PROUD Walsall

2010-04-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

Up and coming events for your diary

There will be no meeting on Sat 1st May ( as its bank holiday weekend ) but we are having a BBQ on Sat 8th May ( please email info@proudwalsall.org to tell us if you're coming and number of adults and children and if you are vegetarian so we know for catering purposes or text us on 0795 101 9506 thanks )

The BBQ is at 4 Tynings Lane, Aldridge ( next to the little church on the corner ) 2pm - 4pm There is no charge for this event but please do tell us your coming

Saturday 5th June - Summer Trip to Twycross Zoo - Please email us if you want a booking form for this trip or text us you address details so we can post a form out to you

Saturday 3rd July 2pm - 4pm at Leighswood Childrens Centre
Logan communications are coming to talk and demonstrate some communication systems that they have to help children with down's syndrome to communicate and help with speech.

Parent Partnership Services will also be on hand to answer any questions regarding your educational needs.

We will be having a break over August ( although we will be doing a craft session at Walsall Art Gallery but watch this space nearer to the time )

Re start again on Sat 4th September at Leighswood Childrens Centre 2pm - 4pm

2010-03-31T04:59:00.000-07:00

The next PROUD meeting is Saturday 10th April ( due to the first Saturday being Easter Saturday ) and takes place 2pm - 4pm at Leighswood Childrens Centre, Broadmeadow, Aldridge WS9 8FY

2010-03-06T03:47:00.001-08:00

PROUD today Sat 6th March 2pm - 4pm at Leighswood Childrens Centre, Broadmeadow, Aldridge WS9 8FY

Please note that the next meeting ( which usually falls on the first Saturday of the month ) is moved to Sat April 10th at Leighswood Childrens Centre due to it being Easter the week before

2010-02-04T17:12:00.000-08:00

PROUD meets this Saturday ( 6th February ) at Leighswood Childrens Centre, Broadmeadow, Aldridge 2pm - 4pm

Parent Partnership will be coming to the event to be on hand to discuss any educational issues such as statementing, reviews IEPs and anything else

2009-11-25T05:02:00.000-08:00

A big Thank you to all who came and supported the Firestation event we raised £1200

The next PROUD meeting is the Christmas Party on Sat 5th December which is being held at St.Thomas church ( please note change of venue from previous years )St.Thomas Close, Aldridge WS9 8SL
at 2pm - 4pm

If you do want to come to the christmas party, please can you email jo@proudwalsall.org so we know for catering purposes and most importantly that Santa knows as he brings the presents!!! and we'd hate for children to come and be disappointed that santa forgot their present!!!

We have now got our PROUD calendars available to buy. These will be available at the christmas party or if you want to buy them online you can go to the PROUD calendar website www.proudcalendar.co.uk If for any reason ( apparently internet explorer uses may have ) the link to buy the calendar doesn't work try this link, you may need to copy and paste it into your browser https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=9736896

The next meeting will be in February which will be back at Leighswood Childrens Centre 2pm - 4pm We will have Ken Upton from Parent Partnership services on hand to advise about Statementing and other Educational needs you may have and also have a speech and Language therapist coming to run through the DownsED SEE AND LEARN programme which you can find out more about if you click here

2009-11-07T03:46:00.000-08:00

PROUD meets today Sat 7th November at Leighswood Childrens Centre, Broadmeadow, Aldridge WS9 8FY 2pm - 4pm

Today we have got the BBC coming to film at PROUD as part of the Down's syndrome Association lifeline charity appeal ( which will appear on BBC1 on Sunday 13th Dec at 4pm )

We have also got a Speech and Language session and also we have a visiting guest from Parent Partnership Services to tell you how they can help parents apply for childrens statements with education and help with schooling.

We look forward to seeing you there

2009-10-31T02:53:00.000-07:00

As more people are finding out through testing about the diagnosis of Down's syndrome we want to support the Down's syndrome campaign "Tell it Right, Start it Right" that parents should be given more accurate and detailed information. See more about the petition here http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/TellItRight/

Please go and look at some of our photo montages on the photos page as they portray that people with Down's syndrome can and do lead full and rewarding lives. They do not suffer and for us personally our daughter is just a delight to have around.

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Our next PROUD meeting is at Leighswood Childrens Centre, Broadmeadow, Aldridge 2pm - 4pm. We have a Speech and Language Therapist coming. We look forward to seeing you there.

2009-10-05T15:47:00.001-07:00

PROUD are delighted to announce that they won 3rd PRIZE for the best dressed boat competition at Dudley's Festival of Water and Light on Sunday 4th October. All the children that came along were treated to VIP food and drinks and watching the fireworks at the hotel terrace after the boat parade

pictures are below, our theme was "football"

2009-09-22T02:42:00.000-07:00

Dudley's Festival of Water and Light is taking place on Sunday 4th October ( PLEASE NOT THERE IS NO PROUD MEETING ON SAT 3RD OCTOBER )at Merryhill Waterfront from 6pm onwards

PROUD is having a boat in the festival so come along and see our decorated boat

FUNDRAISING FOR PROUD

You can now help fundraise for PROUD by doing absolutely NOTHING!!! except make a phone call!!

PROUD have joined a scheme where you can save up to £800 a year on household bills and they donate money to PROUD

to sign up is easy Go to www.telecomplus.org.uk/B72450 and it will take you to the website to give more details

2009-09-10T05:43:00.000-07:00

ABBA charity night concert is this Friday 11th September at The Lazy Hill Pub, Walsall wood Road Aldridge. I hope that you can come and support 2 great causes St.Giles Hospice ( who take care of terminally ill cancer patients ) and PROUD

Tickets are £12 click here to buy ticket

( if you are on internet exlorer this link may not work for you so try this - you may have to copy and paste it into your browser

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8114913

or are available from The Lazy Hill Pub

Doors open at 8pm Fancy dress optional but there will be a prize for the best dressed ABBA costume

The Band Bootleg ABBA are the largest UK band and it will be a really good night of dancing and singing along to songs from "Mamma Mia" plus many others

2009-08-10T02:33:00.001-07:00

We are promoting a charity concert where some of the proceeds will be going to PROUD and also to St.Giles Hospice

It will be an Abba night so please wear your best 70's gear.

It is on Friday 11th September at 8pm at the Lazy Hill Pub in Aldridge. Tickets are £12.00 and can be purchased by clicking onto the link, using paypal ( please note you don't have to have a paypal account to use this link just a credit card )

Please print the payment details off and bring with you as this will be your ticket

Click here to purchase ticket

2009-07-10T12:37:00.001-07:00

PROUD CALENDAR - photos needed

OK I'm late this year in getting going but if you want your child with
Down's syndrome to be featured in the PROUD Down's syndrome calendar 2010
Please can you send your pics by MONDAY 13TH JULY

I need a MAXIMUM of 3 photos please ( only 1 photo will go in the calendar
so its up to you, you can send 1 photo, 2 photos or 3 but no more than 3
please for me to choose from ) and I guess it sounds obvious but obviously
I need the child with Down's syndrome to be the main body of the photograph

Please can you send them in jpg form Please can you include in the email the
childs name, your name and put PROUD at the end of it ( it just helps with
the filing of them all and making sure when I check the calendar over for
the final time I can tick people off )

and can you email them to jo@proudwalsall.org

Please note I can't accept any professional pictures unless you have the
copyright to them

Here are the 12 categories to chose from that I need pictures for

1. child whispering to others
2. child hugging others
3. child climbing stairs or steps
4. child in glasses
5. child laughing
6. child working or doing some jobs in the house
7. child with trophy, medal, rosette, certificate or some other achievement
that you may think appropriate
8. child holding hands with others ( this can be siblings, parents, friends
grandparents etc )
9. child asleep
10. child travelling
11 child with family
12 child doing any sports pictures

Thanks once again for all your support. This calendar would not happen but
for the people who send me the wonderful photos of their children

thanks

Jo

2009-07-02T15:02:00.000-07:00

This Saturday 4th July is our annual Summer trip and we are off to Twycross Zoo

We are meeting outside the entrance at 10.30am

If you want to come please can you email me and let me know and I can send you a booking form

This trip is free for registered PROUD members

PROUD will then be taking a summer break ( although we will be having an activity session at Walsall Art Gallery - we will post details of that once we get the date in August )

Our next PROUD meeting will be on Saturday 4th September which will be a BBQ so again please email me if you can come to that so we have an idea of how many people to cater for

2009-06-05T15:30:00.001-07:00

PROUD meets on Saturday 6th June at 2pm - 4pm at Leighswood Childrens Centre, Broadmeadow, Aldridge WS9 8FY

We will have our speech and language therapist there

Also we are invited you to bring friends and family for cakes to celebrate the start of Down's syndrome awareness week.

Watch GMTV on Monday for interviews with families of children with Down's syndrome

It is our Summer Trip outing next month Saturday 4th July to Twycross Zoo

Please email me jo@proudwalsall.org if you want to come and I will email you details and a booking form. Please note that this trip is free to PROUD members but you do need to book

2009-04-27T15:42:00.000-07:00

PROUD meets this Saturday 2nd May 2pm - 4pm at Leighswood Childrens Centre, Broadmeadow, Aldridge

We have now got a speech and language therapist coming along to the sessions at Leighswood childrens centre and she will start doing assesments and some group work with your children

There will still be opportunities to meet with other parents and for your children to come along and play with other children, their friends and siblings

we look forward to seeing you there

2009-03-28T07:15:00.000-07:00

A big Thank you for all those who attended the Bob Brolley Concert, at Pelsall Community Centre, in honour of Deputy Mayor Cath Micklewright who sadly died in November 2008. It was a brilliant concert and there were alot of people who had really encouraging words to say regarding our work for individuals with Down's syndrome.

thanks for your support. We raised just over £800 at the concert and also thank you to all those people who donated money at Caths funeral instead of flowers. A total of £465 was raised from this Thank you to Gary Perry and his team who did alot of behind the work scenes in organising the whole event.

PROUD would not exist without peoples generous donations and fundraising, so it really is appreciated

2009-03-22T09:45:00.001-07:00

A Big Thank you to all of those who supported our Early Years campaign. So far we have managed to save 5 teachers which is going to make a huge difference to the running of the Early Years Team.

We are still going to campaign that in future if there are going to be cuts in Education that parents have a right to know of these cuts as it will affect the quality of the service to their children

There will be a timeline when the current cuts are taking place which will fall in September 2009 and there may well be a shortfall in the service provided. If this is the case you need to make sure your voice is heard. It will make a difference and there are people listening as a result of our Early Years campaign we now have a platform on which to stand and let parents voices be heard so something can be done about it. Well done to all of you who supported and will continue to support the campaign.

Meanwhile a reminder that PROUD will be meeting on Saturday 4th April at Leighswood Childrens Centre, Broadmeadow, Aldridge 2pm - 4pm

2009-02-25T09:07:00.001-08:00

Please support our Early Years Campaign

Walsall SERCO are planning to cut vital services to our Childrens Services and various areas are going to be affected. One of those areas is going to be the Early Years services

For e.g The specialist teachers are going to be reduced from 18 teachers down to 8 !!! Quite a cut and we feel this will affect the services our children are going to get

You can sign our petition here

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/SaveEarlyYears/

If you are on facebook please join the group

http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/group.php?gid=60118269714

Under the new restructuring of SERCO and education Walsall the early years SEN teaching service is under threat. They plan to drastically reduce numbers of staff which would have a devastating effect on our Team around the child service. As said previously we already know that the specialist support teachers will be reduced from 19 down to 8 staff. This will affect our home school teachers and other areas within the early years services which would impact upon all of our families and children with disabilities in Walsall. As you know the support and help to families from the early years team is vital and particularly around transition into nurseries and schools, help with statutory assessments, paperwork etc.

We need parents to be heard to stop us loosing this vital service and you can help by writing to these 3 people

1.Connie Mergen Head of Early Intervention and Inclusion Services

2.Frank Barnes Assistant Manager Director

3.Tony Stainer Managing Director

and can all be found under the same address

Walsall Children’s Services
Strategic Leadership Team
Education Development Centre
Pelsall Lane
Rushall, Walsall WS4 1NG

we only have to the end of February to voice our views so its vital that you put pen to paper so that we can be heard.

SERCO has provided education services to Walsall and under the new contract they are cutting back on staff. It may start off in Early Years and if they suceed who knows where it will go from there.

If you want anymore information please email me at jo@proudwalsall.org

2009-02-01T13:47:00.000-08:00

PROUD meets this Saturday 7th February at Leighswood Childrens Centre 2pm - 4pm

We have a speech and language therapist who is coming along to do a taster session of Makaton

Here is the map link for those who don't know where Leighswood Childrens Centre is

click here for map

2009-01-06T13:57:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone has had a good christmas and New Year

here is our group picture from the christmas party

Here is the programme for 2009

Sat 7th Feb – Leighswood Childrens Centre ( makaton taster session )
Sat 7th March – 3pm – 4pm Swimming Bloxwich Leisure Centre, High Street.Bloxwich WS3 2DA
Sat4th April 2 – 4pm Leighswood Childrens Centre
Sat 2nd May 2 –4pm – Leighswood Childrens Centre
Sat 6th June 2pm – 4pm – Childrens Leighswood Centre
Invite friends for coffee & cake to celebrate DS Awareness week
Sat 4th July Summer Trip Venue to be confirmed
Walsall Art Gallery Craft Session in August
Sat 5th Sept Midday – 2pm BBQ 4 Tynings Lane, Aldridge
Sun 4th Oct 5pm onwards Dudley’s festival of Water & Light at Waterfront at Merry Hill FREE ENTRY
Sat 7TH Nov 2pm-4pm Leighswood Childrens Centre
Sat 14th Nov 11am – 3pm ALDRIDGE FIRE STATION Christmas craft Fayre - free entry
Sat 5th Dec 2pm – 4pm Christmas Party Tynings Lane Church, Tynings Lane, Aldridge

Also every Monday evening 4.30 – 5.30pm Dance classes at Tynings Lane church Tynings Lane Aldridge for children with Down’s syndrome and their siblings

2008-12-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

Its PROUD christmas party on Saturday 6th December 2pm - 4pm at Tynings Lane Church, Tynings Lane, Aldridge

If you can come please can you let us know ( we need to know for catering purposes and also so that Santa knows what to bring in his sack )

email jo@proudwalsall.org if you can come ( and also the name and ages of your children)

Many thanks

2008-11-23T17:25:00.000-08:00

The fire station event went brilliantly and we raised £1200.

It is though with great sadness we have found out today that Cath Micklewright the deputy Mayor of Walsall who came and attended the event and offered her support to PROUD ( she was going to make us her charity as she was due to become Mayoress next May ) has died unexpectantly

She was a wonderful lady and we offer our heartfelt sympathies to her family

Here is a picture that we took of her at the event

2008-11-11T03:39:00.000-08:00

2008-10-29T06:57:00.001-07:00

This Saturday event at Tynings Lane House has now been cancelled due to health and safety so the next event is the Fire Station Event on Saturday 15th November 11 - 3

If you are interested in the Educational Conference on Friday 7th November, scroll down to the previous post for details, there are only a few places left now

Letters have now gone out about the pantomime to those who have recently renewed their membership postal forms with us, if you haven't received a letter and sent your postal form back in the SAE please get in touch with Jo either email jo@proudwalsall.org or text or phone 0795 101 9506

2008-10-21T03:08:00.000-07:00

PROUD Educational Conference Friday 7th November 9 - 4.30 at The Saddlers Club, Bank's Stadium, Bescot Crescent Walsall

Topics will include, inclusion, literacy, numeracy and using computers as a guide to learning

The speakers are

Bob Black ( Educational Officer for the Down's syndrome Association [DSA] )
Sandy Alton ( Consultant Advisory Teacher Oxfordshire Local Authority & Advisor to the DSA )
Cecilie McKinnon ( Curriculum Development Officer for DSA )

This conference is free to PROUD members ( please ensure you have filled your renewed membership forms out )

£5 to parents outside of PROUD

£20 to professionals

Please email jo@proudwalsall.org for a booking form

Places are going very quickly to do make sure that you have booked up quickly