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  • ​​​​​​​Woodlands Meed triumph yet again as students INSPIRE at annual Parallel Youth Games!

    Published 18/05/23

    So, it was that time of year again, the highlight of our sporting calendar, yes it was The Parallel Youth Games!  On Wednesday the 17th May, 48 students from Key Stage 3 attended the event at The K2 in Crawley for the Parallel Youth Games.  This is the most students we have ever taken to this annual event and we were blown away at how our inspirational students not only adapted to the day, but how they totally smashed it! 

    Our students represented the school in 10 different sports which included street soccer, boccia, table cricket, swimming, dance and for the first time in our history...bouldering!  There were so many successes with lots of students representing Woodlands Meed for the first time, plenty of students making their debut at The PYGs, some students trying a new sport, and lots of students earning bronze, silver and gold medals in boccia, golf and in the pool. 

    Yes our students won matches, yes they won races, yes they even won medals (plenty of which were gold!), but that is not what this day is about.  Today was about individual students being given the opportunity to feel good about themselves, the opportunity to succeed, the opportunity to share their successes with their peers and be recognised as the truly remarkable and inspirational young people that they are.  This is why events such as The Parallel Youth Games are not only important, but are vital in providing our students with an arena where they can quite simply be themselves.  Congratulations to ever single student who represented the school (you really are all winners!), we are so proud of you all, and a massive thank you to all the staff who, without your support, enthusiasm and hard work, none of this would have been possible.

    Follow this link to hear Penny Gittins from Woodlands Meed talking about the Parallel Youth games.

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  • Get on yer bike! Year 8s brilliant during recent Bikeability at WM!

    Published 09/05/23

    One of the most popular sporting activities returned to Woodlands Meed as our current year 8 students had the opportunity to explore and learn to ride a range of different bikes over the course of a week.

    Students thoroughly enjoyed riding round the track on site and exploring the different bikes available which included trikes, two-wheelers, hand-bikes and even tandems!

    All students have exceeded the highest of expectations with every student developing their cycling skills to a level we could only dream of.  All students have ridden at least two types of bike unaided, with many now able to ride a two-wheeler.  Some students even took on the challenge of riding their bikes in our car park and on the quiet surrounding roads; well done, we are very proud of you!  What a massively successful week!

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  • Record Breaking Success at recent Wheelchair Football Festival

    Published 28/03/23

    On Monday 27th March, Woodlands Meed  became record breakers as every single student who benefits from using a wheelchair attended the recent Wheelchair football festival at The Triangle Leisure Centre in Burgess Hill. 

    16 students from both our school and college sites made the short but labour-intensive journey to attend the event organised by Albion in the Community.

    Students took the opportunity to participate in every activity on offer including relays, penalty shoot-outs and passing drills.  The highlight was most definitely the matches which brought out everyone’s competitive side, and we’re not just talking about the students

    Every one was presented with certificates and medals in recognition of all they achieved.  We could not be prouder of our students; once again, they surprised us all and many tears were shed as they surpassed even our highest expectations.

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  • Owls competitive Debut a resounding success despite false fire alarm!

    Published 15/03/23

    On Tuesday 14th March, Owls made their competitive debut when they travelled the short distance to St Pauls in Burgess Hill to represent Woodlands Meed in the annual boccia and new age kurling event.

    There were six other schools in attendance including Lindfield, St Josephs, Bolnor and Blackthorns with all students having the opportunity to play in both boccia and new age kurling matches.

    Our students played really well, trying their best and showing great improvement throughout the morning’s event.  They coped really well with the unfamiliar setting, and the large number of unfamiliar people present.  Owls also had an unplanned fire alarm to contend with! They all took it in their stride and many commented that they enjoyed playing the two sports.  Seeing their old school, and making new friends were two other highlights!  Well done Owls, we are very proud of you!   

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  • Table Cricket Scores High Again as School Site finish Creditable Third

    Published 02/03/23

    On Wednesday 1st March, our table cricketers travelled the short distance to The 1st Central County Ground, the home of Sussex Cricket, to represent Woodlands Meed in the annual table cricket competition.  After the successes of last year, there was a lot of excitement surrounding this competition as we fielded 6 students from last year’s     triumphant team, and welcomed two students who were making their competitive debut.

    In addition to our superstars there were six other teams competing, including teams from Manor Green College, Downsview and St Piers. 

    We started strongly in our first match against Downsview Link College where our students put into practice what they have learnt during their coaching sessions.  Some great fielding and bowling was demonstrated, but it was our expert batting that resulted in a deserved victory, winning by 24 runs!

    Our final match was against Manor Green College who had won their first match so we knew only a win would see us through to the regionals.  Again, our students gave everything against a very tough opponent, and finished with a very respectable 228 runs.  Despite some heroic fielding and committed bowling, we eventually lost our second game.   Although we were disappointed not to progress to the regionals, our students should be extremely proud of how they played, and take a lot of heart that they lost to the eventual winners.  

    All our students demonstrated great teamwork and sportsmanship throughout.  They were an absolute credit to the school! 

    Special mention to Jadon who epitomised what sport should be about; skill, pride and most importantly enjoyment!  Well done Jadon!

    A massive thank you to Jan James for leading this trip only hours after The Hawth performance celebrating 10 years of Woodlands Meed that she was so heavily involved in! 

    Congratulations everyone, we are so proud of you all!

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  • Autism Awareness Award for Woodlands Meed

    Published 08/02/23

    Woodlands Meed have received The Autism Aware Award from The West Sussex Autism and Social Communication Team.

    Deputy Head Chris Carter attended specialist training sessions, and the school demonstrated commitment to best practice approaches for supporting autistic pupils in the months to follow. The course is designed to make sure schools are well-informed of the current strategies and support for those with Autism as well as giving educational professionals a chance to share best practice.

    Chris Carter, Deputy Head at Woodlands Meed said on receiving the award “The Autism Aware Award has been brilliant for Woodlands Meed. Even special schools need to review their SEN practice, and make sure they’re doing everything they possibly can to support their pupils; AAA has given us new ideas and kept us up to date with the best ways to help our young people, and the impact on our pupils and staff has been amazing.”.

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  • Inspirational Ridgeview visit for Woodlands Meed Students

    Published 21/11/22

    Ridgeview recently treated a group of enthusiastic Woodlands Meed students to a day of inspirational insights into what goes into making their award winning wines

    Students accessed a unique behind the scenes tour of the operation and followed the whole production journey from grape to glass. The day was jam packed with information about the company, some hands on work experience and finding out about the different roles within the organisation from Ridgeview employees.

    Since 1995, Ridgeview has been producing world-class English sparkling wine in Sussex.  They are a purpose-driven business committed to making a positive impact on the world.  They are a family run business who profoundly believe in treating everyone fairly, equally, with respect and encouragement.  They support equality and diversity employment practices and are a member of Disability Confident.

    This progressive company ethos is a great fit for what Woodlands Meed is working to achieve with breaking down barriers to disability employment and supporting their students and potential employers to find strategies to make working with some one with additional needs work successfully.

    The day began with a tour of the vineyard, seeing the different jobs and processes that are carried in the early stages of growing the grapes to produce award winning wines.

    Student then took part in cutting and collecting the grapes from the vines. They heard from Toby Loxton who shared his experience of being employed by Ridgeview and inspired the students to not give up in their search for employment as he had found a great fit with Ridgeview. The mechanical process was explained and students got to see the production line from where the grapes enter the factory to the end product bottled and boxed.

    The student tasted juice from grapes that were taken off the vine the day before as well as honey from the vineyards own hive. They were walked through the role of the bee keeper and had the opportunity to try on a keepers outfit.   To finish the day the students worked on the Ridgeview Bug House which is being built to encourage and protect insects and wildlife and support Ridgeview’s ecological environment.

    Alex Watts from the Meeds Job Club said “Days like today at Ridgeview have a lasting impact on our students.  Actually being able to see, talk to and have hands on experience what a job might look like is so important in firing their ambition to find a future role in employment of something they have a genuine interest and passion for.  The students had a brilliant varied day, experiencing the whole process from grape to glass – the a wide range of jobs they saw and heard about, hearing and seeing the company’s end product, trying their hand at a role that exists within the organisation, creating the bug house and to top it off having the chance to sample the juice from the grapes that were on the vine the day before! It well and truly met all our objectives for a work place visit and clearly helped the students better their understanding of the bigger picture of what goes into the production of an award winning wine.’

    Katharine Archer, People Manager at Ridgeview said who organised and ran the day for Woodlands Meed said ‘I thoroughly enjoyed my day with the students, it was a pleasure and a privilege to spend the time with them. Partnerships with local schools such as Woodlands Meed are so important to Ridgeview as we are passionate about supporting education and our community. We also want to do all that we can to remove barriers, create pathways and welcome everyone who has passion and purpose. We look forward to building our partnership with Woodlands Meed.’ 

       

     

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  • Students awarded Blue Peter Badges for their special skills

    Published 21/11/22

    Students from Woodlands Meed College were delighted to be awarded Blue Peter Badges for some fantastic work they completed on letter writing and describing their special interests and skills.

    A lot of the class wrote about playing Warhammer and painting their figurines – a subject that is very popular with some of the students.  Other special achievements, hobbies and interests included completing the Rubiks Cube in quick times, bike rides, Lego, playing piano, Doctor Who and plane watching.

    For some students it was the first time they had ever posted a letter and a great deal of learning and discussion took place about how to address and stamp a letter, along with the different types of stamps you can get and how the post office system works to deliver letters.

    In just a few weeks the students all received a letter back from Blue Peter through the post enclosing their badges.  Alex Anderson, teacher at Woodlands Meed said,

    ‘The students really enjoyed this piece of learning and to receive a letter and Blue Peter Badge at the end of it was a cause for celebration for us all.  I am so proud of how much effort the class put into this project and that it was rewarded with a Blue Peter Badge.’

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  • Students deliver Harvest Festival donations to local Food Banks

    Published 21/11/22

    Students from Woodlands Meed School delivered all the donations received from their Harvest Festival to local Food Bank Collection points in Burgess Hill recently.   All their donations managed to fill up over two boxes and the collection points at Waitrose and Mabel’s Emporium were very grateful.

    The students learnt about Food Banks and the help they provide to the local community and they were really pleased to be able to donate the Harvest Festival donations they had collected to help local people.

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  • Woodlands Meed College rebuild update

    Published 12/10/22

    Work is continuing apace to create a new Woodlands Meed College for children in Burgess Hill with special educational needs and disabilities.

    Construction of the new college building has been ongoing for ten months.

    With all the foundation work fully completed, the main building is now taking shape.

    A design change to the North Core lift during construction has unfortunately caused a delay of two weeks to the building programme. This has created a need to push back the timings for moving pupils into the new building, and for demolishing the old buildings ready for construction of the new entrance, parking area and all-weather pitch.

    The situation has been carefully reviewed by Woodlands Meed, West Sussex County Council and the contractor ISG, and all practical options have been considered. 

    All have agreed to wait to move children into the new building until after the summer holidays to minimise disruption to lessons and the school day as much as possible. As a result, the demolition work will take place during the summer holidays, when the school is empty. Pupils will then start the new 2023 Autumn Term in their new building, instead of moving during the May half-term as originally planned.  

    Marion Wilcock, Chair of Governors at Woodlands Meed, said “Of course we are all disappointed as everyone, without exception, would like to occupy the new building just as soon as possible.  However, it was almost inevitable that with construction on this tight site in this current construction climate that there would be a delay in the programme at some point. We have all taken the view that the interests of pupils must come first at all times. This extension will also mean that pupils will be undisturbed during the exam period and will have more transition and familiarisation time.” 

    Nigel Jupp, West Sussex County Council Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills said: “Everyone involved is fully committed to prioritising the needs of our pupils and finishing the new College building as quickly as possible. We have worked with the College and ISG to find a solution which is in the best interests of Woodlands Meed pupils and staff. Any delay is of course disappointing, but what this does mean is that pupils will have the opportunity to visit and be guided around their new facilities during the second half of the 2023 summer term so they can acclimatise to their new college before they make the move.”

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  • Meeds Job Club exhibit at Sussex Expo

    Published 21/07/22

    The Meeds Job Club were delighted to have an exhibition stand at the Sussex Chamber Business Expo on Friday 15th July.

    The event was held at The Kings Church, Burgess Hill, located in the heart of Burgess Hill’s Business Park and was opened by Mims Davis MP. With over fifty exhibitors and over two hundred delegates attending, the inaugural event was an exciting and engaging opportunity for local business networking.

    The event provided The MJC an excellent opportunity to showcase the work they do and the circle of support they offer to help businesses with Inclusivity training, workplace help and advice for becoming a more inclusive employer.

    The MJC talked to lots of delegates about the opportunities to get involved with Woodlands Meed to offer work experience placements and workplace visits to our students. Mims Davis MP also visited the stand. Alex Watts, Employer & Community Engagement Lead at the MJC said ‘The positive response and interest in Woodlands Meed was fantastic and we hope to be able to develop relationships going forward with the enthusiastic delegates we talked to who were interested in the work we are doing around inclusivity and getting people with disabilities experiences of work and the work environment and ultimately employment. What is really encouraging is so many delegates we talked to approached us with questions about disability employment, rather than us having to make the case to consider it.’

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