ISC - Schools Action Web
12 October 2011

Every year during the penultimate week of term, MGS pupils choose from a variety of opportunities during a week of planned activities.  Thirty boys from our Sixth Form and Year 10 choose a week’s volunteering at a variety of placements such as working in a school for children with autism, or at a specialist support school.

One project this summer was at the Seashell Trust a day and residential, co-educational, non-maintained special school, which offers specialist provision for pupils and students aged from 2-19 years who have severe and complex learning disabilities, combined with significant communication difficulties, which include little or no oral language.

At the start of Activities Week our boys took advantage of the lovely weather and refurbished a couple of plant beds. This task called for team work and muscle power and Seashell were thrilled with the result. This was a job that slipped down their team's priority list on a daily basis so it was a big help. The boys were also invited to have a go at learning British Sign Language and spent a morning with their BSL tutor, who said they were 'enthusiastic and keen'!

Every year the Trust has a Summer Fair which is a big fundraising event. They are always in need of an army of helpers to prepare and to help during the day.  MGS boys stuck labels on bottles, organised the tombola, organised the “Summer Fair” room putting it in order ready for the day, moved heavy boxes, labelled items and generally helped out with all the preparation.  One boy even turned up to help out on a stall for the day!  These tasks are usually carried out by Seashell staff during their breaks, or with students if possible. The fact that all the hard work had been done really made the staff’s life easier.  Two of our boys chose not to get involved with the heavy work and undertook some urgent design work on the computer for Seashell school.

This is the second year MGS pupils have worked during their Activities Week at the Seashell Trust; we are developing a strong link which sees several sixth formers volunteeing to work there for two to three hours a week during term-time, often using their timetabled Options periods to travel to the school and work for a whole afternoon.

Story submitted by MGS History Teacher & Community Co-ordinator,
Ashley Hern

Read the online version here



Read more about the Seashell Trust here