Commemorating Armistice Day and Celebrating 50 Years
Assembly this week started with Deborah announcing that it is Jenny’s birthday, so we all sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her. Jamie also let us know that it is his local shopkeeper Chris’ birthday also, which he found out on his visit to him this morning. Over the weekend our pupils also commemorated 100 years since the end of World War 1 on Remembrance Sunday, with Islay class making their own Poppy wreaths.
Aidan then talked about our Pupil Voice Group, which will be meeting this Wednesday so they can decide what our Right of the Month will be. This will be announced at our next assembly.
To start ‘Look, Listen’ this week, Deborah showed us a video made by Children in Need, which showed a lot of schools taking part in fundraising events on the lead up to the big day on Friday. We will be having our own events through the week to raise money for Children in Need, including a Bring and Buy sale hosted by Islay, a Guess the Birthday competition created by Jura and a Duck Race held by Skye. Jamie will also be having a dance-a-thon, and our staff will be having a Bake-Off.
We then had our ‘News’ section as presented by Jack. In our Class News, Tiree has been learning about Diwali, and made lanterns and henna tattoos on paper hands. Jura has also started to learn about Diwali, after a week of focussing on Bonfire Night and Guy Fawkes. Jamie, Danny and David also went to see the bonfire and fireworks on November 5th. Our pupils in Barra class have been doing a great job at participating in arts and crafts, and have been getting quite messy due to all of the glitter and glue that they have been using! Thanks to Ben, Danny and Alfie, the Skye Class hot chocolate stand and superstore has been a success. In Islay class, Jack went on a trip to Greenroutes with Jamie, Adam and David. He commented that he thought it would be very boring but he ended up really enjoying his visit where he saw farm animals such as chickens, ducks and pigs, and he is keen to return in the future.
In other news, Armistice Day was marked with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel signing a book of remembrance in a railway carriage identical to the one in which the 1918 Armistice was sealed. The wildfires in California have also reached a grim milestone with the death toll reaching 31 people, and more than 200 people are still unaccounted for. In some happier news, a five minute scan has been developed by scientists that could be used to spot people at risk of dementia before symptoms appear. The researchers involved hopes that this may offer a new way to predict cognitive decline.
Jack then provided us with his Joke of the Week, which is:
‘I tried to sue the airport for losing my luggage. I lost my case.’
Jason then provided us with his own updates, firstly beginning with his experience at our 50th Anniversary Conference last week. Jason is a part of a film production group called Iceberg Productions, alongside a number of other individuals who are also supported by Scottish Autism. At the conference he had the opportunity to meet and interview Her Royal Highness, Princess Marie of Denmark – as well as take a quick selfie with her! He told us that she was very nice and down to earth. In his Asendo Hour update he let us know that his new mixtape, ‘IV: The Mixtape’ has been released on Spotify, Soundcloud and Apple Music. You can listen to the new music at https://soundcloud.com/asendo-music/sets/iv-the-mixtape.
Following the news, it was then time for Deborah to introduce to us our new signing song for this term. The song is call ‘You and Me’ form the Descendants 2 soundtrack. Some of the new signs we learned during this song were ‘bold’, ‘brave’, ‘free’ and ‘believe’. During the song we practiced these new signs, as well as adding in signs we already knew. After our signing song, Jack then sang a cover of the song ‘Take You Down’ by ILLENIUM.
We then looked at our Focus of the Week, which is ‘Responsible’. Pupils will earn extra class points who demonstrate this by getting involved in our Children in Need activities. We have also been working on our new Finer Diners Skill of the Term, which is ‘returning our trays’. Our sign for this week is ‘shine’, which we hope to have perfected so we can include it in our signing song next week.
Our Star Awards this week are:
- Skye class were awarded with Class of the Week!
- A Positive Recognition Certificate was awarded to Jason for being an effective contributor at Scottish Autism’s 50th Anniversary Conference last week where he confidently interviewed HRH Princess Marie.
- Ben also received a Positive Recognition Certificate for being a confident individuals and trying new foods at lunch!
- Our Star Baker this week is Alfie for making a fantastic start on the New Struan Christmas Village.
Our assembly finished this week with everyone dancing along to one of our favourite songs, ‘Shotgun’ by George Ezra, which was chosen by Skye class.
