Avocet House
Turnstone House
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At the beginning of July staff dressed themselves up as Pokemon characters and hid around the neighbouring village in a real life Pokemon hunt! It was the amazing idea of one of our Deputy Care Managers, who knew how much our young people love the game and wanted to bring it to life for them. Staff were immediately enthusiastic about the whole idea and got to work making and buying costumes, showing true commitment to the plan.
Some of the Pokemon ‘hid’ in very public places and caused amusement to passers-by, with lots of car horns being sounded! The young people loved searching for the characters and, once they had found a real-life Pokemon, they got to throw a Pokeball to catch them and collect a puzzle piece. After collecting all nine pieces they were awarded a prize. Not only was this a fantastic day filled with hilarity from all involved (any many that weren’t), but the young people were able to develop their map reading skills too. We are bound to see this event happening again in the future!
At the end of June the teaching staff took a group of children to the Royal Norfolk Show, held annually near Norwich since 1847. There were over 700 trade stands, 3000 animals and it is Norfolk’s biggest food and drink experience with hundreds of attractions and activities.
There was a lovely atmosphere at the show and the children all enjoyed the food and drinks hall. Special attention was paid to the armed and emergency services stands, where our young people engaged with the professionals there and enjoyed exploring the different types of vehicles on display.
Sunday 28 May saw the first Avocet House fete to be held in the grounds of the home. It was a lovely sunny day before the Bank Holiday Monday (not so sunny!) and everyone waited with anticipation, not having a clue about how many people would attend.
We needn’t have worried, plenty of people from the nearby village arrived and the garden quickly filled up with those from the local community, young people from Turnstone House, staff, friends and family. There was a lovely, friendly feeling as everyone mingled and chatted around the various stalls, which included; football shootout, craft table, face painting, bric-a-brac, tombola and our very own palm reader! Food was abundant, with a groaning table full of cakes made by the young people and freshly prepared Thai food.
The day was an incredible success and a fantastic community event due to the hard work and dedication of the adults and young people involved. Since the fete we have received some lovely feedback from members of the local community who came to enjoy the day.
We raised an incredible £845.71 for the British Heart Foundation!!
Two young people at Avocet House are taking regular driving lessons and progressing towards their theory and practical tests. The eldest started driving some time ago and is now looking to book his theory test. The second began his lessons at the beginning of the year and is moving towards booking both his theory and practical driving tests. We wish them both luck!
One of our younger boys, (not quite ready to take his driving test yet!) has been having taster sessions and is thoroughly enjoying the experience, gaining his bronze award and a lot of praise for his natural ability. Hopefully the sessions will give him extra confidence for when he is old enough to go out on the roads.
At the beginning of March, three young people were accompanied by three of our adults on an overnight trip to Milton Keynes. They had headed there to visit Bletchley Park Museum and Milton Keynes Museum as part of their history lessons. One of the young people has beautifully written this account of the trip:
Bletchley Park is where the Government used special methods to decipher German and Japanese messages during World War II. Alan Turing created a machine called the Universal Turing Machine, which was used to decipher messages immediately. There were 10,000 people working at Bletchley Park when they were trying to crack the Enigma Code and stop World War II. We have all been learning about the Enigma Code and World War II in history lessons.
Why did we go?
We went to Bletchley Park because we all wanted to see where everyone involved in cracking the Enigma code worked. We also wanted to see the environment they worked in and see if they are similar to working conditions today.
What was everybody favourite part?
At the Milton Keynes Museum everyone enjoyed how hands-on everything there was, you were able to interact with everything in the museum. Everybody’s favourite room in the museum was the communications room because you were able to use all the old telephones. There was also a switchboard you could use to transfer calls to each other.
At Bletchley Park we all enjoyed learning lots of new things about World War II. We also enjoyed the interactive things that were in different rooms, it gave you a look at how hard and continuous their jobs were in the war. In most of the rooms they had a person who could talk to you about different parts of the war and they could explain things to you, we enjoyed talking to them because they knew a lot of information.
Following ongoing, dedicated rehearsals SES productions proudly presented a performance of Aladdin at The Garage, Norwich in January 2023, in front of staff and invited guests.
Our youngest performer was just 11 years old. She showed great confidence to take on the lead role and was eager to do so despite never being on the stage before.
Our Evil Sidekick and Sultan had also never performed on stage before, but took it all in their stride and we’re hoping to see them performing again now they’ve shown us all how good they are!
Our Princess was the most seasoned actors of all the young people, having appeared in all of the SES productions so far. She has also attended drama club as an extra-curricular activity. The only slight difficulty was that she absolutely NEVER wears a dress, a necessity for any budding princess, but she stepped into the role at the last minute and got us out of a fix (in a ‘dressed-down’ dress!).
Every great story needs a narrator and ours really got to grips with the role and even wrote some of his own lines, he showed great confidence and we may be able to tempt him onto the stage next time.
Some of the SES staff took on roles, including Abanazar, the Genie and Wishy Washy, our talented adults took on their roles with gusto, as well as helping to support the children. However, Wishy Washy wasn’t so keen initially as he passionately dislikes drama and was coerced (forced!) to take the role, he may have been converted though as he loved being the pantomime dame! We’re hoping it could be an annual role for him!
The whole performance was directed by two of our talented teaching staff, both passionate about drama and the benefits it offers our young people in promoting self-worth and confidence.
Avocet House received a visit from Ofsted at the end of 2022. During the two days the inspectors were on site they soon realised staff were doing an amazing job. Avocet House was rated as outstanding and the following comments were made in the Ofsted report:
“Children thrive and have a strong sense of stability, and enjoy extremely fulfilling day-to-day experiences. This stability provides children with a secure base, enabling them to make exceptional progress from their starting points. The skilled and ambitious staff provide high-quality, individualised and nurturing support which significantly enhances children’s quality of life and future life chances.”
“Children have excellent support from staff to build their independence and daily living skills. Innovative approaches, including a well-devised achievement programme, are tailored to children’s individual milestones.”
“Staff ensure that children’s health needs are a high priority.”
“Children feel safe and are kept safe by staff who understand the risks to them. There is a culture of high aspiration and regard among staff for every child. Mutually respectful and strong relationships with staff help the children to feel safe and unconditionally accepted.”
“Children are well prepared to live in a diverse society and are supported to understand people’s differences and needs.”
Read the full report below:
One of our young people had been struggling with reading, writing and arithmetic since arriving at Avocet House a year ago. An experimental approach was taken towards his education and real progress was made. Teaching staff in the Learning Centre then drew upon his previous successful work placement in a local children’s nursery as inspiration, and arranged for him to work on the weekly market held at Stowmarket.
He uses the travel time constructively to improve his reading before working on the fruit and vegetable stall. He handles all aspects of the stall from weighing out the produce, helping to display everything nicely, serving customers and handling transactions. His confidence has built and he is now a regular smiley face on the market stall, and is very popular with the older customers!
Four of our young people from Avocet House have been regularly attending lessons at Funky’s in Norwich to learn to roller skate. Each of them has had regular lessons and gradings to assess their skills in skating ability and technique. There are six grades and the young people have been excelling as they move through their grades. They are all at various stages but remain very supportive of each other as they practice new skills. Numerous certificates have been collected between them to reflect their personal achievements.
