It’s been a rollercoaster of a start to the half term. Already I blink and two weeks have gone so fast. Today we are celebrating Children in Need, lots of fun activities are planned and we welcome back our parents and carers today for a lovely Spring Brook coffee morning. Let’s hear what’s been happening in school, starting with the Key Stage 3 Nurture Group..

The boys settled in quickly after their break and coped with the news that Miss Headland was transferring to Lower School. Miss Headland will be missed but we all wish her well with her new class. Miss Headland bought the group some Lego which they have loved making and playing with. A big thank you from all of us..

A warm welcome to Miss Davies who has joined the group as our new teaching assistant and got to grips with our Nurture routine quickly.

The boys enjoyed their soft play session and were a lot quieter when they returned thanks to all the games of chase they had played! 

In our class based craft lesson the boys are sewing stockings, hopefully they will be ready for the big day. We have had lots of unpicking and snapped thread but they are really determined to finish them..

In last week’s food technology the group made chicken stir fry..

This week we have been super busy. Instead of going to soft play on Tuesday the group managed to get free tickets to see Lego Ninjago. Although the film had changed to Lego Batman when we got there, the boys still enjoyed it and their behaviour was amazing.

In our art and craft lesson the boys have nearly finished their Christmas stockings, with great results as the picture shows..

The group wanted to make sleighs and fill them with sweets and chocolates for the pupils in Years 10 and 11 to sell at the Christmas fair – well done, boys..

In our English lesson the group have looked at changing tenses, along with continuing to read the book Holes. Here is Levi’s work..

In Maths we have moved on to the new topic of ‘Factors and Prime Numbers’. We have looked at factors of numbers with the group completing factor bugs – here are James’..

.. and Leo’s..

In food technology this week the boys made jam scones which tasted lovely..

Thanks for sharing boys!

Keep it up boys, you are working hard with great results.

I love all of the scones and the Christmas goodies, boys – you have worked so hard, well done! Now over to Mrs Young’s class..

During the last week before half term holidays we decided to go on a trip to Heaton Park. It was a lovely time spent among trees and animals and I must say the boys found it really therapeutic. Connor D. was immediately drawn towards the forest and he enjoyed a little walk there. He even gave football a go, something which does not usually happen at school. All the lads loved seeing the animals and even managed to get really close to a family of squirrels. In a nutshell, it was a lovely time. On the last day of school we baked some Halloween cakes and took them home to share with our families.

After we came back from the half term holiday we started a new topic, the Tudors. In the first History lesson we talked about the War of Roses and in order to remember it all we used a lot of visual aids (i.e. pictures, flashcards, keywords, etc.) This method was very successful in helping the boys retain all the vital information. In Citizenship, we talked about the Great Depression and the American Dream. Our inspiration was the story of James J. Braddock, a famous boxer from the 1930’s, whose determination led him to his success. 

With Remembrance Day approaching, in Literacy we talked about a poem written by John McCrae, called In Flanders Fields. We again used some visual cues to help the boys realise how it would feel to be in a soldier’s shoes and try to stay alive. We analysed the poem, its meaning and what the message was for future generations. In the end we designed some War Medals and had a go at making some poppies out of fabric.

Miss Brown’s class have been working hard too.

Year 9 had a great return back to school after the holidays. Today we returned to the boxing gym with the aspiration to get in the ring within the next two weeks – good luck boys, Holly is hard!!

We also had some amazing work done this week in Maths. Mark was struggling with decomposition, sending him at points into crisis. By the end of today’s lesson, Mark refused to leave the classroom before he finished doing his Maths all by himself 👍🏻 Great effort Mark, a little resilience and hard work pays off..

Great week all round, well done Year 9, keep it up! Miss Brown xx

Mr Page’s class have been busy..

This week in English, SBA1 have been looking at writing to instruct. This has involved looking at different examples of instructional writing, the structural features of a set of instructions and the language features of a set of instructions. We have applied this knowledge to create our own sets of instructions about topics and processes that we are familiar with.

In Maths we have been looking at factors and multiples. We have been investigating common factors, highest common factors and lowest common multiples.

In Living Skills we have made chicken fajitas! This lesson looked closely at the correct technique for slicing vegetables and at the importance of food hygiene, safety and awareness when handling and cooking raw meat.

..as has Mr Hopkins in PE….

4 of our Spring Brook pupils, Mark, Leon and Cameron from Year 9 and Declan from Year 11, went to compete against the best runners in Oldham in the Oldham Schools Cross Country Championships recently. It was incredibly muddy which made it all the more fun and the boys did really well with the Year 9s finishing in 42nd, 46th and 47th place. Unfortunately Declan could not finish as he suffered an ankle injury on the 2nd lap of the course but has recovered since. Behaviour was impeccable and the boys cheered the others on in their races, again showing fantastic sportsmanship..

I would like to finish by thanking all our parents and carers who attended the coffee morning and supported our Children in Need fundraising. Thanks especially to the staff and pupils for a fun Friday. We raised over £50 and are still counting..

Have a peaceful weekend,

Miss Rodgers
Head of Site

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