West Midlands Film Making Weekend

Notes for parents and carers

What's included?

All activities and specialist equipment. Accommodation (plus bedding) and
meals are included and special diets can be catered for. We will send you a recommended kit list and other information such as location maps, arrival times etc three weeks before the event.

Health and safety

The centre is a licensed activity centre. The programme of activities will be planned by qualified instructors from Remark! in partnership with NDCS staff. All activities are assessed for additional safety issues in relation to communicating with deaf children and young people. All centre staff, NDCS staff and volunteers are CRB checked.

Who can come?

This weekend is aimed specifically at deaf children and young deaf people aged 11-15. NDCS uses the term "deaf" to cover all types of hearing loss, including temporary hearing loss, such as glue ear. It is unlikely we will be able to offer places to any hearing siblings or friends on this weekend, however hearing siblings and friends may still apply and be added to the waiting list (to be notified one month before the event). Preference for these places will be given to children who have not attended an NDCS event before and who may require the support of a hearing sibling or friend for their first event.

Transport

Unfortunately there is no transport available for this event. If you are arriving by public transport we are able to offer pick-ups from the local train station – subject to demand. If you do experience transport problems please contact the Events Team and we will try to help you.

How to register?

Please complete a registration form in full and return to the address at the bottom of the form as soon as possible. We will then send out confirmation the place is booked. Please use one form for each child attending. You can download the form on the NDCS website at www.ndcs.org.uk/whatson and visit the event page, or phone us on 0121 234 9820 (v/t) to request a copy or email events@ndcs.org.uk

Booking conditions

• To book a place on this event, we require the completed registration form to be faxed (0121 233 9575) or posted back to the events team at: NDCS, York House, 37a Great Charles Street, Birmingham, B3 3JY. Bookings will only be accepted on receipt of the official booking form.
  
• To enable equal access to the events we have to limit the number of events children can attend to one weekend residential and one residential holiday per child each year.
  
  
• On receipt of the completed form confirmation of the place will be sent to you, usually by email if supplied. Final instructions will be sent to you three weeks before the event.
  

  Cancellations
  

Thanks to our donors we are delighted that we can offer all NDCS events free of charge to our members. All we ask is that if you book your child a place on this event, then your child does attend. The actual cost of each place on this event is £248 per child.

Last minute cancellations not only cost the charity money but more importantly, with the huge demand for our events, it could mean that another child has lost the opportunity to attend.

If, through unavoidable circumstances, your child is unable to attend all or a part of the event, then we ask that you let us know as soon as possible so that we can offer the place to someone on the waiting list.

Save Our Society

NEWSLETTER 25 July 2009 www.ddcs.org.uk

S.O.S. . . . . . Save Our Society

General meeting:
Thursday 9^th July
7.15pm

Claughton Youth & Community Centre, Blowers Green Lane, Dudley DY2 8UZ

We had a good response to our call for more parents to join us on the committee and help run the Society. Views and opinions were expressed, and many suggestions were made as to a new way forward.

Our next meeting will be this Thursday 9^th July, starting at 7.15pm.

Current committee members will be there to outline their roles, and prospective committee members will be able to 'shadow' them until the Annual General Meeting in November.

Please do try to come along. We do need as many parents or family members as possible to help…and we need your ideas …..

REMEMBER….

This is a Society run for the benefit of all children with hearing losses throughout the Dudley Borough, and their parents/ carers and siblings.

If you cannot make the meeting but would like to be involved, even in a small way, please contact Mrs. Shelagh James on 01384-811747, or contact your local Teacher of the Deaf.

THANK YOU

We need your help

URGENT NEWSLETTER

PLEASE HELP!

Dudley Deaf Children's Society finds itself in the situation where it is rich in members but poor in support.

The committee is now very low in numbers. It is run by a few parents whose children are now in their teens (and twenties), and some professionals.

As this is a Society run for the benefit of all children with hearing losses and their parents/ carers, we are now asking for more parents to join the committee or else the society faces closure.

Our next meeting will be in June at the Claughton Centre, Dudley, starting at 7.00pm. A letter will be sent out once a date has been finalised.

Unless we receive more support we will begin closure procedures which will mean there will be no organised activities or funding for signing classes, specialist equipment, Christmas parties, trips for pre-school children and their parents/carers, outings to Alton Towers, the Beer and Skittles Evening, and much more.

We hope you are able to find the time to support us in supporting your child as we would hate 2009 to be the year which sees the closure of the Dudley Deaf Children's Society.

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1. NATIONAL DEAF CHILDREN'S SOCIETY. www.ndcs.org.

Please log on for up-to-date information on courses, books, toys, benefits, and so much more for parents, carers and professionals, children. This is a brief outline of the February / March update: The option of cochlear implants to be offered to all profoundly deaf children in England; Acoustics in some new schools are failing to meet Government standards; Concerns over school curriculum funding for literacy; Help the NDCS improve services for families; The Big Walk Forward; Free events for all the family; Life and Deaf – encouraging young deaf people to explore their deaf identity through poetry.

FREEPHONE HELPLINE. The NDCS provides a free benefit information service. Please use it.

DO NOT PAY £1.50 a minute premium telephone service to a company called Benefits Hotline. The NDCS report that some families have been inundated with texts and emails, urging them to use that service further.

+++ If you do not have access to a computer please do contact me on 01384-811747 and I will download the information and post it to you +++

2. DUDLEY DEAF YOUTH CLUB. Meetings: Thursdays, 7.30pm – 9.30pm,

Claughton Youth & Community Centre, Blowers Green Lane, Dudley. DY2 8UZ

Contact : Sajid Rehman, 07799070630 or e-mail: sajid.rehman@dudley.gov.uk

Activity/dates:

Monday 23^rd March – Visit to Sandwell Deaf Youth Club

Thursday 2^nd April - Centre

3. PARENTS AND TODDLERS. We do hope that you will come along and see us at

The Stourbridge Children and Families Centre,
Forge Road, Stourbridge. DY8 1XF.
10.00 till 11.30 am

Spring Term
2009
Friday 3^rd April _ Easter activities – making fluffy chickens and crispy
chocolate nests!

Summer Term
2009

Friday 8^th May - Music session

Friday 5^th June - Baby massage

Friday 3^rd July - Summer Outing to Ash End Farm, near Tamworth

4. ALEXANDRA THEATRE + BIRMINGHAM REP. THEATRE

Information regarding signed performances for the Alexandra Theatre + BSL interpreted performances, captioned performances, and audio description an touch tour for the Birmingham Rep. are on the enclosed sheet.

5. SIBLING ACTIVITY DAY.
Birmingham, Sunday 29^th March 2009.Does your brother or sister have a hearing loss? Are you between the ages of 9 years and 16 years? Would you like to meet other children like you? Read the information sheet to find out more!

6. REGIONAL FUN DAY – WOLVERHAMPTON – 27^TH JUNE – Aldersley Stadium. FREE for all members. This will be a fun and informative day for all the family. It is your chance to meet the local groups closest to you and find out more about what they do. There will be a wide variety of activities for all the family from toddlers to teens and parents.

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If you would like to comment on anything in the Newsletter – or write an article yourself – please send it or phone Shelagh James, The Education Centre, Church Street, Pensnett, Dudley, West Midlands. DY5 4HB. Phone: 01384-811747. e.mail: shelagh.james@dudley.gov