This week we have had another good turn out for our open morning for both primary and secondary prospective parents. Many of the families were looking around now ready for when they need to apply for secondary provision and others were keen to see the work that we are doing for all our learners.

On Friday we had another successful transition session and it has been nice to see our current pupils supporting the new pupils who will be joining us in September.

This week Miss Parkinson, Miss Louden, Miss Meadows and Miss Nuttall would all like to share with you all what their classes have been up to this week. Let’s start with Miss Parkinson’s class;

Since coming back to school, my class have been enjoying learning about our new theme, ‘Earth and Space’. In English we have been reading ‘The Jamie Drake Equation’ about a boy called Jamie whose Dad is an astronaut searching for alien life. Jamie unexpectedly downloads a transmission from the Hubble Space Telescope… we are yet to discover what happens next but we are very eager to find out! This week we have really enjoyed story mapping the book in order for us to write our very own versions very soon!

This week in Maths we have been looking at 2d nets that make 3d shapes and being able to recognise these in different orientations. The children have really enjoyed getting to make their own nets and making their own 3d shapes..

During topic lessons we have been looking at rockets and all the different types that can be used to get into space. We even had a go at designing and making our very own paper rockets. Of course, we had a go at ‘flying’ them to see which one travelled the furthest!

To finish, last Friday our Years 6s were lucky enough to attend the ‘Crucial Crew’ at MAHDLO. During our session the children attended small workshops around community awareness, being safe on transport, stamping out discrimination and also making healthy lifestyle choices. All the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves..

Now let’s see what Miss Louden’s class have been up to..

Our class have been studying Space this term. We have been making different planets in the solar system..

Our class have also been using the topic of Space in Yoga to come up with their own yoga positions..

This week we explored Alexandra Park. The children enjoyed exploring the park, discovering new elements and playing games together as a group. I am extremely proud of Alivia this week as she initiated interactions with both familiar and unfamiliar people at the park on several occasions..

Miss Meadows’ class have been very busy too..

Miss Meadows’ class have had a fantastically successful week as they have done some brilliant work in lots of different subjects. We have all worked hard this week and Miss Meadows is beaming with how successful we have been in our work. Our fantastic week started with our PSHE lesson on Monday morning – we did an experiment where we mixed an energy drink (Red Bull) with milk to see what happened and everyone agreed that it did not look very nice! We then discussed and debated why energy drinks were particularly bad for you and discovered we knew lots of things about the recently introduced Sugar Tax.

On Wednesday, we did our Art lesson and we spoke about a Brazilian artist named ‘Romero Britto.’ We discussed the common themes in his Art work which everyone agreed were colour, lines, patterns and a happy theme. Miss Meadows was amazed as we intently listened and created a piece of Art work which was based on his ideas as a starting point. The class worked so hard to get these ready for our lovely new display that Mrs Ismail and Miss Rudge asked if they could have one framed for their wall! Everyone listened and recreated them correctly – we made sure we signed them for when we are all famous artists in the future! We also sent this home for some of our Mums and Dads to see, they absolutely loved them and there will be some positive postcards coming home shortly to celebrate our excellent work..

Throughout this week in our English and Maths, Miss Meadows has been looking for children who have tried hard in their writing and their subtraction. Everyone has achieved fantastic things this week and we are practising writing reports. The children had the idea to write a newspaper report about Hollinwood Academy wanting a pug to keep in our classroom – this really sparked our imaginations and our pencils haven’t stopped all week! I was particularly impressed with Karl who has done a great job of using his given success criteria to make sure that he has used adverbs, directed speech and other things within his writing. He is also trying hard to form his letters correctly and incorporate our weekly spellings. Everyone was very impressed with the determination and perseverance that Karl had while completing this piece of work and his growth mind-set has helped him develop his literacy skills throughout this year. Well done Karl!

In Maths this week, we have been revisiting subtraction and everyone has tried hard and built on their previous learning. Every member of the class has been successful which is fantastic. Connor has been learning how to subtract using a number line and 100- square for support. At first, Connor found this quite challenging but he exercised his growth mind-set, kept on trying and Miss Meadows kept a close eye on him while he worked his way through all his subtraction sums! This was the perfect recipe for success and in the third lesson, Connor completed this method completely independently and was very pleased with himself! This is a fantastic example of how hard work can help us achieve and develop our learning within our classroom. Well done Connor, you and everyone else have had a fantastic week.,

We have had a fantastic week in KS3LMS and we are all smiling and looking forward to some hard earned rest over the weekend.

Miss Nuttall’s class also have an update for us..

In Science the class are learning about circuits. They used a motor to create a windmill and worked together well as a team. The next step is to create a moving car!

In Art, KS3NNL have been working on self-portraits. The artist used for inspiration was Andy Warhol. They have been working very hard over a number of weeks and their self-portraits are looking fabulous. Once complete, they are going to learn how to print them onto polystyrene!

In Drama, we have been filming sketches on British Values for the Bronze Arts Award. The class have enjoyed this and are enjoying the activities they have been involved in as part of the Bronze Art Award..

In English, KS3NNL have begun their final GCSE Literature text, ‘An Inspector Calls’.

The class are really enjoying studying the play and have been involved in lots of discussions about the author and the context of the play. They have already written some full analysis of the opening of the play and discussed the effects of dramatic devices such as the use of stage directions and dramatic irony to leave an impression on the audience. In September, we are hoping the visit the Theatre Royal in York to see the play being performed live.

In Living Skills, the class have been learning how to cook chicken kievs from scratch. This involved seasoning their own butter and coating the chicken in breadcrumbs (which they also made from scratch). They were then able to change the filling if they liked, so instead of using garlic some of the class used chilli butter and mustard butter! The class are also developing their independence as they have become very proficient in washing the pots and organising their work stations!

A great week KS3NNL!

Finally, let’s find out who our SEAL Superstars and our Stars of the Week are:

• Mrs Dunsdon’s class:
  Star of the Week: Madison for fantastic work and perseverance in PE
  SEAL Superstar: Ollie for managing to change his clothes independently in the mornings
• Miss Grimsley’s class:
  Star of the Week: Mia for independently naming and choosing friends to sing hello to during morning routine
  SEAL Superstar: Mia for being able to accept that the morning routine has changed
• Mrs Lomax’s class:
  Star of the Week: Farrukh for trying hard in all her work, especially her Talk for Writing
  SEAL Superstar: Joshua for coping really well coming in after your appointments – you worked so hard to do all your learning!
• Mr Corrigan’s class:
  Star of the Week: Bronson for asking a brilliant question in Topic
  SEAL Superstar: Zachary for fantastic listening this week
• Miss Louden’s class:
  Star of the Week: Alivia for speaking confidently
  SEAL Superstar: Kyle for coping well with the upcoming changes
• Miss Parkinson’s class:
  Star of the Week: Eden for being resilient in Maths making a 3d shape
• Mr Heap’s class:
  Star of the Week: Maisha for fantastic behaviour and excellent work in talk for writing
  Our new ‘Marvellous Meerkat’ is Maisha. We hope you and Meerkat have a fantastic weekend and we can’t wait to hear about your marvellous adventures!
• Miss Shin’s class:
  Star of the Week: Summer for amazing progress with writing
  SEAL Superstar: Jacob for coping well with change

Well done, everyone! I will leave you with a picture Miss Wheeler sent me of the Key Stage 3 pupils at lunch time on Thursday, relaxing in the sun..

I hope you all have a lovely weekend,

Jaina

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