Darren Fearnley |
A few weeks ago Enabler Dan and I were fortunate to be able to
go back to high school. My own high school days met with my teenage
disapproval, but my mother would say to me that “High School days are the best days of your life”. At the time I took no notice
of her wisdom but now, 10 years out of high school, I am beginning to look back
fondly on my adolescent education, inside and out of the classroom. So I was
excited that Eureka! sent me to Ravenscliffe High School as part of the Helping
Hands project - not as a pupil but as a classroom assistant for the morning.
Ravenscliffe Schools is different to the school that I
attended in my youth, as this is a high school for children with disabilities from the age of 11.
Despite this, the school still acts as any ‘secular’ high school. As you walk
in though the entrance the walls are plastered with pictures of students
engaging in activities and achievements that have come to define the school and
its ethos. Student artwork and photos of musicians suggested an absolute hub of
creativity.
The school day started like any other - students drifted down
the corridors entering their various classrooms in time for early morning
registration. It was Monday; the student’s heads were in the comedown from the
weekend. They were back in school and the first task the students had to kick
off the week was to read the white board, which instructed them to write about what
they did at the weekend. A short paragraph was written, the bell rang, and the
pupils poured into the corridors, which were now built up in heavy traffic of
wheelchairs and the more able-bodied students heading towards their next
lesson. I faced a sea of excited questions as pupils saw my Eureka! T-shirt,
some of them proudly telling me about own experiences of Eureka! But my t-shirt
was nothing more than a distraction as teachers ushered the children into their
next class.
The first lesson I was assisting in was in the school’s sensory room. This is a small white room which has mirrors, a ball pit and soft bedding area, with lighting and bells hanging from the ceiling. It’s a quiet and peaceful area, perfect to let imaginations go wild through exploring senses. The lesson took a while to get started as there was careful preparation needed for the students, who were more challenging than the pupils that I had come across in registration and the ones that I had spoken to in the corridors, and they needed more tending to before the lesson could begin.
And what a lesson it was! The students took an imaginary journey
aboard a pirate ship setting sail to discover the wonders of the seven seas.
Suddenly the white room was transformed in something from the sets of ‘Pirates
of the Caribbean’. The students and teachers started off by singing sea
shanties, banging drums, ringing bells in time as the story begin. The journey took
the pupils out into the open sea (and under it too), before asking them to heave
up the anchor and discover the wonders that had been pulled up with it as they
clung onto their newly found treasures.
I mentioned how student artwork and photos of musicians
suggested school was a hub of creativity. Well, the lessons are crafted in such
a creative way to cater for students’ specific needs. No wonder the students
themselves are so creative.
After the lesson, it was break time for students and teachers
too. I wandered back up to the Facility Room for a cup of tea, noticing the
students as they left their classroom and out into the fresh air; I caught a
glimpse of a rather chaotic game of football in the 5-a-side astro turf which
brought back memories of the hustle and bustle of 25-a-side football that I
would play when I was at school.
After a quick cuppa and a little time to reflect on the
morning’s lesson, I was bundled away into the next lesson which was Dance. I
had a brief chat with the enthusiastic teacher who had warned me what to expect
from some of the pupils. The students involved in this lesson were more able
bodied than those in the previous lesson and were lively and full of character
and really excited that somebody from Eureka! would be joining them in their
lesson.
I did feel that new face in the classroom served only as a
distraction to some of the pupils, so I had to join in with the dance routines
despite my inability to dance thanks to my two left feet and terrible
co-ordination. The room descended into a riot of bodily moves as myself and
students flung arms and legs in the air and twisted and shook hips to music. There
was no escaping the sight of our exaggerated dancing as there was a large
mirror where all our moves and shapes were on display for the whole room to
see.
Some of the boys in class didn’t seem as interested in taking
part. But I remember how it felt for me as teenage boy and that the idea of
freeing my body though the art of dance seemed like a silly concept. Still,
other members of the class were actively engaged in creatively throwing
themselves into the music and the lesson and having fun whilst doing so.
And that was my morning at Ravenscliffe high school, a place
which has a great, inviting atmosphere and a pounding energy of creative and
intuitive minds with students and teachers alike all working together to build
a wonderful school. I hope that we continue to develop Eureka!’s relationship
with the school as I feel we can each learn from one another whilst working
with the aim that people with disabilities should have the same opportunity to
get involved in fun playful learning experiences.
Darren Fearnley, Specialist Play Enabler