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Supporting visually impaired young people to thrive. Look provide online Parent Support Groups to expert-led webinars, Youth Forums and Music Groups - , get your diaries out and make a note of these fab events from LOOK!
Watermill Theatre in Newbury have some opportunities for watching and making theatre that you might enjoy and have provided this information:
Deaf/hearing loss
Duologue is our weekly youth theatre group for young people aged 11-16, held at Arlington Arts in Newbury. Deaf, hard of hearing, hearing, CODA, all are welcome. We always have an interpreter at the sessions. We’d love to welcome some of your young people!
We have 2 BSL integrated performances coming up…
Lone Flyer is the story of Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia in 1930. We have a BSL advert video about to go out. Age guidance is 8+ as it refers to some darker themes.
The Jungle Book will be our Christmas family show! Age guidance is 4+.
We are trialling a new captioning system if any of your young people would like to help us road test it?
Vision impairment
All of our youth theatre activities can be made accessible to support needs. Visit our webpages for more information about what’s on offer.
We are delighted to be providing audio described performances at The Watermill as usual, with extra COVID-safe measures.
This is the coming season:
Audio Described performance: Saturday 25 September at 2.30pm (Touch Tour starts at 1pm).
Audio Described performance: Saturday 13 November at 2.30pm (Touch Tour starts at 1pm).
Audio Described performance: Saturday 4 December at 2.30pm (Touch Tour starts at 1pm)
For more information please see their website: https://www.watermill.org.uk/
Blind in Business are running some fabulous events for vision impaired young people. More details of these events and how to book can be found below.
- Monday 27th September – start of Autumn Term Building Prospects Careers Program
Little Signs are a Berkshire-based company running Sign Language courses in the surrounding area. Please click on the flyer below for more details. Our courses are all Deaf-led by a trained professional with many years of experience.
Wokingham Children with Additional needs (CAN) Network is an information and support service for children and young people with additional needs and their families. Their March Newsletter has lots of information and things to do during the Easter holidays.
Nystagmus Network are running a Raindrops story writing and drawing competition for children with Nystagmus. The Nystagmus Network Raindrops competition celebrates the wonderful creativity of children’s writing and illustration.
The best stories and drawings will be published in a special book which will be available to purchase from September 2021.
Click here for details of how to enter.
Soundabout have unveiled a brand new timetable for their online music provision. We have a variety of fun, interactive and educational sessions on Facebook, YouTube and Zoom.Sessions are free to access except for those held on Zoom. Please view their website for more details.
Following on from the amazing success of our autumn events we can now announce another new spring programme of events for children, young people and their families.
Due to the ongoing coronavirus situation we have still suspended our face-to-face events and our new events will all be delivered online.
Please visit the RNIB website for more details.
Berkshire Vision Update. As we move into the new year, we’re delighted to announce that there will not be a charge for membership for 2021.
Children and Young People’s own Insight magazine. It would be lovely for our young members to have their very own magazine that they can share their ideas, and hobbies with others by contributing to items. This could be telling us what they have been doing, showing us a photo of their achievements, telling jokes, sharing a favourite recipe – anything that they think others would be interested in reading or learning about.
British Blind Sport have some great at home workouts for vision impaired children and young people including dance and yoga from Synergy Dance Ltd. For more details, please visit their website.
British Blind Sport have designed an innovative pack to provide children with all the tools they need to take their first steps to leading a more active life. In addition to receiving the First Steps Pack, our First Steps families will receive ongoing support and will be invited to Family Days organised by BBS which not only bring young people together but also introduce them to new activities and inclusive clubs in their local community. For more information, please visit our website.
New College Worcester have lots of great events happening throughout the year. See their event directory for more details.
Learn how young people can manage low mood and depression during COVID-19. On this course, young people, parents, carers, teachers, and other professionals can learn helpful, practical techniques to cope with low mood and depression during the lockdown period and beyond. You’ll examine how to help young people structure their day and improve sleep and diet. For more information please click here.
We are a national charity getting more children with disabilities learning how to swim. We have recently launched a new programme in Slough in partnership with Everyone Active at The Centre and are offering lessons immediately.
We fund lessons for children: aged 4-11, who cannot currently swim 10 metres, with a physical disability or sensory impairment. For more information, please email contact@levelwater.org or visit our website.
We want to introduce to you a research project called the READY study (Recording Emerging Adulthood in Deaf Youth) and offer your child the opportunity to take part if they wish. The READY study is a 6 year research project about deaf young people between the ages of 16 and 23 years old. It is interested in the changes in deaf young people’s lives from their point of view as they move between childhood and adulthood. The project is being conducted by the University of Manchester and the University of Edinburgh. For further information, please see the following documents:
The University of Birmingham is undertaking a research project regarding the experiences of students with VI applying for Higher Education. In particular they are interested in how useful, or not, parents, students and teachers have found the information available on the RNIB’s website regarding applying for university and life at university, and the 'Supporting the achievement of learners with vision impairment in Higher Education' available on the NatSIP website. These documents can be accessed here:RNIB and Supporting the achievements of learners
If you would like further information about the project or would like to complete an online questionnaire based on your experiences of using them, then please contact Rachel Hewett, Birmingham University at R.G.Hewett@bham.ac.uk
Jungle Mania based in Woodley, Reading are keen to offer discounted sessions to SEN families in the local area. Please contact Jungle Mania directly for further information: woodley@junglemania.com 0118 969 2635
Speech and Language Therapy drop in sessions normally take place throughout Berkshire. Due to COVID19, these unfortunately remain closed but details of how to make contact with the team can be found here.
The Ear Foundation have a team of clinical and educational practitioner who run a variety of interesting and relevant programmes. Please see their website for more details.
The NDCS hold many events and these can be found here: https://www.ndcs.org.uk/our-services/our-events
Wokingham Parents - There is a new local offer link for parents looking for what’s on which should make it easier to find activities:
https://directory.wokingham.gov.uk/kb5/wokingham/directory/lo_whats_on.page
Subtitled/Captioned Accessible Cinema! 1,500+ shows nationwide! Dunkirk, War for the Planet of the Apes, Cars 3, Spiderman Homecoming, Captain Underpants, Despicable Me 3, The Beguiled, Baby Driver, Transformers, Wonder Woman & more! All cinemas can show all the films listed above with English-language subtitles. Click the link for more details: http://www.yourlocalcinema.com/films.html
Berks and Bucks and Berks Football Association are now running Pan Disability Football sessions on Friday afternoons for ages 14+ at Park House School, Newbury.
SportsAble are running a weekly deaf friendly football session for 16+ in Maidenhead with FA qualified coaches leading the sessions.