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• MOVING
  

  Well it seems ages since I last wrote this newsletter. I have now actually broken up and I am getting excited about Christmas. We have all moved to Godalming and we have sold our house in Eastbourne. I am rather sad to have ledt St Bede's but Charterhouse is really good.

  
  
  
  
• CHARTERHOUSE
  

  I have now just finished my first term at Charterhouse. It is brilliant and i have had loads of fun and made lots of friends. It has not been a problem at all being dyslexic as all the teachers knew that I had some probs and they are all really kind. I still do practically all my work on my laptop and I print it at out at home every evening. I have actually bought a USB keyring data storage holder which is very simple and so easy to use. It needs a USB connection but all new computers have these now and you can store data and transfer it really easily. This has been particularly useful when I have been making new software using VB.NET and then I can transfer it onto my PC at home.

  
  
  
• My iBOOK

  Quite a lot of people use laptops now in school. I recently went to help my mum in her school which is a special school for pupils who can't manage mainstream schooling. I helped a girl who is visually impaired set up her laptop and I tried to help her get organined. She has been given a very nice Toshiba laptop but it has made me realise how lucky I am. Although the Toshiba laptop is new it is heavy and does not have nearly such good battery life as mine. It is even more important for someone who is visually impaired to have a light laptop as carrying can be a problem. I really think that the best and easiest laptops should be very light and have very good battery life. They should also have Microsoft Word and Excell on. Other programmes can be useful and can be added as needed. A usb connection is also ideal as you can then easily connect to a modern printer. In fact if there is a printer in the classroom connected to a PC it is probably possible to just have another lead connnected to a usb socket in the pronter and the other usb end of the lead can be connected to the laptop when the pupil wants to print.

  
  
  
  
• New software

  I have been very busy at school but I have managed to make a new programme which seems to be really popular. It is called Simple Sums and it gives lots of random adding, take away, multiplication and division sums. It is possible to change the sums so that they can be very easy (eg numbers up to 5) or medium or you can have very large numbers.You can also choose the number of questions. This is on trial in a local special school where the pupils are really enjoying it. It is possible to print out all the questions and answers together with the date and the pupil's name. Apparently this is very useful for keeping a record of the pupil's progress.It is also being used as an early mornng task in the same school. If you are interested in trying this out please let me know. My 'Days Months and Numbers' game is going well and is also being used in schools.

  
  
  
  
  
• Languages

  Charterhouse have been really kind about languages - they seem to understand that I have real problems doing them and I don't do any. It means that I have free periods but I try and use half this time writimg my software and the other half doing other work and other stuff. I go the library or the computer room in these lessons. It seems really strange that at most schools pupils have to do a language even when they obviously have very serious problems even with the English language - it seems as if no one is actually looking at what is best for these pupils but only on making them fit the rules that are so obviously stupid. What do other people think?

  
  
  
  
• MY OLD NEWSLETTERS
  I still have my last newsletters and they can be read by clicking here. Also if you remember I used to have a news page, well I have put these back on, so please click here to go to them.