HWA Blog - 15.5.26
Another great week at Hollinwood Academy.
Our Key Stage 2 children have completed their SATs with great determination, showing impressive focus and professionalism throughout the exam period. We are incredibly proud of the effort they have put well done to you all.
We have also seen continued success with our GCSE exams this week. Year 11 students have completed their Geography, Biology, and Maths papers. The students I have spoken to feel positive and confident about their efforts, and we wish them the very best of luck in their remaining exams.
Today, we carried out a lockdown drill. I was so impressed by the calm, focused, and highly effective response from all children, young people, and staff. Everyone followed procedures with precision and care. During the debrief, I felt incredibly proud of our whole school community. These drills are essential in ensuring that everyone knows how to stay safe in an emergency and today demonstrated exactly that.
Thank you to everyone for your quick thinking, cooperation, and sensible approach an amazing effort all round.
Sharing more highlights…
Super learning day
This week, students spent Thursday morning off timetable for our Super Learning Day, themed around Mental Health Awareness Week and the summer months. During form time, students explored their emotions in relation to summer considering how the weather, activities, and seasonal changes affect their wellbeing.
They then created a range of work inspired by this theme, including summer-inspired biscuits, artwork, and creative writing pieces. All the students’ work will be collated and showcased at our upcoming summer festival.
Super Learning Day
Year 7 Class focus
Y7 Inspire demonstrated strong spelling skills using Spelling Shed and their iPads. They were focused and engaged and showed patience when encountering a couple of technical glitches. Adaptations were used effectively, enabling students to fully interact with the tasks.
I observed some excellent maths lessons in which students were working on adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominator. Students were highly focused, and behaviour for learning was excellent. The effective use of adaptations ensured that all students could engage with the lesson and respond confidently to questioning, sharing their understanding. I also saw work on perimeter and area; again, behaviour for learning was superb and adaptations were clearly in place. Students were able to articulate their understanding of mathematical concepts with clarity.
In science, lessons have focused heavily on electricity and calculating speed. Students were engaged in end-of-unit assessments and applying formulae to solve problems. Adaptations supported positive behaviour for learning and contributed to a calm and purposeful learning environment.
Y7 JGR were fully engrossed in their game sleeve designs in computing. They were able to demonstrate clear links between their sketches in their workbooks and how these designs were being represented graphically on computers.
Y7 OYG have been producing impressive artwork inspired by Keith Haring. Their use of colour and imagery was bold, and I was particularly impressed by the quality of their skills.
Well done year 7.
Miss Davies success
Sophie Davies raised an incredible £857.80 for our sensory room. Despite taking a wrong turn and running 22km instead of 21km, she still delivered an outstanding performance. Aiming for a 3-hour finish, Sophie completed the half marathon in an impressive 2 hours and 41 minutes.
She did a fantastic job, and we are extremely grateful for both her effort and her generous donation.
Anime Art competition
Well done to all students who submitted a piece of anime art for the competition. All entries were fantastic and it was really nice to see so many students involved. Well done to our winners Beaux and Jasmine.
Chess Tournament
Today at Hollinwood Academy, we held our full-day chess tournament, with over 30 students taking part. It was fantastic to see such high levels of focus, concentration, and positive, healthy competition throughout the day.
Well done to all students involved, and a huge congratulations to our winners.
Chess Tournament
Let’s see what has been happening in the classroom...
In Mrs Donbavand’s...
"This week has been a busy and positive one for our Year 6 pupils. They have completed their SATs and worked incredibly hard throughout the week; we are so proud of their effort and resilience. Well done, Year 6!
All pupils also enjoyed Forest School this week. Although the weather meant the session had to take place indoors, this didn’t stop the fun. The children explored plants by carefully taking them apart and categorising each part, developing their scientific vocabulary and teamwork skills.
In Maths, pupils have been learning about decimals. They have confidently placed decimals on number lines, practised partitioning them, and compared different values.
Pupils enjoyed art this week, exploring famous monuments from around the world before designing their own. They thoughtfully considered what matters to them and what they would like to be remembered for in thousands of years, resulting in some creative and meaningful designs.
In English, we completed a shared discussion text focused on the question “Is Julian a good friend?” from the book Wonder. Pupils watched selected scenes featuring Julian and took part in thoughtful group discussions, sharing their opinions and justifying their ideas. This helped them understand how to structure a discussion text and has prepared them well for planning and writing their own piece as a hot task next week."
BD
In Miss Gordon’s class this week…
"10 AGN have been enjoying the summer term so far. We have taken part in a wide variety of activities across our lessons, settled well into more challenging work as we prepare for Key Stage 4, and are all looking forward to moving into KS4 in September.
In English, we have been focusing on opinion-based writing and analysing famous speeches. We have explored speeches by Barack Obama, Winston Churchill and Emma Watson, developing our ability to express and structure our opinions persuasively. We have produced some thoughtful and engaging speeches, with some students confidently presenting their work to the class. This has been excellent preparation for next year’s exams.
In Maths, we have been learning about the area of different shapes, including circles and 3D shapes. This has been both interesting and enjoyable, and we have developed our understanding of key mathematical vocabulary.
In Science, we have been studying radioactivity and chemical reactions, helping to build a strong foundation for our GCSE studies. We have particularly enjoyed carrying out experiments while continuing to develop our awareness of safety in the lab.
In Geography, we have completed coursework and carried out fieldwork around the school site. We are now learning about where our food comes from, which has been fascinating. It has helped us understand the many processes involved in getting food from source to plate.
During Outdoor Education, we have focused on travel training, learning how to use buses, trams and trains confidently and safely.
Food Technology has been a highlight of the term. We have made a range of delicious items, including pastry, scones, lasagne and golden crunch biscuits. The biscuits were a particular favourite, especially as we were able to enjoy some warm and take the rest home to share, some even added chocolate spread.
In PE, we have been learning to play cricket. It has been great fun and a fantastic way to stay active during the school day.
In our Leadership lessons, we have been exploring the importance of relationships. We have learned about both positive and challenging relationships, recognising that these are part of everyday life. We have also developed strategies for managing relationships safely and respectfully, whether with family, friends or peers in school.
Overall, it has been a very positive and productive term for 10 AGN, and we are excited for what lies ahead."
AG
And finally, in Mrs McGregor’s and Mr Glazier’s class class this week…
"This week in science the inspire hub learnt about single celled organisms. They made fantastic models of bacterial cells and were able to label the subcellular structures independently.
Year 8 have been investigating the factors effecting aerobic respiration in yeast and used their lab equipment to carefully measure the volume of their mixture. The class asked lots of questions before starting their experiment to ensure that they understood the instructions and followed the risk assessment perfectly – well done year 8!
Year 9 have been learning about mass, weight and gravitational field strength. The pupils enjoyed investigating the centre of mass for irregular objects using a plumb line and successfully balanced different shapes using their centre of mass. They then used a balance to measure the mass of different objects and calculated the weight using the equation w = mg.
Year 10 have just started the radioactivity topic; this week we have been recapping the structure of an atom and how the atomic model has developed over time. Pupils enjoyed researching key scientists and making a timeline of the discoveries that have shaped our current understanding of atomic structure."
MMR
Now to our amazing SUPER STARs and HWA We are We trust each other STARs...
Mrs Bailey’s HWA We trust each other goes to Euan for adapting well to change in after school club this week and amazing work in communication lessons too.
Mrs Bailey’s STAR of the Week is William for making verbal requests with adults without prompting and for coming to school on his new bus this morning - we are so proud of you.
Mrs Lerigo’s and Mrs Sutcliffe's STAR of the Week is Willow- for wonderful work in phonics this week and some beautiful writing.
Mrs Lerigo’s and Mrs Sutcliffe's HWA We trust each other goes to Blaire- for being passionate with her drawings this week, amazing focus and concentration!
Miss Boothroyd’s STAR of the Week Albie for helping his friends and teachers.
Miss Boothroyd’s HWA We trust each other goes to Nico for his fantastic English work this week.
Mrs McDonalds’ and Mrs Bramley’s STAR of the Week is Roman for his hard work and effort this week and remaining calm and cooperative when the nurses came to visit! Well done Roman.
Mrs McDonalds’ and Mrs Bramley’s we trust each other star goes to George for his enthusiasm in maths even though usually he attends a different class for maths lessons.
Miss Pietraszewska’ s HWA We trust each other goes to Maximus for being a super star during our farm trip. Well done.
Miss Pietraszewska’ s STAR of the Week goes to Ivy for fantastic enthusiasm on our farm trip, feeding animals, baking marshmallows, and exploring fun! Amazing, Ivy.
Mr Corrigan’s STAR of the Week is William for being part of a brilliant Phonics pair this week.
Mr Corrigan’s STAR of the Week is Albi-Lee for being part of a brilliant Phonics pair this week.
Mr Corrigan’s WOW moment is Jack being proud of his friends.
Miss Hulme’s STAR of the Week is Madilyn for fantastic fraction work in maths this week.
Miss Donbavand’s STAR of the Week goes to Jared for being patient and trying his best with his SATs.
Miss Donbavand’s HWA We trust each other goes to Simi for trying her best with her SATs.
Miss Davies’s STAR of the Week is Silva for accessing the toilet this week.
Miss Oakley’s STAR of the Week is Simon-for making all the staff smile and believing in himself in his talk4writing.
Miss Oakley’s HWA We trust each other goes to Kai-For being an expert in converting analogue and digital time.
STARS of the Week (15.5.26)
Well done to everyone.
Have a lovely weekend.
Miss Gordon.
