I would like to introduce you to a young man named Ryan. Ryan was one of the original 50 pupils when we opened in September 2015, he was in Year 6 with Mrs Halkyard. Ryan is a delightful, charming and bright young man who has come on a long way since he started at Hollinwood Academy. Today is Ryan’s last day at Hollinwood Academy as he has made a successful transition to North Chadderton School, Year 9. Monday will see his first full day at North Chadderton and he has already picked his options: Fine Art, Graphic Design and Food. Ryan told me,

I have enjoyed my time at Hollinwood, especially the residentials. In Year 6 my class went to Kingswood and in Year 8 I got the fantastic opportunity to go to Disneyland Paris. Both trips were amazing. Everyone has been very friendly and helpful. It has been a tough decision to leave Hollinwood but I feel it is time to try mainstream.

Ryan and his form had a leaving party this morning and we are all sad to see Ryan leaving but equally we wish him all the luck at his new school. I know he will flourish and thrive there.

This has been a challenging week as a number of staff and pupils have been absent due to the Norovirus and tonsillitis. We have called upon the Curriculum Advisors across the MAT to help support the curriculum delivery and Miss Gordon and myself have been in classes covering lessons to provide consistency and familiar faces so that the pupils can continue to receive the best possible education in a focused learning environment. I wish both the pupils and staff a speedy recovery.

On my usual walk around the school and classes, I went into Mrs Halkyard’s classroom and I was particularly impressed with the poetry writing in her class. Mrs Halkyard explained that her class were focusing on WW1 and how the soldiers would be feeling. They had to include a number of language techniques: personification and similes. The class were asked to try to tell a story such as what their life was like before the war and then the changes once they were actually in the war.

Maia showed me her work and I was so impressed with the language techniques used, the emotions in her poem, the beautiful handwriting and the rhyme that I asked her permission to share her work with you..

Now you can all see why I was so impressed. Keep up the hard work Maia. We are very proud of you.

From one highlight at Hollinwood Academy to another – on Tuesday our student councillors and peer mentors experienced a trip to London to visit Parliament. Miss Gordon took 13 pupils and 5 members of staff to London. This was an amazing experience and Miss Gordon is delighted to share the highlights with you….in verse! To do her wonderful poem and all the pictures justice, we have a Palace of Westminster special feature here

Can I personally thank Miss Gordon for not only organising this fantastic opportunity for our pupils but also for her amazing poem!! The visit is something that we are looking at booking next academic year if we are able to and I would also like to make an early request for an equally entertaining account of it from Miss Gordon! I must also thank Mr Valentine, Miss Wheeler, Miss Prescott and Miss Dunne. Miss Dunne, Assistant CEO of the MAT, said after the visit,

Working across the schools within our MAT on trips like this is a privilege. I am not only proud of every pupil and their achievements but also the staff. Whoever thinks teaching is 8.30am – 3.30pm and just a job has never had the privilege of working with these amazing pupils or our dedicated staff.

Fantastic pupils and fantastic staff!

Let’s see what Mr Rawson’s class have been learning this week..

This week we have a new addition to the class, Alfie. Alfie has settled in well and we all welcome him to the class. In Maths we have been covering measures, starting with weight and converting kg into grams and then the reverse. We then covered volume of liquids converting litres to millilitres and then in reverse..

This week’s Science investigation was about thermal insulation and conductivity (keeping drinks hot and frozen yoghurt cold!) The pupils conducted experiments to find out which containers were the best to keep drinks hot and frozen yoghurt cold. The pupils took the temperature over a 20 minute period and recorded the data on a table, which they then converted to graphs to show their findings..

This week has been Road Safety Week and we have covered all aspects of road safety; the pupils learned about crossing the road, what to wear to be seen and bike safety..

The class enjoyed doing a few quizzes to test their knowledge..

Now to Mr Lynton’s class…

Our topic this term has been ‘Light up your life’ and we have been looking at the differences in light and dark using nature to help our understanding.

All the pupils within our group have been taking part in different activities linked to light and dark. We have been reading a new book called “Night Monkey, Day Monkey” which they have really enjoyed..

We have used nature to observe some of the differences..

The pupils have been creating the various creatures named within the book. The pupils have been learning about nocturnal and diurnal animals and have been able to correctly tell staff and each other if the animals come out at night or if they come out during the day..

The pupils have had fun working together and working alongside each other to create display work; they have made hedgehogs, parrots, hand butterflies, and they also made the sun and moon..

All the pupils have been working hard and have really enjoyed the creative aspect of their work. We are all so pleased with the effort that has been put into the work done so far, well done!

Now to our amazing SEAL Superstars and our Stars of the Week:

• Mrs Dunsdon’s class:
  Star of the Week: Xander for excellent work in Maths and topic..

SEAL Superstar: Victory for having kind hands and playing with his friends outside..

• Miss Grimsley’s class:
  Star of the Week: Daniel for doing some fantastic work this week in yoga..

SEAL Superstar: Myla for being able to accept that her favourite activity had ended..

• Mr Corrigan’s class:
  Star of the Week: Joshua for outstanding listening and helping teachers to keep children safe
  SEAL Superstar:  Tyler for coping really well with change
• Mrs Lomax’s class:
  Star of the Week: Ibraheem for doing some excellent work on Showbie..

..and Lucas for doing some excellent work on Showbie including adding voice notes..

SEAL Superstar: Byron for settling into your new class and trying your best to follow the new routines and rules. Well done Byron!

• Miss Parkinson’s class:
  Star of the Week: Nathan for fantastic work in Maths this week recognising odd and even numbers
  SEAL Superstar: both Oliver and Essah for great teamwork in English this week
• Mr Heap’s class:
  Star of the Week: Lewis for showing good behaviour choices
  SEAL Superstar: Darnell for showing good team work skills. Darnell has been showing good turn-taking and helping others
  Our new ‘Marvellous Meerkat’ is Lewis. 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: Reece for working hard all week
• Mr Rawson’s class: Alfie got a ‘WOW!’ moment for settling in very well in his new class

Well done everyone!

I hope you have a restful  weekend,

Laura

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