Everyday stuff

It's very hard to post an 'everyday blip' but, if these blips are being recorded for posterity, then surely everyday details are important?

I went back to work after half term. Soon realised I felt all at sea after the break. So did some of my colleagues, who spoke of feeling tired. Some students were asleep. Big news is that two staff members and a student are off to Buckingham Palace tomorrow, to the Queen's garden party! The student was nominated by a local personage, Dame Janet Trotter, after having stood for election and gained a seat on his local parish council. He is only 18, so is young to be a councillor, never mind being affected by cerebral palsy to a considerable degree. That boy will go far...

My plan was to take photos of all the equipment that I use every day, so that I can have a quick-flick reference album. It is easy to forget something. Several students need individual toys that cannot be shared; others need individual areas of the hall which must be kept the same every day to minimise upset; some need space to drive their chairs or use their walkers; some have a timed programme of activities so that they always know what they are 'supposed' to be doing, and can therefore feel safe.

Then there are gym balls. and gym mats, all of which are used for physio, and the iPad, and cleaning materials, and music, and so on. Students have to be hoisted out of their chairs on to special day beds, or on to mats, and given stretches or physio exercises. There are up to seventeen students, and a crew of three or four staff, plus or minus a volunteer or adult student. Today there were four staff members, two students, one of whom has a Guide dog; there was also a 'therapy dog' volunteer with a small dog that she brings in regularly as part of the 'Pets as Therapy' scheme. The students love stroking Lucy, the little dog! As we had plenty of adults, I put on The Best Disco Album in the World on the stereo via my iPod, and the staff had a bit of a boogie, while the students giggled or slept, because they were tired too.

When the bell rang, I had to clear the hall at top speed, as there was a play rehearsal about to start. However, one of the students was asleep on a giant beanbag in front of the stageing, which meant that it could not be moved. I never did find out what happened next, as I had to leave and catch the bus that would take me three miles up the valley to my next job at the Rehab, of which I will not write today.

These toys above belong to one student: he likes playing with snakes, and Slinkies, and the sound of catalogue pages being riffled. The snakes can't be realistic-looking because a couple of the staff have a fear of snakes. This child also enjoys having stories read to him. His communication aid is used by him to 'speak' very complex number sequences using terms that I don't fully understand, such as 'exponential'. He is supposed to have a timed programme of events, but after some thought I have decided to simplify things by having him and another lad, who is also on a timed programme, responding to the same timer, rather than having two separate timers that must be heard above music, and a keyboard being played at full throttle!

Our school got a Good in the recent OFSTED inspection, and it will be heartbreaking for students, parents, and staff if it has eventually (ie not this year) to close through lack of referrals, and therefore funding, from the Local Authority, GCC.