Archive News
Tools for Self Reliance Workshop meets Radio Scotland
On 13 June Tilmann Reinardy and Steven Watt were interviewed by Radio Scotland’s Out or Doors programme. It was broadcast at 6.30am on the following Saturday morning. If by chance you were not up and missed it, you can hear the interview on BBC iplayer. It is 15 minutes into the recording.
Celebrate Aberdeen - 9 June
In the end we were a larger number than expected who braved the inclement weather to march along Union Street. Many thanks to all of you who helped raise the profile of Camphill School Aberdeen. We were joined by a huge number of other local charities show-boating the services offered by the voluntary sector in Aberdeen; it was really quite impressive.
Even though we were probably one of the smallest groups representing their charity, we got by far the greatest publicity thanks to the quick thinking of Ken McEwan, our ‘PR’ expert, who engineered the wonderful piece by Steven Watt that appeared in the P&J, complete with a large picture of Steven sporting his black eye!
Open Day
We enjoyed our annual Open Day during the September holiday weekend with many visitors coming to view the School. We are very grateful to the Culter Junior Pipe Band who annually provide a musical backdrop to the afternoon. As always the donkey rides and face painting proved very popular as did the home baking. The highlight, however, was undoubtedly the raising of the Green Eco-School Flag which marked the achievement of the Gold standard. Our pupil council has been centrally active behind the scenes to facilitate this success and our thanks go to them.
Therapy Centre
On Friday 15 June Mark McGeachie from the Robertson Trust visited the Therapy Centre. The Trust gave a large donation towards the cost of the building. He was very impressed with the result of their investment and urged us to put in a request for the Swimming Pool extension.
'Rag Bag' Donation
By using the textile and shoe recycling scheme, 'Rag Bag', our last collection (250 kg) generated a further £125 which will go towards the new workshop building in Hermanus Camphill School in South Africa.
Visit of Alison McInnes, MSP
On Monday 28 May we hosted a visit from one of our local MSPs . She spent time viewing Camphill School as well as Simeon Houses, a local Camphill community for the elderly. She was impressed with what she saw and is currently arranging another visit to meet some of our pupils and in particular the pupil council eco committee.
Aberdeen City Children and Young People Voluntary Sector Providers' Forum AGM
The above event took place at the Citadel in Aberdeen on Wednesday 13 June from 12-2pm. The theme was about working positively with parents and 9 charities including Camphill School made 7-minute presentations about this. Karen Johnston, who is the chair of the Parents' Group and who is part of our Strategy Committee, made a presentation on our behalf.
Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award
10 pupils from Class 10 received their ‘Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award’ at the school festival on Friday 30 March.
Nature Nurture
Nature Nurture worked for the first time with very young children aged 18 months and older, with funding provided by the Camphill Wellbeing Trust. Next term they will have their first local authority funded group through the Aberdeenshire Drugs and Alcohol partnership. We are hoping this will be the catalyst for more state-supported groups as the Government’s own documents state that £1 spent in early intervention saves £9 later in life. Meanwhile on 27 March, Nature Nurture, in conjunction with the Camphill Wellbeing Trust, launched a large fundraising effort.
Outreach
Birgit Hansen has been in Russia observing some ‘special needs’ teaching. She was observing former students who she taught previously in relation to how to adapt the Waldorf Curriculum for children and young people with additional support needs, in the Ita Wegman course at Moscow University. She was in two schools and worked with the teachers in the evenings and weekend.
Bernhard Menzinger has been to Lebanon to open a conference on special needs and autism run by an American university.
Manuela Costa and Chris Walter have been and are delivering workshops in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow as part of a seminar on : The challenges of leadership : improving outcomes for our looked after children and young people. The seminar is organised by the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland. The seminar is for managers, workers with supervisory responsibilities and other individuals who hold formal or informal leadership positions. Their workshop is entitled: “Leadership at Camphill School Aberdeen.”
Ian Futter gave a 15-minute illustrated presentation of the Camphill garden at the Trellis (Therapeutic Horticulture) Conference in Perth on 15 March.
