Students help school children to follow their dreams

Dreams became a reality for a number of children from Laleham Gap School in Broadstairs, with one pupil in particular being given the chance to fulfil his dream to perform on a cruise ship.

21 pupils from the specialist educational needs school were one step closer to achieving their dreams with the help of Canterbury Christ Church University students.

As part of ‘Catch the Dream’ the event at University Centre Folkestone saw Laleham Gap pupils paired with student mentors who have a specialist subject relating to their dream, such as animation, art, drama and dance. Throughout the day each pupil took part in one-on-one sessions with their mentor, culminating in an afternoon’s performance in front of their friends and members of the charity demonstrating the skills they had learnt, with a special dance routine from students and pupils

The pupil’s dreams ranged from learning to play the guitar and learning how to rap, to creating an arcade game and learning how drawings come to life through animation.

Debbie Morris, Dream Coordinator for Follow your Dreams, said: “Follow Your Dreams encourages confidence and self-esteem in all children. We hope that by instilling confidence in these pupils, they will now pursue their dreams and passions that have been started at this event.”

The ‘Catch the Dream’ campaign is currently touring the country as it tries to fulfil the dreams of 1,000’s of young people with learning disabilities. The charity also works in partnership with local fundraisers and organisations to help make some of the more ambitious dreams come true.

For example, 11 year old, Finley Gausden from Canterbury is even closer to fulfilling his dream to sing on a cruise ship.  Following Friday’s event, where he learnt a routine with the help of his student mentor, local travel company, Saga, has agreed to let Finley sing on the stage of one of their ships. Finley will perform in front of his family and friends on a Saga cruise ship when it docks in Dover during the summer. It is hoped the special event will take place on Finley’s 12th Birthday in August 2012.

The students mentoring pupils on the day of the event were from the University’s Broadstairs Campus, Canterbury Campus, and University Centre Folkestone (UCF).

Judy Challis, Volunteering Coordinator, at Canterbury Christ Church University, said: “We’re committed to supporting the local community, with many of our students volunteering on a regular basis. We’re delighted for our volunteer students to teach their skills and passions to the Laleham Gap pupils who share that same passion. It has been inspiring to see this happen.”

Kate Wratten, Head of Primary, Laleham Gap School, said: “We really appreciate the work from Follow Your Dreams, and the Canterbury Christ Church University students for giving up their time in the vacations to come and spend time with our pupils. Thank you so much to all.”

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Duo of Dreams!

One fine sunny day, two lucky children from Calthorpe college in Birmingham had a special treat in their assembly, Dan area Manager for Follow Your Dreams was  there to make two lucky boys ‘Dreams’ come true! Following the workshop that was held there recently where Mohammed dreamt of having his own music sensory play mat at home and  Adam had a dream of his very own puppet theatre. In came Dan with the very things they dreamt of,and there was great excitement in the Assembly hall as all the children watched Dan presenting both boys with their special gifts.

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Britain’s Got Special Talent Takes To The Road!

St Cenydd School’s Special Resource Base, Caerphilly and Ashgrove School, Penarth were the first two schools to take part in this years National Competition to find the next Susan Boyle! Jack Casey Hughes was Caerphilly’s winner with Josef Morley representing Penarth and both young men will be entered into the finals of Britain’s Got Special Talent later this year. Jack who sang Queens ‘We Will Rock You’ stunned the judges with his talent and he was over the moon to be announced  the winner, while Josef who sang the song ‘Still Alive’ from the game ‘Portal’ took his teachers by total surprise. “It is so fantastic that he has this opportunity, his parents will be so proud” said Alison Wilde teacher at Ashgrove.

Follow Your Dreams has taken to the road around Britain to find a star amongst youngsters with learning disabilities and the winner will get the stunning opportunity to record at Rockfield studios, Monmouth, where Queen recorded their all-time great Bohemian Rhapsody.

The stage was brought to the two Schools as part of a ‘ thousand ‘Dream’ campaign that last year saw lots of ‘Dreams’ come true around Britain. Martin Harris Founder of the Charity and entertainer said “the workshops are something very special and over the last 10 years I have seen so much talent, experienced many magical moments from people with learning disabilities. It will be fantastic to be able to offer such an amazing grand prize and thanks to Rockfield Studios, maybe Jack can record the song ‘We Will Rock You’ like his idols did at the studio!”

Sue Sugarman CEO for the charity said “The pupils were incredible, they enjoyed every minute, the judges had a hard task and we will do everything possible to make their ‘Dreams’ come true. It was a pleasure to work with St Cenydd and Ashgrove and if anyone else would like to take part in this National event or it only costs £250 to sponsor a dream I would love to hear from you”.

“The next live event of Britain’s got Special Talent is at the Swansea Quadrant Centre between June 21^st and 23^rd. and we look forward to seeing more Welsh talent before going acrros Britain to find the next best talent!

Sue or Martin can be contacted on 01443 230184 or email sue@followyourdreams.org.uk

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Jamie Teaches Mainstream despite his LD

A little over two months ago, we told you about a very special young man Jamie Kelly, who with a little help from ‘Follow Your Dreams’ took a Swimming Instructor course so that he can be recognised as a fully qualified instructor! Jamie, who has learning Disabilities, is already a Special Olympic Athlete, but in addition to his Gold medals, has overcome the challenges of having learning disabilities and is now teaching to mainstream swimming classes! Read Jamie’s full amazing story here

These are the tutors comments on Jamie’s final assessment.

Ballooning Around

Yesterday saw the beginning of a great end to the week!

Ewan, of Ysgol Hendre, asked us to arrange a special kind of sporting activity for him, but one that has been a little tricky to arrange over the last few months with the weather being as wet and cold as it has.

Now you might be thinking that Ewan wanted to do some sort of field sport, that wasn’t great to play in the rain, but no Ewan’s dream was to fly in a hot air balloon! So we have teamed with Bailey’s Balloons and presented Ewan with a flight voucher, entitling him and another special person to take a flight.

You’ll notice that I said that this was the beginning of a great end to the week, keep an eye out over the next week to hear about the 20 dreams coming true in Folkstone tomorrow!