1 Hello everyone, welcome to the autumn newsletter. This term has been as busy as ever as we have welcomed new pupils and staff. The summer holidays seem like a distant memory and I think everyone is definitely ready for the Christmas break, especially as so many of our pupils have been ill over the last few weeks. Guidance from public health went home with everyone however I would urge parents and carers to be vigilant and if your child is ill, to keep them at home until they are fully recovered. This is particularly important with flu type illnesses, starting with a high temperature and diarrhoea/vomiting bugs. In the case of diarrhoea and vomiting, children should not return to school until they are 2 full days symptom free. Hopefully this will stop the spread of these nasty illnesses and will mean that we should all have a germ free Christmas (fingers crossed). On a sad note, Christa, one of our longest serving teaching assistants has decided to retire at Christmas. She has worked at Kemball for 33 years and really is a valued member of staff. I had the pleasure of working with her when I first started at Kemball and I have always been grateful for the many things that she taught me. She has a wonderful way with the pupils and I know that many parents and carers have valued the contribution she has made to their children’s lives. Christa will certainly be missed by everyone but I know she is looking forward to putting her feet up and enjoying a well-earned break. As usual our Eco fair was a great success. It was lovely to see so many people turning out to support us. It really got us all into the Christmas mood. Thank you to everyone who made donations of prizes for the tombola and raffle. Another highlight, of course has been the Christmas activities, as always we try to embrace the spirit of Christmas and our Nativity was as wonderful as ever. You wouldn’t believe how much hard work it takes for a 30 minute performance but it is all worth it when you see what some of our youngest children accomplish. We couldn’t be prouder of them. Anyway time to let the classes tell you about all that they have been doing this term. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and would like to thank you for your continued support. See you all in the New Year Lisa
Transcript
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Hello everyone, welcome to the autumn newsletter. This term
has been as busy as ever as we have welcomed new pupils and staff. The summer holidays seem like a distant memory and I think everyone is definitely ready for the Christmas break, especially as so many of our pupils have been ill over the last few weeks. Guidance from public health went home with everyone however I would urge parents and carers to be vigilant and if your child is ill, to keep them at home until they are fully
recovered. This is particularly important with flu type illnesses, starting with a high temperature and diarrhoea/vomiting bugs. In the case of diarrhoea and vomiting, children should not return to school until they are 2 full days symptom free. Hopefully this will stop the spread of these nasty illnesses and will mean that we should all have a germ free Christmas (fingers crossed). On a sad note, Christa, one of our longest serving teaching assistants has decided to retire at Christmas. She has worked at Kemball for 33 years and really is a valued member of staff. I had the pleasure of working with her when I first started at Kemball and I have always been grateful for the many things that she taught me. She has a wonderful way with the pupils and I know that many parents and carers have valued the contribution she has made to their children’s lives. Christa will certainly be missed by everyone but I know she is looking forward to putting her feet up and enjoying a well-earned break. As usual our Eco fair was a great success. It was lovely to see so many people turning out to support us. It really got us all into the Christmas mood. Thank you to everyone who made donations of prizes for the tombola and raffle. Another highlight, of course has been the Christmas activities, as always we try to embrace the spirit of Christmas and our Nativity was as wonderful as ever. You wouldn’t believe how much hard work it takes for a 30 minute performance but it is all worth it when you see what some of our youngest children accomplish. We couldn’t be prouder of them. Anyway time to let the classes tell you about all that they have been doing this term. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and would like to thank you for your continued support. See you all in the New Year Lisa
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What a fantastic start Gladstone 1 have made to the year! We have some pupils that have come into Gladstone 1 together and some from other classes. Nevertheless, the children have already formed some great friendships and settled well into the new academic year.
During this term, we have been studying life in the countryside as our topic which has been used within many of our lessons. The children really enjoyed learning about the countryside and how it compares to the city. We have studied farming, population, animals and food in the countryside and countryside art. Within D&T we have created our very own ploughman’s sandwiches before designing our own creative sandwiches. Although life in the countryside has been our main focus, we have also been taking part in non-themed lessons such as Science and RE. In Science, the children have really enjoyed studying ‘animal classification’ which the children have really enjoyed and learnt various animal groups within the vertebrate category. We have been participating in RE days which are held each half term. This means the class experiences three different teachers within two days which enables them to engage in lots of engaging and creative lessons linked to the themes. We have focussed on harvest and festivals of light during the RE days and the children are giving really positive feedback.
Whilst the children have been working really hard in lessons, they have also been enjoying themselves and working hard in the events celebrated as a whole school and going on school trips. We have been lucky enough to take a walk in the countryside to enhance our learning experiences and also visiting the New Victoria theatre, all of which the children thoroughly enjoyed. As you can tell, it has been a fun-filled term and it has flown by! The children have
Gladstone 1
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really enjoyed the build up to Christmas creating lots of Christmas crafts and enjoying the Christmas parties. All of us in Gladstone 1 wish you a lovely festive break and would also like to thank you for all your continued support in our school events.
Have a very Merry Christmas and we cannot wait to see all the children on return to school for lots more fun and hard work.
Darryl, Sophie, Hannah, Chloe and Amer
Wedgwood 2
Autumn 2019 has been a good term for Wedgewood 2. The
progress of personal and social developments have been
good. As a team, we have been busy working to give the
children a daily structure that has helped their communication,
personal hygiene and social interaction.
In English we have encouraged the children to communicate
better and be more specific in the way they express themselves. The children
loved the story of King Arthur and enjoyed solving and creating mysteries. As
a team, we have, also, noticed an improvement in their literacy skills.
In Maths we have been learning about addition, subtraction and division. The
children enjoyed all of the latter.
In History, we explored WW1. The children learned about its effect, about
hardships of many, the daily life during the war. In Geography, we learned
about cities and food in Great Britain. The children enjoyed the virtual trips
like the one of the London underground.
In Science, the children explored and participated in different activities related
to ‘forces’ such as gravity, air resistance. etc.
During this term, we had a lot of special days: Re days allowed the children to
explore the festival of lights. The children explored different religious festivals
Red Nose Day was a great success, the pupils were well versed in all the
activities but they also understood the value of helping others who are less
fortunate.
During the Spring term, we are looking forward to continuing progressing and
improve the academic and social skills.
Thank you,
Mandy, Elaine, Emma, and Michael.
Paragon 1
Paragon 1 have had a very busy and productive term
since September! All of the children settled straight
back in after summer and have continued to amaze
us with their progress.
In English, we started the year reading ‘We’re going
on a bear hunt’, this was definitely a class favourite –
the children loved doing a barefoot walk of all of the different elements of the
story and acting out the story to make a class film. We then moved onto ‘The
bad tempered lady bird’ where we focused on character descriptions and
speech. We even squeezed in ‘The Jolly Christmas Postman’ to help us write
our letters to Santa.
In Maths, we have been focusing on number and place value where we really
showed how much better our understanding is getting of the value of number.
Some of us moved on to using Cuisenaire rods to show number sequences of
numbers of up to 100 whilst others used numicon to sequence up to 10. We
were becoming really confident with this. We’ve also learnt about
measurement focusing on length, capacity and money.
In RE, we have enjoyed the whole school RE days
learning about Harvest and festivals of light. We
enjoyed printing with fruit to make some collaborative
art work and tasting different vegetables. We learnt
about Hannukah and made our own advent wreaths to
start the countdown to Christmas.
In Science, we started the year by learning about animals and their young. We
focused on a different animal each week and the special things they do to look
after their babies. We really enjoyed balancing eggs on our feet and trying to
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walk like Penguins do on the ice. We have also been learning about
minibeasts, and did great categorisation by counting the legs of the minibeasts
to see if they were insects or not.
In computing, we began the year by looking at programming and algorithms.
We used arrows to make a path through a maze and began to understand
how to programme bee-bots to make them move. This half-term we have
been using different software to explore data and counting. We have shown
how confident we are using I.Pads and other touchscreen devices.
Our Friday topic mornings have been jam packed with History, Geography, Art
and D&T activities. We started the year with the topic ‘Life in the countryside’
where we focused on the features of a countryside and how this compared to
a city. We recreated Van Gough’s ‘A Wheatfield with crows’ where we amazed
everyone with replicating Van Gough’s painting style using small strokes with
his brush. We also studied simple maps and labelled key features with
symbols and words. We explored the countryside and city using google maps
to look at different features. We are really looking forward to our steam train
ride through the countryside where we might even get to meet Santa!
In PSHE we have been focussing on growing up and responsibilities. We have
worked hard on respecting other people’s choices and understanding that it’s
ok to say no if you don’t want to do something. We have also learnt about
what jobs we have to do in school and what responsibilities we might have
when we are older.
In PE we have had the opportunity to work with ‘Fizzy Tots’ where we have
been developing our basic core skills of running, jumping and throwing. We
have played lots of different games and started to develop our teamwork skills
in team based games too. We’ve also been working hard to develop our
confidence and independence in the water at our weekly swimming sessions
which is one of our favourite activities of the week.
Paragon 1 have worked so hard and continue to amaze everyone with what
we are all capable of!
We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Hannah, Emma, Vicky and Khatija
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Coalport 2
Hello everyone,
We have had a busy term in Coalport 2. In September we welcomed new
peers and different staff who have all settled into Coalport class very well. We
have enjoyed spending time getting to know one another and the children
have enjoyed exploring their new school and routines.
We have started the year with the topic ‘Celebrations and Special Times’. We
have explored lots of different special times such as starting a new school
year/ class. We have talked about harvest and some of us walked to the local
food bank to deliver donations. Towards the end of the term we have been
focusing on Diwali and Christmas. We all really enjoyed decorating our
classroom for the festive season, we had lots of excited children and staff!
This year we are really enjoying working on our independence targets. We
have seen some fantastic responses with communication between the
children and we are seeing great progress with communication books and
Makaton signing.
We have enjoyed special event days such as ‘Children in Need’
where we all came to school wearing spots. We had lots of fun
making Pudsey cakes that we sent home for our families. We
have also celebrated Eco day, we made a bug house using lots of
different materials which hopefully the bugs from the Kemball
garden will enjoy making their home!
Have a lovely Christmas break and we wish you a happy new year!
Danica, Yvonne, Kim and Ghazala.
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Maple
It has been a wonderful term in Maple.
Our new pupils have settled in really
well and strong relationships have
been built already. We have also
welcomed Lauren to our class team,
she has settled in perfectly and is a
real credit to Maple
Our sensory stories of Rainforest Ramble and How to make the perfect cup of
coffee have been well received with pupils making excellent progress in both.
Pupils have enjoyed our topic of Pollution and Sustainability and focused well
on all tasks. Staff feel a firm favourite was our giant chocolate production
which was shared both school wide and also with friends from Free Spirits.
Maple have continued to enjoy the community aspect of our curriculum with
several trips out to the café and shops. Staff feel that Maple class are known
in the community and café and shop workers make us feel very welcome.
Maple have continued to run our weekly snack shop within school which
continues to be a hit with all classes involved. Maple pupils have done well in
building their confidence when communicating with peers – staff feel
friendships have been built over the term.
Lastly it wouldn’t feel like Christmas without our Trentham Treasure Hunt. All
pupils who attended enjoyed the day and focused really well on items as they
moved around the store. I would like to extend a thank you to those parents
who assisted the day either in coming along or in transporting pupils – this
really was a big help.
Maple class are busy with our Christmas curriculum now and look forward to
giving our gifts and selling our mince pies and jam tarts at the Eco Fayre. We
hope to see you there.
Kathy, Robyn, Chris, Joy, Lauren and Lisa
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Spode 1
Dear Parents/Carers, It has been a fantastic term in Spode 1. The children have been making some amazing progress, and I know I speak for all of the class when I say how proud we all are of them. It has been another very energetic term with lots of exciting events and activities. Our sensory stories this half term have been ‘The train ride’ and ‘We’re going on a bear hunt!’ Bear Hunt has been particularly popular and the children love joining in with the words and actions. We have had lots of events this term- RE days, trips to Trentham gardens, Sudbury Hall, Children in Need day, Christmas Jumper day and we have more exciting things planned for the Spring term. We have been doing lots of work on health and self-care ranging from feeding ourselves with a spoon or fork, going to the bathroom independently, tasting new foods, getting ourselves dressed or helping our friends when they need support. Super Work Spode 1!! We have enjoyed learning different ways to travel during our PE sessions with Fizzy tots but our favourite way to keep active is swimming!! Not only have we welcomed new children to the class we also have a new TA that has started – her name is Katie and she is looking forwards to getting to know and have fun with all the children in Spode 1. We are really proud of how the new children have settled in to school life, and how the existing children have been making new friends! We hope you have a fantastic Christmas and look forwards to more adventures in the Spring term where our topic will be ‘The Jungle’ Eleri, Jenny, Katie and Louise (Spode 1 Team)
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Doulton 2
Doulton 2 have been exploring the topic of On The Farm we have been finding
out about how plants grow and how animals live on the farm.
In Maths we have been focusing on Numbers. We have been looking for
numbers in the sand, singing number rhymes and songs and tracing the
numbers that we can see. We have also used our light box to count objects
and find the matching numbers.
In English we have been reading The Little Red Hen
and Jack and the Beanstalk. We have been exploring
the characters focusing on the descriptions given in
the stories. We have also been looking at a variety of
letters but mainly with a focus on m, a, s, d and t which
we use during our phonics sessions. We have enjoyed
creating masks for role-playing the story of Jack and
the Beanstalk.
In our topic sessions we have been finding out about what plants need to grow
and doing some planting of cress of our own. We practiced opening our hands
to hold a jug to pour the water and putting items into our pots. We also found
out about how animals live on a farm and explored their habitats. We learnt
about how to keep our bodies healthy by eating right and by exercising, we
went out on the playground to experience different types of movements and
we also take part in Physio and Swimming sessions.
We have had a lovely term and all of the children have settled in really well
and begun the year on a very positive note. We are really looking forward to
the next term and all the fun activities we are going to take part in.
Best wishes from Katy, Hayley and Cathy.
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Bridgewater 2
Autumn Term Newsletter 2019
All the pupils in Bridgewater 2 have had a great term in our class. We have welcomed new pupils and new staff. All pupils continue to make leaps towards their own personal milestones and enjoy the journey on their way through them.
This term we have had 2 sensory stories around the theme of Celebration and Special Times. First we read ‘Kipper’s Birthday’ which helped us prepare for a birthday party and all the elements that we needed. We then read the ‘If you take a mouse to the movies’ which is a lovely story about a mouse who loves the magical parts of Christmas. Through these lessons we have been able to develop our communication and problem solving through a range of different activities such as matching, sorting, threading, mark making, counting, ordering and many more.
In topic we have also been looking at Celebrations and Special Times however focusing on specific significant events such as weddings and baptisms, special times such as bonfire night and Remembrance and then finally looking at Christmas and the traditions which go alongside it. The children have produced some wonderful work in their books and for the displays in the classroom.
For RE day this year we swapped with Bridgewater 1 and Spode 1 to explore different festivals of light! We spent time exploring the different types of traditions which are celebrated during the Diwali by making Diva Lamps and exploring Rangoli patterns in coloured rice.
The trips we have been on over the last term have been a real adventure thanks to our new mini buses we can many more outings! We have been to the supermarket, café and church as a class. We have all really enjoyed getting out on the bus to explore the world around us.
Please continue to communicate with us via the diary and please read the letters that we send home. We are all looking forward to 2020 and hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!
Thank you,
Emily, Rachel, Claire, Ceris, Amer, Natasha and Stacey.
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MINTON 1 AUTUMN TERM
During the autumn term we managed to fit our trip to see “The Prince and the
Pauper,” performed at the New Vic Theatre. We went for an Autumn walk to
the local park to find conkers, chestnuts and wildlife and spot signs of Autumn.
For Maths, we carried out a traffic survey on Trentham Road. Along with
Regency 1 we walked to the local cenotaph on
Remembrance Day to pay our respects.
The topic for Autumn has been WONDERFUL
WATER, so a lot of the work has been centred
around that.
SCIENCE Dissolving, sea and fresh water, clouds, states of water, acid rain,
waterproofing, filtering, liquid layers has all been covered.
GEOGRAPHY The water cycle, rivers, map reading, seas and oceans, coastal
features and erosion has all been covered.
HISTORY We looked at Viking longship designs and where they explored,
the wreck of the Mary Rose, sea gods and lots of facts about the Titanic.
RE (Harvest/Festivals of Light) RE is now covered by two whole days every
half term. Teachers deliver their lessons to different classes and the pupils
receive teaching from different teachers. Some of this work involved pupils
writing what they were thankful for at Harvest time and artwork showing their
favourite food. They have also looked at Jewish Menorah candles and Diwali
designs.
PE (Gymnastics/Games) In Gymnastics, we looked at moving in different
ways using many pieces of equipment as well as balance, jumps and rolls. We
also had sessions on badminton, rugby, dodge ball, ball skills and using the
parachute.
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ART & DT The pupils have used a variety of materials to create some
environment around them through different tasks such as den building and
creating different bird food balls.
Well done this term for all your hard work. Have a good Christmas and New
Year.
Steph, Zoe and Jo
Although these have been two long terms, the time has certainly flown by and
I can’t believe we have nearly arrived at Christmas. Over the autumn term
Coalport 1 have been enjoying some cross curricula work, we have been
working on celebrations and special times. During week 1, we focused on
celebration foods, foods that we may eat during special events such as
birthdays, Christmas, Diwali etc. During the week the focus of the topic was
‘Thinking Scientifically’. We explored changing state through solid, liquids and
gases. Week 2 Coalport 1 learnt all about Remembrance Day. During the
week our focus was on ‘The world around us’ and ‘Arts and Creative’. We
made clay Poppies, a Poppy wreath and paper Poppies. The children also
remembered those who fought in the war by having a minute silence. In week
3 and 4 we discussed Diwali, our curriculum focus was ‘Arts and Creative’ and
‘Technologies’. The children got to experience the light room that represented
Diwali working on IT skills and showing a good understanding of cause and
effect. We also made Diwali firework from pipe cleaners and explored the
sensory story ‘Dipal’s Diwali’. The next few weeks we will be focusing on
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Christmas celebrations and how it is celebrated around the world.
In Cognition, Communication and Language Coalport 1 have been working on
book handling skills and reading skills. We have had visits to the school
library, been read to by children from other classes and shared books with our
peers in class. We have also focused on our writing skills where the pupils
have used different mark making tools to make different marks. We have also
focused on Speaking and listening, the pupils practised listening skills through
copy me games.
In Mathematical thinking and problem solving Coalport 1 have focused on
positional language where they got to experience the Beanbag song, they had
to put the beanbag on their heads, next to their arm and on their toes, it was
so much fun and the pupils really chuckled. We have also worked hard on
number ordering, the pupils got to go on a space counting treasure hunt, once
they found a space poster, they then had to count the objects. The pupils
thoroughly enjoyed this and it was lovely to experience different environments.
Coalport 1 staff wish you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
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Doulton 1
We have been working hard in Doulton 1 this term, especially in physio,
swimming and soft play where we have been determined to succeed with our
programs and play. Our topic in September was Transport. Our sensory story
was Magic Train Ride where we all travelled to different lands including Fairy
Land, the land of cakes and outer space. We explored the story using all of
our senses and really enjoyed the clickity clack of the song and rhymes. In
music we worked with Lorraine to share The Enormous Turnip which gave us
the opportunity to explore lots of different instruments. We enjoyed activities
with our parents at our class coffee morning. After half term we focused on
the theme of Toys and Bears. Our sensory story was Peace at Last where Mr
Bear went around the house trying to find somewhere quiet so that he could
sleep. We visited all of the places around the home. We found out about day
time and night time animals, about times of day and sounds around the house
and garden. We had great fun using props, lights and music to bring the story
to life. We focused on shapes, measures and number in maths. Some of us
enjoyed taking part in the Christmas Production- Born in a Barn. We also had
2 RE days to find out about Festivals of Light. We learned about Hanukah,
Christingle and Diwali- the story of Rama and Sita. We enjoyed the ECO
Fayre, and we worked hard to make sliced tree decorations and cards on the
theme of Winter Woodland. When we come back to school in January we will
be learning about The Jungle and in the Garden. Thank you to everyone who
makes sure that pumps and suction units are fully charged and for all of the
requests for care supplies which are met. It really helps us to take good care
of your children. Thank you for all of the support, donations and gifts
throughout the term.
Karen, Clare, Chelsea and Gemma would like to wish you all a very peaceful
and happy Christmas.
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Regency 1 Autumn newsletter
Regency 1 are settled into their new class group and classroom with new
staff. They have worked well to create new friendships and get back into the
school routine.
As the group are now Year 9 and 10 students, they have been working
towards a more functional aspect of learning. In English, the class have
looked at features of Newspapers, Posters and magazines. We have also
taken part in various class debates, some including: ‘should school finish at
2o’clock?’ Regency 1 also enjoyed writing a letter of complaint to Lisa about
the state of a photograph taken of a park pretending it was on Kemball
grounds. In Maths, Regency 1 have worked on number skills; particularly
multiplication and division. The group have demonstrated the ability to use
these skills practically and functionally. We have also looked at Time and
reading bus timetables. Science has been interesting this term looking at
Healthy Living and the effects exercise, drugs and alcohol have on the body
and the heart. We have also begun working towards our ASDAN Level 3
Award this year. The group have looked at ‘Making the most of leisure time’
where we spent weeks learning a new skill such as Dance Mats and taking
part in a challenging activity such as on the Outdoor Gym Equipment.
Following on from science, the second part was Healthy Living, all of Regency
1 enjoyed taking part in either a Bleep Test daily or a 15 minute Joe Wickes
workout. We are definitely a much fitter class!
In November we went to the New Victoria Theatre to watch The Prince and
the Pauper, it was a fantastic experience! Regency have also taken part in a
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cake sale raising £47.36 for Children in Need. We also walked to the
Cenotaph to remember those that have fought for us. We all really enjoyed
going to the Lord Mayors chambers. Towards the end of term, the entire group
have collectively worked towards our Christmas Fayre project –making pom
poms. It is an absolute pleasure to be part of ‘Team Regency’. So from all of
us, have a fantastic holiday, a much needed break and a happy New Year!!
Danielle, Shelley and Sam.
Autumn 2019 Newsletter Autumn 2019 has been a fantastic term for Bridgewater 1 and their personal development. We have seen great progress with the children’s personal targets and social skills. We have been busy everyday working on their independence, communication and social interaction. This term we have been working very hard with our communication skills using Makaton’s sign and Communication books and boards. This has really improved on their ability to make choices and answer questions throughout the day. For the first half term our sensory story was ‘Kippers Birthday’ and in Maths and English we used different colours to decorate balloons; followed recipe’s to bake and decorate cakes; explored clocks and time; used positional language; explored 3D shapes and did lots of fine motor practise. In the second half of the term our sensory story was ‘When you take a mouse to the movies’ and in Maths and English we followed instructions; ordered
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numbers; used Numicon for printing; copied patterns and continued to practise our fine motor skills. Our topic this term has been Celebrations and Special Times. We began by learning about Harvest, moving on to Birthdays, making cards, gift boxes and bunting and party food. We have learnt about Weddings in different religions, Baptisms and we have visited a church. We made poppies for Remembrance Day, learned about Diwali and Hanukkah. In the run up to Christmas we have had a Christmas jumper day, we have visited the theatre to watch the prince and the pauper, we have had a Christmas disco, some of our children were part of the Nativity play, we have made lots of Christmas cards for the ECO fair, we have enjoyed our Christmas dinner and we are having a special visitor on the last day of term. We’ve had a lot of special days this term including ECO day, RE days and Children in Need. We are really looking forward to the spring term and hopefully getting to experience and learn in our outdoor areas more often. We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year and look forward to seeing you and your children in 2020. Thank you, Fiona, Stacey and Becky
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Coalport 3
Coalport 3 have had a great term exploring our topic ‘Knights and Castle’. We
have looked at different things that you might find in a castle and used this to
help us make our very own, junk Castle models. We have also explored lots of
different medieval food and celebrations.
In English our sensory stories have been “Zog” and “Into the Castle’. We have
also been working really hard on our communication skills and using
communication boards and symbols. In maths we have been looking at
numbesr and numicon, big and small. We have really enjoyed exploring the
pirate ship and dolls house to explore moving our superheroes around.
We have also had lots of fun days planned such as our RE days where
everyone explored different activities to do with Harvest and Festivals of light.
There has also been children in need where we explored spotty activities and
wore spotty clothes to raise money.
Coalport three have also been able to visit Maple’s café which has given us
the chance to use communication aids to order our snacks, explore money,
see how a café is run and interact with our friends in Maple class!
Finally, we have been exploring all different activities on the run up to
Christmas and have been hard at work preparing for the Christmas Eco fair!
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Jasmine, Chris, Robyn, Julie, Fiona and Yvonne
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Regency 2 Autumn Newsletter
Regency 2 have had a fantastic start to the new school year! Throughout the
first half term we learnt all about Macbeth in English- the children really
enjoyed spending time investigating the characters and the settings of
this story. Children wrote some fantastic poems in the style of the 3
witches- children came up with some very imaginative ingredients for
their spell! In the second half term children have learnt all about comic
books, we investigated all the different parts of comic books week by
week until we created a fantastic Christmas comic book.
In maths we have learnt about number, place value, addition, subtraction and
measure. We have put our maths knowledge into practice by weighing
ingredients for a smoothie and measuring liquids to make a hot
chocolate!
In topic we have been investigating and exploring wonderful water; we have
learnt all about the water cycle, the importance of water, water filtering, rivers
and adventures on the ocean. Children have really enjoyed exploring life on
the Mary Rose and investigating the Tudor warship- they especially enjoyed a
mock battle re-enactment.
In art and design we explored art by Claude Monet and children have created
some fantastic recreations of Waterlilies. Throughout this topic children
explored different artistic methods such as water colour, collage,
sketching and painting. In Autumn 2 we then designed and created our
own waterproof drinking containers and tested these out to see if they
could hold water.
Regency 2 really enjoyed our annual trip to the New Vic theatre where we saw
the Prince and the Pauper. As always, children were fantastically
behaved and really engrossed in the story!
Well done Regency 2, we look forward to next term!
Charlotte, Laura and Demi
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Aynsley 1
Hello everyone,
We have had a fantastic start to life as Aynsley 1 as the class
of 2019-2020.
We kicked things of with our largely drama based study Shakespeare’s story
of Hamlet. As always the students excelled themselves with their drama
performances and interpretations of the story, and of course enjoyed role
playing the killing scenes!!
There have also been opportunities to go outside of the classroom as part of
our learning topics. For example we managed to find lots of different shapes
around school, even a hexagon (eventually!) which was found on a table leg
screw, as you can see we take lots of attention to detail!
Also, we were able to explore our school’s local environment outside as we
searched for different habitats, as well as researching habitats around the
world inside the classroom using our rapidly increasing research and iPad
skills. Our other topic in Science as well as habitats was based on climate
change and pollution. The students really got on board with this concept and
showed super understanding. We also have seen it in the news as well during
our daily “Newsround” episodes regularly which has increased their
knowledge of how important the topic is. Look out for some new up and
coming eco-warriors from Aynsley 1.
In ASDAN, we have already covered 2 units this academic year. ASDAN is a
life-skills based accredited qualification. Firstly, we focussed on healthy living.
We looked at having a good diet and tried preparing and tasting some healthy
snacks. As well as this we put into practise our learning about the importance
of being physically active by exercising daily and during our ASDAN sessions.
Our second topic was Understanding Money. To work towards this we have
been able to go out to visit a local bank, and the students practised using cash
to buy something of their own in a local supermarket. We also explored the
concepts of saving money, debit/credit cards and the problems that can arise
of running out of money.
Recently, we also had the opportunity to visit to local historic places and they
both proved to be memorable days.
Firstly, we had a fantastic morning exploring and learning about the Christian
faith at Stoke Minster Church, where the vicar showed us some of the over
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1000 year old history of the church. The students all did the school and
themselves proud with how they interacted, observed the many things and
asked some brilliant questions to further explore and find out more interesting
information.
Also, our Year 10 and 11 students had the chance to meet the Lord Mayor in
her Royal Parlour, look around the Kings Hall chambers and also engaged in
a session about employment and learning about the jobs the council can offer.
Looking forward to the New Year, in January we will be starting weekly work
experience at the Scrap Shack in Fenton. For many, this will be the first foray
into the world of work, and this exciting opportunity will give the students a
chance to experience a job in retail, and developing the necessary social and
independence skills during the work experience.
I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.
Wow! We cannot believe that a whole term has passed already… and what a
term it has been! We have been studying ‘What the Ladybird Heard’ as our
sensory story and we have done lots of topic work relating to animals on the
farm. We have also spent a great many hours working on our nativity and we
hope that you enjoyed seeing your beautiful children shine, if you were able to
make it to see a performance. Their confidence and understanding of what is
expected from this year to last has dramatically improved- we are so proud of
each and every one of our lovely class. After the Christmas break, we will be
looking at fairy tales; starting with ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and
we’re all so excited for our theatre trip to the pantomime on
the last week of term.
Wishing you all a fantastic Christmas and sending our love
This term in Aynsley 2 we have been looking at using and applying our skills to the world around us and have begun to think about the future with trips to work places, visits to view our post 16 options and opportunities to develop our personal and social lives through extra-curricular activities.
In ASDAN this term we have been thinking about how we can be proactive and use our leisure time productively and wisely to develop our sense of achievement and learn new skills. We have all chosen challenging, new and relaxing activities to undertake during our session which have included photography, nail art, drawing and reading sessions. Our next module this term saw us looking at healthy lifestyle choices and options and choosing 2 changes to make to how we currently live our lives in order to make a positive change to our life. Popular options included making sure we get enough water each day, getting more exercise each day and getting more sleep!
We have had several trips out this year as part of our new preparation for adulthood day on a Friday which has seen us learning travel training skills to locations such as Trentham Gardens, Hanley and Longton. We have undertaken a workplace visit to Halcion Distribution who kindly welcomed us into their warehouse and taught us about the pallet distribution work they do. We had a go at sitting in the driving seat of a large HGV truck and saw the speedy forklift manoeuvres the workforce undertook. Our thank go to Halcion for hosting us that morning and the class now have a better understanding of the jobs available to them in local area.
Finally we took our annual trip to Abbey Hill’s post 16 options fair. Our year 10 and 11s had a good look at all the college stall and displays and even spoke to a few representatives from each college, asking insightful questions and getting a better understanding of where they would like to go after Kemball. We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Aynsley 2 staff
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Paragon 2 newsletter Dear Parents and Carers,
It has been a busy term and the children have had a fantastic time. We are really pleased with the
progress that they have made and it has been great to see how far they have come in a short time.
This term, we have looked at two sensory stories, ‘The Scarecrow’s Wedding’ and ‘What the Ladybird
Heard’. In our first sensory story, the children really enjoyed exploring role playing the wedding and
worked on using signs, speech and symbols to communicate about the story. We were really impressed
with how quickly the children picked up the story and how engaged they were in the activities planned
for this. The children learnt how to write lists, engage in small world play and developed their phonic
abilities and we are pleased to say that all of the children have made progress in their phonics
assessments this term.
In our numeracy activities, we looked at shape, number and colour and the children really enjoyed
making shape cakes and pictures, staking wedding cakes and sorting different coloured flowers. They
also engaged really well in number activities, developing their counting and addition skills. In our
exploration of ‘What the Ladybird Heard’, as part of our numeracy activities, we looked at prepositions,
number rhymes and size. The children really enjoyed this and especially enjoyed completing an obstacle
course, leading them around the ‘farm’.
In ‘What the Ladybird Heard’, we also looked at drawing simple maps, finding items in books and
retelling stories through small world play. As part of our Christmas activities we also wrote a letter to
Santa and posted it in our local post box, exploring the story of ‘The Jolly Postman at Christmas’
alongside this.
In our Topic of ‘Down on the Farm’, we have explored how plants grow, including those that we eat and
the children enjoyed our exploration of ‘Harvest’ in RE alongside this. The children enjoyed planting
their own vegetables for our garden area and were able to find lots of plants in our environment. We
also explored animals and their offspring and the children particularly enjoyed this in small world play.
We have been lucky enough to enjoy the last of the good weather this term and we have enjoyed trips
to a local church, Trentham Gardens and Shugborough Hall Farm as well as many walks to the local
shops, supermarkets and park to explore our local environment. I know that the children have really
enjoyed these trips and we hope to have many more to come.
Thank you to everyone who attended the Nativity and Parents meeting for the Engagement Pathway
this term and we hope to see you very soon at our Eco Fair.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!
The Paragon 2 team (Cath, Sam, Kim, Hayley and Ceara)
