Another jam-packed week! Our primary classes have been busy practising the Nativity – with everyone involved (all 62 primary children and the pupils from AB4 too!), I can’t wait to see their production. I haven’t managed to sneak into any of the rehearsals yet, although I have heard lots of singing carrying along the corridors. The Digit4ll students from the IT pathway at New Bridge School will be filming the performance and you can now order your own copy on DVD here.

Our Key Stage 3 pupils have also been busy practising with Miss Rudge as 16 of our pupils will be taking part in the New Bridge Christmas Showcase. I am really looking forward to seeing them joining all the young people from New Bridge to show off their talents. Once again, the Digit4ll students will be capturing the performance on film and you can order your copy of the DVD here.

This week I have asked Miss Louden’s primary class and Mr Holland’s Key Stage 4 group to let us know what their pupils have been up to.
Miss Louden has a ‘snap shot’ of her class to share..

We start every day with our morning routine – we write our names and as a class we talk about the days of the week, the date, the month and what the weather is like..

Then it’s time for ‘swiggle wiggle’ where we use fabric to make big movements to music which develops our gross motor skills (as well as being a lot of fun!)..

Our English lessons begin with a class story. We talk about the things we find on the front of the book, such as a picture, the title, the author and the illustrator. We discuss what an author does and what an illustrator does. We try to read as much of the story as we can ourselves..

We have started practising our Nativity songs in class along with the actions..

Miss Louden has set up different areas around our classroom for us to experience ‘continuous play’. Playing in these areas help us to learn to work on our own and learn how to play with our friends..

One of our favourite times of the day is choosing time – if we have been good in lesson we get 10 minutes to..

Mr Holland’s class have also been busy..

Thursday mornings are options mornings. One group of Key Stage 4 students are studying GCSE law and another group are investigating GCSE geography and looking at comparative religions. A third group of students go to music and practise performance with instruments and vocals.

We are looking to expand the number of pathways and options available to our Key Stage 4 students with the Duke of Edinburgh’s award scheme and access to already established pathways at New Bridge such as Hortus (horticulture), Lumenus (performing arts), Digit4ll (IT) and Activ8 (sport).

Aaron is already accessing the Hortus pathway on a part-time basis and says, “I like the time I spend with Hortus. I learn more skills which I think I will be able to apply to my plans to work as a gardener.”

We are also looking to establish a network of work experience placements,so that our Key Stage 4 students become more prepared for the realities of work as well as achieving their academic potential.

The students have been doing wheelchair basketball in PE this term and have been gaining an understanding of how it would feel to be in a wheelchair as well as learning the ins and outs of the sport..

They have worked on the different types of passes, practised dribbling skills and then eventually played matches against each other..

They were mentored by a New Bridge student, Nathan,  who plays wheelchair basketball professionally and has played for Great Britain..

In Science they have been learning about chemical reactions (and also having a bit of fun)..

Miss Rudge’s class have had such a lovely time celebrating Macauley’s birthday that she asked to share this with you..

Macauley turned 12 on Wednesday and the class enjoyed a game of ‘Pin the tail on the Donkey’ during form time with some yummy treats too!

As you can see, Miss Wheeler really enjoyed the game, although she had Cameron wondering if she was going to beat his high score..

Here’s the birthday boy himself joining in the fun with his classmates..

During Key Stage 3 drama, we have been learning about devised theatre, based on the theme ‘Stories that changed the world’. We were lucky enough to have photos sent in from Nathan’s Mum who took part in the clean-up operation after the terrible events on September 11th 2001. We were able to study these pictures to aid our drama work further and we are very grateful to Nathan’s Mum for the loan of the pictures.

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Finally, with Christmas fast approaching you may have noticed that Hollinwood Academy is becoming increasingly ‘Christmassy’ with our school tree now decorating reception..

Over the next two weeks we have lots of activities for all the children to be involved with. We have the Christmas Showcase to look forward to on the 7th and 8th and I know the primary children are very excited to be watching it. Our last week of term is very busy with the Christmas Nativity, Christmas dinner, our Santa Stroll (more details soon!) and Super Learning Day. Our primary pupils will be spending that week working on our Super Learning Day topic ‘Festivals of Light’ – we will have some lovely pictures to share with you!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend,

Jaina

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