HWA Blog - 13.6.25

This has been one of the busiest weeks so far for our year 11 students. This week they have sat the following exams: Biology, Creative iMedia, Spanish, Maths, Geography and Chemistry. The final few are next week. keep going year 11 you can do it! 

On Wednesday this week our Year 6 children welcomed the CELLS (Choices, Education Lifelong Learning) Project group into school to discuss and spread awareness of serious and organised crime.

The day consisted of four workshops of which they discussed the consequences of anti-social and serious crimes, the CELLS Project delved into topics like joint enterprise laws, demonstrating how seemingly harmless actions can have serious consequences. The children had the opportunity to immerse themselves into a realistic prison cell display, to further emphasise the gravity of crime.

Our children participated in serious discussions and powerful messages were spread across the group. The children contributed with maturity and sensibility showing an awareness of crime and the potential impact and consequences.

 

CELLS - 13.6.25

 

Today, Mrs Needham and Mrs Rathor had the fantastic opportunity to attend the Evidence for Learning conference at Swiss Cottage. It was an inspiring day where they connected with SEND leaders from all over the country, sharing ideas and innovations.

Mrs Rathor took to the panel to discuss workforce development, shedding light on how our Trust is working to enhance our workforce across the Multi-Academy Trust (MAT). Her insights into the successful TA4 development programme at Hollinwood Academy really captured the audience's attention, showcasing the commitment we have towards nurturing the professional development of our teaching assistants.

Mrs Needham highlighted the new EFL Forms that are currently being trialed for annual reviews and learner feedback. The potential impact of these forms on learner engagement and progress is exciting, and it was great to see so many other leaders interested in the initiative at Hollinwood Academy.

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the tour of Swiss Cottage. This outstanding special school left us all in awe with its fantastic facilities and warm atmosphere. It felt like a privilege to witness their approach to education first-hand.

Additionally, we were thrilled to catch up with Ben Stewart, who once worked with us at Hollinwood Academy in the Inspire pathway. Now thriving as an Assistant Head Teacher at Swiss Cottage, it was wonderful to see how he has progressed in his career.

Overall, it was a day full of insights, motivation, and connections that we look forward to bringing back to our own school community!

 

Now let’s look at what has been happening in the classrooms.

 

Starting with Davies’s class….

 

"It’s hard to believe we’ve already reached the final half-term of the school year—time truly flies when you’re having fun! On behalf of the entire staff team, I want to begin by expressing how incredibly proud we are of the class. Their dedication and enthusiasm have been evident in the remarkable progress they’ve made, and it has been an absolute pleasure to teach them this year.

Last week, we began our exciting new topic: “Food Around the World.” The children have thoroughly enjoyed diving into the cuisines and cultures of Italy and Japan. From hands-on cooking to cultural crafts, it’s been a sensory journey full of discovery and delight.

Our first sensory story this term has been Handa’s Surprise. The children loved exploring the vibrant fruits and animals featured in the story. Through sensory trays, creative crafts, and cooking activities, we brought the story to life—making fruit salad with all the fruits from the book and even making a delicious passion fruit slice!

In our communication sessions, we’ve used a variety of methods—including TD Snap and verbal communication—to help children request ingredients and participate in preparing tasty treats. From tortilla wraps and chocolate spaghetti Bolognese to sushi and miso soup, the children have been fully engaged. Beyond communication skills, these sessions have also nurtured important life lessons such as waiting, turn-taking, and sharing. Their progress has been truly amazing, and I am extremally proud of everyone.

Our afternoon sessions focus on curiosity and cause-and-effect learning. Children are empowered to choose from six engaging activities, taking ownership of their learning journey. Staff work alongside them to support individual targets in a fun and meaningful way. Activities have included: Role-playing spaghetti and meatball preparation, creating and serving our own gelato, exploring pasta shapes in playdough, crafting dumplings and blossom trees and finally, playing traditional childhood games from Italy and Japan.

We’re excited to continue our culinary adventure next week as we explore the flavours of America. There are plenty more delicious experiences ahead!

Finally, we’d like to take a moment to wish our Year 6 pupils the very best as they prepare to transition to secondary school. We are so proud of each one of you. Keep being amazing and always stay true to yourselves!"

 

SDS - 13.6.25

 

 

 

And to Miss Rashid’s form…

 

"I cannot believe I am writing our final blog of the year. Vision hub students have made progress academically and with their individualised step targets. I hope you enjoy looking at what they have been up to during some of their lessons.

Last term in English all students completed a mock exam paper. All students and I were happy with the scores they achieved and know what they need to work on this term after looking at their feedback. This term we will be focusing on our anthology texts and how to formulate a grade 5 response to question 4.

In preparation for their bronze Duke of Edinburgh award, students have been focusing on getting their steps in. They have enjoyed going to Tandle hills and updating their step targets each week. This term they will also be out and about in the community working on their social skills.

In maths, students have been looking at how to recognise different types of graphs, read a graph and how to plot on a graph. They have also been interpreting different types of data.

This term in science the focus will be energy. This week students have been looking at the different types of renewable energy and how they work. They have all completed a revision table outlining all the different types, their uses and how they impact the environment.

During Art, Jack and Connor have been working on their personal projects which are gaming and social media. The work they have produced is something they should be very proud of. I love seeing the progress each week and the calming benefit art has on the mind and behaviour. Connor is also working hard towards his music qualification; this week he has started to teach another student how to play the bass guitar. Lewis is continuing to thrive during his food technology lessons and is also completing a mock exam paper. Prez has been completing some peer mentoring with our younger students. He supports them during an outdoor education lesson and seems to be enjoying this. Prez has also created some amazing Anime drawing this term in preparation for his chosen course at college.

Anti-social behaviour and knife crime is on the rise, and it is important to educate our young people on not only the risks but also the consequences of being involved in this type of behaviour. Lat term, the police delivered a workshop around knife crime and what we can do as individuals to get knives of the streets. This term, we will be looking at the different types of anti-social behaviour and hope to invite some external visitors into school. We have already had some visitors in this week from ‘cells’ who delivered a short workshop and showed students what it is actually like to be in a prison cell. We are hoping they will return for a full day workshop.

We hope you all have a lovely Summer. Miss Rashid."

 

ZRD - 13.6.25

 

 

And finally to Mrs Mayers form…

 

"As we move towards the final weeks of term, 8HMA are gearing up for a well-earned Summer break before they begin life in year 9. This term, we have welcomed two new members to our class and they have already settled in well to life at Hollinwood Academy, recently joining us on our second wellbeing trip of this year.

Wellbeing day to Lowry Art Gallery and Frameless event

8HMA enjoyed a fantastic wellbeing trip to the Lowry Art Gallery, Salford Quays in May. We arrived at to the art gallery and went to see the main exhibition of LS Lowry’s artwork – a world-renowned portrait and street-scene painter from Greater Manchester. After a wander around the exhibition and gift shop, we had our lunch together outside in glorious sunshine, before moving on to visit the TARDIS in another part of the Lowry Centre.

We then attended the amazing Frameless event all about portrait art. We learned about lots of famous faces who feature in Frameless, including David Bowie, Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Sir Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth II. The immersive 360 video and sound exhibition was interesting, and all our children enjoyed being surrounded.

A great day for all of us to spend together.

Outdoor Education

This term in outdoor education 8HMA have been practicing cycling around school and in the car park. The students very much enjoyed this, and it was a fun and active way to promote healthy habits."

Reading focus on Wednesdays

"We have started to use form time to build on our literacy and we read for pleasure every Wednesday morning. Staff and students either bring in a book from home to read or visit our school library to choose and borrow a book to read. We enjoy this quiet time with our books.

Super learning days – Artsmark, Forest School

During Super Learning Day in May, the class participated in an art activity that focused on fragmentation. They did this cutting the parts of numerous images to create a distorted effect against the original image.

For our Super Learning Day on 4th June, we created posters to advertise our new forest school area. We mind-mapped all the reasons why we enjoy learning outside with Mrs Mayers and we went to capture high quality photographs using our DSLR cameras with Mr Yates. We learned about how to use the SD cards correctly and transferred our photographs to our one drives using card readers. Then we created posters using text and photographs from our morning learning."

Lessons

"Members of our form have also been pushing themselves during the final months of the academic year, studying Shakespeare during their English lessons, and learning about decimals, fractions and percentages in mathematics.

We made cottage pie in our food lessons recently. This meant we had to use different equipment in the food classroom and use skills we have learned before. Some of our students have never tried cottage pie before so we looked forward to tasting something new."

HMA - 13.6.25

 

 

Now to our amazing SUPER STARs and HWA We are Creative STARs

 

Mrs Quinn’s STAR of the week Riley for noticing a friend had a wobbly tooth and showing wonderful care and concern.

Miss Quinn’s HWA We are trusting goes to Euan for sitting so well during Attention Autism this week – what a superstar.

Mrs Boothroyd’s STAR of the week is Sienna for trying super hard with her learning all week.

Miss Boothroyd’s HWA We are trusting goes to Louie for doing good listening and for helping his teachers.

Mrs Sutcliffe’s STAR of the week is Albie Whittaker for a fabulous week in his new class.

Mrs Sutcliffe’s We are trusting goes to William Gamson for making lots of new friends and having a great first few days in his new class. 

Mrs Bailey’s STAR of the week is Noel - For showing concern for one of his friends when they were upset this week.

Mrs Bailey’s HWA We are trusting goes to Oliver - For engaging with and initiating social play with adults on the playground.

Miss Pietraszewska’ s STAR of the week is Diana for: working so hard this year in phonics, starting to read your first books, and scoring 22 on the KS1 Phonics Screening Check — you are a superstar.

Miss Pietraszewska’ s HWA We are trusting goes to Alfi.

For: being very engaged in maths and now being able to tell the time to the hour and half past — well done.

Mrs Matthew’s STAR of the week Oscar for his fantastic contributions to the discussions has during the CELLS visit this week.

Mrs Matthew’s HWA we are trusting goes to Blaire for thinking about her friends sensory needs.

Mr Corrigan’s STAR of the week is Simisola for settling back into school really well this week.

Mr Corrigan’s HWA We are trusting goes to Lewis for being a good friend this week.

Mr Corrigan’s WOW moment goes to Faiha for being proud of her friends.

Miss Hulme STAR of the week is Ace for his improved behaviour and attitude to learning this week.

Miss Hulmes HWA We are trusting goes to Isaam for always making the right choices and maintaining a positive attitude.

Miss Gittins’ STAR of the week is Oscar for producing a fantastic piece of work in Art.

Miss Gittins’ HWA We are trusting goes to Caitlin for exceptional contributions during English.

Miss Tootill’s STAR of the week Jason for having a great week.

Miss Tootill’s We are trusting goes to David for having a great week and trusting 

adults to help.

 

Well done everyone.

 

STARS of the Week (13.6.88)

 

 

 

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Gordon.