We are delighted to share that on Friday 31st May there will be a pre Brit Fest Party in aid of Seashell.
Join us at the Bowdon Rooms in Altrincham, for a fun-filled, chilled night, with a live band, DJ Sets and an opportunity to get your dancing shoes on, have a glass or two and just have a great night out.
“We are incredibly grateful to Rob and Michelle for holding this pre Brit Fest Party in aid of the children and young adults at Seashell. Not only is this going to be an amazing night for those who attend, but importantly it is also going to help raise funds that will help young people with the most complex disabilities have the very best chances in life. As a charity, we rely on fundraising to make sure our students and residents have access to specialist equipment, fantastic facilities and a variety of life-changing experiences.” – Lorna Thompson, Event Fundraiser at Seashell
The pre Brit Fest Part in aid of Seashell will kick off at 7pm and finish around 1am.
Tickets costing just £27.50 (all proceeds going to the Seashell Trust).
The Brit Fest is the much-anticipated family-friendly music festival taking place in the grounds of Ashley Hall & Showground from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th July 2024.
The pre Brit Fest party will give you a taste of what to expect at the festival.
We are grateful for the support of The Citation Group who created Jack, our new audiology mascot – Jack’s job is to welcome our students to our Zochonis Audiology Suite, enabling them to access audiology support.
Some children and young adults with complex needs it hard, or even impossible to partake in certain healthcare tests due to communication challenges or sensory difficulties. This can mean conditions can go undiagnosed and therefore untreated. At Seashell, we are passionate about exploring how to close these inequality healthcare gaps.
“Jack has been designed to help prepare young people requiring treatment in our audiology suite, promoting positive experiences all round! He is animated, and encourages students to listen and engage in clinic. He can be used in VRA [Visual Reinforcement Audiometry], other testing or just to ease transitions!”
Verity Langlands, Principal Audiologist
The team at Citation have also designed a woodland scene for the corridor leading to the audiology suite to further brighten up the space and promote a welcoming and calming environment.
Citation have supported Seashell for many years, and we are incredibly grateful to them for all the time, energy and enthusiasm taken to create this amazing addition to our service!
Find out more about our amazing Audiology Suite here.
Are you looking to become a specialist in the field of SEND?
Want to know more specifically about multi-sensory impairment (MSI) and train to be a Qualified Teacher of MSI?
Seashell are launching a new MQ MSI PGDip (Mandatory Qualification for Multi-Sensory Impairment Postgraduate Diploma), with an affiliated University, starting in September 2024. We are taking expressions of interest and are keen to hear from you!
In the meantime, if you would like to meet us and hear more about our new, exciting, practice-based course please sign up to one of our online information sessions.
The sessions will run from 7-8pm, on Microsoft Teams on the following dates: 20th March 17th April 15th May 19th June 17th July 21st August
First anniversary for the Moulding Foundation Building…
This month we celebrate the first anniversary of the opening of the Moulding Foundation Building, new home to Royal School Manchester.
The opening of this state-of-the-art facility has been an exciting time not only for our school students and staff, but also for our college team and our wider community who have access to a variety of shared spaces including the Bertie Broome Swimming Pool and the Weston Dining Hall.
Getting accustomed to the new space over the last 12 months has been a journey of discovery for both staff and students alike, as many of our students find change in routine particularly difficult. But thanks to the sensitively designed space and industry leading technologies within, the impact the building is having on day-to-day life, as well as positive behaviour and readiness to learn is clear.
“We will all be taking a moment to reflect on the incredible difference the Moulding Foundation Building is having on our students. Staff and students have worked so hard, navigating the space and discovering new possibilities. We are so very grateful to all who have generously supported Seashell in the development of such a fantastic facility that our students, staff and community need now, and for the future.”– Emma Houldcroft, Head Teacher, Royal School Manchester
Read more in our Moulding Foundation Impact Report here.
Securing the future of Seashell…
We have pledged to redevelop our entire campus to create facilities that set the gold standard for all special education establishments. Over the past decade, we are proud to have built Sir Norman Stoller Way, a close of 17 residential care homes, an all-weather sports pitch, The Bradbury Cycling Centre – an inclusive cycle track and trail, and of course The Moulding Foundation Building.
Our ambitions don’t stop there.
“Our vision is for Seashell to be one of the most inspirational settings in the world for the education and care of children and young adults with the most complex needs.”– Brandon Leigh, Chief Executive
We are now diving straight into the next phase of our master plan of developments with the construction of a new Royal College Manchester, Sports and Administration building.
The new building will comprise a single storey College and two storey Reception, Sports and Administration centre and house a new Café, Activity Hall with extended climbing wall, Fitness Suite, Rebound Room, Sensory Integration Room and a suite of flexible multi-purpose rooms at ground floor level with contemporary office space above and associated external landscaping.
“Now College have decanted into Dockray, the former school building, which has been refurbished. This now allows the existing, outdated College buildings to be demolished to make way for this major development. It will be similar in scale and appearance to the new Moulding Foundation Building and a similar palette of materials will help promote a sense of identity, unity and wellbeing”. – David Walker, Transformation Project Design Lead
This ambitious site transformation is the largest of its kind in the UK, and is only possible thanks to the generous support from individuals, companies, trusts and foundations, to whom we are incredibly grateful.
Music plays a powerful part in our lives and is particularly important for children and young adults with additional needs. Music therapy can help to empower individuals by offering them choices, increase motivation, and encourage physical activity and coordination.
This month sees the launch of Seashell’s Get Set Go Music! project in two Stockport nurseries. Led by one of our speech and language therapists, who is also a professional musician and was formerly Principal Clarinet with the Hallé Orchestra.
The weekly music sessions aim to promote musical and wider development in the early years, using activities and resources developed from the Sounds of Intent – an inclusive framework of musical engagement. Sounds of Intent sets out how we all engage with music, from children in the early years to older people with dementia, to those with profound learning difficulties who are still learning to process sound, to others who are regarded as advanced musicians.
Our Get Set Go Music! pilot project is funded by Youth Music Network, and will see participants in interactive, live-music making sessions through to July – we look forward to seeing the difference these sessions make to the children involved.
“The Youth Music funding provides a fantastic opportunity to continue the valuable work we are doing here at Seashell, and extend this into the community. We promote the listening skills and wellbeing of our students through our bespoke music intervention. A huge thank you to Youth Music for investing in our work”.– Seashell Speech and Language Therapist and project lead, Lynsey Marsh
Read all about the next phase of our Transforming Lives Appeal.
Read all about the impact that the new home to Royal School Manchester has had on the children and young adults at Seashell.
We are delighted to announce that Seashell have been awarded a contract from the Department for Education (DfE) to deliver a Multisensory Impairment (MSI) Mandatory Qualification (MQ) as of September 2024.
Multisensory Impairment (MSI) means that a child or young person has impairments with both sight and hearing – their sensory loss may be present at birth or acquired later. Most people with MSI will have some useful vision and hearing; however, there are some individuals who are completely deaf and blind.
The combination of sight and hearing impairments can actually cause additional challenges for the individual – such as problems with balance and spatial awareness – this is why we talk of multi-sensory impairment (MSI), but you may also hear the term ‘deafblind’.
We support many children and young adults with multisensory needs from across the country, often from a very young age. The team of professionals at Seashell, including Qualified MSI Teachers, Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Audiologists, and Habilitation Specialists work together to deliver a holistic approach to supporting this unique population of learners.
Deafblind (MSI) children and young adults require highly specialist teachers to maximise their potential to learn. This qualification will provide teachers with the specialist knowledge to ensure those learners have the best opportunities in preparation for adulthood.
The MSI MQ contract, awarded by the Department for Education (DfE), makes Seashell one of just two providers delivering this specialist course in the UK. This is welcome news for the Sensory Impairment (SI) sector and for MSI especially, as it will give more opportunities for MSI learners, their families and naturally, the professionals working with them.
Affiliation negotiations are underway with University providers and we hope to provide an update on this very soon.
“The Sensory Support Team at Seashell are thrilled to have been awarded the contract from the DfE to deliver the postgraduate mandatory qualification in MSI (Deafblindness). As a highly trained specialist team of practitioners, we look forward to sharing our knowledge and expertise to train the next generation of MSI teachers, empowering them to improve the outcomes for MSI children, young people and their families.”
Seashell Royal College Manchester is included in the list of over 100 schools and colleges affected by Reinforced Aerated Autoclave Concrete (RAAC), shared by the Department for Education (DfE) earlier this week.
We were invited to appear on ITV and BBC news last night (Thursday 7th September) to discuss the impact this has had on our students, staff and the future of Royal College Manchester. We were also interviewed by BBC Manchester Radio and Hits Radio Manchester – a busy day for our team!
Some of our students and staff relocated earlier this year to our former school building, Dockray, with the remaining joining them this week, to start the new academic year together under one roof.
The move, and interim refurbishment of Dockray has cost the Trust £1 million, and although we are fortunate to have had an alternative building to move students into – the space is not designed to accommodate our students, who have the most complex needs and disabilities.
We are very proud of the progress we have made so far with the transformation of our campus, and we are incredibly thankful to you, our supporters who have helped us provide the children and young adults that we support with the very best facilities and experiences. We hope that you will join us on the next phase of our Transforming Lives Appeal – we now face the significant challenge of raising £10 million to build a new college, with £1.5 million raised to date.
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