HWA Blog - 12.6.26
Sharing the highlights of this week…
I am delighted to share the link below, where you can read more about Billy, a Year 8 student at Hollinwood Academy.
In a previous blog, I mentioned that Billy was taking part in a sponsored swim and had chosen to donate the funds raised to support our school’s sensory room. This is a fabulous achievement and one that deserves to be celebrated.
Billy, thank you for your kindness and generosity. Your selfless act will make a real difference to our school community. We are incredibly proud of you, well done.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HvxWA7mF9/
Hollinwood Academy Super Learning Day – 3rd June
On Tuesday, 3rd June, Hollinwood Academy held an exciting and engaging Super Learning Day, providing pupils across the school with the opportunity to explore new themes and develop a wide range of skills.
In primary, pupils took part in a creative learning experience based around The Pet Vet. They enjoyed ordering the story to build their understanding of narrative structure and sequencing. The children also demonstrated excellent creativity by designing and making their own puppets, which they could use to retell the story and bring the characters to life.
In secondary, students focused on exploring careers across different sectors. Through a range of activities and discussions, they developed their awareness of future pathways and gained valuable insight into the variety of opportunities available to them.
Year 9 were visited by Laiba from NatWest, who delivered a session on financial awareness. Students explored simple and compound interest and were introduced to apprenticeship structures within NatWest, helping them to understand career pathways in the banking sector.
Year 10 welcomed Catherine from the Department for Work and Pensions, who led an engaging workshop on interview techniques. She supported students in understanding how to present themselves confidently and highlighted key qualities and skills they can showcase to future employers.
The day was a fantastic success, with all pupils showing enthusiasm, creativity and a willingness to learn in new and exciting ways.
Thank you to our visitors.
SLD - Careers
Year 10 classroom visits
Across Year 10, it was fantastic to see learning across different subjects. In Science, students explored density securely understanding its definition and units of measurement while engaging thoughtfully with experiment videos, discussing observations and drawing out findings with confidence. In a separate lesson on endothermic reactions, students demonstrated a clear grasp of the relationship between products and reactants, accurately identifying that these reactions involve energy being taken in. In Food Technology, students applied their knowledge and skills impressively, producing courgette lasagne with freshly made pasta sheets; they worked independently, showed strong subject knowledge, and maintained excellent behaviour for learning throughout.
Super Learning Day: Healthy Eating
We had a fantastic Super Learning Day this week, with a focus on healthy eating. It was a brilliant morning, with students across the school fully engaged in a range of interactive and thought-provoking activities.
The key messages for the day were:
· Diets high in sugar, salt and saturated fat can have a negative impact on health.
· A balanced diet, including fibre, fruit and vegetables, supports good health and wellbeing.
Students took part in a variety of activities tailored to their age and stage. These included exciting escape room-style challenges, where pupils worked collaboratively to solve clues and deepen their understanding of nutrition, as well as the impactful “Fast Food Babies” resource, which encouraged older students to reflect on lifestyle choices.
Our younger learners also enjoyed a range of hands-on primary activities, helping them to explore healthy eating in a fun and accessible way.
It was wonderful to see such high levels of enthusiasm and participation throughout the morning. Students demonstrated excellent teamwork, curiosity and a growing awareness of how their choices can affect their health.
A big well done to all students and staff for making it such a successful and engaging day.
SLD - Food
Let’s see what has been happening in the classroom.
In Miss Oakley’s class this week…
"This week has been full of curiosity, creativity, and hands-on learning in our classroom.
In English, we explored how characters speak in different moods cheerful, angry, excited, and everything in between. Through role play and shared writing, we discovered a wide range of powerful verbs we can use instead of simply writing “said.” We also practised using inverted commas accurately to clearly show when someone is speaking.
In Maths, we continued our work on decimals, focusing on comparing tenths as fractions, decimals, and on a place value chart. Using practical resources helped us to visualise this tricky concept and build confidence in our understanding.
In Geography, we investigated where our food comes from, with a particular focus on the journey of the cocoa bean. After learning about each stage from pod to product, we created detailed story maps to show how cocoa makes its way into our cupboards. Of course, we rounded off our learning by making our own chocolate lollies, because you can’t learn about chocolate without tasting it.
In Science, Year 3 brought the pollination cycle to life using playdough, modelling each stage to understand how bees help plants reproduce. Meanwhile, Year 4 began their new topic on the digestive system, exploring the different types of teeth found in carnivores and herbivores and what these reveal about their diets.
It has been a wonderfully busy and enriching week of learning."
COY
In Miss Datta’s class this week…
"In Science, 9SUA have been learning about plant and animal cells. We can now confidently identify and label the different parts of a cell, including the mitochondria, cell wall, nucleus and cell membrane. We have also been using microscopes to closely observe onion skin cells, exploring the different parts of the microscope and understanding their functions.
During Outdoor Education this week, we visited Castleshaw. We discussed water safety and the dangers of entering open water. Some children shared their understanding of recent incidents involving individuals getting into difficulty in open water. Everyone listened attentively and was able to identify several risks, demonstrating a good level of understanding.
Over the past couple of weeks in English, we have been learning about William Shakespeare. We have explored his life, how he became a writer, and the development of his theatre. In the coming weeks, we will begin studying one of his most famous plays, Macbeth.
In Geography, we have been studying coastal environments. We have learned about different methods of both soft and hard engineering used to protect coastlines and manage the effects of the sea. At the end of the month, we will be visiting a beach to explore the seacoast in more depth, which everyone is very excited about.
In Spanish, we have been learning about Spanish festivals. We created informative PowerPoint presentations based on our research and confidently presented them to the class.
In Art lessons this term, we have begun exploring Japanese art."
Now to our amazing SUPER STARs and HWA We are We trust each other STARs
Mrs Bailey’s STAR of the Week is Ziyan - For excellent work in our Sensory Story lessons, matching pictures to the names of different sea creatures independently. Well done.
Mrs Lerigo’s and Mrs Sutcliffe's STAR of the Week is Harris – for being so resilient
Mrs Lerigo’s and Mrs Sutcliffe's HWA We trust each other goes to Blaire – for further developing trusting relationships with staff; smiling giggling and joining in.
Miss Boothroyd’s STAR of the Week goes to Ethan for trying his hardest with his work this week.
Miss Boothroyd’s HWA We trust each other goes to Effy for doing brilliant reading this week.
Mrs McDonalds’ and Mrs Bramley’s STAR of the Week is Alfie for his progress with his speech and language.
Mrs McDonalds’ and Mrs Bramley’s we trust each other star goes to Diana for sharing with her friends and for encouraging her friends to use good manners.
Mrs Matthews’ STAR of the Week is for preserving and always trying his best.
Mrs Matthews’ We trust each other STAR goes to Beaux: for brilliant contributions during English.
Miss Pietraszewska’ s HWA We trust each other goes to Nevaeh for having a very good week, engaging in lessons and taking turns. Well done.
Miss Pietraszewska’ s STAR of the Week goes to Rose for following instructions and engaging in activities. Well done.
Mr Corrigan’s STAR of the Week is Abu-Bakr for: a great attitude to work this week.
Mr Corrigan’s STAR of the Week is Teddy for being a thoughtful friend.
Mr Corrigan’s congratulates Albi-Lee & Teddy for being proud of their friends.
Miss Hulme’s STAR of the Week is Korey for his fantastic work in English. He has been working hard to use question marks correctly at the end of a sentence.
Miss Hulme’s HWA We trust each other goes to Madilyn for sharing her toys with her friends.
Miss Donbavand’s STAR of the Week goes to Matthew for great engagement during lessons.
Miss Donbavand’s HWA We trust each other goes to Maya for trying more to accept help when needed.
Mrs Boylan’s STAR of the Week goes to Faiha for accepting help and staying calm when feeling upset on Thursday and Friday
Mrs Boylan’s HWA We trust each other goes to Oscar for trying new foods at lunchtime.
Miss Oakley’s STAR of the Week is Libby- for being independent in her English work this week and when reading was getting tricky waiting calmly.
Miss Oakley’s HWA We trust each other goes to Harrison- for being a time stable superstar, we are so proud of you.
STARS of the Week (12.6.26)
Well done to everyone.
Have a good weekend
Miss Gordon.
