Horton Lodge Community Special

School
Newsletter—Spring 2006

World Book Day

On Friday the 31st March the children and staff took part in World Book Day to raise
money for Book Aid, a worthy cause to purchase books for children in under developed
countries.

We raised a fantastic £44.35, which has now been sent away to

support this organisation.

Thank you to all parents for the wonderful costumes and for the
donations that we
received.

The children all

looked fantastic!

Visit from Mr Traves—Corporate Director

We were very privileged recently to welcome Mr Peter Traves, Corporate Director

of Children and Lifelong Learning into school. Mr Traves has always been a great
supporter of Horton Lodge and we are always very pleased to see him. We thought
you would be interested to read these excerpts from a letter we received following
his visit.

‘I came to the school with very high expectations. I have to say they were
exceeded. I was deeply impressed by the rigour of thinking and planning that
clearly takes place. I recognise that you set the tone and pace for this but it is
clearly embedded at all levels.‛

‘Most of all, I was delighted by the quality of learning I saw. High expectations
were set, clear structures were in place to support learning and high quality
teaching was delivered. As a result I saw children who clearly took pride in their
own progress.‛

‘In summary, I have been in education for 32 years and this is one of the very best
schools I have ever seen of any kind. Your pupils and parents are incredibly lucky.‛
Key Stage 2 visits and adventures 
The children from Key Stage 2 went to the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle in January to see the production of ‘A 
Christmas Carol’ 
They have also visited Ford Green Hall in Smallthorne. Here the children had the opportunity to take part in a 
range of activities including dressing up in Tudor clothes and playing with Tudor toys. The children also visited 
the Tudor gardens. 

The junior department has also benefited from the expertise of Steve Sargeant who is a specialist PE teacher. 
The children have thoroughly enjoyed the sessions that he organised for them. 
Many thanks to Steve for his time. 

Summer School PSFA Beetle Drive

As you are probably aware we are holding another The Parent Staff & Friends Association organised a
Beetle Drive. This was held at school on March 4th.
Summer School on 1st 2nd & 3rd August as well as a
summer camp for older pupils. The event was attended by many families and was a
great fun night out.
Places have been allocated on a first come first served
basis andthere are some places still available for the Watch this space for more fund-raising activities, to
daytime activities. support the school.

If you are interested in a place for your

child, please contact the school as soon as
possible.

Kiplings
The children in Kiplings have had the opportunity to take part in lots of different clubs and
activities this term.

Drama club ran a circus workshop that was attended by lots of children and their
parents as well as the Kiplings children. They learnt lots of different circus skills
and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Kiplings have also been on a visit to the Bowling Alley in

Macclesfield to celebrate one of the children‛s birthdays.
A thoroughly enjoyable evening out!

We have also been lucky enough for 2 art students from Staffordshire University to come and
work with the children on a regular basis. The children have had opportunities to experiment with
different art materials. The children have thoroughly enjoyed this fantastic opportunity.
 Dining Room Extension Dates for your Diary 
Work has started on the new dining room 24th April—Children & staff return to school

extension. It is hoped that this work will be 26th April—Bendrigg Information Evening, 7pm
completed by the end of the summer term. 6th May—Activity Day & Try a Bike Day

15th May—School photographs (individuals)

The extension will provide a pleasant
29th May—2nd June—Half Term
environment for the children to have their
5th—9th June—Bendrigg Activity Holiday
lunch and will also give us an additional space
to use for meetings, 8th June—School photographs (groups)

functions and parent 25th June—Annual Fun Day

workshops etc.  12th July—Parent‛s Evening

18th July—Sports Day

21st July—School closes for summer 

Just a reminder  Activity Day (10am—3pm) 

Please can you make sure that you contact the  The Activity Day on 6th May will run alongside 
school office if your child is absent from school.  the ‘Try a Bike’ day. 
If you wish to discuss the absence further with  For a donation of £5 per family you can come 
either the Headteacher, Class Teacher or  along to school with your children and use the 
School Nurse, the office staff will then be able  facilities, such as the swimming pool, the 
to transfer your call or get  adventure playground etc. There will also be 
someone to ring you back.  organised activities such as art and craft. 
You are very welcome to bring a 
picnic and hopefully the weather 
Tel—01538 306214  will be kind to us. If not we can 
always picnic indoors! 

Early Years visit to Britannia Building Society  Guns & Oatcakes 
Once again we were very fortunate to have toys  Drew Wheeldon, one of our taxi drivers, 
donated to school by Britannia Building Society.  (some of you may know him better as 
Britannia have supported us in this way for several  Robbie Williams!), is organising a concert 
years now and we are very grateful to them for their  and donating the money raised to Horton 
generosity. 
Lodge and The Lyme Trust. 
The event takes place on 16th June at the 
Some of the children from the Early Years went to  Victoria Hall in Hanley, Stoke on Trent. 
Britannia Head Office in Leek to receive the toys 
and particularly enjoyed all the attention from the  It starts at 7.30pm and tickets are £10 for 
local press.  adults, children and concessions £5. 

Many thanks to Mike Lewis  Tickets can be booked via 
at Britannia who organises  the box office on 0870 060 
this event. 6649 
.Parent Workshops  Links with Kuwait 
The Parent Workshops were a great success  Horton Lodge is widely recognised as a provider of
and enjoyed by the parents that attended.  excellent Conductive Education & Curriculum. We
There were opportunities to chat and look at a  frequently provide training and development for
range of resources and ideas that could be  other professionals. Our most recent link is with a
used in the home and it was great to hear that  new school in Kuwait, which school is striving to
parents did in fact try them out with lots of  provide Conductive Education for children in that
success.  country.

We hope to run these workshops again but  We are providing some training and development for

would appreciate any ideas and comments  staff in Kuwait. This project is very interesting and
regarding times to help us to  will offer a useful learning experience for some of
enable more parents to  our staff as they shared their knowledge with a
attend. We understand that it  developing school.
is sometimes difficult to 
attend events in the evening  This in turn will have a positive impact on what we
but parents who did attend  can offer to our pupils at Horton Lodge.
reported that they found the 
sessions very useful. 

The Parent Staff and Friends Association

The PSFA continues to meet to organise fundraising and social events.

On 6th May there will be a ‘Try a Bike‛ day held at the school, where specialist
representatives have been invited into school with equipment for your child to try out. You
are very welcome to bring siblings with their bikes to this event so that they can join in
the fun. Please remember to bring safety helmets

The next major fund raising event will be the Annual Fun Day which is due to be held on
Saturday 25th June. We would be very grateful for any donations of items for us to sell
and then would like to invite you all back to buy them back on the
day! If you have any fantastic ideas for fund raising please contact
Paula Riley (Chairperson) on 01298 83855.

Everyone is very welcome to come along to the PSFA meetings. The

next meeting is due to be held on Thursday 18th May at 8.30pm at
school. 

School Gym
All parents are welcome to use the equipment in the school gym. There is a
small cost of £1 a session to cover the cost of electricity—much cheaper than
all of the local health clubs! Please contact the school office for more
information. 
Parent Governors 
I would like to make parents aware of who their parent representatives are on the governing body. 
Mr Tim Collins, parent of Nina, who has been a pupil in the school since 2001. Tim is also a member of 
the curriculum sub committee. 
Mr Jonathan Parkes, parent of Anella, who has been in school since September 2000. Jonathan is a 
member of the finance sub­committee. 
Both Anella and Nina came to School for Parents prior to admission into the main school and are both 
now in the Juniors. As a result both Jonathan and Tim have a good understanding of the work that 
takes place in the school. 
If you have any questions or queries about the school, Jonathan and Tim would be only too pleased to 
help in whatever way they can. 
Their contact details are as follows:­ 
Jonathan Parkes  Tim Collins 
Telephone 01298 26599  Telephone 0788762780 
E mail jonathan@customersatisfactionuk.com  E mail tcollins@deloitte.co.uk 

Well Mums Workshop 
Our School Nurse, Vicky will be holding a ‘Well Mums’ workshop on May 
22nd 2006 at Horton Lodge School. 
Vicky will be covering areas such as diet, exercise, breast care, self 
esteem and a general MOT! 
Everyone is more than welcome to attend, it will be very informal with 
refreshments provided. 
If you would like to come please contact the school to give us some 
indication of numbers attending. 

If you have any other ideas of topics that you would like to discuss or have more 
information about, please feel free to contact Vicky prior to this date so that she 
can arrange it. 

Lunch with The Queen  Contact Information 
As you may be aware the Queen and the Duke of  If you have any change of contact details, please 
Edinburgh visited Stafford last week. Jon Harris, Chair  remember to let the school office know so that this 
of Governors, was invited to attend lunch with the  information can be updated on our school records. 
Queen in recognition of his contribution to our 
community as Chair of the 
Governors.  Many thanks
Re-launch of RDA School Nurse

Horton Lodge and Endon Riding School have
recently re-launched the Riding for the
Disabled at Endon Riding School.
It is hoped with the close liaison between
school and the riding stables
the children will gain
maximum benefit from horse
As you are all aware by now, Vicky Edge is our school
nurse and is always happy to support the children‛s
needs in any way she can. You are welcome to contact
Vicky at school at any time.
Vicky will be starting to run a ‘Drop-In‛ clinic on
Monday mornings for anyone who has any health
related queries that they may have regarding their
child.

riding. The first clinic will run on 8th May and will take place
in the School for Parents room.

And Finally……. 
As you can see from the Newsletter we have had another busy term in school. 

The children have, as always, risen to the various challenges that have been presented  to them. They 
have continued to work hard and have achieved lots of new skills. 

I am very proud to include in this newsletter excerpts from the letter  that we received from Mr Traves, we 
very much appreciate his comments. 

I would like to extend my thanks to all those who continue to support us with donations and fund raising. 
We are expecting the plans for the sensory corridor to arrive at the beginning of May and hope to make a 
start on this development as soon as possible. Fund raising has also paid for various pieces of ICT 
equipment and play equipment, as well as subsidising the children’s visit to Bendrigg Adventure Holiday 
again this year. 

As spring approaches the donkeys will return to school and the children will be able to start caring for 
them and learning all about stable management. 

Please remember that parents are always welcome in school. If you have any questions or comments, 
please do not hesitate to contact me. 

I am sending a comment sheet for you to complete, if you could return this to school it will help us to 
continue to improve the education that we offer to the children. 

I would like to wish you all a very Happy Easter and look forward to seeing all the children back in school 
on 25th April. Please remember that you are welcome in school at any time to work with your child or to 
discuss any issues that you may have. 

Ruth