Staff Training for Work With Disabled Students

Well we picked a rather chilly day to do some staff training with our Instructors! The aim of the day was to try out different systems for enabling disabled students to go down the Zipwire and to also get high and have a swing on the Ropes Course.



After consultation with experts in the field and a bit of experimentation, we have adapted a paraglider harness to offer additional head support. Yes, if you look closely the head restraint is actually an adapted car booster seat! The result is we can offer a more comfortable experience for the profoundly disabled where a normal full body harness does not offer the necessary support and comfort.

 We then used a 10:1(?) hoisting system to be able to lift a person up high. Using this method one person can haul a person single handed. Once they are off the ground we can then also turn it into a giant swing!

We also experimented with the idea of using the whole group to pull a person up.

Heading back inside to warm up with a cup of tea we then had useful discussions about various other techniques, risk assessments and ways of working with students on all the other High Challenges we offer.

Decorating

We have just had a very rare week without a residential group staying. This is extremely infrequent and we don't have another such term time week free before January next year. In fact we're nearly completely booked up until August 2013. So when we do get such a week we make the most of it to do things we can't do when we have guests.

 We've always aimed to make the Lounge a warm and friendly place that is somewhat homely and it's always be decorated with that in mind. But gone is the orange theme seen in the photo on the left and instead staff have been busy decorating to give it a more 'contemporary look'.

We now have a 'Toasted Beige' bottom with a 'Seashell' upper to the walls. The curtains are in the prossess of being replaced by blinds and decorative pelmets. And some colour themed artwork now complements it  for the homely feel.

The DFSC staff are displaying their supressed interior-designer personas and it's a bit like 'Changing Rooms' here.

The finished look below:

We have also had some plastering work done in the dining room and the kitchen staff have redecorated the whole of this room as well. I'm sure they have carried out a dynamic risk assessment to determine that tables are safer than step ladders! And don't worry they'll be well washed down - they want to keep their 5 stars award for food hygiene!

 

We hope our guests like the fresh new decor. In the last two years we've more-or-less decorated the entire house from top to bottom.