits and plot mountains.
Teacher’s Reflections
“This project was a lovely one to start with in the new year. It is crucial for our students to reflect on what they find challenging in the world and how to navigate their emotions in the world. Students were able to apply their knowledge about Frida Kahlo and her life in order to make their own portraits. They demonstrated unique and creative skills in making their plot mountains as some used clay and some used LEGO. The tools they established throughout this project are something that they can stay with them throughout their lives.”
– Bethany Rentall
Students’ Reflections
“I learned about mental health and emotions.” – Ivy
“I felt really happy with my finished product and was very proud of my work.” – Jack
“The most memorable part of my project was seeing the final product.” – Yitzi
This term in Keren, we looked at the important themes of transition and change as our students were handling the change from life as primary school students into secondary school students. Keren did an amazing job in English, planning, drafting and rewriting narratives exploring the theme of transition. They then voted on which story they enjoyed the most and using the skills they have been learning in Performing Arts, turned the story into a script. In Creative Art and Design, they designed their backdrops created puppets for each of their characters and explored characterisation and emotion in art. Our trip to Warner Brothers Studios to explore the puppetry and set design was very helpful in the creative process for our own show. As a class, Keren rehearsed their show before putting it to film to create a seamless final product!
Teacher’s Reflections
“Overall, it was a fun and meaningful exploration of the pivotal themes of transition and change and our final product was outstanding. It was lovely to see every student so engaged in the whole process from writing their stories to creating their puppets and ending with their show. It was a great way to get the students to be introspective and consider which emotions they feel whilst handling transition and change as well as strategies to manage such changes. The trip, in particular, was a highlight, watching the students take inspiration from the Harry Potter movies whilst having a great time was lovely. It would be lovely going forward to stretch the students to do a live performance instead to build their public performance skills and their confidence.”
– Aymane Hamidi
Students’ Reflections
“My favourite part of the project was doing lots of things like making big puppets, going on a school trip and writing stories.” – Chaim
“The project was fun because we all made puppets.” – Ben
“The highlight of the project was making the puppets. It was very fun because they were really hard to make, but it was nice when we finished them because I felt accomplished.” – Josh
“My favourite part was making the puppets because it was fun and it was something different than usual.” – Daisy
