Parent/Carer CAMHS workshops

Please click the link to access free courses with CAMHS. These are particularly useful if you are awaiting or do not have current access to CAMHS.

www.tewv.nhs.uk/services/camhs-training-tees

Parents and Carers Group

Tuesday 17th October 10am till 11am, all welcome!

Hartlepool Family Hub will be in attendance for any support or advice.

Hello from The Family Support Officers!

Louise and Mel are both looking forward to working alongside Springwell families and being here to support you and your child throughout school life. 

You will be invited to attend Parent and carer groups each half term and we also have lots of opportunities to meet throughout the year.

Please keep an eye on our school Facebook page, as well here for lots of information, updates and photographs of what your children get up to during their school day.

In the meantime, do not hesitate to give either of us a call or pop in to see us, we will be waiting with a cup of tea and biscuits!

Mel and Louise

01429 280600

hssmel.armstrong@Springwellschool.co.uk

hsslouise.dixon@Springwellschool.co.uk

Holy Island 2023

A group of 24 children are enjoying their time at Holy Island. The group have gone for 4 nights to explore the grounds, visit different places, play lots of games and, most importantly, to have fun!

50th Birthday!!

This year Throston and Springwell School will be 50!

To celebrate, our children joined together for an activity, then, we had a joint assembly and a party.

We had lots of dressing up, dancing, singing and fun celebrating our birthday.

No Pens Day

Today we are celebrating 'No Pens Day'!

A day to put down our pens and pencils and really work on our speaking and listening skills. We have had a variety of activites happening across the school, including PECs in the pool, cookery lessons and sensory activities. We have even had Animal Story-Animal Encounters in school with lots of animals for us to hold and talk about!

Easter School

3rd-6th April 2023

What an amazing time we have had at Easter School. We have made new friends, played games, made cakes, went swimming, ran, jumped, laughed and laughed and laughed!

Easter Service

30/03/23

We all enjoyed the Easter Service held at St Hilda's Church. The children did a wonderful job of retelling the Easter Story. All the pupils, staff and parents/carers thought it was a brilliant performance.

A happy, family Christmas at Springwell 

Christmas Bake Off Competition - 15.12.22

Within school we like to increase children’s participation and independence through all of our activities, and hope this can be reflected in our baking competition. As we understand that many of our children have sensory issues surrounding food and eating, we encourage children who cannot take part in baking to take part in a food-based experience relevant to them.

Here are some photos of the children baking with their families! 

PARTY!!

Nativity Service at St. Hilda's Church - 12.12.22

We invited parents and carers to join us at St Hilda's Church for our wonderful nativity service.

Kids Christmas Fayre - 02.12.22

The Children enjoyed lots of games and prizes during our Christmas Fayre.

Cleveland Police and Get Safe Online have free parent webinars available to help keep children safe when on the internet. 

We've been celebrating World Book Day over the last two weeks, one day is just not enough!

The children have enjoyed reading lots of books, joining in activities and dressing up. 

Hartlepool SEND IASS new website has now gone live. Feel free to have a look at what they offer as a service. 

Link: https://www.hartlepoolsendiass.co.uk/

Christmas Fayre

This year we haven't been able to have our usual Christmas Fayre with parents and carers, friends of Springwell and members of the community coming into school to buy our amazing crafts. Instead, we have decided to hold a Christmas Fayre just for our children.  We were able to play games, spend time on reading and writing. We had lots of communication and worked on social skills. We counted money and worked out change, read the rules of games, helped our friends and we had fun! Thank you to all the parents and carers who sent money in for the children to spend and thank you to the children for being so well behaved. We would love to do this again next year!

What a great offer from Tacpac. An amazing resource that lots of our children would benefit from at home. Take a look at the videos on their Facebook page and website about the set 5 resource.

18th - 24th May - Mental Health Awareness Week

During this difficult time it is important we look after our mental health. As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, the topic is Kindness. Have a look at the resources below for some activities and stories to help your child’s understanding of what kindness is and how they can be kind to others.

Don’t forget your mental wellbeing as a parent or carer is important too. Some of the links below are for adults. Talking to others can be helpful, our family support workers are available if you need to talk about yourself, not just your children. Email fsc.springwell@school.hartlepool.gov.uk

Thank a Teacher Day is coming!!

On May 20th teachers will be celebrated. There are lots of ways you can show your appreciation to your favourite teacher. Draw a picture, sing a song or colour in the thank a teacher star.
Send all your wonderful creations to fsc.springwell@school.hartlepool.gov.uk or use the hashtag #ThankATeacher #HowWillYouSayThankYou on social media. Have a look at some of the links for more ideas and resources to celebrate your teacher. Thank you!

27.04.20- 01.05.20

This week in school has been all about mini beasts! The children have explored the garden and play area for little creatures - some of the children have been brave enough to hold some! There’s been art work, baking sessions and the week’s not over yet.

Please see below, information from Daisy Chain - 

Hello all, 

A lovely piece of art made by our children to thank all the NHS workers for the amazing job they’re doing. The art is displayed in the main outpatients reception for all to see 🥰

Easter

Easter is a special time and we usually celebrate with fun activities, special assemblies and of course... the Easter Egg hunt! Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do that this year so instead we sent our Springwell Easter bunnies out to spread happiness and deliver Easter eggs to our children. It was so lovely to see our children at home, safe and excited. We hope you had a lovely Easter!

Follow the link below for the free cronavirus book, illustrated by Axel Scheffler who illustrated The Gruffalo. I hope you find it helpful. 

Hoppy Easter

Have a look at these ‘Gym Free Workouts’ from the NHS website. Keep active whilst staying safe at home. 

There are lots of services offering support and guidance around wellbeing and metal health. Don’t forget our Family Support Workers at Springwell are always available, email - fsc.springwell@school.hartlepool.gov.uk 

Keeping Safe Online!

Have a look at the link below from Hartlepool and Stockton Safeguarding Children Partnership on some top tips to keep safe whilst surfing the web. 

‘The light will shine through the colours to make life beautiful again!’

Please see below, information from Daisy Chain - 

Hello all, 

I am the family support manager at Daisy Chain and currently managing the telephone service we are delivering. Although our Daisy Chain site is closed I am emailing to let you know that all members of the family support team are still working hard from home to offer support to families and professionals during this challenging time. 

The family support service offer support to young people aged 0-18 years and families of those affected by a neurodevelopmental condition including, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, sensory processing differences. The service is open to those pre, during and post diagnosis. 

Please continue to signpost families to our service. The link below will take families to our online enquiry form. If a family is unable to complete this form they can directly email family.support@daisychainproject.co.uk to ask for support. 

https://www.daisychainproject.co.uk/telephone-support-service-covid-19

The support offered by the service is below (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Regular telephone check ins. 
• 1:1 bookable telephone appointments to offer information and advice. 
• Support with understanding your child’s needs. 
• Advice and guidance around understanding and managing communicative behaviour. 
• The team are able to create personalised visuals and structured timetables. 
• Sensory strategies and advice. 
• Signposting and referring to wider services and support. 

If families making the first contact is a barrier, with their permission please email the family.support email address with the families details and a brief description of the support needed and staff will make contact with the family first. 

We are also here to offer support and advice to professionals during the time. If you are a professional and need advice around supporting a family with a neurodevelopmental condition please contact us on family.support@daisychainproject.co.uk. 

I have tried my best to sent this email to as many of my contacts as possible but I am working from home without access to my usual contact list. Please forward this email to any relevant teams, staff or families.

Thank you, stay safe.

April Butterworth

Family Support - Daisy Chain

Please read this letter regarding the latest guidance on Free School Meal entitlement

Attachment & Trauma Award — March 2020

We are delighted to announce that we have received our Bronze and Silver certificates for the Attachment and Trauma Sensitive Schools Award during our first assessment visit. We are one of only 2 schools in the country to earn both awards in one visit. WOOHOO!

Family Fun

Take a look at some of these great activities to enjoy with your family.

The Book Trust

There are lots of free online books, games and quizzes on the book trust website. There are even videos on how to draw your favourite characters. 

The Body Coach

Keep active with Joe Wicks on YouTube doing daily P.E. Lessons, parents are encouraged to join in too....good luck!

World of David Walliams

Join the World of David Walliams for lots of free activities, games and resources to keep the whole family entertained. 

BBC - Kids’ Cooking recipes 

there are lots of exciting recipes to try wit the whole family. Enjoy a home made rainbow pizza for tea!

RSPB

Take a look at the RSPB website for lots of activities to do in your on garden. Try the ‘upcycling for nature’ page for lots of exciting recycling ideas.

NHS - Change for life

Have a look at some of the 10 minute shake up ideas to keep everyone active

CORONA VIRUS SOCIAL STORY AND WASHING OUR HANDS VISUAL. Some resources have been made up in light of our current health situation. Please feel free to use them at home with your family. If there is anything else I can do to help in this situation, please get in touch with school.

We love World Book Day so much that we have celebrated World Book Week!

We set ourselves a challenge of reading 100 books over the week and we've done it! The children brought in their favourite stories from home to share with their friends in class. Have a look at our amazing week.

Don't forget, Dani and Sarah are available in school to help or discuss any issues. Please feel free to ring them if you need any support.

Our first parent/ carer group of the year, 'Makaton Mates' was a huge success!  Makaton signs were modelled by staff and resources were given to parents and carers to take away to practice. We hope everyone who came to the session found it beneficial. 

We hope you can join us for the next session on Wednesday 26th February.

Happy New Year and welcome back to another jam packed year at Springwell School.

Our first event this year is 'Makaton Mates.' A communication session held with Dani and Cheryl to help parents and carers understand Makaton and learn some signs to hopefully promote communication at home.

Everyone is welcome to attend. 

Makaton Mates

Christmas!

Christmas is on its way. Please see below for a list of all the Christmas dates in school.

Our Christmas Fayre is on Friday 29th November 9.30am-1.30pm. Everyone is welcome to attend and support the school. All money raised will go towards our fundraising effort, the hydrotherapy pool.

Any donations of cakes, raffle or tombola prizes and gift bags would be gratefully received.

PACTSS - Parents And Carers Together at Springwell School

15th October 2019 - Communication

Today we had our first PACTSS session of the term. Cheryl our Speech and Language Therapy Assistant joined our group to discuss all aspects of communication within school. We talked about Makaton, symbols, pictures, communication aids, social stories and loads more. Parents were able to explore and try different resources that we have in school and ask any questions. 

Our PACTSS sessions are open to all parents and carers of Springwell School. We encourage everyone to come along and share experiences and knowledge with other parents. We will hold monthly groups around different topics. If you wish to attend or if you have any suggestions for topics for future sessions, please just turn up or speak to Dani, the Family Support Worker.

September 2019

We're back after a brilliant summer holiday. The children all look outstanding in their new school uniform. Thank you for all your support during the consultation. Please check the notice board on the home page for our Autumn term newsletter. Inside the newsletter is a list of important dates for the coming months and some reminders around P.E. kit and swimming kit. Remember Dani and Sarah are in school to help with any queries or questions, give them a ring in the school office, 01429 280600.

Looking forward to a great term!

Sports Day!!

Thank you to all the parents, carers and friends that joined us for our annual sports day. All pupils and staff had a great time, enjoying lots of races, activities and a jump on the bouncy castle! We raised over £200 from the tombola and the raffle. Thank you for your continued support. 

Parents And Carers Together at Springwell School

PACTSS

CAMHS - 21/05/19

Heidi from CAMHS was in school today to discuss behaviour. Heidi gave the parents and carers who attended the session some advice and tips around managing and helping to reduce behaviours. Heidi gave us lots of examples of putting ourselves in our children's shoes, 'how would you feel if...?' 'how would you react if...?' She also discussed the importance of breaks, time away, enjoyed activities etc. to help reduce stress and anxieties and help limit behaviours. CAMHS are in school on 18th June at 2pm to talk about ASD and ADHD. All parents and carers are welcome to attend the session. 

Community Dentist - 14/05/19

Thank you to everyone who came to our PACTSS group this morning. Nicola from the community dental team was in with lots of advice and tips around teeth brushing and oral hygiene. Nicola discussed different toothbrushes and toothpastes and techniques to try and encourage your children to brush their teeth. She also informed parents and carers about sugars in foods and how to choose healthy alternatives. Nicola even gave away some free toothbrushes and leaflets on oral hygiene. We also had a chat about what children do in school. Every child has their own toothbrush and toothpaste and are supported to brush their teeth every day at lunch time. If you would like any more information from Nicola or about oral hygiene in school please give Dani, our family support worker a ring.

The Reading Café

Introducing 'The Reading Café'! As part of this term's topic, Stories, we have decided to put on a reading cafe for every class. Parents will be invited into school to read and take part in activities with their child. We are hoping this will encourage some children to read at home and will be a brilliant bonding experience for children and parents. It will also give parents the opportunity to come into class and see what their child is learning. Look out for your invite to come and join your child's class in The Reading Café.

The Kids' Cafe - Anaconda Class

For Autism Awareness Week, Anaconda Class invited their parents and carers to The Kids' Cafe. The class spent a lot of time making sandwiches, quiche and cakes to serve to their customers. Parents and carers were greeted and shown to the cafe by our head waiter where the children waiters were ready to take orders. The children used menus with photographs of the food and served the customers with treats and drinks. The experience helped develop social skills, life skills as well as promoting independence, all of which are massively important for our children. Hopefully this is a project we can repeat!

The Reading Cafe - Caiman Class

Caiman Class invited their parents and carers to the reading cafe. Children were encouraged to bring their favourite book from home to share with their parents. The class have visited the library to look at different books and have brought some back to school to explore. We also explored Andrew's favourite cookery book. The children enjoyed following instructions, weighing out ingredients and making bread with their parents. The bread was then taken home to enjoy...whilst reading a story.

The Reading Cafe - Jaguar Class

Jaguar Class enjoyed going on a bear hunt this afternoon with their parents and carers. We read the story and took part in a sensory walk.

'We can't go over it, we can't go under it, oh no, we've got to go through it!'

The children, parents and staff enjoyed getting wet in the river, dirty in the mud and cold in the snowstorm. Here are the photos of our adventure. 

The Reading Café - Lion Class

Lion Class enjoyed the Reading Café this afternoon. Parents came in to school and enjoyed a teddy bear's picnic with cake and custard! We read different stories about bears and even played pass the parcel. All of the children, staff and parents enjoyed the afternoon and can't wait for the next one!

World Down Syndrome Day - 21.03.19

Children and staff enjoyed wearing their odd/coloured/patterned socks to raise awareness for World Down Syndrome Day!

10/12/18 - Christmas Fayre

Our Christmas Fayre was AMAZING! We had lots on sale, including crafts the children had made and crafts our Parent Group had made. Our raffle went well and the chocolate tombola was a popular choice with the children. We raised a massive £1047! This will help towards our new soft play area. Thank you to everyone who came.

Maisie

Maisie, a therapy dog and her trainer came into school to spend time with the children. Maisie was extremely well behaved and enjoyed the attention off all the children. Here are some photos of Lion Class

and Maisie!