Welcome to another Spring Brook blog. This week we have welcomed a new member of staff into Key Stage 3. Mr Jennings, welcome to our Spring Brook family. Mr Jennings will be working with Mr Roscoe and Mr Pryce to support our learners.
Last week’s blog focused on setting challenges. This week I have been thinking about our students’ needs and asking myself are we doing everything we can to help them with their challenges and are we doing everything that we can to help them to overcome obstacles, whatever they may be?
We try our best as educators to do this but ultimately I believe that we can do more. I have asked one of our most skilled people here to help me with this task. Mrs Walters has been at our Dean Street site for nearly 18 years! She is definitely the lady for the job. I have asked Mrs Walters to look at doing some really important work with our students 1:1 over the next few weeks leading us up to half term. This work will focus on what our students need in order to help them to overcome their challenges or the obstacles they face. This could be a barrier to learning Maths, help with comprehension, support with motor skills, help to understand feelings…..the list goes on.
After this short piece of work where we can measure the impact of the work completed, this will then feed nicely into our Key Stage 3 reviews of provision and curriculum. A BIG thank you to Mrs Walters for agreeing to help me with this.
Let’s have a look at what Mrs Young’s class have been doing this week….
This week our boys worked really well in all of the lessons. We completed quite a few tasks and I think that the boys felt proud of their achievements.
In English, we started our week by learning and practising a new set of spellings of common exception words. We then tried guided reading, where the boys had to read the text and answer questions. The boys even tried asking me some questions to check if I had listened to them reading 😉
Maths was based on revising our knowledge of money. The boys had to identify the coins and notes and be able to describe the features of the British currency..
We also tried to develop our fluency in problem solving tasks related to money. The boys had to work in pairs and match the coins to their value on the pictures..
We then had to use a till and be able to give out the right change. They absolutely loved it!
To support the boys’ learning, they were assigned some tasks on Hegarty Maths which they accessed via iPads. Each of the pupils made a good start and made some progress. Brilliant work!!
In Science we focused on identifying different parts of a volcano and the meaning of various terms related to volcanoes such as dormant, extinct, pumice, lava and magma. Then the boys had to use their iPads to research the reasons why The Ring of Fire area is so special and why it has so many earthquakes and volcanoes..
They carefully made some very tasty burgers in food technology..
Thank you Mrs Young’s class. Leo, I love that photo of you doing your Maths work. Another good week in Year 9 Mrs Young with three gold certificates in assembly this week. Well done boys – fantastic work.
Miss Price’s class have been amazing also. Lots of certificates in assembly for her class also. Let’s have a look at Miss Price and Miss Davies class achievements..
In Science this week the boys have been exploring the different parts of the eye and how it allows us to see. The boys took part in different experiments, including the experience of being blind and relying on someone else. A lot of trust was built!
One particular student was favouring making a Victoria sponge cake in Food Technology. The boys excelled at making these cakes and they tasted amazing! We’re extremely proud their measuring and washing skills..
..as well as the final product..
In Art the students have started their projects on creating paper mache. The students got their hands stuck in and covered their balloons. The next step is painting a self-portrait on them!
Superstar! We had a superstar in our classroom! Namal received SLT Pupil of the Week last week. Namal decided to take Miss Rogers on a trip to McDonalds. Namal was extremely pleased with this. Keep up the hard work Namal! Miss Price and Miss Davies are extremely proud of you..
Mr Mullins’ class have been working just as hard..
Since returning from festivities, the boys have worked incredibly hard in Literacy. We have focused on putting ourselves into character, getting emotive language into our writing and writing for inference before producing a recount from the perspective of an immigrant arriving to England during the 1960s.
In Numeracy, we have continued to work on multiplication including the deconstruction of larger numbers and multiplying decimals. The class deserve huge credit for persevering in this aspect of their learning!
As we have now concluded our work on the 1960s, the boys have since been introduced to our new topic of the British Empire. They were rather surprised at just how many colonies we controlled and the origin of certain goods but not overly keen on the prospect of expeditions and exploring – “I’ll stick to playing my PS4 in my onesie thanks Sir.”
We continue to work on our feelings and emotions throughout Citizenship and it has been interesting to learn the pupils’ curiosities and how they plan on finding out more about them. Enjoy your weekend!
Well done boys – fantastic work! Joshua spent some time making salt dough with Miss Davies and creating a bus today. He really enjoyed playing with the flour and feeling the dough..
It is for a warm welcome back to school to Levi W. He and Daniel went to look at guinea pigs for a school pet. They have changed their minds about hamsters because the lady in the shop told them they are nocturnal and will sleep all day!
Our reflection room has also undergone a makeover..
Well, how quickly has this week gone? Another productive week here at Spring Brook Upper. I am especially proud of Kyle and Kian who achieved senior leadership pupils of the week.
Enjoy the weekend – let’s hope it snows….
Miss Rodgers
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