Wow, the last few weeks have flown by…we are at the end of September already! We have just finished our weekly rewards assembly in Key Stage 3 – it is such a great way to end the week, celebrating our pupils’ achievements. The subject awards for each class are lovely to see, I really enjoy congratulating our pupils on Fridays. Today not only did we celebrate success in subjects but we had lots of Gold Certificates to give out for great behaviour:

• Dylan ~ Well done on best improved attendance award – enjoy your Domino’s pizza later
• Kieran  ~ Well done for achieving Pastoral Pupil of the Week award – enjoy your lunch later
• Wayne ~ Well done for achieving Senior Leadership Pupil of the Week award – enjoy your Domino’s later

Let’s have a look at our Nurture Group and see what they have been learning about the last few weeks..

We have been very busy in the Nurture room. In Maths we have been working on number placement with the group all working together. The boys, along with our new Teaching Assistant Mr Newton, played a puzzle before completing their worksheets..

We have been rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and 100, with some of the group using decimal numbers. The group have also been working on sequences of numbers and timestables. Well done boys, you have all worked hard.

In English the boys are reading ‘Holes’ in their comprehension lesson. Ms Hobson, our English specialist came in to support this lesson and the group were amazing, they worked really hard. The boys have written and drawn their own comic strip with some very funny stories. We have continued to read the book ‘Holes,’ completing comprehension sheets at the end of each chapter..

Joshua made a line guide in design technology to help with his writing..

The boys enjoyed their food technology lesson where they watched a demonstration of how to make apple crumble before making their own in the next lesson, following the picture and recipe sheets..

The group worked very hard together as a team, sharing the washing up, drying the equipment and putting it away..

They produced a lovely dish each to take home, well done boys.

This week in food technology the boys have designed and made their own pizzas, trying some foods they haven’t had before..

As a group they worked safely, producing another tasty treat to take home..

In art and craft the group have designed and made a hamma bead picture frame, with each of them completing the basic frame and picking the character to go on them..

It will be lovely to look back on these pictures and see how much they have grown next year..

In our Science lesson we have planted hyacinth bulbs to use at a later date in our art and craft lesson..

At the end of the day the boys are allowed free time if all their work is finished. Mitchell and Kieran have completed a 3D jigsaw puzzle..

The boys had a good PE lesson this week with positive feedback from Mr Hopkins. Thank you boys for a good week, you have all worked hard.

Fantastic work over the last few weeks boys. Joshua, I can see how hard you are trying with your writing, I hope the line guide is helping you. Keiran, I love your picture frame. Jacob and Mitchell, your cooking skills are improving weekly. If you make those pizzas again I would love to try one – hint, hint! Mr Newton and Mrs Walters, great team effort with the teaching and learning in Nurture Group.

Let’s see what Miss Price’s group have been learning about..

Last week class SBA 1 completed a lot of work covering a number of topics. Miss Price is extremely proud of the boys as they have all tried really hard. The topics covered have included place value in Mathematics..

..the world map in Geography..

..and Shakespeare in English..

We are looking forward to exploring the Battle of Hastings in our topic subject, as well as diet and exercise in Science. The week ended with another lot of certificates being handed out to each pupil in the class, as well as receiving a reward of their choice due to their hard work this term

This week has been a creative and productive one in SBA 1. The pupils have had their first cooking lesson with pizza on the menu. Each pupil chose their toppings, thanks to Miss Davies and Harry going shopping for the ingredients, and created their own personal pizza. They could not wait to tuck in and finish them off, as well as sharing some with some of the staff..

This week the group has been introduced to Aboriginal Art in their Art lessons. Pupils were taught about Aboriginal Art and the origin of the art. They are going to be using different painting and pencil techniques to create a number of Aboriginal Art pieces for one of their display boards..

Another productive week for SBA 1, keep up the hard work!

Miss Price and Miss Davies, your group have worked really hard the last few weeks, I am so pleased with their learning.

Over to Mrs Young’s class..

Our Year 9 boys settled in quite quickly after the Summer. The lads’ work ethos and willingness to learn have actually been very motivating and touching at the same time. We started from team work activities to know each other better and find out what ‘rocked our boats’…and I must say the whole experience was full of laughter and positive feelings. We all loved playing Monopoly and UNO..

..and the lads even felt like making some American pancakes..

..and pizza too..

The first week was simply smashing! In Maths we focused on Place Value. We used concrete place value blocks and strips to determine and express the value of various numbers..

We also played some loop card games..

..and made a number using the boys as digits. They had to line up in the right order and work as a team to create larger numbers shouted out by the teacher..

In Literacy we learnt about Charles Dickens and how his childhood experience shaped this great author in his later years. All the boys have become really engrossed in the story of Oliver Twist and each minute of their own time they have been asking me if I could put on another episode of Oliver Twist..

This term, Art lessons will be dedicated to Victorian times and the Industrial Revolution will be our main point of focus. On Thursday we tried using sketching to draw one of the local mills. All of the boys did so well – look for yourselves!

In Science we learnt about how Vikings preserved food and we also tried making our own butter out of the cream. The boys were quite surprised it was possible to do..

Citizenship was about the Chernobyl disaster and its aftermath. The boys found that topic quite interesting and they could not believe that no one will be able to live in Pripyat for the next 20,000 years, or even ever, because of the radiation!!

Mrs Young, I love the art work on the Industrial Revolution. Boys, these pictures would look great framed. Fantastic learning happening in Mrs Young’s class.

Over this half term in PE, the Key Stage 3 pupils are learning all about how to improve their skills and how to coach others in the sport of football, as Mr Hopkins explains..

This week some of the lessons have been focused on shooting – both with accuracy and power. On Thursday Mr Mullins’s class used some of their Maths skills in PE to work out how hard they could kick the football when shooting at goal. They measured out a 10 metre distance and timed how long it took the ball to travel over this distance..

This gave them how fast the ball travels in metres per second which they then converted to miles per hour with a simple formula..

After completing this exercise we then decided how we might kick the ball differently to achieve greater speeds and measured the kicks again. Typically, the only person not to improve their speed was teaching assistant Mr Bocking – obviously he wasn’t listening!! Well done everyone.

This week I have seen some outstanding literacy work from Mr Mullin’s class – Callum Bremner, your literacy work blew me away!

It has been a busy start to the new school year in SBA 3. The boys have settled in well and have spent the last few weeks researching all things Civil War related. Having initially debated the prospect of going into battle, claiming I resemble a young King Charles (I must stop wearing big collars and ruffs), selecting appropriate information from a number of resources and checking it against the knowledge gained during topic lessons..

..the boys have produced a brilliant set of reports..

I am extremely proud of the level of work produced and the positive attitude towards their learning. They deserve huge credit for the way they have applied themselves since returning from the summer break.

In Maths, we have recapped on place value, positive/negative numbers and decimals..

Having decided on their own ground rules for the classroom and working together in designing a group reward chart..

..it wouldn’t be a return to school without a game of Monopoly. It was a pleasure to witness the boys talking to one another appropriately, turn taking, helping one another with the Maths involved and accepting the disappointment of Mayfair being snapped up within seconds of the second lap of the board. I, on the other hand, will be spending the weekend trying to figure out how I can get by with very few properties, hardly any money and owing one of the pupils a fair whack for landing on his hotel..

What a few weeks! Many thanks to all of the pupils and staff who supported the Macmillan coffee morning..

Have a great weekend and enjoy the sun while it lasts,

Miss Rodgers
Head of Site

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