HWA Blog - 6.3.26
Happy Friday
It has been another fantastic and very busy week at Hollinwood Academy. From geography field trips to World Book Day celebrations, the GCSE Food exam, and all of the wonderful classroom visits, there has been so much to celebrate.
Our Year 8 students are now eagerly preparing for their Disney trip to Paris next Monday. Excitement is building as they get ready to board the plane, and we know they are going to have an unforgettable experience. I’ll be sure to share some photos with you all next week.
Sharing the highlights…
Y8 Geography Fieldwork
This week, 8PGD and 8NNL made the most of the improving weather by visiting Higher Memorial Park to carry out some geography fieldwork. They investigated if the biodiversity levels differed around the park, by counting the number of different species in their study area. They also recorded light levels, temperature and the amount of vegetation as this may have impacted the number of species. The students worked hard and all the staff were impressed. Well done to you all and Mrs Bottery will share the results with you after the Disney trip.
Geog Field Trip
World Book Day
World Book Day has been amazing. It was fantastic to see so many children dressed up as their favourite book characters, the creativity and excitement across school were brilliant.
I found myself under the spotlight, accused of stealing the children’s certificates. Three classes interviewed me in true detective style, asking clever questions and piecing together the clues. After some impressive investigation work, they finally uncovered the real culprit… Miss Courtney Fullen, who had accidentally thrown the certificates in the bin.
The children loved every moment of the mystery, working hard as detectives to crack the case. It was a wonderful morning full of imagination, laughter, and teamwork, a great day had by all.
World Book Day 2026
Shout out to Miss Mathew’s class...
A huge shout out to the children in Miss Mathews’ class. Thank you for including the children from the Engage Pathway in your breaktime games. It was lovely to see how thoughtfully you supported the younger children helping them play catch, join in your activities, and feel part of the group.
Your kindness, patience, and leadership were wonderful to watch. You made a real difference to their day, and you should be very proud of yourselves.
Classroom Visits: A Wonderful Week of Learning in Year 10 and KS2
This week’s focus for classroom visits was Year 10 and Key Stage 2, and what a pleasure it was to see such fantastic teaching and learning taking place across our classrooms. The level of engagement, enthusiasm, and pride shown by our children and young people was impressive.
Science in action...
In Mr Gold’s class, supported by our student teacher, students were exploring circuits and resistance through a hands-on physics experiment. The class confidently explained what they were doing and why. A special mention to Charlie, Jasmine, and Yasin, who spoke brilliantly and clearly about their methodology and findings I was extremely impressed by their understanding and maturity.
Across the corridor, Mr Glazier’s class, were carrying out an experiment on evaporation. When Miss Bones visited, students were busily writing up their conclusions and were delighted to see that many of their predictions were correct. A big well done to Thomas, who completed the whole experiment start to finish. The whole class demonstrated excellent focus and scientific thinking.
Creative excellence in Art and Photography
Mrs Needham and I had the pleasure of dropping into the Year 10 GCSE Art lesson, and the creativity on display was simply outstanding. Students were engaged, focused, and clearly proud to share their work with us, and rightly so.
I saw an impressive range of techniques, including printing, feltwork, drawing, plus students had even designed and printed their own bags. Many were beginning their individual project work, and I cannot wait to see how these evolve into their final pieces. What a talented group of young artists we have.
Positive learning routines in Maths
To round off our visits, Mrs Bones spent time in a Year 10 maths lesson. Every student was engaged, prepared, and accessing the adaptations and arrangements available
to them. Students were responding positively to expectations, demonstrating our PROUD values, and sensibly completing their starter tasks.
Fantastic Learning in Key Stage 2
Key Stage 2 children have been as enthusiastic and inquisitive as ever this week. Their focus and curiosity continue to shine through, and it has been a delight to see them working with such energy and pride.
Across English, Maths, and Outdoor Education, children have shown excellent engagement and a real desire to deepen their understanding. Their enthusiasm for learning is evident in every lesson, and they are a credit to both themselves and their teachers.
Mars day
On Tuesday the 3rd of March this week all Key stage 3 students and some of our key stage 4 students joined in the STEM learning virtual event for Mars Day. It was presented by the UK’s European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO-UK) at STEM Learning and in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the UK Space Agency. It had an audience of over 180,000 students and science teachers.
The students all participated well Mars Day with the programme of live linkups, activities, talks and live Q&A with space stars as, well as career discussions with hidden heroes of the UK space industry. Whilst watching with Miss Smith’s year 10 inspire class. Hollinwood Academy got a live mention because we had submitted a question about Mars.
For a few lessons after the live link up our students participated in activities about Mars and produced some amazing work. Have a look here at what they have done. This work leads nicely into our theme for next week for British Science Week which is curiosity.
Let’s see what has been happening in the classroom...
In Mr Corrigan’s class this week…
English:
Our Talk for writing model text this half term is There’s a Rang-Tan in My Bedroom. This week we have used our art skills, Signalong actions and story maps to embed the key themes of the story.
MCN - English
Phonics:
Our new phonics book is King of the birds. This week we have been learning the key words and to ‘Hold a sentence’ together in our heads before writing it.
MCN - Phonics
Maths:
Our maths topics this half term are Properties of shape & Fractions. In Shape this week we have been drawing shapes and learning about symmetry.
MCN - Maths
Science:
Our science topic this half term is Living things and their habitats. This week we have been exploring the diets of different animals in their habitats.
MCN - Science
DT:
Our focus this half term is Mechanisms. This week we have be exploring and designing levers.
MCN D&T
Geography:
The question we are asking ourselves this half term is... Why is our world wonderful? To help us answer this we have explored some of the most amazing places in both the UK and the rest of the world.
MCN - Geography
ICT:
Our topic this half term is Programming. We have been using Rodocodo and MakeCode to build and evaluate our own programs.
Music:
Our focus in music this half term is Contrasting dynamics. We have been responding to music and creating pitch patterns to represent the planets.
In Mrs Bottery’s class…
"This week 9HBY have been playing a song of their own choosing on different instruments. The songs have included Twinkle Twinkle, Creep by Radiohead, and Photograph by Weezer. We were very impressed with the results.
In geography, students have been looking at the impacts that transnational corporations have, both positive and negative. They categorised these impacts into social (affecting people), economic (relating to money) or environmental (affecting the natural world). They then researched a TNC of their own choosing to find some specific impacts for that company – did you know that McDonalds turn their cooking oil into fuel, reducing the carbon emissions?
The form recapped some geography skills in their Outdoor Education lesson by orienteering around Tandle Hill Park – this made Mrs Bottery very happy. When they reached the top of the hill they sat silently for a couple of minutes, practicing some mindfulness.
In PE, the class are currently doing football. They completed some passing drills before a small game.
In food, the students made cauliflower cheese for their practical food assessment. They had to create a gelatinous sauce to turn into a cheese sauce. They steamed the cauliflower, added their sauce, before baking it in the oven. Finally, they washed and dried the equipment they had used – I’m sure they could show you this skill at home!
The student s have had a great week, keep up the hard work."
HBY - 6.3.26
And finally in Mr Challinor’s classes...
"This term Year 7 have been exploring creating their own musical ideas using Garageband, Chrome Music Lab and keyboards. We’ve listened to their pieces as a class and have been amazed at some of the fantastic creations they have made.
Year 8 have been exploring music for film, looking at how different atmospheres are created through music and have been learning pieces of music from movies such as Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Batman. Listening to music from film composers such as John Williams, Danny Elfman and Michael Giacchino has been very interesting and inspiring for the students who will begin composing their own work soon.
Year 9 have been developing their performance skills by playing cover versions of songs that they know on keyboard, ukulele, guitar, bass, violin and even accordion. Mr Challinor is always impressed at the breadth of students musical knowledge and the sheer range of musical artists that students have chosen is fabulous.
Y10 and Y11 option groups have been working hard towards their Arts Award qualification, teaching skills to other pupils and Teaching Assistants in the class. The have been performing as small groups and really developing their instrumental skills. Congratulations to the students that already have college placements to study music further – very inspiring for other students to see!
The Choir had a fantastic time at the Young Voices Concert in February and were happy to be joined once again by Miss Mayers, who brought along her fantastic driving, organisational, and boogie-ing skills!
The concert took place at the Co-Op Live Arena, and the choir had the 5-star treatment there!
Once again, we had our own VIP area and a fantastic view of the performers. The choir sang, danced, and performed their best with help from Alex Spencer (an up-and-coming young artist from Manchester) and the Urban Strides dance crew.
Our favourite songs this year were the Wicked Medley, the Sea Shanty Medley and the Pop Medley – turns out the choir love a mash up! We are looking forward to taking part again next year."
SCR - 6.3.26
Now to our amazing SUPER STARs and HWA We are Creative STARs
Mrs Quinn’s and Miss McDonald’s STAR of the week is David for doing an amazing job using a three-part sentence visual and confidently using your voice. Well done.
Mrs Quinn’s and Miss McDonald’s HWA We Are Creative goes to Teddy for spending sometime in class, exploring and doing some beautiful drawing on our white board. Well done.
Mrs Lerigo’s and Mrs Sutcliffe's STAR of the Week is Blaire for fabulous cutting in art and literacy this, showing wonderful engagement in her learning.
Mrs Lerigo’s and Mrs Sutcliffe's HWA We Are Creative goes to Alfie for showing lots of self-motivation in activities this week.
Miss Boothroyd’s STAR of the Week is Nico for his improved positive behaviour this week.
Miss Boothroyd’s HWA We Are Creative goes to Ethan for his wonderful farmyard animal in English this week.
Miss Pietraszewska’ s HWA We Are Creative goes to Rose, for engaging in play during the lunchtime break outside.
Miss Pietraszewska’ s STAR of the Week goes to Ivy, for going to an adult and asking for support when needed, instead of getting upset. Amazing progress
Mr Corrigan’s STAR of the Week is Jack for great engagement the story map this week in English.
Mr Corrigan’s STAR of the Week is William for some wonderful independent work this week.
Mr Corrigan Congratulates Kian & Abu-Bakr for being proud of their friends.
Miss Hulme’s STAR of the Week is Korey for writing some fantastic alliterative sentences in English. Well done, Korey.
Miss Hulme’s HWA We are Creative goes to Tommy for creating some beautiful drawings when making our story maps. Well done Tommy.
Miss Donbavand’s STAR of the Week goes to Holly great engagement during maths and English– well done.
Miss Donbavand’s HWA We are Creative goes to Matthew for trying his best in maths.
Mrs Boylan’s STAR of the Week goes to Mysha for great independent work during guided reading.
Mrs Boylan’s HWA We are Creative goes to Stanley for perseverance with his verbal sounds and making verbal requests.
STARS of the Week (6.3.26)
Well done to everyone.
Have a fantastic weekend.
Miss Gordon.
