Nathan West, Chyler Leigh of East of Eli and 'Supergirl' visited St Vincent's School, Liverpool
Photographs by Patrick Trollope.

AFTER an amazing Concert at the Cavern Club, Nathan West and Chyler Leigh of East of Eli and 'Supergirl' fame visited St Vincent's, on 25 May 2018,  to see how the fruits of their visit and support back in 2017, had developed. Launched from St Vincent's School for Visual Impairment, in 2017, the 'Fab4000' comic stories have been continued by students within their 'Shenanigans' writing group, covering a range of local and global issues of importance to them. Translated into Mandarin and Japanese the 'manga' style stories have been shared with collaborative Schools, allowing Visual Impaired (VI) pupils to use a range of new technologies, learn new skills and showcase their abilities and strengths, via the Rainbows Comic.

An increased confidence inspired by creative writing has encouraged pupils in their other subject areas with an enhanced engagement in:- Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) and the making of new ideas amongst VI pupils themselves to assist other VI pupils to access sports and education. Supported by Rotary Clubs, these new ideas have been physically made and placed into a Sightbox. The box is a collection of supportive equipment and technologies for VI pupils, and has been sent out to VI children in Countries including:- Pakistan, Nepal, India, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Peru, Indonesia, Gambia.  Some exciting 'joined up' thinking to say the least!

But it has not stopped there. St Vincent's pupils have made their own internet radio station and in the coming months will share their individual success stories across the airways. These success stories are informed by the 'enriched' curriculum activities undertaken at St Vincent's on Wednesdays which work in support of the national curriculum studies and cover those creative areas such as:- music, art, dance, drama, sport and the environment, where VI pupils can continue to grow their strengths, and improve their employability. This all aligns rather beautifully with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) and thus our little bit in helping to save the planet. Come along on a Wednesday, if you are VI and interested in these creative subjects.

Working with a number of local Schools including All Saints, in Anfield and our local Universities, our aim is to use the internet for our VI children to help teach other VI children around the world how to access sports and education using the Sightbox as the medium. This has been quite a successful and indeed fruitful year, marked by a continued:- 'outstanding' provider grade by Ofsted.  For more information about it, click here to down load a .pdf file about the Sightbox.

East of Eli's visit was celebrated by the planting of a fruit tree in memory of Nathan's father. As this tree grows and bears fruit, they look forward to a fruitful year ahead and the sharing of the Schools pupils' fruitful outcomes on the East of Eli community website. The School's plan is a collaboration with TeachAbilityUK to promote partnerships between pupils and teachers in mainstream education and those with disabilities, and to celebrate this in a joined international massed choir, in Liverpool, in 2019. This will include children who have already received a Sightbox this year (2018). That joined up thinking just keeps going!

Also attending the event was Abigail Foster, Miss Liverpool City Region 2018, who gave a speech to pupils about picking yourself up when things go wrong and keeping yourself moving on.

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