Welcome to another SBU blog. This week has flown by so quickly. We have had so much fun here at Spring Brook Academy, I really am very happy to be back here with all of the staff and students. Week two has gone so swiftly, I can’t believe it is Friday already.
Let’s have a look at the learning in Mr Stewart’s class..
In SBU 4 this week we have started our topic for the half term, which is Titanic, and we will be using it across all subjects as it will be cross-curriculum. We have all made chicken fajitas in food tech..
The highlight of my week was in PSHE when we covered hate crime and this was covered and discussed with maturity and the class even corrected themselves later in the day when using language we had discussed which can be deemed hate crime.
Special mention to our form pupil of the week Mason who has returned with a new vigorous and mature attitude towards school and his learning.
A big shout out to Mason this week for achieving the only GOLD Award in the school. Well done Mason and please keep this up. We have all noticed your positive start back to school with a new maturity.
Over to Mrs Young’s class who have had such a great second week here at the academy and have really enjoyed starting their John Muir Award (more on this from Mr Hopkins later)..
Wow SBA 1 you have really excelled this week. I am especially proud of Jayden who tried really hard on his John Muir Award. Well done Jayden, keep making positive choices.
Next over to Mr Mullins’ class SBU 6 to have a look at their week..
Second week in and we are well into all things teaching and learning. Once again, the boys deserve much recognition for their attitude towards their learning. They have embraced everything presented to them and continue to apply themselves to the standards expected.
We have delved into the features of newspaper articles, carried out our own research and made a start on a draft write for an article of our own.
In Maths we recapped on reading, writing and comparing decimals ahead of applying this knowledge in real life context. The boys have used iPads to help support their task in identifying the location of Norman castles, sequenced events leading to the Norman invasion and we have also managed to squeeze in some cooking. Busy, busy, busy!
As a class, the boys have decided to make chocolate brownies next week – I can’t promise the deserts will make it all the way home so I will be sure to get photographic evidence to prove they make something more than the odd crumb left in a box.
Finally, it was wonderful to discover that two of SBU6 were recognised as SLT (Amaan) and pastoral (Jack) pupils of the week. Keep up the excellent work!
A special mention this week goes to Amaan for achieving senior leadership pupil of the week for his improved attitude to learning and maturity and to Jack who achieved Pastoral pupil of the week. In fact, this whole class have been the most mature and sensible Year 9 students that we have had at Spring Brook in my whole 7 years of being here. A great illustration of how Year 9 should be setting a good example to the rest of the school. Every time I walk past this classroom and look in they are working hard. Keep up this effort boys and you will be rewarded.
Finally, over to Mr Coldwell’s class who have also been very busy in the kitchen this week..
Those Fajitas smelt delicious boys and I don’t even eat meat!
Mr Hopkins has been busy again in PE and outdoor learning..
This week has been an awesome week in PE and outdoor education. We have been completing challenges in PE – both team and individual. An example of one of the individual challenges was the 1000 rep challenge that Armandi and Cameron did incredibly well with. There is a series of 10 exercises in our school gym with the pupils having to complete 1000 reps with at least 50 reps on each exercise in 1 hour and 20 minutes. During this challenge the pupils get to learn about the different muscles each exercise works and the correct technique to use when using the gym equipment. Also we cover gym safety so that the pupils can use the gym equipment in future reward or social times to exercise. Armandi did incredibly well completing the 1000 reps just before the time ran out. Cameron also kept going for as long as he could to get as many as possible in the time limit. Well done everyone, you all worked really hard.
A different PE challenge was set for our Year 9 group. We split them into 2 groups of 3 to see if they could complete the multi stage fitness test as a team! The Year 9 teaching assistant Mr Bocking joined in with one team to make up the numbers and as you can see from the picture it wasn’t an easy task!!! I’m proud to say that both teams gave it their all with 1 team – Jack, Jacob and me (!) managing to get halfway through level 16 (of 21) while the other team (Mitchell, Amaan and Mr Bocking) just about managed to complete all 21 levels!!! Well done everyone!!
As well as PE we started the John Muir Award this week at SBU. Unfortunately we started this award in the last academic year but never got to finish it due to the Covid lockdown. Our pupils were really engaging with the award though and so we have started again this year. I’ll talk more about the award in another post but this week one of our new year 7 groups got to go out and explore Pule Hill near Marsden and complete some challenges and exploration.
Their first challenge was, of course, to get themselves up the massive hill to begin with!! Once we got there we talked about the canal and railway tunnels underneath the hill and explored the vents from the tunnels beneath us. Next we learned about the quarry on the side of the hill and the class had to search for the poem ‘Snow’ by Simon Armitage which is engraved into the rock next to the quarry and forms part of ‘The Stanza Stones’ trail.
After this some of us were challenged to test our nerve by squeezing through a very tight tunnel that is hidden in the cliffs. Well done Harry, Mason and Miss Mellor for getting yourselves through that!!!!
Finally we got to the trig point which marks the top of the hill before scrambling down to the gullies and ‘gully running’ to the bottom.
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I’m really proud of Jaydan, Harry and Mason for having a go at each of the challenges and showing the mental resilience and determination to keep going – even when they found it difficult. Amazing work everyone!! ~ Mr Hopkins
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WOW – just look at that video of the boys, they are fearless. Harry was also telling me about a small cave that he climbed through. Fantastic effort with your John Muir Award.
After all that physical exertion, the boys also enjoyed some guided meditation sessions with Miss Mellor in the relaxation room..
Meanwhile Mr Southerington is really pleased with this week’s ICT work..
Pupils have been settling back in well to ICT, it has been a real delight to welcome the pupils back into the classroom, ready to continue with our learning.
We have been taking full advantage of the fabulous weather and the changing seasons to do some outside learning.
Pupils have been using the Photo Booth app on their iPad to add effects to create weird and wonderful images of the school environment, and using their imaginations to look beyond what is in front of them. Using Kaleidoscope, mirror, stretch and twirl, pupils have created a plethora of images, all as unique as the person who took them!
Jacob called this image “The Praying Mantis”
Harry said that he could see an owl in this image..
It’s only been a couple of ICT sessions back into the term, but the pupils have engaged well and I look forward to seeing how they develop their skills as the year progresses.
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I really loved the digital creativity. I especially liked Jacob’s praying mantis. Excellent creative vision Jacob, well done.
As this week comes to an end, Mr Southerington and I really enjoyed presenting our awards in class assemblies’ today. It really is a pleasure to be able to present theses certificates on Fridays, such a positive end to a week full of learning and fun..
The boys chose to have McDonald’s this week for their rewards!
As we close our week and blog here at the academy, I’ve never been prouder of the fantastic start that the boys and girls have made to this term. They have come back to school with a positive mindset and shown true resilience when things have got tough, more importantly they have let staff help them and followed advice.
The positive start has been down to all of the hard work from our wonderful staff team here at Spring Brook, I really couldn’t wish to work with a more dedicated team of humans!
Happy Friday everyone, enjoy the weekend.
Miss Rodgers
Head of Site
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