Published: Monday, 23rd April 2018
How many Lego models could you make in an hour? This is the challenge schools took on for Royal Greenwich's first Lego-thon.
The fun activity was designed to promote autism awareness in primary, secondary and post 16 schools and was organised by the Council's Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Outreach Service.
It supports schools and families to ensure children with ASD can achieve their full potential and ensures that families and schools are confident in providing support. The ASD Outreach Service is part of Royal Greenwich's wider Local Offer for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), their families and professionals.
Lego therapy
Many schools in the Borough use Lego therapy to help children with ASD develop a range of skills including how to communicate and collaborate with others and how to express their feelings.
Shooters Hill Sixth Form campus, which produced lots of models and also linked their entries to learning outcomes for students, won first prize.
Timbercroft Primary in Plumstead, which involved every year group from nursery to Year 6, won second prize and third prize was awarded to Middle Park Primary in Eltham, which not only created models but also organised linked activities including assemblies and class discussions.
The winning schools will receive Lego therapy sets to encourage them to carry on the good work and all participating schools will get certificates.
'Very impressed by the high standard of entries'
Florence Kroll, Director of Children's Services, said: "Congratulations to all the schools who took part in our first Lego-thon. We were very impressed by the high standard of entries that we received and many schools went beyond the original challenge to also explore autism in other ways.
"Last year children and young people in Royal Greenwich who have SEND were found to make better progress than nationally at both primary and secondary school age and activities like this help foster inclusivity and understanding.
"The Council's Local Offer website includes regular and one-off events for children and young people with SEND so I'd recommend that families and professionals regularly check it to ensure that they don't miss out."
Local Offer website
The Local Offer website also includes lots of information about everything from personal budgets to Education, Health and Care Plans and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Information Advice and Support Service.