Newsletter 53

Marlborough and District Dyslexia Association

Newsletter 53  October 2014

The Committee would like to thank Guy Loosmore for his support and for the opportunities given to the MDDA during his year of office as Mayor of Marlborough.  Guy has enabled us to raise funds and raise awareness of the work of the MDDA and he and his wife, Fiona, have attended all of our lectures and workshops throughout a busy Mayoral year.

We would also like to thank Waitrose for their donation of £537, towards new resources, as a result of their green token charity support scheme.  Thank you to all who supported us with your donation of green tokens.

We would welcome suggestions for resources that you would like the association to purchase with this generous donation. Contact details at the end of the newsletter.

From the Chairman –The Launch of an exciting new era:

The Merlin Project

This is the name of the partnership between Ourselves (MDDA), St John’s Academy, Excalibur Trust, Wiltshire Council and Swindon Dyslexia Service. This is an exciting new direction for us and our first training event will focus on The Inclusive Classroom in relation to the new S.E.N Code of Practice. This event is to be held at   St John’s on Thursday 13th November. Please look out for the invitation which is being sent our via St John’s email. However, if you are not in a school please contact us directly. We know this is short notice but the programme looks great and the keynote speaker is Dr Amelia Roberts from the Dyslexia SpLD Trust.

 

We are very proud to be a local, independent charity whose inaugural meeting was held in November 1994.  The Association did exist before this but in a different guise.  The main objectives, which are part of our constitution, are to:

  • To ‘encourage the identification and to advance the education of persons disenabled by dyslexia’
  • Procure and provide information, concerning dyslexia, to the public
  • To support parents and carers of dyslexics and dyslexics themselves and schools and teachers
  • To promote and encourage research into dyslexia and disseminate the results’.

These objectives remain pertinent to our community today and the Merlin Project is a perfect way in which to fulfil these objectives.

We still offer community contact via our telephone and email helpline. For both children and adults.

Other News

We will be continuing with the provision of resources, our monthly surgery and lectures.

Our current committee consists of seven members. We would welcome any of our members or interested members of the public to join the committee to support us in our work.  You do not need to be a specialist teacher.  We particularly need support in the following areas:

  • Newsletter compiler (we will provide specialist information for this)
  • Updating of information on our website
  • General support at lectures and workshops.

The committee meets approximately three times a year to organise events such as lectures and workshops.

We know how busy life is in 2014.  Any new committee members would be very welcome but if you feel that committees are not for you come and join some of our valuable associate members who support events as and when they are available. Come and support us and make this an exciting and successful period in our history of local community support for dyslexics of all ages.

If you would like more information or to discuss informally contact Susanne Harris on www.marlboroughdistrictdyslexia.org or 01672 514162 or 077 2945 2143.

 

Useful links for parents, carers, dyslexics and educators

www.thedyslexia-spldtrust.org.uk

Parents section

‘How can my child’s school help with dyslexia’?

Educators section

The Literacy and Dyslexia-SpLD Professional Development Framework is described thus, ‘The Literacy and Dyslexia/SpLD Professional Development Framework is an easy to use online tool that encompasses the levels of knowledge and skills required across the education workforce to support all learners with dyslexia/SpLD’

Very useful for Continuing Professional Development in the light of the SEN Code of Practice:-

http://www.idponline.org.uk/psdyslexia

Teaching and supporting dyslexics in both the primary and secondary sectors.

http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/localoffer/localoffereducation.htm

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Thank you to all who helped at Flag Day on Saturday 27th September. Especially Krista for her stalwart work on counting and checking the ins in and out!

We raised £452.57  which we hope to add towards our funds for new resources.

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Surgery Dates – Marlborough Library from 10 am to 12 pm (2nd Saturday each month except August)

11th October,   8th November,   13th December

A dyslexia specialist will be present who can offer advice on dyslexia matters and give help in selecting appropriate resources from our huge range of books, games and assessments.

OUR WEBSITE

The web address is http://www.marlboroughdistrictdyslexia.org

Email addressmdda@marlboroughdistrictdyslexia.org

Helpline number 0772 945 2143 and messages can be left 24 hours a day.

Susanne Harris and Gina Cooke