On Wednesday evening, we hosted our 2021 ACL Awards. The last 20 months have been a very challenging time for us all which makes these events even more important.
Huge congratulations for Judith for being awarded Highly Commended Creative & Cultural Learner of the Year. Judith is using the skills learnt in her Makaton classes to develop her charity – Mindfulness Miniature Donkeys. The charity aims to work with people of all ages in hospice care and/or with learning disabilities who may use Makaton to communicate. She is also teaching her two miniature donkey’s to understand makaton who play a vital role in her charity work!
This learner has been an excellent member of the Makaton Level 1 and 2 class. Her signing skills have been excellent, she is highly motivated, very supportive of others and very funny! She has gained a very high level of skills and understands how to communicate effectively with people with communication difficulties. Judith is an inspiration to the class and myself and has added a new dimension to the world of Makaton!
Nomination statement
Why did you sign up to this course?
I did a few of the online courses and found it quite easy to be online. I prefer it to in person learning as I get quite anxious. The courses were easy to sign up to and the tutors were very helpful. I was able to progress my makaton learning through these courses.
What was your motivation behind doing this course specifically?
I’m in the process of setting up a charity at the moment called Mindfulness Miniature Donkeys. I have 2 miniature donkeys and we are hoping to work with children in hospice care and learning difficulties. Learning makaton was a way of being able to access a different language and teach it to the donkeys as well (believe it on not!). If the donkeys came across a non speaker adult or child, the donkey would be able to respond/understand simple signs.
What did you enjoy most about the course?
My tutor Celia was very good and the group was full of similar, like minded people who wanted to achieve similar things. We all had a good laugh even when things went wrong!
What does it mean to win this award?
I’m in shock! I feel like I have imposter syndrome, I don’t feel like I should be here. There’s so many worthy people who should be receiving awards and I’m incredibly grateful. I was just gobsmacked! It’s nice to be appreciated and recognised.
Well done Judith, brilliant achievement. To view all winners and to see a selection of photography from the awards, click here.
The ACL Essex Achievement awards were kindly supported by Visit Essex, Explore Essex and Essex Outdoors; students were offered a series of top prizes at key attractions across the county.
