VSSS news update - Spring 1 2021

Update on ways of working during Covid restrictions

Since the start of the new term, the activities of Virtual School Sensory Support have remained limited by the restrictions we must observe due to COVID-19. Staff are continuing to work from home while offering remote support to as many children and young people as we can.

We know some of your children and young people are attending school while others are receiving remote education. If they are experiencing difficulties accessing education because of their deafness, vision loss or multisensory impairment, please contact their named VSSS teacher to see what we can do to help. If you do not know the contact details for a specific teacher, please contact us either on 01603 704040 or sensorysupport@norfolk.gov.uk and one of us will respond to you.
Despite COVID restrictions, last term and over the Christmas holidays, VSSS was still able to offer some activities specifically for vision impaired and deaf children and young people. The write ups below give some insight into these events.

It is very difficult to predict how the COVID situation is likely to unfold with any degree of accuracy so, as we move into 2021, I wish everyone a safe and COVID free year.

Kate Stocks, Headteacher, Virtual School Sensory Support kate.stocks@norfolk.gov.uk

Christmas quiz activity

On December 9th VSSS hosted a Quiz session for Year 7 pupils. Many of the students had met each other through previous activities at the Snowsports Centre and Gressenhall however there were some new faces so we started with introductions and a general catch up. Students had fun comparing the amount of homework they received since starting at High School. Some students reported that they were finding High School harder than Primary School and others said it was easier. Importantly they all agreed that they liked it and were enjoying the experience.

We then started the quiz, the first round focused on films and Christmas song titles, by the end of this round lots of family members had joined the quiz which was great fun! The second round focused on hearing technology, naming the parts which can be tricky and finding out about each other's technology. The final round focused on names of chocolate bars. This was everyone's favourite round and a chance to find out who wears the chocolate Queen or King crown at home - it wasn't always one of the children!

The students were asked to name one thing they were most looking forward to about Christmas, the answers ranged from spending time with the family, or presents to Christmas food. This resulted in some lovely drawings using the annotate function on Zoom!

Finally, we asked students for their feedback. There were lots of ???? and scores ranged from 7 to 10 out of 10. Everyone wanted to take part in another quiz and suggested rounds on football and computer games. We are hoping that young people might like to come up with some questions for next time. It was a lovely evening and great to see the students interacting and enjoying themselves.

We even got to meet some of the pets at home including a snake called Jumanji!

A festive baking bonanza

At the beginning of the festive break, the VSSS habilitation team arranged some festive group baking sessions making lots of Christmas goodies using skills the students had been taught during the course of the school year. George Rose donned her apron and modelled every stage of the baking process which was then beautifully followed by the children and young people with vision impairment (CYPVI).

We were entertained by the children with renditions of Christmas songs as the flour fell like snow around the kitchens of Norfolk. Some excellent puff pastry sausage rolls were made that didn't make it to supper time and some delicious crunchy festive biscuits, including the biggest family of Daschunds made by one dog enthusiast.

Independent living skills sessions will continue to be delivered remotely by the Habilitation team during the Covid pandemic. For more information please contact georgina.rose@norfolk.gov.uk

Vision Norfolk - support and events for VI Children and Young People

Vision Norfolk (formerly NNAB) provision for VI Children, Young People and Families would like to make contact with as many of you as possible across Norfolk.

They offer a range of support and activities for families across Norfolk so please get in touch with Barbara Dunn for further information and to be included on the mailing list. You can either e-mail barbara.dunn@visionnorfolk.org.uk or phone 01603 561242.

Vision Norfolk Children, Young People and Families services have been really busy over Christmas delivering activities and support to Families across Norfolk. The virtual Christmas Quiz was especially popular, great fun and attracted a lot of families. The Christmas Party went down a snowstorm and we were joined by Father Christmas and special thanks to Captain Fantastic (Victoria Wiseman) who kept the children entertained throughout.

Thank you to everyone who suggests ideas for future activities, please keep them coming in. They are always welcome.

Over the next four months Vision Norfolk will have a toddler group running every Tuesday morning, a monthly Parent's Social get together and a new Teenager Group each month starting with young people from Cambridge (there will be pizza!)

Please contact Barbara using barbara.dunn@visionnorfolk.org.uk for more information or go to https://www.facebook.com/Vision-Norfolk-106255901263625

All these events will be run via Zoom for the foreseeable future. Vision Norfolk has found that running these virtual activities has made them more accessible to families that might otherwise have been unable to attend, so they may continue using Zoom as they go forward for some things.