HWA Blog - 27.2.26 

Welcome back. I hope you all had a lovely half-term break and managed to enjoy some well-deserved rest. It has been wonderful to welcome everyone back into school. This first week has gone by incredibly fast, and so much has already taken place. It’s been great to see the children return with such enthusiasm and positivity.

I’m really looking forward to the weeks ahead and everything we have planned for the term.

 

Sharing the highlights… 

 

A huge thank you to all the children who have visited my office this week to showcase their wonderful work and achievements. It is always a highlight of my week to see the pride and effort our children put into their learning.

Jack, from Miss Bailey’s class, came to share his fantastic colouring. He spent time carefully creating his masterpiece, and his attention to detail was brilliant to see.

Isaam visited to read his hot narrative. He read with confidence and was clearly very proud of what he had produced and rightly so.

A special well done to Maja, who came to share her Wow Moment. Maja used three words to describe an object; this is a huge achievement and something we are all extremely proud of. Moments like this capture the progress our children make every day.

 

Year 9 was the focus for classroom visits this week, and what a pleasure it was to see the fantastic learning taking place across the year group. To name a few:

· In Geography, Jude’s book was beautifully presented, clearly showing care and pride in his learning.

· In English, Oliver gave some excellent responses, and it was wonderful to see classes engaging so thoughtfully with poetry.

· In Maths, Miss Bones reported impressive knowledge of angles in Mr Khan’s class.

· Mrs Potts’ class were participating in a feedback and MAD (Make A Difference) time lesson, expertly identifying their strengths and recognising areas for improvement.

· Miss Jones’ class were working confidently on straight-line graphs.

Across every class visited, students were focused, engaged, and demonstrating a positive attitude towards their learning. What an excellent start to the term, Year 9. Well done.

 

Year 8 Visit Manchester Airport

Our Year 8 students enjoyed an exciting visit to Manchester Airport this week as part of their preparation for their upcoming trip to Disney on 9th March. What an experience it was.

The group took part in a guided tour of the airport, giving them the chance to see behind the scenes and understand what to expect when they arrive for their journey. The visit helped build their confidence, answered lots of questions, and added to the excitement for their big adventure.

This opportunity gave our students a real insight into the travel process from checking in to security and boarding ensuring they feel ready, prepared, and even more enthusiastic for their trip.

Year 8, the countdown to Disney is officially on!

 

 

Let’s see what has been happening in the classroom.

 

In Miss Quinn’s and Miss McDonald’s class this week…

 

"What a busy and exciting week we’ve had as we started our new topic, “Down at the farm!” The classroom has been full of farmyard fun, creativity, and lots of learning.

This week we enjoyed our sensory story “I Am Rabbit”, to help us with our core word focus “I,” “me,” and “my”. Children really enjoyed the props that helped to bring this story to life. Throughout the week, we have been exploring these core words in lots of different ways. We practised saying and writing I, me and my during our writing sessions and used them when talking about our own work- for example “This is my butterfly” We have been very creative. The children made beautiful butterflies, and adorable rabbits, linking to our story. The children loved choosing their own colours, decorating and adding their own touches.

Communication has been a big focus. Children have used request boards to create their own sheep biscuits (some didn’t last long!) and created a colourful sheep using pipettes. These activities truly shown children’s confidence as they are becoming more verbal while using the request boards. It has been fantastic to see them becoming more confident in expressing what they want. Our farm tuff trays have been a favourite this week. They have been popular with children coming back to explore them repeatedly. Children have been moving animals around the farm and making farm noises, sharing and turn taking all while reinforcing our farm vocabulary. There has been lots of digging, scooping, pouring and patting as children planted vegetables.

Forest school has been such a fantastic space for bringing us Down at the farm theme to life. The children loved “milking” the cows, taking turns and pretending they were real farmers. We also had fun splashing in muddy puddles, digging in the soil, and exploring nature, which made them feel like they were on a farm adventure.

It’s been a busy, fun filled week, and the children have really thrown themselves into our farm adventures. We are looking forward to even more farmyard fun over the next few weeks helping the children strengthen their knowledge, language, and practical skills."

JQN - 27.2.26

 

 

In Mr Ottway’s classes…

 

"This week the inspiration hub returned after a week off and have settled back in well. It has been lovely to see how quickly everyone has readjusted to the routine and how much they are enjoying being back together. We’ve spent time bonding through games and sharing our holiday experiences, which has helped us ease back into school life positively.

In Maths, we have started an exciting new topic on angles. The children are learning to measure and identify different categories of angles, and they have shown great enthusiasm so far.

In English, students are continuing to work through the GCSE anthology texts. This term we will be analysing the poem ‘Out Out’ to understand what the writer is trying to achieve. We will also recap language techniques and create flash cards to remember important quotes. On Fridays we will continue with our quiet reading which the students thoroughly enjoy.

In Science, we have been exploring germs, learning about how they spread and why hygiene is so important.

In PE alongside the vision hub, we have had the fantastic opportunity to access the gym at Failsworth Leisure Centre which we will be doing so for the next month. The students thoroughly enjoyed using the equipment and demonstrated great energy and teamwork.

This term in Outdoor Education, we begin exploring public transport Understanding how to travel safely and confidently is an important life skill, and our students will be getting hands-on experience every step of the way learning travel training visiting tram stops, train and bus stations.

In History, we have begun learning about World War II, including studying Adolf Hitler and his role during that period.

A big thank you goes to all of our students for their continued commitment to their learning. I would also like to extend a special thank you to our amazing class TAs for their ongoing support you make a difference every day."

TOY - 27.2.26

 

 

And finally in Mrs Whalley’s class...

 

In English, the year nines have been working towards their functional skills in particular effective communication. They chose and researched a topic that they are interested in and prepared a conversation with questions for the other person to ask while they were having a conversation.

In science, the class has been learning about extinction, and fossilisation, how animals become extinct and how to stop this. students have also looked at how fossils are formed and how people look at them to work out what the animal looked like. They have also been looking at plant and animal cells and the cycle of a cell, looking at the cells of an onion through a microscope, and drawing them.

This term, students have been learning how to make different types of sauces, including making a roux for Mac and cheese and preparing the sauce for sticky toffee pudding. They have practiced being patient, taking turns and carefully observing how ingredients change and come together during cooking. Students have been encouraged to work at their own pace while developing their confidence and independence in the kitchen.

During maths, the class has been learning about graphing and ratios. Plotting and reading graphs as well as working out the ratio, simplifying, and dividing ratios, as well as using ratios to problem solve.

In Art, students have been developing skills painting. They have been inspired by the artist Wayne Thiebauld and created an Impasto effect mixing modelling paste with acrylic paint. They have also developed paint mixing skills.

During outdoor education, 9DWY have been visiting different places in the community, they have visited cafes where they ordered what they wanted and then sat eating or drinking with their friends in the cafe. We have also visited Oldham library, exploring the different ways that people use the public library.

In computing, the class has started working on video editing using iMovie on their iPads. Looking at the purpose of a video and who the audience is. Students will make this video using assets, an asset is anything that can be used in a video such as the video, images, and captions. They have also started looking at DLSR cameras and how they work. They will practice taking pictures with these cameras."

DWY - 27.2.26

 

 

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

 

Mrs Quinn’s and Miss McDonald’s STAR of the week is Freddie for a positive attitude and perseverance through challenges, and willingness to keep trying. Well done.

Mrs Quinn’s and Miss McDonald’s HWA We Are Creative goes to Cody for wonderful progress and dedication in developing speech and communication skills. Well done.

Mrs Bailey’s HWA We Are Creative goes to William for using TD Snap to build a 3-word sentence to make a request independently. We are so proud of you.

Mrs Bailey’s STAR of the Week is Jack for is amazing independent mark making, using different colours intentionally when painting your duck picture.

Mrs Lerigo’s and Mrs Sutcliffe's STAR of the Week is Ezra for fantastic reading his reading book with Miss Callan this week.

Mrs Lerigo’s and Mrs Sutcliffe's HWA We Are Creative goes to Adam for A great week back at school and fabulous communication.

Miss Boothroyd’s STAR of the Week is Effy for her fantastic Science work this week.

Mrs McDonalds’ and Mrs Bramley’s STAR of the Week is Alfie for trying hard in his interventions this week and then returning to class and trying hard with his work.

Mrs Matthews’ STAR of the Week is Loki for being caring towards his fellow classmates.

Mrs Matthews’ We Are Creative STAR goes to Beaux a brilliant and creative magical door created during English.

Miss Pietraszewska’ s HWA We Are Creative goes to Maximus for using his speech to kindly request to go outside to the playground with a member of staff. Great work.

Miss Pietraszewska’ s STAR of the Week goes to Sienna for carefully following each step and showing independence during the plant-planting activity in science.

Mr Corrigan’s STAR of the Week is Teddy B for being a kind, caring friend this week.

Mr Corrigan’s STAR of the Week is Kian for being a kind, caring friend this week.

Mr Corrigan Congratulates Jack & William for being proud of their friends.

Miss Hulme’s STAR of the Week is Gabriel for always being a wonderful, helpful friend. Today, he helped his friend to put her shoes on. Well done, Gabriel

Miss Hulme’s HWA We are Creative goes to Madilyn for beautiful sharing with her friends and always being so polite and well mannered.

Miss Donbavand’s STAR of the Week goes to Lewis for working independently in maths, fractions.

Miss Donbavand’s HWA We are Creative goes to Ace for a good attitude to learning in PSHRE.

Mrs Boylan’s STAR of the Week goes to Kai, for excellent behaviour and engagement in our first week back.

Mrs Boylan’s HWA We are Creative goes to Louis, for accepting adult support when feeling frustrated.

Miss Davies’s STAR of the Week is Maja for verbally labelling a variety of objects.

Miss Oakley’s STAR of the Week is Libby for amazing participation in all lessons, thank you for always trying so hard and asking lots of questions.

Miss Oakley’s HWA We Are Creative goes to Harrison for always listening and trying to challenge himself in every piece of work.

STARS of the Week (27.2.26)

 

 

Well done to everyone.

 

Have a fantastic weekend.

Miss Gordon