On Wednesday 18th October, I was lucky enough to visit Woodlands Primary School for a Better Places School visit alongside Henshaws as our first partnership visit together. Here’s how it went.
Better Places and Henshaws have a newly established partnership which you can read more about here
Our first school visit together was with Woodland Primary Academy in Oldham.
As a first, you’re always a bit unsure about how things will go but Nicole from Henshaws and myself got our heads together and figured out a way we might make it work.
I opened up the assembly with an interactive, fun, and higher energy reading of Nicky and Candy’s Street to set the tone and context for the morning.
Nicole then delivered a brilliant workshop taking a deeper dive into the different types of canes that might be used, how people see differently and held a simulation activity where children poured water with their eyes closed which gave them a bit of an idea of what it might be like doing a simple task as a blind person.
Nicole and me also did a bit of role play on communication emphasising the need for thing like introductions, directional instruction and not walking away from a blind person mid conversation – which I’m sure most will agree is pretty annoying when you’re sat there talking to yourself as you haven’t realised the person’s left.
The workshop was tailed off by a question and answer session between myself and children where i was asked about everything from ‘what it’s like to be blind,’ ‘how did I write the book’ to ‘where was I born.’ I can always count on a bit of variety in questions on school v
isits but all were pretty tame this time around.
Witten by Ben Andrews on