Spring 2016 - Kemball School

Spring Term
2016
Newsletter
Well I can’t believe that’s another term done. It does
not seem like five minutes ago that we were finishing
for Christmas and here we are about to head
towards summer. So much has happened this term
it’s hard to remember (or maybe that is just my
age!!). Let’s hope that the warmer weather will soon
follow and will put an end to all the nasty flu bugs
and viruses that have made everyone so ill recently
(fingers crossed).
We had the arrival of another Kemball baby. Kate
welcomed Louie into the world. However he followed with the sad news that Kate won’t be coming
back after her maternity leave. She has decided that with two little ones under two she needs to
be nearer family, so she is relocating to be nearer her parents. Although we can understand her
reasons for leaving, she was a real asset to the school and we will all be really sorry to lose her.
So the recruitment drive begins again. The plans are to open another three classes in
Septemeber and we are in the process of looking for staff to fill those roles, so watch this space!!
I am very pleased to tell you that Kelly Enstone has secured the position of Senior Teacher. She
has been doing a brilliant job on a temporary basis and was successful in her application for the
permanent position. Having another member of the senior leaerdership team will certainly help
myself and Helen, especially as the school continues to grow. We have also added four new
personal welfare support workers to the staffing team. They are Kim, Marie-Clare, Kaylea and
Gemma. In addition Mandy Deakin has secured a special school support assistant position
working in Gladstone 2.
All schools in Stoke-on-Trent were invited to enter a competition to design a frame that reflects
Fairtrade and the traditional printed patterns reproduced from Burgess and Leigh’s own nineteenth
century engravings. Some of our students took part in the Fairtrade/Middleport Pottery design
competition and our very own Jordan Eveson’s design was highly commended. Both myself and
his family were extremely proud of him when we watched him receive his framed certificate at the
Lord Mayor’s Fairtrade Fortnight Civic Reception.
Six pupils were also selected to attend the ECO schools showcase at the Kings Hall in Stoke,
where they gave a presentation on how we achieved our Green Flag. Staff reported that they
were a real credit to the school, which is the case whenever our students represent Kemball. I
couldn’t be prouder of our pupils and their achievements and know that you are too. So on that
note I’ll let you read all about what everyone has been up to this term.
Wishing you all a very happy Easter from Lisa
Spode 2
The children and staff in Spode 2 have enjoyed another busy and exciting Spring term at Kemball
and it doesn’t seem like 2 minutes ago since it was Christmas and we were enjoying the snow and
mark making in it, but now we are waiting for the warm Spring and Summer to begin so we can get
outside and enjoy our colourful plants that we planted for our Colour topic and links to Spring
festivals like Holi and Easter!
In the Spring term we covered two topics; ‘People who help us and their Transport’ and ‘Colours’
and the children have been involved in lots of new experiences.
When we were learning about People who help us and Transport we enjoyed learning about lots
of different groups of people who help us at home, at school and in the wider community. We
especially enjoyed finding out about who helps us at school, because we spent the morning with
Louise our school cook. She showed us her kitchen before it got really busy preparing for lunch
and she helped us to bake some healthy biscuits. We found out that Louise is very busy in the
kitchen cooking all different kinds of lunch options to help to keep us all healthy while still having
full tummy’s!
The healthy biscuits were really tasty and we enjoyed eating them as part of our morning snack.
We also spent some of the morning with Steve the school Caretaker, we watched how he checks
the temperature of the swimming pool and adds the chemicals to keep it nice and clean but safe
for us to use. Steve let us help him and some of the children took a reading from the thermometers
and said the water felt nice and warm. We also found out that Steve fills our soap bottles up and
paper towels box every night, so he helps us to keep our hands clean too.
We also learnt about how the Police, Ambulance paramedics, Doctors, Nurses and Firefighters all
work to help to keep us safe and healthy and we enjoyed spending a week on each of the
emergency services and we joined in with the learning by dressing up in role and acting out help
situations in small world play too. When looking at the transport that is used to help the
Emergency services we enjoyed pretending to drive the fire engine trucks and climb up the
ladders in PE and used other vehicles to mark make in the snow and with felt tip pens.
As part of the Colour topic we learnt to sort and match colours and enjoyed reading our sensory
story all about different colours and objects that are that colour. We especially liked one of the
stories called ‘The Blue Balloon’ by Mick Inkpen and we acted the story out in our PE lessons by
stretching the balloons, bouncing them, squashing them, throwing and catching them and kicking
them. We had lots of fun trying to keep the blue balloons on the parachute as we bounced them
high up in the air. In class we used lots of different toys to learn about colour and colour mixing
and we made our own colour interest tables and talking boxes. Colour mixing was lots of fun in
the shaving foam and when we mixed 2 colours together we made a new one, it was like magic!
March saw us celebrating World Book Day and we all dressed up as our favourite book characters
and joined the older children to do some paired reading and sharing of stories. It was a lovely day
and we enjoyed listening to lots of different kinds of stories and making new friends within the
older classes. We enjoy looking at books and are getting really good at making stories up from
looking at the pictures and describing what we can see.
As we get ready to start the final term of the year, we will be welcoming Jayden a new nursery
member to our class for the Summer term and getting ready with some transition visits for the
reception children to move up to their new Year 1 class and the existing nursery children will also
do a few days of full time to get them ready for September when they will become the new
Reception children. Thanks for your continued support and help over the term and don’t forget to
get in touch with any of the teaching staff/keyworkers in Spode 2 if you are not sure about
anything or just simply want a chat about the next steps in your child’s learning.
Enjoy the Easter break, Best Wishes
Kerry, Cathy, Emma and Chloe
Paragon 1
This term has flown by really fast and we can’t believe that Easter is upon us! We have been really
busy with a range of planting for Food for Life; this has included potatoes, peppers, mushrooms
and carrots. We have included this in our class activities related to Spring Festivals. We looked at
the Hindu festival of Holi as part of our RE topic on Spring Festivals and also enjoyed the whole
school activity day. The children made drums, had henna painted on their hands and danced to
traditional Indian music. They were really good when having the face painting too.
For World Book day we decided to do our “extreme” reading in the sensory rooms. We took
torches to help us see the pictures and print in the books we took down to the Light Room. The
children found it really fun to look at the books in a totally different environment and the torches
were fun too! We are hoping that our photos will prove to be a hit in the “Extreme Reading”
competition. We also submitted Brooklyn’s home photos that he sent in. He dressed up as a
favourite Alice in Wonderland character and headed off to the local park for his extreme reading.
The photos were great and he loved looking at them on display in the reception area of school.
The class also enjoyed it when members of Minton 1 came to visit us to share books. It was a
great day with many children turning up in fancy dress as their favourite book characters.
For our class assembly we looked at the story of The Frog Prince. We thought about how
important it was to keep our promises and how to do our best. We listened to the story and
watched a number of different versions of the story. In each one the frog became a prince
because the princess kept her word and stood by her promises. The children really enjoyed
dressing up as princesses and princes. They played games and explored the glittery golden ball. It
was lovely to see the enjoyment they got from a traditional fairy tale.
Some children have taken part in the Fizzytots physical activity session during this term. They
have been working on a number of basic sports skills including; travelling in different directions,
throwing and target practice. They have responded really well to the instructor and the directions
he has given. Others have been working on building up their confidence and skills in the soft play
area. They too have made great improvements to their skills and approach to physical activities.
Food for Life
During the Spring term the school has embarked on a new project called Food for Life. This
involves the pupils in more growing and healthy food making opportunities. Our aim is to grow a
number of foodstuffs that we can then use in healthy eating recipes. We are working towards our
Bronze Award , and are very close to achieving tis already. We have gathered members from
pupils and staff from each class to form a Kemball Food Group. The group’s display space is next
to the office window in the main school reception area.
The group had its first meeting in early March and classes have begun to plant a number of edible
plants. Potatoes, garlic and onions will hopefully be used, during the school’s Cultural Studies
topic in the summer term, to make a Spanish Omelette. We have also begun planting for a herb
garden that will hopefully supply our school kitchen with a range of herbs. Classes are posting
their activities on the website and you can see these if you log on to
www.foodforlife.org.uk
You do not need to log in to the site to see the blogs, they are at the lower end of the home page –
just look out for our school name. We were really excited to post the achievements of Megan on
the site when she took part in the Junior Chef of the Year at local level.
As part of our Food for Life venture we aim to share more healthy eating tips and recipes with you.
Our first is a very simple fruit snack that was enjoyed by members at our first group meeting;
Fruit dippers
Range of fruit cut into chunks; apple, banana, melon, strawberries, pineapple
Greek yoghurt for dipping
Cinnamon for sprinkling or dipping
St Clements drink – fruit juice and sparkling water
We hope you enjoy this snack as much as members did. Let us know if you have any
recipes/snacks involving fruit and vegetables that you would like to share.
Julie and the Kemball Food Group
Bridgewater 1 Newsletter
Spring Term
Bridgewater 1 has been extremely busy this term. We
have focussed upon Ancient Egypt and a region within
South America in which we chose Brazil.
What we have been learning about this term:
The children really enjoyed the topic Ancient Egypt, we
focussed upon many different aspects in which the
children explored. We looked at the Egyptian pyramids in History and created our own pyramid
using Paper Mache and newspaper. We also looked at Tutankhamun; the Egyptian pharaoh. We
learnt different facts about Tutankhamun remembering he was a king and a pharaoh. The children
was enthusiastic to learn about him and enjoyed wearing the Tutankhamun mask.
Within Religious Education we looked at the religion
Sikhism, we learnt about the 5 k’s and the importance of
them. The children explored the 5 artefacts related to the 5k’s
in which they enjoyed trying out and wearing.
B
B
We also had the opportunity to go on a lovely trip to see Robin Hood at the New Vic Theatre. The
children were extremely excited and enjoyed watching the show.
Overall, we have had a very successful term, we have had certificates to celebrate our successes
within assembly, class dojo points awarded for achievement, and class prizes. I want to say a big
thank-you and well done for all of the amazing outfits for World Book Day, the children all looked
great!
Happy Easter from Charlotte, Mandy and Justine
Gladstone 1 newsletter - Spring 2016
Our topic this term has been ‘Our Planet’. The children always looked forward to our Science
lessons and have especially enjoyed exploring in our Space role play area. We dressed up as
astronauts and imagined travelling into space.
We have all loved getting involved in the whole school activities this term, especially World Book
day and Holi day.
3rd March was World Book Day. We dressed up as our favourite
characters and talked about our favourite books. We visited Doulton 1
for sponsored shared reading. All the children did really well and read
for half an hour non-stop!
On 11th March we celebrated Holi Day. It was a fantastic day and we all
took part in lots of activities all to celebrate colour; henna tattoos,
traditional Holi dancing and bracelet making.
We would like to thank parents who have sent in resources this term such as photographs to
support our learning. We are all looking forward to the summer term and hope that as the weather
gets warmer we can take our learning outside. Happy Easter!
From Maddie, Tabatha and Karen
What an exciting term we have had! We have been very busy as a class doing lots of learning.
Now Mandy has joined us to help us learn as a class which is great!
This term we celebrated Holi day which was very fun. We learnt that Holi day is the festival of
colour and we did some weaving and painting as a class.
We also took part in a very exciting world book day. We had some excellent costumes and we
loved reading to the other children.
As a class we have taken part in some trips this term. We went on the theatre trip as a group and
loved watching Robin Hood swing from the ropes and we also went to OSSMA to go and see the
students perform Grease.
We look forward to an even more exciting Summer term! Have an excellent Easter
from Kat, Claire and Mandy.
Doulton 2
Doulton 2 have had lots of fun this term. We have been finding out all
about different types of transport, made our own vehicles, explored
Easter time and found out all about old toys and clothes.
In Maths we have been exploring 3D shapes,
counting, position, direction and movement and subtraction. The class really
enjoyed moving along to our bean bag rock and roll and exploring different
movements and directions to rock and roll songs. We have been doing
subtraction using 5 little ducks learning to take away one at a time in the song.
We have explored and variety of 3D shapes and find out how many sides,
corners and faces each one has.
In English we have been reading the stories of The Gruffalo and We’re
going on a Bear Hunt. The children really enjoyed exploring the props
and listening to the sound of the bear. We used lots of sign language
during the story and the children began to anticipate the sounds and
signs that happened in the story. They each had a turn at opening up
the sound boxes to see who was hiding in the different places in the
Gruffalo’s forest and explore each of the animals.
For RE we have been exploring what Easter
means to us. We have read the Easter story
and used props to help us to understand the story. We have made Easter
bonnets, Easter cakes and made pom pom Easter Chicks and Bunnies. But
our favourite part was the Easter egg hunt around the school; the children
loved finding the different eggs and see where they led us to next. We have
also been exploring special places, we have been on a walk in the
community to see where is special to us, we have also had a visit from
Merry the curate from the local church, she brought lots of artefacts from
our church for us to explore and it was a lovely to have her in.
Best wishes from Katy, Sandra and Michelle.
ECO
The ECO committee have once again had a great term. We had
our Green flag raising ceremony where Lisa Hughes put up the
green flag with all of the ECO committee.
Children have been taking part in the POD’s What’s under your feet data collection walks. Lots of
classes have taken part and helped to create a database of wildlife that we see on our walks.
Everyone took part in Fairtrade activities for Fairtrade fortnight. We had
cakes, smoothies, fruit salad and tea and coffee available for children
and staff to buy. The children all seemed to have a great time taking part
in all of the activities.
6 pupils were selected to attend the ECO schools showcase at the Kings
Hall in Stoke. They were asked to give a presentation on how we
achieved our Green Flag. They gave a wonderful presentation where it
was evident how hard they had worked on writing and learning their
words. Well done to all of you!
We held a competition to design a new ECO badge for Kemball School. We had lots of wonderful
entries; it was so difficult for our 3 independent judges to choose the winner. They chose Katy
Opitz design as the winner, well done Katy!
Best wishes from ECO committee.
Spring Term Music!
Your children have made some great music this term and hopefully had
lots of fun too!
Doulton 1 and Spode 2 have enjoyed playing lots of different instruments
and learning about high and low sounds. They have had fun playing the
chime bars and the bass bars and choosing the sound they liked best.
Paragon 1 and Snowflakes set have been learning about tempo. They have listened to fast and
slow music, sung fast and slow rhymes and played quickly and slowly on lots of different
percussion instruments.
Raindrop set have had a great time playing a selection of drums, large and small to
learn about pulse, tempo and rhythm. They have worked
really hard
developing their skills playing simple rhythms and
playing at
different speeds to rhymes and songs and accompanying
recorded music.
Rainbows set have spent the term learning about using percussion sounds to create different
effects and choosing musical sounds to accompany the story of Noah’s Ark. They used percussion
instruments to create sounds to represent the ark being built, the animals going into the ark and
the rain coming down. They ended their story using the chime bars to create some wonderful
tunes for the rainbow.
Doulton 2 also explored using instruments to represent the different
animals in the story A Rumble in the Jungle. Each of the pupils had a
favourite sound and animal but enjoyed exploring and creating all the
different sounds.
Sunshine Set learnt about using a repeated rhythmic pattern called an ostinato to
accompany the story of the three little pigs. The pigs and the wolf had their own
particular sounds and the pupils enjoyed playing the sounds as they told the
story through song. They learnt about making up their own pieces of music and
used pictures to represent the sounds they wanted, notating their work on a
rhythm grid and performing these as a class group.
Stars have spent the term learning about pitched instruments. They used a
pentatonic scale to create pieces for Chinese New Year, playing these on the
metallophones. They have enjoyed exploring pitched instruments including
guitars, hand bells and keyboards to discover which instruments have high, low or a range of
sounds.
Coalport and Maple have been exploring space! The pupils have spent the term learning songs
about space, listening to space music and improvising their own space sounds.
Minton 2 have also learnt about how instruments can be used to create different effects. They
have explored pitch, tempo and the different sounds of instruments and how these can be used in
their own musical creations.
Minton 1 have been learning about cyclic patterns. They listened to music from Africa,
having great fun using the djembe drums, Shakira’s and Agogo’s to create their own
compositions, and Gamelan music from Java and Bali; using the metallophones to
create some tuned cyclic patterns.
Aynsley 2 have learnt about the overture, developed their own unique story and created a musical
overture to tell this story. They used a wide variety of percussion instruments, keyboards and the
soundbeam to create the effects they wanted and thought about how playing in different ways
such as loudly to quietly, quickly or slowly can change the music produced.
Following all their hard work last term for the Christmas Production, the choir have had a more
relaxed term singing some fun songs and rounds. I love their enthusiasm and it’s wonderful to
listen to them having such as great time and enjoying their singing! I look forward to some more
great singing next term.
Have a lovely Easter!
Lorraine
Aynsley 2
We’ve really enjoyed 2016 so far in Aynsley 2! We have been learning lots of new things and
working really hard. We have been on some nice trips out and about in our local area and been
developing our skills with our class and ASDAN work.
We have all really come on with our reading and writing this term and have been making our way
through the Read, Write, Inc scheme. We are reading lots of new words and improving our
spelling through this. We all enjoyed World Book Day in March when we got the opportunity to go
visit Paragon 2 and read to children younger than us. Some of our class have also taken time out
of their free time to read to younger children in the library at lunch time. In maths this term we have
been focusing on reading scales and measuring. We have looked at using time, weighing out food
and measuring volume, length and temperatures. We have put all of these skills into practice by
making some delicious vegetable soup and measuring and building our own paper model houses.
In our other subjects we have enjoyed learning more about travel training in Geography and
spending two fun days out at the end of term. We are going to be catching buses and even a train
to Stafford. The class are all very excited about using the train stations and booking their own train
tickets! In Design and Technology we have been becoming engineers by designing and building
our own bridges. Our first attempts out of spaghetti and marshmallows definitely wouldn’t have
helped us cross a river but we moved on to creating some fantastic structures out of wood – even
learning to use a hacksaw. In ASDAN this term we have been looking at our local environment
and how we can improve this by keeping to the countryside code and buying ethical products from
the supermarkets. We took part in fairtrade fortnight and sold tea, coffee and cakes to staff
members.
We have also celebrated festivals from around the world this term in Aynsley 2. We made some
healthy and nutritious noodles as part of Chinese New Year. We saw how a few simple ingredients
could be transformed into a full meal for one. We also looked at the Hindu festival of Holi during
our Holi Day. We wore bright colours into school and made colouring weaving and splatter
paintings around school. We also got to learn a little about the reasons behind the festival and how
important it is as a day of fun for those around the world.
We hope you have a lovely Easter time and we are really looking forward to the summer term.
Lowri and Claire
Aynsley 1 Spring
Newsletter
Well what a busy spring term we have had! There have been so many exciting things going on in
Aynsley 1 class that I don’t know where to start!
ASDAN
All pupils are working towards an ASDAN qualification and have been taking part in some great
activities this term. As part of our Environmental Awareness unit some of our pupils designed and
built a range of equipment for our sensory garden.
Our Year 11 pupils have been given the opportunity to join in and support a
local community group. Two mornings a week Brendan, Jessica and
Mitchell join the Royal Voluntary Service at Blurton Hub supporting a group
for the elderly.
World Book Day
On 3rd March Aynsley 1 class joined in with lots of activities to celebrate World Book Day. They
joined up with Maple class in a group reading session and also had the opportunity to take part in
some ‘Extreme Reading’! Many of the pupils came up with some wacky places to read their book –
nowhere was safe (not even Lisa’s office!)
Holi Day
On 11th March Kemball School celebrated Holi day – a Hindu
festival of colour to celebrate the beginning of spring. Aynsley
1 class took part in some weaving, splatter painting and tyedying activities.
Theatre Trips
In January some pupils travelled to the New Vic theatre to
watch Robin Hood, and in February some pupils visited
OSSMA to watch a production of Grease.
College
As some of our Year 11 pupils will be leaving Kemball and going on to college they have been
given the opportunity to take part in a number of ‘taster’ sessions at Newcastle College. This term
they have been taking part in a Gardening Class where they have learnt all about preparing the
ground and pots, selecting and planting seeds and nurturing plants.
Have a lovely Easter and we look forward to seeing everyone in the
Summer term, Gemma, Amy, Becky and Jas
Hello everyone,
Coalport class have been very busy since we returned after the Christmas holidays.
We have all been working really hard in our lessons and have enjoyed the sensory stories ‘The
Magic Paintbrush’ and ‘The Easter Swallows’. The children have loved exploring the new sensory
props, especially the puppet ‘Shen’.
In our Maths lessons we have been exploring size and measurement. The children have enjoyed
exploring the school to find ‘big and small’ objects. The children (and the staff) love our weekly
baking sessions. We incorporate these into our maths lessons and the children find it very funny
when we all get very messy!
We have celebrated ‘World Book Day’ we came into school dressed as our favourite characters.
The children from Minton 2 came to visit us and read us some stories that they chose for
themselves, from our school library.
Holi Day was a great day! It
was lovely seeing all of the children dressed in
lots of different colours. We all enjoyed making rainbow cupcakes and using neon paint to create
some masterpieces!
Have a lovely Easter and thank you for your support,
Danica, Clare, Yvonne and Stacey.
Bridgewater 2
NEWS
This spring has been a term for developing friendships, hard work and exploring new topics and
activities.
In Science we have looked at electricity and circuits, first we identified the different appliances in our home
which require electricity and then how to be safe around electricity. We then look at how to create a
circuit using a bulb, wires and batteries.
Art has been about exploring art in nature, we chose to use natural materials and look at the work of Andy
Goldsworthy. The children all enjoyed finding the materials to make their art and exploring different ways
to make shapes.
World book day was great fun, staff and children enjoyed dressing up and visiting a different class to read.
Holi day was a day to celebrate and learn all about the Hindu festival of colour which celebrates spring and
everything which it offers. We enjoyed a range of activities such as, tie dye t-shirt, henna and planting
flowers.
Special mention to Nicole Cotterill who has really tried hard this term with her handwriting, she has made
fantastic progress over the last term and has been given a special certificate in assembly. We would also
like to mention Callum, Thomas and Elouise who have received awards for super behaviour. Well done
Bridgewater 2, keep up the good work!
We would like to say a big thank you to our student teacher Jen for all the fun lessons. We hope you have a
lovely Easter break and look forward to seeing you in the Summer term!
Emily, Ceris and Emma
School council.
The school council are so grateful for all the support you have shown this term.
Thank you for sponsoring our share a book with a friend event! We raised over £300. This means
we can sponsor 2 pupils in Uganda to go school for a year. We have chosen a boy and girl.
Please see our school council board for more information
After sponsoring the 2 pupils we will still have enough money for an end of tear treat - we will keep
you posted!
We would also like to thank you for your generosity donating food to the food bank. Keith from the
food bank did a lovely assembly for our pupils about this important cause, and they are all keen to
get on board and help the local Community. We will be collecting donations until the middle of next
month so if you would like to donate after the holidays your support would be much appreciated!
Connor and Amy sharing a story
Doulton 1.
The spring term has flown by and we have had lots of fun learning in Doulton 1.
Our topic has been colour and the pupils enjoyed focusing on each of the primary colours as well
as mixing colours to create new ones.
Our colour investigation station proved very popular with our colour switch boxes and feely pots.
The children also liked the multicoloured building blocks, ribbon wands and sensory balls. Our
black and white cushions proved popular when the children needed to relax and often resulted in a
little nap!
We have found imaginative ways to learn about colour. These have involved sharing a sensory
story Brown bear Brown bear what do you see?, songs about colours, planting a rainbow garden,
exploring colours through textures and tastes associated with colour and learning about the Hindu
festival of colour "Holi".
Holi day was a great success - we got the opportunity to celebrate by planting a spring garden,
creating ribbon wands, making instruments, learning how to tye dye, splatter painting, and taking
part in a Holi dance with our friends from other classes. We even tasted some sweets. Everyone
learnt that festival of Holi is full of fun!
In maths we have been learning about capacity by building sand castles and sharing the story the
tiger that Came to tea, whilst modelling the use of the words full and empty.
We learnt about time through our phse rhyme and bags in order to sequence what we do when we
get up in the morning.
Learning positional vocabulary was fun at the adventure playground. We did this by moving on,
over, under etc the play equipment.
We learnt about big and small through the story goldilocks and explored the objects linked to each
of the Bears.
With Easter approaching we have been busy making Easter cards and creating edible egg nests!
We hope you liked them! We have also been learning about new life and the colours the season
brings by sharing the story the hungry caterpillar and creating symmetrical butterflies by splatter
painting.
As usual We have been working hard in our physical development through rebound , physio and
hydro but also by taking part in activities to develop our fine motor skills such as finger rhymes,
puzzles, manipulating dough and playing with small world toys and using writing tools.
We hope you all have a lovely Easter break! The children have worked very hard this term as you
know, and so deserve a rest and an Easter treat!
Please remember to send in medication, nappies, wipes and spare clothes when requested.
Please write a short message in the children's books after an absence or long break so we know
how they have been.
Home School Link News
Hello everyone – what another busy term it has been! It has flown by and now we can all look
forward to summer.
Next term myself and Janet (Stoke Minster primary school) are delivering another family links
nurturing course for parents/carers. Sessions begin on 19th April and commence for ten weeks.
Although this might sound like a long time, parents/ carers who have attended previous courses
have found it to be very interesting and enjoyable. If you would like more information regarding the
course please ask me.
Due to the ever growing number of meetings I have in my diary, I am not always available for
Parent Support Group. However the parent’s room is open from 9am to 11.30am on a Thursday
morning and you are more than welcome to pop in. There is always a stock of tea and coffee and
if you are very lucky chocolate biscuits in the fridge!! It’s always nice to see new faces and for you
to hear the experience that other parents/carers have had. They may be positive and negative but
it’s good to share and to know that you’re not on your own. We often chat about the transition
period (when our young people are coming up to school leaving age) about health appointments,
benefits etc. If you haven’t been before or it’s been a while you can always drop in and even better
bring a friend. I will make sure I join you whenever I am available. If a parent/carer would like to
help to organise the Parent Support Group, then please get in touch with me or if a change of day
would suit more people then I’m sure that this could be accommodated. It would be brilliant to see
the room being fully used again
A massive thank you to everyone for sending in ‘goodies’ for the Easter raffle. I have received
more than 60 prizes. Thank you for also buying the raffle tickets – I hope to have raised more than
£200 for school funds. I couldn’t do it without your support.
Don’t forget I may be contacted in school at any time – if I am out or at a meeting I will get in touch
as soon as I can!
Hope you have a very happy Easter
Fiona
MINTON 1 SPRING TERM 2016
During the spring term we went to watch The New Theatre’s production of “Robin Hood & Marian,”
a good mixture of songs, swordfights and fun. We presented a couple of assemblies on new
beginnings (for the New Year) and one Eco-based about wildlife. We also went to OSSMA to
watch their production of “Grease.” We dressed up for World Book Day and for the Festival of
Holi. We welcomed a new pupil Katy and another new pupil Natasha will be starting after Easter.
That will take the class total up to 10, a split of 5 boys & 5 girls. We have also had a student
teacher working with the class for part of this term and will be welcoming another one for part of
next term. This all gives the children a chance to work and learn with different people. Many pupils
entered competitions that are sent into school but well done in particular to Jordan E who won a
city award for his design and Katy, whose design has been made into badges for school Eco
council members.
SCIENCE (Energy Changes/ Light & Sound) We began by making electrical circuits then learned
how to draw the circuit we had made correctly. Next, we studied magnets and their force.
Following that, we made springs, working cam models and finally gravity by making paper
helicopters. In the study of light we have studied light sources, mirrors and reflections and
shadows. For sound, we explored different ways of finding out how sound waves travel and how
we hear them. We finished by listening to sound effects to test how good our hearing was. Next
term- Space/Gas exchange systems.
GEOGRAPHY (Russia) This was only a short study but we have been able to look at Russia on
maps and how it has changed since it was the USSR. We found out what are some of the main
features of Russia and then filled in a passport which asked for facts on the population, oceans
etc. We listened to Russian balalaika music, which most people enjoyed. Next term- Cultural
Studies (Spain)
HISTORY (British Industry) We found out how Britain changed from being a nation working on the
land to developing industry and more people working in factories. After discussing how coal was
mined, each group made a mine shaft with a pulley system to wind up and down. Each group
researched some facts on coal mining and added them to their model. Next term- Cultural Studies
(Spain)
RE (Sacred Texts/Celebrations) We looked at how we find a certain part of the Bible by using a
reference. Then we read the story of Mary Jones who walked 25 miles to buy a Bible and decided
what we would be prepared to walk 25 miles for. There were answers from an audition to a
PlayStation 4. We also looked at special books from Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam and Judaism. As
well as looking at usual celebrations such as Easter, we looked at The Day of the Dead from
Mexico and Yom Kippur from Judaism to see what was involved. Next Term- Special
Occasions/Belonging.
PE (Swimming/Dance) The majority of the class has been attending Trentham High School
swimming pool throughout the term and everyone has made fantastic progress. Everyone has
grown in confidence in the water. In the Summer term we will try to find a slot in the timetable for
our own pool in order that everyone has had the opportunity to swim. We also took a few sessions
to learn the Maori war dance “The Haka.” Next term- Ball games/Athletics/Swimming.
ART & DT (Tie Dye Textiles) We had great fun researching what tie-dye is. Then we moved onto
using natural dyes from plants and berries such as onion skin and blueberries; the resulting
colours were amazing. Finally, we moved onto the real thing, dying t-shirts tied in different ways
and using real dyes. Again, the results were really pleasing; they looked really colourful drying
outside. Next term- Picasso.
PSHE (Healthy, Safe Lifestyle) We talked about what we knew concerning medicine and drugs
and all the different ways that things can enter our bodies either intentionally (medicine) or
unintentionally (bee stings). We also looked at safety around the home and identified the
dangerous situations in scenes where sockets were overloaded or hot irons were in the reach of
toddlers. During this work, three trainee doctors worked with the class to find out about healthy
diet and how protein or carbohydrates feature in our diet. Next term- Handling Money & Finance.
ICT (Esafety) Everyone should be more aware of details that should not be given away online or
over the phone. They realise that emails and texts can be traced and that the person on the other
end of an email or game can try to hide their identity. Next term- Monitoring & controlling.
We continue to work hard on our listening skills by doing a weekly news challenge on the
computer. We have to listen and watch some news items and then try to answer some questions
about what we saw and heard. We also watch Newsround daily and talk about what is happening
in the news. To continue to make sure that we are knowledgeable about Britain, we have found
out about St. Andrew, St. Patrick & St. David’s Day, Holi Day and British wildlife.
We also have pupils who work on committees for: Esafety, School Council, Eco and Food.
We always make time for discussion and enjoy our conversations going off in another direction
and then using Google and YouTube to discover even further. On Friday afternoons, many of the
secondary pupils meet up in the common room and spend some social time playing games,
listening to music and chatting.
Enjoy your Easter break!
Ian, Shelley & Laura and all in Minton 1
Paragon 2
This term Paragon 2 have been working very hard and learning lots of new things. In Snowflake
set we have been exploring the world of the enormous turnip and discovering how to make a
sensory turnip. We soon found out that when you have a big problem you need all your friends to
help you out, just like all the people who helped the farmer pull up his turnip.
In Numeracy we have been learning number rhymes to 10, thinking about 3D shapes and
discovering lots of objects that are heavy and light. Some of the things we have really enjoyed
doing are making sensory bottles filled with sand, feathers and leaves as well as filling balloons
with water and comparing their weight to balloons filled with air.
In PE we have been exploring dance and working hard to follow instructions and
work with our friends. We have been curling and stretching our bodies with the music. We have
certainly been keeping our bodies fit, making sure that we warm up and cool down properly at the
beginning and end of every lesson.
In Design and Technology and Art, we have been exploring Easter crafts and made Easter
symbols from bread dough and stained glass windows.
We had great fun preparing our class assembly based on Chinese New Year. We all made
Chinese lanterns and paper bag monkeys to remind everyone that 2016 is the year of the monkey.
We watched a lion dance and learnt how to say Happy New Year in Chinese.
In Science we have really enjoyed learning about plants and becoming excellent young gardeners.
We can now label the parts of a plant and describe what each part does. We have found out
about all the conditions needed to help our plants grow and what we can do to help. We have
planted cress seeds and are watching how they grow as well as the little seedlings we have
planted.
In History we have learnt about the first man on the moon Neil Armstrong and discovered what it
was like to be an astronaut. We have watched clips of the first moon landing and made our own
galaxy quest wearing heavy moon boots to experience how it feels to walk in space. We
discovered lots of facts about the moon, including how big it is and what the surface looks like.
In Religious Studies we have been learning about spring festivals and especially about Easter.
Happy Easter from Sue, Chris, Ceara and Lisa
Maple
As another busy term comes to an end, it’s time to look back on what we have been up to in Maple
and share our activities and achievements once again.
What have Maple been exploring this term?
In our Science sessions, we’ve been looking at blood and circulation. As part of the topic we
explored the presence of toxins in the blood stream. We had to use our sense of touch to find
‘toxins’ in the blood and try to remove them. It was messy, but interesting.
In our creative sessions we have been investigating sound and light. We looked at how sound can
be converted into patterns with a sound app on the ipad. It was fun trying out different instruments
in our lessons. Everyone had their own favourite.
We had several opportunities to show off our cookery skills in the this
term. Everyone had fun getting involved with the mixing, blending and
baking. Better still our families had the pleasure of tasting them when we
took them home.
Everyone enjoyed our sensory stories this term. It was quite noisy and wet when we experienced
the thunder and lightning played by the musician when we read ‘The First Musician’. Our other
story, ‘The Easter Swallows’, was joyful and we enjoyed feeling the different textures assosiated
with the story even making a crown of thorns with pipe cleaners.
As part of our Asdan topic we have been exploring sensory objects together.
We have used our hands and feet to experience different sensations in our
sensory boxes. We have also been looking at personal care and hygene. It was fun having our hair
done – who needs hairdressers?!
We joined in with the whole school to celebrated the Hindu festival of Holi and as it is a festival of
colour we tried out tie-dying. We were very pleased with the results.
Of course Easter has featured strongly in RE this last half term and we learned about customs and
activities related to Holy Week and Easter. We enjoyed having our feet massaged when we
learned about Maundy Thursday and cooking special ‘Cake Pop Easter Eggs’ in preparation for
Easter Sunday.
Everyone has worked up a sweat with their physiotherapy this term with super acheivements and
awards in Rebound and great stretches and curls in the Rolling Programme. We have all really
enjoyed ourselves.
All in all, as you can see, this spring term has been exciting and fun-filled.
We hope you have a happy Easter and hope to see you next time you are in school.
Robyn, Donna, Sarah and Antonia
Minton 2 Newsletter
Minton 2’s spring term newsletter
PE and Swimming