KEVICC Courier Spring

Love, hate it’s all upside down (an upside down poem) Yet the rose still blooms, Red as blood, From a gunshot wound. I’m dying. Feeling the arms of love around me, Loved, Not, Feeling hated. By Isak Williams, Year 8 Morning in Garda The beams of light mingled over the Cracked concrete road, as my squeaky sliders Slipped down the pretty hills and into the cool leisurely lake. Frightful fish lingered between my floating feet, whilst they flapped in the cool wakeless lake. By Oscar Garner, Year 8 Page 15 The Wonderful Niall Cashman Every year, you come across amazing students who will go the extramile to strive for success. It could be at GCSE or A Level, and undoubtedly this is why we become teachers, so that we can be part of their incredible journey. I first taught Niall in year 9 and now he is an A level student, and I also have the privilege of being his Sixth Form tutor. I can whole-heartedly say that Niall is one of those amazing students; his successes will resonate with us for a long time. Niall has a condition; he has Asperger’s syndrome, a form of high functioning autism. His journey at KEVICC has been phenomenal. He has become an amazingly articulate young man, overcoming the difficulties that A level would throw at him. I remember when I learned he was going to do French A level because he loved French, I wasn’t sure how he would cope with the difficulty, the intricacy of the content of the programme. We talk about diversity in French society, racism, gay marriage, immigration, politics, marginalisation, even Frexit! Students need to be able to talk about those topics, offering their opinion, justifying their views using statistics and facts while incorporating complex language structures. He proved me wrong. Niall worked relentlessly to improve his fluency, listening, to learn his vocabulary and improve his translation skills (he completed a whole grammar book over the summer for that!). Steadily he improved and improved. His essays in French are all A* now and he is still not happy with them, he wants full marks! He is on course to get his As and A* in his 4 subjects including Maths, Further Maths and Physics. Every time I see him, he takes the time to ask me about my weekend (in French of course), to thank me for the lesson. Niall is a ray of sunshine on a sometimes very rainy day. He has made many friends at Kennicott and has come out of his cocoon. And now I feel he is ready to make the next step to go to Bath university to study Maths (sadly not French but he has promised me he will carry on and wants to live in France). I also have to mention the help he received along the way to make his story a success, his parents, his teachers, his teaching assistants and in particular Christine Higgins his TA who is absolutely amazing with him. He will be missed but the world is your oyster Niall. I wish you every success Niall, you deserve it. A deux pieds ! (he would need to explain to you this French joke, à demain , à deux mains etc..) Brigitte Taverna (Teacher of French) Poetry