War Horse Memorial
Staff and students at Keyham Lodge School in Leicester have once again supported our Animal Purple Poppy Fund with indoor and outdoor activities to raise money and awareness of the role animals have played in past and present conflicts, and how they enrich our lives in so many ways. Jo Wilson who got in touch, works with the School’s two therapy ponies, Fly and Tarka (pictured) to help students who really struggle with a school environment or just really benefit from the opportunity to be somewhere quiet with the horses away from others. She says – as we know – “animals don’t judge you, they are there for you when you need them.”
Jo takes the young student pictured here dog grooming and with her to the horses. She says “he adores animals and she cannot fault a single thing he does with me, kind, funny, empathetic and attentive.”
Art and Design teacher Emma Van der Ende works in school with a group of students who struggle in the main school setting, they access some lessons in the main school but they also work a lot in the ‘base’ area where it is a bit more of a calmer and nurtured base for their support. Emma along with the children made wreaths, baked homemade dog biscuits for the RSPCA centre, painted stones, visited the nearby Songster War Horse Memorial, researched other stories about animals in conflict and we all went to the National Arboretum at Burton. Jo and Emma say the students and staff had a great day, Jo took her dog Browning with her and he and was allowed therapy dog status for the day.
We are so grateful to schools like Keyham Lodge for supporting us and we will be featuring several other schools, organisations and individuals over the coming days who have taken the time and trouble to help us support our good causes.
Keyham Lodge School is a vibrant and successful City Special School which is part of a federation with neighbouring Millgate School. All students have an education health care plan and the school cohort is made up of KS3 and KS4 and caters for both girls and boys from KS3 upwards. We are a diverse school and we welcome students from a range of ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds, which contributes to our unique values and ethos. For the majority of our students, their education prior to joining us has been disrupted and because of this, the school relentlessly strives to remove barriers to learning, close attainment gaps and provide an inclusive environment that is child centred and learning focussed. Our aim is to ensure the academic, personal and social development of all of our students so that they can develop their potential both in school and in the wider community. We understand that our students have individual talents and in order to ensure success for every child, we believe that education goes beyond the core curriculum and out of the confines of the classroom and consequently we have adapted our curriculum offer to ensure students are prepared for the next stage of their life, whether that be within education or in the workplace.
