October 2022
This month we would like to nominate Maxwell a student at Macaulay Church Of England Primary School.
Mary Long Advisory Teacher at CENMAC said “Maxwell has been a CENMAC student for four years. He always has such a can-do attitude towards his learning and is an absolute joy to work with. Maxwell only needs to be shown something once and then he has the skills and confidence to carry on using his technology by himself. He is always keen to learn and make progress.”
Maxwell said “My name is Maxwell and at school I use a laptop and an iPad. It helps me when I’m doing English because it makes me a lot faster so I can do the class work better. Every day I practice touch typing to get faster. There are games on my iPad are for cutting and drawing which I enjoy. If I need to remind myself what I need to do from the whiteboard, we use my iPad to take a photo of the board. My laptop and iPad help me every day. Mary comes and helps me and shows me new things on the laptop.”
Well done Maxwell!
CENMAC’s Student of the Month is awarded
to Maxwell
November 2022
This month we would like to nominate Sabarin, a student at Lambeth College.
Sabarin came to the UK when she was very young and taught herself English using CBBC and Tracy Beaker! She now speaks English fluently. Her level of vocabulary is accomplished and very mature. Sabarin has faced a great deal of adversity and through sheer tenacity, she has overcome many hurdles.
Sabarin has now been with CENMAC for a year. Prior to that, she was doing her very best to complete her college work by using free apps on her phone. Now that she has her own laptop with read aloud and dictation software, we are sure that she is going to do incredibly well. Well done Sabarin! Reach for the Stars!
CENMAC’s Student of the Month is awarded
to Sabarin
December 2022
This month we would like to nominate Elirone a Year 7 student at Haberdashers’ Borough Academy in Southwark. Elirone always tries his best with his learning and has embraced the use of technology to support his vision.
Elirone’s favourite subjects are History and Science, where he gets to use his CENMAC iPad, but also enjoys Maths. At the start of each lesson, he links his tablet to the digital whiteboard so he can see the day’s material up close without having to strain his eyes. It also allows him to magnify small items on the screen that might be difficult to see.
“It makes everything clearer and easier to see. It’s just bigger and better”, Elirone says with a smile.
He’s the comedian in the classroom and very popular with the rest of his peers in the playground.
Well done Elirone!
CENMAC’s Student of the Month is awarded
to Elirone
January 2023
Happy New Year! This month we are celebrating all the students who were nominated for Student of the Month in 2022.
They were nominated for their positive attitude to learning and communication and embracing their assistive technologies. Well done to all!
Student of the Month
December 2022 – Elirone at Haberdasher’s Borough Academy
November 2022 – Sabarin at Lambeth College
October 2022 – Maxwell at Macaulay Church of England Primary School
June 2022 – Audrey at Bishop Thomas Grant School
March 2022 – Hashir at Ashcroft Technology Academy
February 2022 – Omar who takes part in weekly AAC chat sessions with Abdi Omar
January 2022 – Danny at Charlton Park Academy
CENMAC’s Student of the Month Award
February 2023
This month we are delighted to award Student of the Month to Charlie at Gordon Primary School.
“I’m really happy of the progress Charlie is making in his reading, writing and maths using the ipad and laptop. He especially enjoys making voice notes. The equipment has really changed things for him and it is a lot easier for him to experience success. We are really proud of him!” Hannah Cuesta, SENCO/ Inclusion Manager/ Assistant Headteacher
Charlie said “Luckily, we have a touch screen. I love doing voice notes and going on explorer to choose a story when I’ve finished my other work. My favourite thing is choosing a story.”
Well done Charlie!
CENMAC’s Student of the Month is awarded
to Charlie
Self portrait of Charlie!
March 2023
This month we are delighted to award Student of the Month to Jade at Charlton Park Academy.
Jade has settled into her class with brand new staff and students, this could have been difficult for Jade, but she has settled in so well.
Jade is using her iPad with Supercore 50 a lot more in class to answer questions and join in during lessons. A really exciting skill Jade is developing is getting her message across and not giving up! If Jade doesn’t have the word or can not find it, she will use the internet to help, which is brilliant. Jade this week has initiated a conversation using her iPad which is a wonderful achievement.
It was lovely to see how proud Jade was of herself, we are really proud of her.
CENMAC’s Student of the Month is awarded
to Jade
April 2023
This month we are delighted to award Student of the Month to Shahad at Notre Dame Girls School.
Shahad is a bright, smiley, and chatty young girl who is determined to achieve success despite her many challenges. Shahad has a vision impairment and other undiagnosed health needs and is under health investigation and is often hospitalised for this.
Shahad was given a Connect 12 which she uses every day. Moreover, she has taught her teachers and TAs to help them to be able to support her and she has now received some more equipment to support her even further which she is very excited to receive.
At the start of each lesson, Shahad sets up her own equipment so she can see the lesson material. She always has a positive attitude towards her learning and is an absolute pleasure to work with.
Well done Shahad!
CENMAC’s Student of the Month is awarded
to Shahad
May 2023
This month we are delighted to award Student of the Month to Ruth K.
Ruth K is a year 8 student at Pimlico Academy. She never lets her disability hold her back and always has a smile on her face and never fails to make the teachers laugh. In fact, she even showcased her talent for stand-up comedy as part of a recent talent show at school, leaving everyone in stitches.
Ruth’s skills in writing poetry are exceptional too, as she not only won a poetry competition but also had two of her poems published. One of her poems even made it into a book that can be found in the school library. Although Ruth is sometimes in pain, she never lets it hold her back and always gives her best effort, always pushing herself to the limit. Ruth always makes excellent use of her CENMAC equipment, proving to be resourceful and innovative. It is truly inspiring to witness the fantastic progress she is making.
Well done Ruth!
CENMAC’s Student of the Month is awarded
to Ruth
June 2023
This month we are delighted to award Student of the Month to Perez a student at Lyndhurst Primary School.
“Perez moved from a low-tech AAC system, to the high-tech device CENMAC loaned, a tablet with Word Power 100. During his assessment with CENMAC Speech and Language Therapist Sarah McPoland, Perez navigated quickly to the keyboard, something his low-tech system hadn’t contained, and typed ‘Teletubbies’, one of his favourite shows. This was a real breakthrough moment, as previously Perez had not been able to communicate about his hobbies and interests outside of his low-tech system.
Since its introduction, Perez has developed skills and competence in many areas of device use – navigation, typing and using the predictive option. He is beginning to form his own sentences about pictures in sessions, with the support of his TA, Ms Angela McKenna. Perez has recently discovered that adding punctuation changes the intonation of the voice output. After seeing a picture of a girl who had gone down the slide and landed in a muddy puddle, Perez typed ‘Oh no!’, then replayed it, giggling, which had us all falling about.
I am so proud of Ange McKenna (TA) and Perez. I am grateful for the support Ange has given and am excited for what the future holds for Perez and his family.” Olivia Walker, Speech and Language Therapist, Therapy Links UK
CENMAC’s Student of the Month is awarded
to Perez
July 2023
This month we are delighted to award Student of the Month to Gabriel (Gaby) a pupil at St Pauls CofE Primary School
“Gaby has been such a pleasure to work with! He always gives everything a try and strives to do his best. Gaby has been quick to learn how to use his laptop to support him with his learning. He is making fantastic use of Clicker 8 for his written work at school and really enjoys First Keys 3 for practising his weekly spellings. Both myself and Gaby’s Occupational Therapist were impressed with his typing speed and navigation and it is clear that Gaby has been working on this. Gaby is now developing his fine motor skills through the use of an iPad and personalised stylus.
More recently, Gaby has started attending mentoring sessions with my colleague Abdi Omar for support with his AAC device. Abdi is also an AAC user and these sessions have been brilliant for Gaby. His engagement, focus and enthusiasm have been such a pleasure to watch.” Victoria Annan, CENMAC Advisory Teacher
“Gaby has worked incredibly hard on using his AAC device in school and at home. He is confident to navigate the systems and is developing his fluency with using this. His LSA, class teacher, and other children in the class work alongside Gaby to communicate using his device and are developing their expertise. Gaby uses his device throughout the day, alongside other technology (his laptop) to communicate and share his thoughts and ideas. He is proud to show his device to others and takes pride when using this with his peers. Gaby has also been paired up with another AAC user and has been attending weekly mentoring sessions online, which he loves. We are all so proud of the progress he is making!” Stephanie Black, SENCO
CENMAC’s Student of the Month is awarded
to Gaby
