Disability Awareness Week
19th June 2023
Every Summer term Westgate Primary School’s equality working group and Y5 equality ambassador children organise a themed week. Last year the school led a very successful Anyone Can Day- challenging gender stereotypes, and this year the theme was disability awareness week.
The week beginning the 19th June, Westgate invited a range of visitors into school to work with the children to learn about: types of disabilities, what a disability is, what it is like to live with one and to tackle any stereotypes.
What an amazing week it was! This was all thanks to so many inspiring volunteers who worked with the children. Throughout the week Westgate children worked with……..
A Makaton teacher who taught the children to sign using some Makaton and taught them some songs. This session was fun and interactive; the children loved learning signs to some chart music.
The Guide Dog Association and Hearing Dog Association also led some sessions to explore how these dogs help support people with a hearing or sight impairment.
Disability Sports Yorkshire worked with the children to look at a range of disability sports and sporting achievements. The children thoroughly enjoyed playing a team game of goalball.
‘It was fun to learn how to play a disability sport. It was tricky playing goalball’ Y4 child.
A group of students from Henshaw College also came to work with the children. Henshaw’s college supports people with a disability to ensure that they can lead independent and fulfilling lives by building their skills and developing their confidence. It was lovely to hear their stories and share their experiences of life and growing up with a disability.
In addition to all of this, we also had a visit from a charity called ‘Mencap’ who led an assembly to talk about how they support people with disabilities. After the assembly all the children carried out an exciting ‘Go Noodle’ fundraising session where our sports leaders led dance sessions in the hall with each class and all the children raised a total of £160 for Mencap.
‘We are very grateful to all of our visitors for giving up their time to be part of our disability awareness week. Organising such an incredible week is only possible with the generosity of all our visitors and for making the day fun for all the children, so thank you to all!’ – Mrs Hattersley Assistant Head teacher.
‘The whole week has been a really valuable and positive experience for our children. It has helped them to understand and see beyond other people's differences, as well as appreciating the challenges many others face. For children with additional needs, they have been able to see themselves represented positively in the visitors we have had. I'm so grateful to our Equality Working Group for organising so many meaningful experiences for our children over the course of the week. ‘ Head teacher, Ms Carpenter.