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 1^st December! Further details from RCSLT here.

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

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/

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!
 

Jolly Jokers Shine

I was so proud of the staff and students at school last week. Voice Box went really well and everyone enjoyed it! The children have worked so hard to learn and rehearse their jokes and all did brilliantly on stage! 41 children performed their jokes in front of a hall packed with children, parents, staff and the judging panel. Our judges included Michael Harvey from Business in the Community, Trevor Frost from TD Stockbrokers, Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East and Harry Gration from BBC Look North!

The week leading up to Voice Box was busy with helping children to prepare and practice their jokes. I did some additional rehearsal sessions with some of the children on my caseload who needed a little bit more specialist support with practising.

Over the half term holidays there was a competition for the children to design a poster advertising the event. There were lots of creative entries and the winner got a £10 gift card. All the posters have been displayed around school in the week leading up to Voice Box and the children were eagerly counting down to the big day!

On the Thursday afternoon we had a complete run through of all the jokes, to check the children were happy with what they were doing and to help them with projecting their voices etc. We also wanted to check that no one had changed their joke from the original entry (which only happened a couple of times!)

On the morning of Voice Box Laura (SENCO) and I decorated the hall ready for the afternoon. Laura bought some lovely star bunting and I had blown up some balloons. We put the medals and winner’s trophy on a table at the front and I put the Giving Voice pop up banner in the middle of the stage.

 

We set up a table for the judges near the front of the hall, decorated with vases of fresh flowers, Giving Voice goody bags and chocolates! Each of the judges also had a record sheet to score each of the children’s jokes to help them remember when they were choosing the winner!

 

 

My dad made calendars for each of the judges with facts about SLT on each month and some fab photos that he has taken himself.

 

All of the children were brilliant and so enthusiastic. The rest of the school enjoyed watching and it was a really lovely afternoon.

Harry Gration talked about how welcome we’d made him feel and how much he enjoyed the tour of the school before the competition began.

Before the winner was announced Chris (Head Teacher) said Thank You to me for bringing Voice Box to school and Harry Gration presented me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers! I thought this was very sweet and the flowers are still looking lovely now.

The winning joke was brilliant and performed with enthusiasm (and props!) I submitted this to RCSLT earlier in the week and wish him lots of luck in making it to the Grand Final at Westminster.

Tilly and Tom enjoyed meeting the judges!
Judges L to R: Trevor Frost, Michael Harvey, Richard Burgon MP, Harry Gration

Following the event there has been a lot of Twitter activity including from the judges. Harry Gration also mentioned the school on BBC Look North that night which was very exciting for us all!

Laura posted on Facebook that night and mentioned that Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives! I thought this was lovely and every mention helps to get the message out even further.

I love how much of a team effort it has been and it would not have been possible without the enthusiasm of the head teacher and SENCO Laura. The children have loved it and are still telling jokes. It’s brilliant how it has got everyone communicating in such a positive way.

One of the teachers made a fab video slide show and I love how Tilly and Tom even made an appearance!

 

We are hosting the Leeds final on Friday 11^th December and are looking forward to doing it all again! It’s not too late to get your school involved – my niece’s school did their whole Voice Box competition in a day so it doesn’t have to take a lot of planning. Further details can be found on the RCSLT Giving Voice website.

Extremely Exciting!

Today started off as any other work day… I snoozed my alarm as many times as I could before finally getting out of bed and making my must have cup of tea!  I then somehow managed to spill half a bottle of milk all over the carpet. I was so annoyed but my grandma always used to say ‘there’s no point crying over spilt milk’ (this time literally!) so I cleaned it up, didn’t cry and got on with my day. I may not have started the day quite as successfully as I would have liked but I was determined not to let it make a bad day for me.

I had a good (and busy!) day at work – my spilt milk a distant memory! After work I headed to meet Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East to follow up the letter I sent him on behalf of school a couple of weeks ago.

I arrived at Corpus Christi Club at 5pm with a copy of the letter, Giving Voice pens and a leaflet. There were a few people there waiting already so I sat down and waited. I began to feel a little nervous while I was waiting but I was excited too!

When Mr Burgon arrived he greeted us all and the first thing he noticed was my Giving Voice badge! (asking what it was). I always like to wear my Giving Voice badge as people often ask me about it which gives me opportunity to tell them about Speech and Language Therapy.

 

I waited about an hour before it was my turn to go in but the meeting was worth the wait! I explained that I had written to him a couple of weeks ago about being a judge for Voice Box at the school I work in as part of my NHS role. I explained that I wanted to meet him in person to explain what the competition is about. I told him about the national competition and the grand final being held at Westminster. I also invited him to be a judge at our school Voice Box and also the Leeds final competition that we are also hosting.

Mr Burgon was interested in the competition and also my role as a Speech and Language Therapist. I told him about Giving Voice and how I have been involved since the beginning of the campaign, including my involvement with my MP back home. He correctly guessed that home was the North East (I’ve no idea what gave it away… ;) ) He then tried to guess the MP (and after I narrowed it down to Northumberland he quickly guessed correct with Ian Lavery.)  He told me he is good friends with Ian Lavery and has known him for a long time (Since before they were both MPs) – small world!

 

 

I gave Mr Burgon a Giving Voice pen (he was very pleased with this…everyone loves a pen!) and left him with a copy of the letter and a Giving Voice leaflet. I was delighted that he has agreed to attend both of our Voice Box competitions and I look forward to meeting him again next month.

Planning for Voice Box is going really well - I had my first lunch time joke club yesterday with 11 children from year 4 and year 6. Tilly and Tom helped us and enjoyed thinking of jokes too (you can find them here on Facebook and here on Twitter). The children really enjoyed it – we spent time thinking of and looking for jokes. Each child chose their favourite one and shared it with us at the end of the club. We are also doing joke workshops on our No Pens Day next week to continue to inspire the children!

 

I tweeted Mr Burgon (and Mr Lavery) when I got home and I look forward to welcoming him to our school in November. I was excited to see that Mr Burgon tweeted about meeting me this evening!

 

 

 

We also have other exciting guests at our school competition and I am really excited about how well it is all coming together. The staff in school are really embracing it and the children keep stopping me in the corridor to tell me jokes. I love how much it is getting everyone talking and thinking of jokes.  

I love my job and the lovely children I work with. Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives <3

To find out more about Voice Box and to get involved visit the Giving Voice website. Also why not invite your own local MP to the competition. I am so glad I decided to go along and meet our local MP this evening – a brilliant ending to a day that started off a little sour!

Voice Box (ad)Venture...Join in the Jokes!

Already a few weeks into a new term, I don’t know where the time is going! The nights are getting longer, leaves are changing colour and everyone is beginning to talk about Christmas parties…where did the summer go?

I love Autumn, it’s one of my favourite times of year. I love the crisp air and the pretty colours though I’m not so keen on the shorter days and the colder weather.

The autumn term is one of the longest so it’s nice to have something to look forward to. As part of my NHS role I am based in a primary school most of my week and we have decided to take part in the national Voice Box competition.

The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists have teamed up with The Communication Trust to run this year’s Voice Box competition. It encourages schools to hold a joke-telling competition and submit the winning joke to RCSLT with 10 pupils being shortlisted and invited to the final which is to be held at Westminster!

 

I am extremely excited to be involved in this, encouraging children to create jokes and enjoy the fun side of communication! We are holding Voice Box in school and are going to invite the local MP to be on the judging panel. We have also set a date to host a Leeds wide final at school too!

We plan to use some time on No Pens Day for the children to think of jokes. I am talking at the school assembly tomorrow to introduce them to Voice Box and No Pens Day. I am looking forward to this new experience and inspiring the children to explore their funny side!

If you work in a school or know someone who does why not suggest Voice Box to them? It’s a great way to enjoy the fun aspects of communication, building confidence and self-esteem. Further details can be found here and there are lots of resources to help you plan the event.