We’ve had a very busy summer holidays here at FCDC 
. Have a read and see what we’ve been up to…
Family fun day at the allotment
For our first event of the summer holidays, we invited our families to a fun day at Golden Hill Community Garden. Lucy gave us a tour of the allotment then the children got stuck straight in with pond dipping, berry picking, flag printing, face painting and more! For lunch we all helped out making pizzas from scratch, before topping them with freshly picked ingredients and popping them in the allotments handmade pizza oven. To end the session Lucy and staff pulled out a box of instruments for the children to choose and we made some music/played some games before saying goodbye.
Youth group train ride to Cardiff
With the help of GWR, we took our young people to Cardiff on the train. We all met at Parkway train station where our mentor explained the journey that we were taking and how to read the board to see which train to get. Once we figured out which platform to get to, the young people lead us through the station to our train. Once arriving in Cardiff, we stopped off for some lunch and walked around Cardiff castle before heading back to the station making sure we got to the right platform and finishing our to journey back to Bristol.
Trip to the beach
It was then time for our annual trip to the beach. Once again we lucked out with some sunny weather in between a pretty rainy summer. Our families came along with their sun cream, buckets/spades, and beach games. We all enjoyed a BBQ on the beach, including hot dogs, summer salads and refreshments. It was a lovely day out, our families got to catch up with each other whilst the children paddled in the sea.
Breakfast sports day
Our next event in the summer holidays took us to Elmfield School, where we ran a breakfast sports day. We were joined by Ignite sports and Deaf tennis player Dan Tunstall. On arrival our families enjoyed some breakfast favourites, then headed out into the playground where tennis and games had been set up. We also had some back to school crafts for the children and finished off the day by making our very own pizza’s from scratch (using some very useful tips we picked up from our recent event at Golden hill community garden).
Horse riding in Chepstow
The Teddy Centre (Ear Clinic)
It was then time for some teddy bear’s ear check-ups. The Teddy Centre (Ear Clinic) visited Elmfield school where we set up our ‘Audiology’ room and invited the children to bring along their bears for their hearing test. Each bear had their own appointment time, whilst they were waiting there were teddy crafts and when they were ready, they were called in. We ran various tests on the bears (similar to what they would have experienced at their Audiology appointments), whilst the children watched every moment, making sure to comfort their bear at the same time. Once the tests were complete we let the children know what aids their bears would be fitted with. The children’s faces lit up to see that their teddy would be fitted with aids just like theirs. We showed them their teddy’s audiogram and some audiology BSL signs too. Each child couldn’t wait to take their bear back into the room to show each other/adults/staff their teddy’s new aids.
Circus starr
A big thank you to Circus Starr again, for providing us with tickets to their fully accessible and inclusive circus show which was BSL interpreted. Our families all had a lovely time!
Youth group pizza and games evening
Our next youth group event was a pizza and games evening. Here we were able to catch-up over some of the groups favourite board games. We also discussed/answered any questions about the Weekend away we had coming up. Everyone was excited to discuss what activities we were going to take part in.
Family BSL Course
We then started our next family BSL course. This course, is designed to teach families how to use British Sign Language in family life with everyday topics that they would use inside and out of the home. Our families met up at Elmfield school for our first face-to-face session with teacher Claire and interpreter Joe. We all introduced ourselves and watched Claire as she explained her story growing up with a hearing loss. It was lovely to be able share all of our experiences and stories with each other in a relaxed/safe space. Claire then got started with introducing our first few topics, and explained what to expect from the rest of the course. Our families went home with some handouts that they could pop around their home, before meeting up for their first of four zoom sessions the following week.
0 Comments