Giving Voice

Thursday 15 December 2016

Inspiring the Future...

Earlier this month I travelled to Manchester to talk at the RCSLT student study day. In the weeks leading up to this I was involved in the Student Day Working Group helping to shape the programme for the day. As a final year student 5 years ago (I really don’t know where the time has gone?!) I found the RCSLT student study day extremely useful so I was very excited to have been asked to take part this year.

The study day took place at the Renaissance Hotel in Manchester and the delegates were seated in Cabaret style via a seating plan to allow opportunity to network across educational establishments. It was a lovely location and the hotel was decorated for Christmas which made me feel rather festive!

Christmas Decorations at the hotel
As well as being involved in the Working Group session near the beginning of the day, I also had a 7 minute slot to talk about ‘How I got there?’ with the theme of Education. I’d spent a long time planning this and thinking about what the students would find most useful, trying to put myself into their shoes as I thought back to my student days. I asked a few of my colleagues and a couple of final year students I know to make sure I captured the relevant information. I felt like 7 minutes was a long time until I began to plan it and realised how much I wanted to say!

I’d typed my speech out and practiced it a number of times and I had planned to read it to make sure I didn’t forget any of the important points. I was quite nervous before I began but I was keen to inspire the students so I stood with a smile on my face and began to talk. I soon stopped reading the speech from the paper and used it only as a guide to talk through my experiences and expand the points as I thought of additional information. The more I talked the less nervous I felt and I was surprised when I was given my 3 minute warning and hadn't got as far through as I thought I would have done. As well as talking about my journey into Education (and the variety of temporary jobs I had before securing a permanent post in Leeds) I also used it as an opportunity to talk about Giving Voice and Voice Box. This was a good link to my experience in Education as Voice Box has been a great opportunity to raise awareness of Speech, Language and Communication Needs in a fun way.

I feel like the students were interested in my experiences and I enjoyed sharing theses. I also had opportunity to talk to a number of students at the breaks (and lovely lunch!) and it was great to feel such a buzz of enthusiasm in the room.

I thoroughly enjoyed being involved in the student day and I think the students got a lot out of it. There was a good range of speakers and there were also career and research posters around the room with further information. The RCSLT website has the PowerPoints from the day as well as the research and career posters – check them out here. Please do get in touch with me if you would like to know more :)

As ever, being involved in an event where there are so many Speech and Language Therapists (and students) makes me proud of the profession I’ve chosen and excited for what the future may hold.

Wishing you all a very Peaceful Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Sunday 27 November 2016

Laughter is the best medicine!

Earlier this month we hosted our inter-school Voice Box competition in Ashington, Northumberland. It was a lovely end to a busy week and we were delighted to welcome Ian Lavery, MP, and Andrew Day, Executive Director of the Northumberland Church of England Academy (NCEA) to our judging panel. All five schools participated and we invited the winner and 2 runners up from each of them. There were 3 schools from Ashington, one from Newbiggin and one from Lynemouth.
In the weeks leading up to the competition there was lots of chatter about Voice Box as I visited each of the schools. I had presented at a number of the staff meetings to encourage schools to take part and I was delighted with the enthusiasm this had created. A number of the schools sent a homework activity to find and learn a joke and staff reported that this lead to a positive uptake of homework with almost all pupils actively engaging. Each campus held their own Voice Box competition slightly differently with class based competitions, class votes and whole school assemblies.

I was excited for the final and was looking forward to welcoming parents and guests for an afternoon filled with laughter. Key Stage 2 from our host school also formed part of the audience. I briefly introduced the afternoon and then handed the stage over to the budding comedians! All of the runners up went first, followed by the winner from each of the 5 schools. While the judges were deciding their winner (with the help of a score sheet and a Giving Voice pen from their goody bag!) I welcomed Lost Voice Guy to the stage. He entertained us for 15 minutes through a funny story packed with jokes. The children (and adults!) loved him and it was great to have a Comedian join us for the afternoon.
Lost Voice Guy, Ian Lavery, Andrew Day
At the Judges table with their goody bags!

Ian Lavery announced the winner and handed out all of our medals and trophies. All the children received a medal and certificate and the winner from each school also received a trophy. Ian Lavery and Andrew Day both said a few words before I closed the afternoon and thanked everyone attending.

Medals and trophies for the children
It was a truly lovely way to spend an hour on a Friday afternoon and it was nice to be talking about and promoting the Speech and Language Skills of all the children. I’ve had lots of lovely conversations with staff in all the schools about how much the children enjoyed and engaged with it. Most of the schools took part on their No Pens Day which allowed lots of opportunity to really put Speech, Language and Communication at the top of the agenda J

All of the winners have been submitted to RCSLT now and we look forward to hearing back about whether any of them have been shortlisted for the National Final. It was also lovely to see on Twitter that Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East, got involved with his local schools competition again too. Read about last year here.

Wishing lots of good luck to all the schools and children who have taken part this year and don’t forget if you haven’t sent in your schools winning joke yet the deadline is this Thursday 1st December! Further details from RCSLT here.

Saturday 15 October 2016

Learning to Laugh

Voice Box season is upon us and I am enjoying encouraging schools to be involved again this year. I am now settled in my new job back home in Northumberland and have spent time since the beginning of term encouraging my new schools to join in. I’ve presented at a few staff meetings over the last few weeks to share information about Voice Box and how staff can get their students involved. Prior to the staff meetings I created a resource sheet summarising what Voice Box is and the benefits of getting involved along with some information about how to support the children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN). I also used this opportunity to summarise what makes a joke funny and why this can be difficult for some of the children with SLCN. We discussed how to use the joke telling as a way of exploring vocab and also incorporating it into wider school events such as No Pens Day.

In a few weeks we are having an inter-campus final where the winners and runners up can tell their jokes on stage in front of an audience at one of the schools. Planning for this is going well and I have sent invite letters to local MPs to be on the judging panel.

I am really looking forward to seeing and hearing the winning jokes and hearing how each of the schools are getting on. It’s been lovely that a couple of people have contacted me about Voice Box following my article in Bulletin last month too. I always love hearing from other SLTs!

It’s not too late to get your school involved. Check out the Giving Voice website for the Voice Box toolkit and further information. Happy joke telling!
Tilly and Tom



Tuesday 26 July 2016

Love to Laugh? Voice Box is Back!


After the success of Voice Box last year, I’m excited it is happening again this autumn term. Whether you are a parent, a teacher or a Speech and Language Therapist I’d like to help you inspire your local school to get involved in Voice Box.

Communication is a fundamental part of our daily lives and these skills begin to develop from birth. Humour is something that connects us and allows us to share in experiences with others, building friendships and providing joy. I love that Voice Box brings together the importance of communication and how fun language can be. Humour is used a lot throughout our lives and I think it’s a great way to explore language.

Last year I inspired a number of Leeds schools to get involved in Voice Box (2 of which went on to represent their schools at the final in London with one becoming the overall winner!) Read about the school competition, Leeds final or National Final at Westminster.

We were excited to get involved in Voice Box but it really did exceed our expectations, even before we knew who had been shortlisted. Everyone loved taking part right from the beginning and it was lovely to see how enthusiastic the children were throughout. It was lovely to see the children grow in confidence and they enjoyed sharing their jokes with their friends and on stage. Some of the children required additional support from a Speech and Language Therapist (me) and then delivered their jokes with confidence.
Tilly and Tom enjoying Voice Box

If you work in primary schools I’d encourage you to get involved in Voice Box as it was so much fun! I’ve devised a list of things I did last year to inspire you as a starting point but I’d love to hear any of your own ideas as I’m hoping to get schools involved again this year, and what works for one school may not work for another. This is not an exhaustive list but hopefully will inspire you to help get schools involved.

1.       Inspire Schools and gain a key contact

It will be useful to mention Voice Box as early as possible to begin to plant the seeds. I’ve just started a new job and have already begun to mention it ready to remind them again in the Autumn term. It can be a busy time and it is worth planning it in as soon as possible. If you work in a number of schools, have a discussion with a key person in each who will be enthusiastic about taking it forward. Last year I was really lucky that both the SENCO and Head Teacher thought it was a brilliant idea and we joined together to make a brilliant team to make it work.

2.       Help Staff identify which children may need support
Voice Box is open to all children on primary school age. Some children may have Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) and need additional support to be able to understand and deliver their joke. Last year I did a number of additional rehearsal sessions with some children with SLCN to ensure they were able to learn and deliver their joke confidently.


3.      Set a date and share with whole school

With the competition dates in mind, think about when your school will hold your competition and how you plan to do it. Are you going to have a whole school event on stage? Per class etc?


Once you’ve decided on a plan, share with staff and students. I shared this with the children during an assembly and it also went out in the school newsletter so parents knew it was happening.



4.       Invite MP and other judges

Once you’ve decided on a date decide if you want to have a judging panel. This can be a really good way to link with MPs or others. We wrote to the local MP and then I followed this up with a visit to his surgery and invited him in person. We chose to have the event on a Friday so that the MP would be in constituency and more likely to be able to attend. Even if you don’t need the MP to be a judge it can be a good idea to write to them and tell them it is happening as the final will be taking place in Westminster.



5.       Lunch Time Joke Clubs

We had a number of lunch time joke clubs in the weeks leading up to the event. These proved hugely popular and were so oversubscribed that each class could only attend a lunch time joke club once in order to allow everyone who wanted to be involved to have the opportunity to do so.



The joke clubs consisted of looking at joke books and thinking of our favourite jokes. I also prepared some jokes for the younger children with the answers separate to the question to encourage the children to match them according to what made them funny. These were popular activities which inspired the children to think of jokes.



6.      Joke Workshops (No Pens Day)

On No Pens Day I led some joke workshops in each class which wanted them. For the younger children this was reading jokes from children’s joke books and talking about which ones they liked best. With the older children (year 3 and above) we looked at what makes a joke funny (creates a funny picture in your head, uses double meaning (pun) etc.) I then showed them jokes and the children had to decide why it was funny based on what we had discussed. These were popular sessions and encouraged the children to think about jokes. They were really nice sessions to have on No Pens Day as it was a good speaking and listening topic and the children were already enthusiastic at not having to write for the day.

These sessions could be led by the class teacher and wouldn’t need to be done on No Pens Day.


7.       Other:

a.       Goody Bags – we gave each of the judges a goody bag with a range of nice Giving Voice treats (as well as some chocolates!) This is a good way of reminding the judges about Speech and Language Therapy after the event. My dad created some small calendars for 2016 (as the events were in December) with a range of nice photos and facts about Speech and Language Therapy.

b.      Posters – The Voice Box toolkit has a poster you can print and use but school decided to have a poster design competition over the holidays which was also very popular. This allowed children who prefer to be artistic to be involved in the whole school event even if they didn’t want to enter a joke.

c.       Prizes – if you have a whole school event on stage you could get medals etc. We got a trophy for the winning joke (which read ‘I made people laugh’) and all the children who told a joke got a medal. There are certificates to print from the toolkit too which we also gave the children.




8.       Size of event 
Our event was quite large and the whole school was involved, those who didn’t enter a joke watching the show. I know of other school events that took place that were much smaller and just as successful. Even if you don’t have much time you can still get your school involved. My niece wrote to her Head Teacher and was then asked to present the idea in an assembly. The children then had over night to think of a joke for the competition the next day. A winner was chosen from each class and then an overall winner was chosen to enter the competition.

Why should I get involved in Voice Box?

-          Language is fun!

-          Develops speaking and listening skills

-          Opportunity to link with local MPs

-          Spread awareness of Speech and Language Therapy

-          Develops confidence and self-esteem in children

-          Appeals to a wide range of children (and staff alike)

-          Chance of being shortlisted to the National Final in Westminster!

-          Create healthy competition between children and between schools by organising a wider event

I hope you found this interesting and feel inspired to get your schools involved. If you have any questions about how I got involved last year or want to share ideas I’d love to hear from you @pinkjules_16
Voice Box is a joint initiative between RCSLT and The Communication Trust. For further details please see the official website http://www.givingvoiceuk.org/voice-box/

Tuesday 8 March 2016

International Women's Day

Being in a profession consisting of more women than men, I felt inspired to write a post on International Women’s Day. I don’t know why it is that there are more women than men train for Speech and Language Therapy but it’s definitely a profession with more females! (But I do know some brilliant male SLTs too!)
I work, and have worked with, many inspirational Speech and Language Therapists who are dedicated to making a difference to the lives of the people they work with. Whether it’s helping children to say their first words, use their speech sounds correctly or to make more sense of the world around them… and that’s just the children we’ve seen before lunch!
There are so many women who have inspired me throughout my entire life, before and during my career as a Speech and Language Therapist - and men too but today is International Women’s day so we don’t need to talk about the men today! ;)  
 
I love quotes and I have many favourites. My love of quotes also reminds me how important language is to be able to understand others and express ourselves and to find our place in the world. I feel so privileged to be part of a profession that offers support and intervention to people struggling to develop effective communication skills (or regain these skills if they’ve been lost).
I thought I’d share some of my favourite quotes (so hard to choose only a few!)
-          If you think you are too small to make an impact, try sleeping with a mosquito in the room – Dame Anita Roddick (I love this one and use it whenever I am talking to people about campaigning)
-          The question isn’t who’s going to let me. It’s who’s going to stop me – Ayn Rand
-          No one can make you feel inferior without your consent – Eleanor Roosevelt
-          If you don’t like something change it, if you can’t change it, change your attitude – Maya Angelou
-          Anything is possible if you’ve got enough nerve – J.K.Rowling
Some of the most inspirational women in my life are those the closest to me. My mam, my sister and my grandma have all played a huge role in my life. My grandma always used to say ‘You’ve got to laugh or else you’ll cry’ and this gets me through many situations (sometimes daily!) I know I am a better person because she was in my life. All of my family (and friends) are so supportive of me and everything I do and I feel so blessed each and every day.
My sister Joanne, mam and grandma with a cool little Julie!
 
Thanks for reading. Be proud of who you are <3
Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives!
 

Monday 7 March 2016

Laughter with a Lord

Thanks to everyone who has read, shared and re-tweeted my blog in the last 24 hours! It's been great to see that a number of the MPs who were at Voice Box last week have retweeted it. Gary Northfield, one of the judges (and children's author and illustrator) also retweeted it to his followers.
Today I got some official photos from RCSLT and I thought it would be nice to share some of them here as an additional post.
Tomorrow morning, Chris Dyson Head Teacher and TJ are going to be on BBC Radio Leeds between 8.15 and 8.30am and on BBC Look North after 6pm. I look forward to listening and watching!
Richard Burgon, Leeds East MP, Chris Dyson and TJ
Photo Credit: Geoff Wilson

Richard Burgon, MP with Abigail from Seacroft Grange
Photo credit: Geoff Wilson
TJ telling his winning joke (complete with potato prop!) with Nick Smith, MP
Photo Credit: Geoff Wilson




 Gary Northfield and TJ with his certificate
Photo Credit: Geoff Wilson


Kamini Gadhok, CEO of RCSLT with Lord Quirk
Photo Credit: Geoff Wilson


Lord Quirk pictured above was President of RCSLT between 1987 and 1991. In addition to this, in the late 1960s/early 1970s he chaired a committee of enquiry into speech therapy services (which fundamentally changed the profession!)
I have enjoyed being involved in Voice Box so much. I think it is a fantastic idea and I know that all the children have enjoyed it too. I look forward to getting involved again next time round. It's a great way to promote the communication skills and confidence of young people in a fun way.
Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives. To read more about the Voice Box final in London last week see here. Thanks for reading and thank you to RCSLT for providing the photos I've shared in this blog post! I'm sure you'll agree they are fantastic! :)

Sunday 6 March 2016

Raising the Roof at Speaker's House

I travelled to London for the Voice Box final on Wednesday. I arrived a little early at Portcullis House so had a little walk along the Thames to take a few photos. Anyone that knows me knows I can never have too many photos of Big Ben or the London Eye! After brief sightseeing I joined the queue to get into Portcullis House. Once through security I was greeted with a buzz of enthusiasm and excitement from all the children waiting to go to Speaker’s House for the competition (and indeed the adults in the room too!)


 

Portcullis House, London

Voice Box was organised by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) and The Communication Trust. I had the pleasure of meeting the Director of The Communication Trust (Octavia Holland)on our way from Portcullis House to Speaker's House.

I was particularly excited that two of the Leeds schools had made it to the national final and chatted with both finalists while we were waiting. Both children from Leeds were particularly excited for their first trip to London and couldn’t wait to tell their jokes! My niece took Voice Box to her school last term too and the winner from there also attended so I introduced myself to him and his guests too :)                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
 
The event was officially hosted by Mr Speaker, John Bercow MP and it was held in Speaker’s House. It was an honour to be invited and have lunch with all the competitors and their families/teachers/SLTs before listening to all the jokes.
Richard Burgon MP for Leeds East attended for part of the event and was able to chat with both the Leeds children before they told their jokes. I was really pleased that he was able to attend and it was brilliant that he was able to see it through to the end after having been the judge at both of our Leeds events.  You can read more about the Parklands Voice Box and the Leeds final here.
 
After lunch we took to our seats for the competition to begin. Nick Smith, MP for Blaenau Gwent was the Master of Ceremonies. Nick was RCSLT’s Director of Policy and Partnerships between 2006 and 2010. He kept the event running smoothly including a few jokes of his own. I had the pleasure of meeting Nick at the 2011 Giving Voice awards but unfortunately didn’t get the opportunity to speak to him on Wednesday.
Nick Smith MP, me and Sharon Hodgson MP at the Giving Voice Awards 2011
Eleven other MPs attended and some of them got up and told jokes alongside their constituent competitors! They did get laughter from the audience but I must say the children were definitely funnier than the MPs ;)
There were a range of jokes, some complete with props, and each and every one of the children had the room erupting with laughter. Some children used iPads to tell their jokes and all of the children were full of character - I definitely think there are some comedians in the making!
Ian Lavery, MP for Wansbeck attended part of the event and it was great to catch up with him again. I also chatted with him to get a quote for a press release for RCSLT to send out to local media. Ian took the time to talk to the child from his constituency and posed for a photo with him.  It’s always lovely to catch up with Mr Lavery. I’m so pleased that over the 4 years since I first met him to tell him about Giving Voice that he has been a continued supporter of Speech and Language Therapy and has attended so many events to show his support.

Ian Lavery, MP with me in Speaker's House
Lord Quirk also attended - he was President of RCSLT between 1987 and 1991. In addition, in the late 1960s/early 1970s he chaired a committee of enquiry into speech therapy services (which fundamentally changed the profession!)
The event was brilliant and the children were all fantastic though I have to say the Parklands potato joke (complete with props!) remained my favourite (and I’m not at all biased! ;)
We broke off for a cup of tea and some cake while the judges were deciding the winner. I saw that South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck was talking to her constituent child (the child from my niece’s school) so I went and joined them for a chat. I told her that my niece took Voice Box to her school and that I’m a Speech and Language Therapist working in Leeds. It was lovely to chat to her and to hear how passionate she is about South Shields. (My home away from home!)

It was also lovely to have the chance to catch up with Andrea Robinson, who is also a member of the Giving Voice Innovation (GIG) group. She was also supporting a child in the final :)

Me with Andrea Robinson, SLT
Once we’d had our fill of tea and cake we went back in to find out the all-important results. The judging panel comprised of Octavia Holland (Director of The Communication Trust), Gary Northfield (children’s comic author) and last time’s Voice Box winner Jack. Before announcing the winner Gary showed the children how to draw Julius Zebra (from his book of the same title) and he presented all of the children with a framed certificate and goody bag. Once all the prizes were given we found out the 2 runners up and the winner…
And I am delighted to announce that the winner was (insert enthusiastic drum roll here…)
TJ from Parklands Primary School!
He was fantastic and the title was thoroughly deserved. He also looked the part in the 3 piece suit the head teacher (Chris Dyson) bought him for the occasion! The winner from Seacroft Grange also did really well and I am proud to have been part of their journey to London. All of the children were inspirational and it was clear how much they all enjoyed the day.

Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East, Chris Dyson Head Teacher and TJ - winner of Voice Box!
Richard tweeted about the event and shared this photo on Facebook and Twitter

After the competition we went on a tour of the Palace of Westminster and it was lovely to hear about the history of the building and to have a look around part of it. Unfortunately the House of Commons and the House of Lords were in sitting so we were unable to view the chambers.

Palace of Westminster

On Thursday my niece won cadet of the year at South Shields Girls Venture Air Corps and I tweeted Emma Lewell-Buck to say it was lovely to meet her on Wednesday, reminded her that Toni had took Voice Box to school last term and had just won Cadet of Year. She tweeted back on Friday and when I told Toni that her MP had tweeted to say well done she was over the moon.
RCSLT had their official photographer there on Wednesday and once I have access to these photos I’ll share some of them on here too.
Thanks so much for reading and well done again to everyone who was involved in such a brilliant event, we all made memories that we’ll treasure forever. I am looking forward to getting involved again next time round!