HWA Blog - 09.02.2024
I promised last week that I would share with you the winners of our National Story Week. It was amazing to read the entries and it gives me great pleasure to announce that we have selected two winners from the submissions. Miss Gittins’ class with Nabiha’s entry for her wonderful storytelling and Mrs Bottery’s form with Hasnain’s story with his use of humor used. The prizes will be on their way to your class and form next week. We are incredibly proud of these classes, and they should be commended for their creativity and hard work. To view all the entries, please click here, you will not be disappointed:
https://hollinwoodol8.greenhousecms.co.uk/National-Story-Week/
This week has been apprenticeship week, secondary students have looked at a variety of resources to find about the different apprenticeships that exist, how they might apply for one and have looked at the benefits compared with other routes to learn. Matt Leigh will be coming in to speak to Year 10 and Year 11 students in the summer term to speak to us so watch this space!
Apprenticeship Week
On Monday Year 11's had Pam Shanker (life coach) deliver an employability lesson, she shared her career journey with them. We discussed things like passive income and getting specialists in to do her accounting as it wasn't something she knew much about. It was interesting to learn how she works with clients to help them fulfil their dreams and how she comes across people regularly who need help with their career goals.
On Tuesday, it was Safer Internet Day and to promote this at Hollinwood Academy, information was shared with all children and young people which gave advice on how to keep safe when using ICT. The main aim for the day was for everyone to be able to use ICT in a safe and healthy manner and most importantly to be aware of E-Safety rules and the policies at school regarding the usage of ICT.
During form time, class and form teachers discussed and reminded children and young people about the benefits of E-Safety but also the dangers and then finished with an E-safety quiz. This helped to remind all students why E-Safety is very important and what students should do to protect themselves when they are online. Everybody enjoyed the quiz, and everybody contributed to answering all the questions with a passion.
To also promote awareness around the school for both parents and visitor’s posters have been put up to remind everyone on how to use safe practices when being online whether this is at school or at home.
E-Safety Week Spring 2024
On Wednesday 7th February, Mr Ottaway took a group of our primary children on a visit to Manchester City's training Academy to participate in a football tournament. For some of our children this was their first time experiencing playing football competitively against other schools. All the children involved were excited to play and had lots of fun, they showed great determination whilst playing in the games but most importantly the children demonstrated good sportsmanship with both their peers and other students from different schools. Everyone involved were great ambassadors for the school. Well done!
MCFC
On Wednesday evening, Mrs Challinor and Ms Nuttall attended the annual ‘Young Voices 2024 Concert’ with some of our secondary students. The Young Voices event is the largest children’s choir concerts in the world along with 8,000 other students with a live band – what an AMAZING site to see!!
Mr Challinor was very impressed with the students’ vocals and dancing, all their hard work practicing paid off and the parents/carers that attended had a great time! The students were a credit to Hollinwood Academy and are already looking forward to the concert next year!
This week we celebrated Childrens mental health week! The theme this year is “My Voice Matters”. We began the week discussing in assembly just what mental health is and how we can notice when ourselves or others may be struggling. Our students’ voices are so important and using these to speak out for themselves and others can make a real difference.
We have encouraged classes to decorate their doors based on this theme and classes have taken part in activities throughout the week to raise awareness.
Children's Mental Health Week
Let’s see what some of the classes have been doing starting with Mrs Davies’ class…
"This half term our topic has been “Space and Time.” We have immersed ourselves in a variety of engaging activities using all 5 senses.
During our communication activities we have been using TD Snap to request a variety of objects needed to complete a task. We are currently working on two part sentences using colourful semantics for example “open stars.” Our favourite things that we have made during these sessions are starry night sensory bottles, Alien play dough monsters, rocket kebabs and blow paint aliens. We’re so impressed with the outcomes of the activities and how confident the children now are in communicating what they need with the app.
Our sensory story sessions consist of listening and exploring a variety of resources linked to the story before moving on to tuff tray activities linked to the story. So far this half term we have looked at The Three Little Pigs, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Little Red Hen.
When looking at The Three Little Pigs the children enjoyed rolling the pigs in angel delight to make them muddy before giving them a bath. We explored the different materials that the pigs used to make their houses before having a go at making our own houses made of straw, sticks and bricks. During these tasks we took the opportunity to explore different types of straw, sticks and bricks and which type would be best for certain activities.
We then moved onto The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The children enjoyed feeding the caterpillar all the different food items from the story, exploring the life cycle of a butterfly using different coloured and shaped pasta to represent the caterpillar and butterfly. Our favourite activity for this story was making our very own caterpillar cake.
This week we moved onto The Little Red Hen, first we helped little red hen plant grains of wheat, we enjoyed feeling and scooping the soil before planting wheat and exploring the different vegetables that grow in soil. We then helped the little red hen cut the wheat during this task we practiced our scissor skills by cutting both cooked and raw spaghetti. The little red hen needed help to turn the wheat to the flour, the children all enjoyed using different equipment to explore the flour. Finally, we helped make bread, the children weighed out salt and flour before mixing them all together with some water. Once it was mixed, we rolled it out and shaped it to look like bread. We’re looking forward to helping little red hen eat the bread by making our own sandwiches next week.
The afternoons in our class consist of our curiosity, cause and effect sessions. During these sessions the children take ownership of their learning by independently selecting which set activity they would like to take part in. The session is split into six sessions we have a messy play activity this consists of activities such as mushy pea aliens, walking on the moon and fizzing planets. We also have a cause-and-effect activity this includes activities such as rocket launching, posting objects and Galaxy milk experiments. We also have a social activity this includes using our communication boards to request a desired object or role play, the children have enjoyed dressing babies and a bakery role play station. Our next activity is a mark making station, this is always done in a fun and sensory way, we particularity enjoy mark making in shaving foam and paint. When mark making with paint, we enjoy using our hands, brushes and cars!
We recognise that for children to learn they must be regulated, and this takes place all day everyday whether it be sensory diet, deep pressure, movement breaks, Sherborne and tac pac. One of our afternoon activities is a regulation zone and this teaches children to recognise the best way to self-regulate. We are very fortunate to have a small sensory area in our classroom and all the children enjoy sitting here and taking part in a variety of activities to regulate themselves, including our new busy board we have created which the children have took a great liking to. We have found the children are now more confident to ask for activities set out during our regulation activities throughout the day when feeling dysregulated and for that we’re extremely proud of them! Our final activity is the communication activity from the morning.
One of the children’s highlights of the week is Outdoor Education. The children enjoy going out into the community with Miss Jen, exploring nature, playing on the park and having a drink and snack in the cafe. When in the cafe the children use TD snap to request a juice and a slice of toast.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend."
Mrs Davies' Class - 9.2.24
Now to Mrs Mayer’s form…
"Mrs Mayers has joined as our new form tutor in December 2023 and is keen to get to know everybody. As part of our time together in form we have introduced Wellbeing Wednesdays where we practice yoga together as a group. This has been popular with several members of our form.
Three of our students put themselves forward for the STEM science poster project and we are looking forward to seeing how their ideas develop before the entry deadline. Our entry for Storytelling Week was Bailey’s futuristic story told from the perspective of a resistance fighter in the year 2048. William was our Star of the Week for outstanding efforts in maths lessons and Mrs Mayers nominated Austin as our Form Star for showing character and humour in lots of his lessons and learning this week.
In maths we have been working on substitution and function machines. We used the analogy of the pie machine in the movie Chicken Run to help us to understand this. We enjoyed this but some of us were distracted by thinking about chickens and pies!
In science we have been learning about ecosystems, including lots of work about predators, prey and habitats. We enjoyed a practical where we dissected some flowers and made posters with the different parts. We had to be safe and wear gloves so we didn’t get the pollen on our hands.
In computing we are working on creating an animation using Stopmotion software. The purpose of our animation is to raise awareness of Random Acts of Kindness Day on February 17th. We will be encouraging everyone to be kind to each other and we have shared some amazing ideas about how we can all show kindness to each other.
As a form group, we encourage each other to be independent and resilient each day. We look after each other and we listen to each others’ views. As we all make every effort, every day to be the best we can be, we are confident that we all have a bright future ahead of us."
Now to Miss Rashid’s form…
"The Inspiration hub students have been working hard this term across all subjects.
In science we have been learning about aerobic and anaerobic respiration. Students have engaged in practical experiments where we squeezed pegs over a 30, 60 and 90-second period. We timed each other using stop watches. After 90 seconds we noticed we had some pain in our wrist, hand or lower arm. This is because of anaerobic respiration – when we exercise with a lack of oxygen, lactic acid builds up and causes pain and fatigue in our muscles. We have also looked at the difference between running long distances and sprinting, and how the different types of running and training have different effects on the body.
In English, we have started to read and analyse Blood brothers’ and found out some interesting information about life in Liverpool during the 1960’s. This week we have started to practice essay writing and extracting important information from the text. We have also looked at stage directions and how these can be altered to achieve the desired effect for each scene.
In maths, we have been working on adding and subtracting fractions and also HCF and LCM. Although some have struggled with the topics, they have shown resilience and now have the confidence to complete questions independently.
During computing students have been looking at stop motion and have been creating their own videos to represent safer internet day. We have also completed some amazing art work this term working on individual projects such as stylised drawing, producing a shield, painting and portraits.
In physical education we have been learning the rules of dodgeball and also tried some circuit training!
Our weekly trip to Asda involved money management and trying to make their own pizza on a budget. This was a huge success! "
Miss Rashid's Form
Now to our amazing SUPER STARs and HWA Innovating STARs...
Mrs Lerigo’s STAR of the week is Ethan for reciting the months of the year accurately and clearly …..just amazing J
Mrs Lerigo’s HWA Innovating STAR is Louie for painting his penguins ever so delicately and thoughtfully.
Miss Bramley’s STAR of the week is Libby for trying hard in every lesson and having an overall fantastic week.
Miss Bramley’s HWA Innovating STAR is Zachary for creating a fabulous set of instructions on how to be a Trex.
Miss Pietraszewska’s STAR of the week is Alfie for engaging in Speech and Language Therapy sessions and following his timetable. Well done Alfie, we are proud of you!
Miss Pietraszewska’s HWA Innovating STAR is Harrison for fantastic imaginative play with his best friend Diana. Well done!
Miss Oakley’s STAR of the week is Basil for having a great week and sitting so nicely on the carpet.
Miss Oakley’s HWA Innovating STAR is George for great requesting on TD Snap to make a fruit rocket.
Miss Bailey’s STAR of the week is Jack for playing nicely with his friends and modelling good behaviour.
Miss Bailey’s HWA Innovating STAR is Maja for using sounds to communicate her wants and needs and engaging in communication with adults independently.
Mrs Quinn’s STAR of the week is Riley for fantastic number work in maths. Well done Riley!
Mrs Quinn’s HWA Innovating STAR is Kai for putting his thoughts into words. Well done Kai!
Mr Corrigan’s STAR of the week is Simisola for some wonderful independent writing in English this week.
Mr Corrigan’s HWA Innovating star is Lewis for being a brilliant role model on Outdoor Education this week.
Mr Corrigan’s WOW moment goes to Mysha and Louie. Well done!
Miss Boothroyd and Miss McDonald’s STAR of the week is Logan for creating a very good science themed Valentine card for his nana.
Miss Boothroyd and Miss McDonald’s HWA Innovating STAR is Jack for being caring and kind towards his friends that are not in his class e.g being friendly towards Anna in the playground and teaching her how to fist bump! 😂
Miss Boothroyd and Miss McDonald’s WOW moment go to Shane. Well done!
Miss Hulme’s STAR of the week is Freya for trying lots of new foods. Well done!
Miss Hulme’s HWA Innovating STAR is Jared for taking his time and putting in lots of effort to make a beautiful space picture. Well done!
Mrs Davies’ STAR of the week is Ethan for amazing engagement in communication sessions this week.
Miss Gittins’ STAR of the week is Ollie for excellent engagement and behaviour.
Miss Matthew’s STAR of the week is Gerard for making so much progress in reading that he noticed himself!
Miss Matthew’s HWA Innovating STAR is Rafael for achieving a personal target and not giving up when answering a question in class.
Miss Tootill’s STAR of the week is Millie for communicating her wants and needs clearly and always trying her best.
Miss Tootill’s HWA Innovating STAR is Jackson for being creative with his ideas and producing great work in all areas of his learning.
SUPER STARS AND INNOVATING STARS - 9.2.24
I told you this week was a busy, busy week.
We finish for half term on Friday 16th February and we have an INSET day on Monday 26th February and the school reopens to all the children and young people on Tuesday 27th February.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Millard
