Dyslexia Friendly School

Kyle Academy is one of 3 Secondary Schools in South Ayrshire to be undertaking the journey to becoming a Dyslexia Friendly School. Please check back as this page develops.

*Stop Press...Next DFS Parents Evening Wednesday 1st May...*

 Latest  DFS Newsletter February 2013

This term the Dyslexia Friendly School group have continued to make progress in their quest for the first stage Bronze certification.  Pupils have continued to impress both teachers and the wider community in their commitment to bring awareness to all.  A recent Parent night was conducted to inform parents about dyslexia and how the school is making provision for each pupil and their particular barriers to learning.  The Pupil Support Team have been preparing Dyslexia Friendly Toolkits for each classroom to better provide class teachers with resources that may help their pupils learn more independently.  South Ayrshire Council is continuing to raise the profile of Dyslexia via an exhibition to be held at Carnegie Library beginning Feb 27^th 2013.  The pupils within Kyle Academy are continuing to work hard to improve the profile of dyslexia in our school and they need to be commended for the hard work.

 

Dyslexia Friendly School Parent Night -

Ainslie Woods and Scott McElvanney have been been involved in theDyslexia Scotland Conference on the 29^th September at Murrayfield and have gone on to present  to all pupils at Kyle Academy.  More recently Scott and  Ainsley, along with the Dyslexic Friendly Pupil Group have presented to a parents evening on the 6^th of February 2013, to again raise awareness of what it is like to be dyslexic and what can be done to help.  The other pupils in the group include – Robbie Alexander, Jack Powell, Scott Sutherland, Abbie Hamilton, Heather Kyle and Jayde Denholm.

Pupils showed the power point that was presented to the assemblies and encouraged parents to participate in activities that showed what it is like to be dyslexic.  This was well received by the group and parents were able to empathise with Mrs Val Sutherland, when she was able to share how difficult it is to have a child with Dyslexic difficulties.

Mrs Gillian Powell also led a workshop to parents and aimed to encourage all parents to join with her and others to champion the Dyslexic parent group within the school.

NEXT STEPS – Another parent evening is planned for May 1^st 2013 where a guest speaker will talk and discuss issues resulting in being dyslexic.  Mr Paul O’Neil, an ambassador for Dyslexia Scotland is the Manager for the West of Scotland SFA (Scottish Football Association), he is a champion for the dyslexic cause and is a motivational speaker.  All parents and pupils are welcome to attend this event.

 Parents are invited to join the Dyslexia Friendly Parent Steering Committee to add their input and become involved in improving the learning for all children at Kyle Academy.  If you are interested, please contact Ms Baillie or Mrs Quigley at the School.   Telephone - 01292 262234   Email - Susan.Quigley@south-ayrshire.gov.uk 

DFS Teacher Champions -

The Pupil Support Department along with the Kyle DFS Teacher Champions, have been preparing DFS Toolkits for every classroom and plan to distribute over the next few weeks.  A member of pupil support will attend a departmental meeting to show class teachers what is in the tool kit and offer suggestions how these tools can be used offering strategies to assist each subject area.  A pupil who has dyslexic difficulties will also attend giving staff ideas what helps them in their subject.  Teachers are encouraged to add to the tool kits any learning aids for their subjects, e.g. common word sheets, learning guides, differentiated materials, dictionary, calculators etc..  We are also preparing a list of possible resources to use in your subject.  A BLUE folder on Dyslexia including current policies and resources will be issued along with the TOOL KITS. 

Over the coming weeks, FOCUS groups in each year will meet to improve and inform our practise on Dyslexia and how to better meet the needs of our pupils.

South Ayrshire Council

Dyslexia Friendly Schools Project

Exhibition

Carnegie Library

Ayr

February 27^th – 22^nd March 2013

OPENING AT 2pm on Wednesday 27 February 2013 at Carnegie Library, Ayr and will remain open until 22 March 2013.

The Exhibition includes work from Primary and Secondary students in South Ayrshire.  It will include: posters, drawings, cartoons, poems, articles and blogs displaying works by all Dyslexic Pupils.  All are welcome to attend to see the great work of our pupils in South Ayrshire Schools.

 

Library resources available to support the DFS initiative -

In the school Library we have several dyslexia friendly resources - 

• The powerful and motivational Accelerated Reader reading programme which is proven to work!
• A variety of  audio books on the pupil shared area, including Quick Reads, The Wimpy Kid  and Jacqueline Wilson, all of which are on  the Accelerated Reader scheme;

• We have a large selection of  fantastic new dyslexia friendly Barrington Stoke titles   all of which are on the Accelerated Reader scheme http://www.barringtonstoke.co.uk/ ;

• FLIPS reads for Nintendo DS, including Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl and Cathy Cassidy;
• E-books and E-readers
• 20 wifi enabled Laptops in a mobile trolley...