Welcome to another jam packed week at Hollinwood. This week we have continued with the observations around school. It is great to see what learning is taking place in the classrooms..

• Last week I forgot to mention that I had popped into Miss Parkinson’s class where I watched all 12 pupils engaging well in a lesson all about the layers of the rainforest. I was impressed with how well the pupils listened to the information given to them about the 4 different layers. They then had to take this information they had learnt and complete a sheet to identify the layers.
• On Monday, Mrs Millard went to observe Mr Corrigan’s class and she was blown away by the work they were doing. The class have been investigating what happens inside an egg and how a chick grows. They took part in pretending to be the chick in the egg, stretching each part of the body as it grew before pecking their way out of the egg! The class then had another look at their class egg (a toy egg that hatches in water) which has almost hatched, but we weren’t sure what animal is going to come out. There were many good guesses…a turtle, a lizard? Each day the class have been using their observational skills to study the egg and they have also been writing an account of what they have seen and found out.
• On Wednesday, myself and Miss Parkinson spent some time in Miss Shin’s class where they were learning all about how sound travels. In the lesson they were able to talk about sound waves and vibrations. They then looked at how sound vibrations travel and created string telephones. It was great to see how well all the pupils worked and how much they had remembered from their previous learning.
• Today I watched Miss Sanderson teaching our Key Stage 4 GCSE group who will be sitting their exams in a few months. They were looking at how they could use sources of information to help answer exam style questions.
• The final observation was with Miss Rudge and a drama lesson where they were look at all the people involved in putting on a show. They then focused on mask designs and how these need to represent the characters or the play to grip the audience. I was impressed with how much the pupils knew and the knowledge they had gained.

This week Miss McMurray’s and Mrs Potts’ classes went to a careers event at the Queen Elizabeth Hall where they were joined by other pupils from a range of schools across Oldham. The pupils really enjoyed the day as Miss McMurray explains..

The day started by looking around a range of stalls from girl guiding, MAHDLO and the Army. Pupils planted some mint plants which they are going to take home to see if they can nurture and grow..

Pupils then spoke to some soldiers from the Army about their role. Pupils got to try on some army equipment and realised it would be hard work having to do a 20 mile run in it, never mind some PE!

Pupils then went to a range of activities throughout the day, they visited the HMRC stall where they were telling pupils all about the illegal import of goods from abroad and the powers they have to search homes and seize goods..

The police were there and were discussing different roles in the police force from the dog units to the fire arms. Pupils even had a go at being handcuffed..

..and attempted to kick a riot shield as they police wanted to prove how protected they were in riots and raids..

The food standards agency talked about how they ensure all the food we eat is safe, including the hygiene ratings from takeaways and restaurants. They also told us about how the meat we eat is safe and killed in a humane way..

We also talked about the skills we had and needed for our dream jobs, pupils realised they already had a lot of skills but some of the most important skills needed for jobs were communication and determination..

Pupils then became computer programmers where they were learning to write a program to send text messages..

Pupils also got to meet a working sniffer dog who works at the airport sniffing bags for people bringing things into Manchester Airport that they shouldn’t. Pupils and staff were amazed at how quickly and well the sniffer dog worked out which suitcase had something in it!

We have already spoken about Mr Corrigan’s class but he also wanted to share with you all what his class have been learning..

In Literacy this term we have been using Talk for Writing to retell the story of The Paper Bag Princess..

The book has helped inform our ‘Fur, Skin and Scales’ topic through the creation of the Dragon, having used ourselves as a template..

We have also been using role play, actions and story maps to inform our recounts of the story..

In Maths this term we have been constructing and interpreting Tables, Tally charts, Pictograms and Block diagrams for our Statistics topic..

For this week’s Symmetry topic we have been using our bodies create symmetrical images..

In Science this week we have been looking at the life cycle of chickens and other egg laying animals. In the soft play area the children have used movement to describe the changing structure of a chick through the 21 days it is in the egg, and then on to hatching and its first steps..

Back in class we have been observing our very own egg, each day, through our senses, labelled drawing, discussion and prediction..

It has been a busy week for the actors and actresses at Hollinwood who have been busy rehearsing hard for the joint New Bridge Group performance of The Jungle Book. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone in action next week. Thanks have to go to Miss Rudge who has supported the Hollinwood pupils – I know she is so proud of how hard they have all worked and how they have behaved..

There may still be some tickets left for next week’s performances, please call Lucy Shannon on 0161 883 2401 to check availability.

Let’s go on to see who our SEAL Superstars and our Stars of the Week are:

• Mrs Dunsdon’s class:
  Star of the Week: Lenni for joining in the story by copying actions and using signs..

SEAL Superstar: Madison for being proud of the stories she is telling adults and other children..

• Miss Grimsley’s class:
  Star of the Week: Ijaaz for engaging in the literacy lesson and listening carefully to the sound of the microphone
  SEAL Superstar: Daniel for smiling and being proud of himself for trying to ride a two wheeled bike..

• Mrs Lomax’s class:
  Star of the Week: Marco for doing some fantastic re-telling of ‘Ronald the Rhino’ and excellent learning in Topic..

SEAL Superstar: Marley for sharing our achievements without upsetting others

• Mr Corrigan’s class:
  Star of the Week: Byron for outstanding bravery and trying his best in Swimming..

SEAL Superstar: Zachary for being proud of his accurate prediction in Science but not boasting about it..

• Miss Louden’s class:
  Star of the Week: Lewis for his great work in phonics
  SEAL Superstar: Kyle for being a kind friend
• Miss Parkinson’s class:
  Star of the Week: Maia for fantastic behaviour all week
  SEAL Superstar: Ellie for being proud of swimming 10 metres and Gabriella for being proud of spelling words correctly
• Mr Heap’s class:
  Star of the Week: Daniel for working hard and trying his best in yoga this week
  SEAL Superstar: Thomas for talking about his worries
  The Marvellous Meerkat who has adventures with the pupils in Mr Heap’s class is going home with Lucas – Lucas has worked very hard in Maths this week. He has been measuring independently.
• Miss Shin was not in today so we will have to wait until next week to find out her Star of the Week and SEAL Superstar

Well done to all our Stars and Seal Superstars! Another ‘well done!’ goes to the Key Stage 3 and 4 pupils who recently sat their Functional Skills exams in Maths and English and got their results back today. I was so proud of all the pupils for working so hard and for many of them achieving results that they didn’t think they could.

Invitations have gone out to our next coffee morning on Tuesday 27th March at 10.30am – we hope you can join us!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend,

Jaina

Click here for this week’s news from Graham

You can find all our previous blog entries here