courses in the north west

all courses in the north west take place at the Walthew house, shaw

heath, Stockport, SK2 6QS, 2 miles from J1 of the M60

 

last few days to book place on Enabling access to Braille - 5th Dec 2011

There are still some places available on the Enabling Access to Braille: Reception to Year 3 taking place next Monday 5th December 2012, this has proved to be a popular course, If you would like a place please email gwyn@positiveeye.co.uk or phone 07947571559 by 1.12.11 to book. Cost £130.00

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 Including children with visual impairments in the early years

setting presented by gwyn mccormack and sue cook

Date of course: Monday 30th January 2012

(Booking deadline: Monday 16th January 2012)

Feedback from course delivery in Yorkshire and London

Brilliant day thank you very much Good mixture of practical, listening and discussing.

Great training and trainer knew what she was talking about well experienced.

Course aim:
The course is set within the early year’s foundation stage framework and will support the professional’s understanding of a range of appropriate approaches to meet the needs of the child with a visual impairment in the early years setting.
Learning objectives: Delegates will develop an understanding in the following areas:

• The impact of visual impairment on the child reaching their early learning goals.
• Approaches, ideas, and strategies to enable the child’s access in the early years setting, including a consideration of a sensory approach, visual skills, pre-Braille skills and fine motor skills.  
• Ways to adapt early years ‘planning’ to include the child with a visual impairment.

The afternoon sessions will be led by Sue Cook and will focus on mobility in the early years. The sessions will cover:

• The importance of early intervention in developing movement, orientation and mobility
• The development of mobility and orientation skills in children with significant visual impairment
• Partnership working with families and education professionals to develop these skills as essential foundations in all other aspects of learning
• A practical session as a means of developing, ideas and strategies for all involved with the child to develop mobility and orientation skills
• Use of and links to the Developmental Journal for Visual Impairment.

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booking form

supporting the social inclusion of children and young people with

visual impairment

Date of course:Tuesday 28th February 2012

(Booking deadline: Tuesday 14th February 2012)

Course overview: The day will look at the impact of visual impairment on the child’s social and emotional development and offer practical strategies, ideas and suggestions to support the child’s social inclusion. The sessions will cover:

• An overview of the barriers to social inclusion
• General strategies to support the child’s social inclusion
• The impact of high levels of support and the role of the professional on the child’s social integration and consideration of a suggested strategy to support this.
• Practical approaches, resources, activities and ideas to support the child’s social skills.

The day will take a practical workshop approach with opportunity for delegates to reflect upon the children they work with, and to plan their next steps to support the child’s social inclusion.
Course presenter:
Gwyneth McCormack, qualified teacher of children with visual impairments and director of Positive Eye.

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booking form

Enabling tactile access to the numeracy curriculum for children

with visual impairment: years 1 - 3

Date of course: Monday 5th March 2012

(Booking deadline: Monday 20th February 2012)

Course overview: This is a practical day offering a ‘how to do it, what to do it with’ approach to providing an inclusive and meaningful approach to enabling tactile access to numeracy for children. It will be led by the demonstration of practical suggestions and ideas for the development of numeracy concepts, e.g.: counting, handling data, shape and measure and aims to develop confidence in the professional to feel enabled to provide access for the child they are working with.

Course presenters: Gwyneth McCormack, a qualified teacher of children with visual impairments and director of Positive Eye, is joined by Aileen Woodier a specialist support practitioner who brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the day, having worked for many years with children with visual impairments, enabling tactile and Braille access to the numeracy curriculum.

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Booking form

Making mobility and orientation inclusive: an introduction for

professionals working with children and young people with visual

impairment

Date of course: Wednesday 6th March 2012

(Booking deadline: Wednesday 21st February 2012)

Course overview: The development of the child’s mobility is an important lifelong skill and is crucial to maximising independence, social inclusion and access to the school environment, the local community and beyond. For many children and young people the development of these skills form an ongoing part of their daily, weekly additional curriculum. The educational professionals around the child, all play an important part in promoting the child’s mobility and independence. This course offers an introduction to mobility and independence skills and following a first session to reflect upon the professional’s role in maximising the child’s independence, the remaining day will focus on:

• Providing a basic understanding of mobility and orientation.
• Practical strategies to support and reinforce the child’s mobility skills in the school setting
• The school’s role and responsibility in promoting the child’s inclusion through supporting development of their mobility and independence
• The factors involved in risk assessing school visits

Course presenter: Positive Eye is very pleased to welcome back Sue Cook who will deliver the mobility and orientation sessions during the day. Sue is Head of Specialist Teaching Teams for Cheshire East Local Authority. Sue has developed and now co-delivers the orientation and mobility course with colleagues from St Vincent’s School for Sensory Impairment and Other Needs. Gwyn will deliver the first session on the professional's role in maximising the child's independence

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Booking form

A short one day introduction: Including children and young people

with

visual impairment in the mainstream school setting

Date of course:Monday 25th June 2012

(Booking deadline: Monday 11th June 2012)

Course overview: The course aims to equip the delegates with an understanding of visual impairment and the educational implications on the child’s development and learning. It will provide clear advice on approaches and strategies to positively support access and the inclusion of the child within the school or setting. It will consider the following areas:

The educational implications for a child/young person with a visual impairment:

• Impact of visual impairment on development and learning. 
• Barriers to accessing the curriculum.

Enabling access to the curriculum and environment:

• Practical approaches, methods and strategies to enable access to the curriculum and wider school environment.

Strategies and approaches to ensuring a whole school approach to maximizing the child’s independence and social inclusion.

Preparation for transition:

• An action plan and individual provision plan will support delegates to consider the preparations required to support a positive transition experience.

Delivery of the day will take an interactive workshop format, with practical ‘hands on’ blindfold and simulation spectacles activities to support an understanding of visual impairment and the impact on access, learning and development.

Course presenters: Gwyneth McCormack, a qualified teacher of children with visual impairments and director of Positive Eye with many years of experience of supporting schools to include a child with visual impairment in their setting.

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Booking form

courses in yorkshire

all courses in yorkshire take place at St swithin's community centre,

arncliffe road, eastmoor, wakefield, WF1 4RW

4 miles from J30 of the M62

the role of the teaching assistant in supporting the inclusion of

children

with visual impairment

Date of Course: Wednesday 8th February 2012

(Booking deadline:Wednesday 25th January 2012)

Course overview: A role that at first glance may appear simple has on closer examination many complexities. The aim of the course is examine the different roles and responsibilities for the teaching assistant in relation to their work with the child, class teacher, the wider school staff, the teacher of V.I, the mobility officer. Through consideration of the following areas, the skills, competencies and roles of the teaching assistant will be reflected upon:

Promoting independent learning

• Reflection of the child’s access to classroom activities and ways in which the child’s independence can be further promoted.

• Perception of the role of the teaching assistant in maximising the child’s independence, how the role is perceived by others around the child, and by the child.

Promoting the child’s social inclusion

• High levels of support can impact significantly on the child’s social integration.  The barriers and strategies to promote their social inclusion will be considered, within the classroom and wider school environment

Roles of the professionals involved with the child

• Consideration of the roles and areas of responsibility for all stakeholders involved in meeting the needs of the child E.g. role of teaching assistant, teacher of VI, class teacher, SENCO.

Supporting independence through development of visual and tactile skills

• A last session in the day will offer an opportunity for teaching assistants to refresh/develop their knowledge regarding the development of visual and tactile exploration skills. There will be an interesting range of resources available and explanation of the development of visual and tactile skills.

Course presenter:
Gwyneth McCormack, qualified teacher of children with visual impairments and director of Positive Eye.

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Booking form

enabling tactile access to the numeracy curriculum for children

with

visual impairment: years 1 -3

Date of course: Monday 23rd April 2012

(Booking deadline: Friday 30th March 2012)

Course overview: This is a practical day offering a ‘how to do it, what to do it with’ approach to providing an inclusive and meaningful approach to enabling tactile access to numeracy for children. It will be led by the demonstration of practical suggestions and ideas for the development of numeracy concepts, e.g.: counting, handling data, shape and measure and aims to develop confidence in the professional to feel enabled to provide access for the child they are working with.

Course presenters: Gwyneth McCormack, a qualified teacher of children with visual impairments and director of Positive Eye, is joined by Aileen Woodier a specialist support practitioner who brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the day, having worked for many years with children with visual impairments, enabling tactile and Braille access to the numeracy curriculum.

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Booking form

Making mobility and orientation inclusive: an introduction for

professionals working with children and young people with visual

impairments

Date of course: Wednesday 9th May 2012

(Booking deadline: Wednesday 25th April 2012)

Course overview: The development of the child’s mobility is an important lifelong skill and is crucial to maximising independence, social inclusion and access to the school environment, the local community and beyond. For many children and young people the development of these skills form an ongoing part of their daily, weekly additional curriculum. The educational professionals around the child, all play an important part in promoting the child’s mobility and independence. This course offers an introduction to mobility and independence skills and following a first session to reflect upon the professional’s role in maximising the child’s independence, the remaining day will focus on:

• Providing a basic understanding of mobility and orientation.
• Practical strategies to support and reinforce the child’s mobility skills in the school setting
• The school’s role and responsibility in promoting the child’s inclusion through supporting development of their mobility and independence
• The factors involved in risk assessing school visits

Course presenter: Positive Eye is very pleased to welcome back Sue Cook who will deliver the mobility and orientation sessions during the day. Sue is Head of Specialist Teaching Teams for Cheshire East Local Authority. Sue has developed and now co-delivers the orientation and mobility course with colleagues from St Vincent’s School for Sensory Impairment and Other Needs. Gwyn will deliver the first session on the professional's role in maximising the child's independence

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Booking form

a short one day introduction: Including children and young people

with

visual impairment in the mainstream school setting

Date of course: Wednesday 27th June 2012

(Booking deadline: Wednesday 13th June 2012)

Course overview: The course aims to equip the delegates with an understanding of visual impairment and the educational implications on the child’s development and learning. It will provide clear advice on approaches and strategies to positively support access and the inclusion of the child within the school or setting. It will consider the following areas:
The educational implications for a child/young person with a visual impairment:

• Impact of visual impairment on development and learning. 
• Barriers to accessing the curriculum.

Enabling access to the curriculum and environment:

• Practical approaches, methods and strategies to enable access to the curriculum and wider school environment

Strategies and approaches to ensuring a whole school approach to maximizing the child’s independence and social inclusion.

Preparation for transition:

• An action plan and individual provision plan will support delegates to consider the preparations required to support a positive transition experience

Delivery of the day will take an interactive workshop format, with practical ‘hands on’ blindfold and simulation spectacles activities to support an understanding of visual impairment and the impact on access, learning and development.

Course presenters: Gwyneth McCormack, a qualified teacher of children with visual impairments and director of Positive Eye with many years of experience

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Booking form

courses in london

at the rnib, judd street, WC1H 9NE

5 min walk from Euston and kings cross

stations

at the rnib

a holistic approach to reading readiness for Braille

Date of course: Friday 23rd March 2012

(Booking deadline: Friday 9th March 2012)

Course overview: The course aims to offer advice, ideas and practical suggestions to professionals on ways to enable access to the foundation stage using a holistic approach towards introducing Braille. The course will be delivered through a practical, workshop approach.
Delegates will develop knowledge in the following areas:

• Understanding of the child’s reading readiness for Braille - pre-Braille skills and development of literacy skills during the foundation stage
• Understanding of how to develop the child’s numerousness through tactile methods of access
• Understanding of cross curricular planning to enable access via Braille and tactile methods of access

Course presenters: Gwyneth McCormack, a qualified teacher of children with visual impairments and director of Positive Eye, brings a wealth of experience to share her ideas and suggestions for developing a holistic approach to reading readiness for Braille.

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Booking form

at the rnib london

'The educational psychologist's role in supporting the needs of

children

who have visual impairment: development, assessment and

practice'

Date of course: Monday 16th April 2012

(Booking deadline: Friday 30th March 2012)

Following the recent successful delivery of this course on two occasions in the last year, a further opportunity to attend this course is offered to Educational Psychologists working with children with visual impairments.

Course overview: Visual Impairment is a low incidence condition and thus most Educational Psychologists work relatively infrequently with children who have severe visual difficulties.  When Educational Psychologists (EPs) are involved, it is often at crucial stages of children’s lives, such as starting nursery or school or at other transition points in a child’s life. EPs are often asked to make assessments within a short time scale, to help to plan for a child’s future and make recommendations about the aims and provision necessary to meet a child’s needs. Multi-professional liaison is an important part of this process. The EP also meets the child’s parents, who may be going through the stages of coming to terms with their child’s disability/ies and are concerned about their child’s future.
The aims of this course are to ensure that Educational Psychologists are equipped when they are working with children who have a Visual Impairment (VI); to ensure that EPs have an understanding of the educational and social implications of VI for children and   to consider the EP’s role in assessment and planning and thus enable them to make a positive, distinct and effective contribution.

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Booking form

at the rnib london

including children with visual impairments in the early year's

setting

Date of course: Thursday 14th June 2012

(Booking deadline: Friday 25th May 2012)

Course overview: The course aims to introduce the professional to the basic strategies required to meet the needs of the child with a visual impairment within an inclusive early years setting.
The course will focus on developing understanding in the following areas.

• The impact of visual impairment on the child’s early learning and development
• The access barriers created by sight loss
• The strategies and approaches which enable the barriers to be minimized and access to be facilitated within the setting.

Ideas and suggestions to support a cross curricular planning approach to enable access and include the child with a visual impairment. E.g. planning around topic areas – journey to the shop, serving cakes in a café, a trip to the seaside

Course presenters: Gwyneth McCormack, a qualified teacher of children with visual impairments and director of Positive Eye, brings a wealth of experience to share her ideas and suggestions for including children with visual impairments in the early year's setting.

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Booking form

at the rnib london

a short one day introduction: including children with visual

impairment in

the mainstream school setting

Date of course: Friday 22nd June 2012

(Booking deadline: Friday 25th May 2012)

Course overview: The course aims to equip the delegates with an understanding of visual impairment and the educational implications on the child’s development and learning. It will provide clear advice on approaches and strategies to positively support access and the inclusion of the child within the school or setting. It will consider the following areas:
The educational implications for a child/young person with a visual impairment:

• Impact of visual impairment on development and learning. 
• Barriers to accessing the curriculum.

Enabling access to the curriculum and environment:

• Practical approaches, methods and strategies to enable access to the curriculum and wider school environment

Strategies and approaches to ensuring a whole school approach to maximizing the child’s independence and social inclusion.

Preparation for transition:

• An action plan and individual provision plan will support delegates to consider the preparations required to support a positive transition experience

Delivery of the day will take an interactive workshop format, with practical ‘hands on’ blindfold and simulation spectacles activities to support an understanding of visual impairment and the impact on access, learning and development.

Course presenters: Gwyneth McCormack, a qualified teacher of children with visual impairments and director of Positive Eye with many years of experience of supporting schools to include a child with visual impairment in their setting.

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Booking form

at the rnib london

the role of the teaching assistant in supporting the inclusion of

children

with visual impairment

Date of course: Thursday 5th July 2012

(Booking deadline: Thursday 21st June 2012)

Course overview:
A role that at first glance may appear simple has on closer examination many complexities. The aim of the course is examine the different roles and responsibilities for the teaching assistant in relation to their work with the child, class teacher, the wider school staff, the teacher of V.I, the mobility officer. Through consideration of the following areas, the skills, competencies and roles of the teaching assistant will be reflected upon:
Promoting independent learning

• Reflection of the child’s access to classroom activities and ways in which the child’s independence can be further promoted

• Perception of the role of the teaching assistant in maximising the child’s independence, how the role is perceived by others around the child, and by the child

Promoting the child’s social inclusion

• High levels of support can impact significantly on the child’s social integration.  The barriers and strategies to promote their social inclusion will be considered, within the classroom and wider school environment

Roles of the professionals involved with the child

• Consideration of the roles and areas of responsibility for all stakeholders involved in meeting the needs of the child E.g. role of teaching assistant, teacher of VI, class teacher, SENCO

Supporting independence through development of visual and tactile skills

• A last session in the day will offer an opportunity for teaching assistants to refresh/develop their knowledge regarding the development of visual and tactile exploration skills. There will be an interesting range of resources available and explanation of the development of visual and tactile skills

Course presenter:
Gwyneth McCormack, qualified teacher of children with visual impairments and director of Positive Eye, has a wealth of experience in supporting teaching assistants working with children with visual impairments, to understand their role and responsibilities in relation to other professionals and brings this to the day.

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Booking form