Welcoming visitors into school has been a bit of a theme over the past few weeks and this week was no different. This time we were so pleased to welcome the family and friends of our pupils to our Christmas Extravaganza, a stunning showcase bringing together everything our young people have been learning about in their Expressive Arts lessons. Featuring students from our Learning Centre and Medtia campuses as well as pupils from Hollinwood Academy, it was just the thing to get us all feeling well and truly Christmassy! Based around the theme ‘times are changing’, we were taken on a rollercoaster ride through time and invited to celebrate Christmas through the ages. Whether it was bopping along to the lindyhop in the 1950s, a processional with a partner for a medieval carole, or simply just singing and shaking along to the perennial Shaking Stevens, the infectious energy of our amazing young people kept us smiling, laughing and clapping the whole way through.

I never fail to be impressed by the teamwork and resilience that goes into the Christmas Extravaganza. Weeks of rehearsals based on months of learning coming together over four performances in two days for yet another wonderful show. To say the children work hard is an understatement, so another incredible well done to all that took part. Equally, a massive thank you to our Expressive Arts team and all the staff that supported back stage on the night; yet again they went above and beyond to make sure we enjoyed our young people at their best. Lastly, thank you to all the families and friends who came; there’s no show without an audience and your energy helped make each performance outstanding!

This week Miss Carter has a special update for us on the work her Interactive Base class have been doing this term..

This term IB3 have been working on the topic Space. In English we have been following the song, ‘The Solar System’ and we have been choosing the correct word for each planet and exploring different textures which relate to each planet to. We have been getting very creative with our topic about Space and have been creating a variety of art work. We have been painting aliens by blowing colour around the picture using a straw, we made a UFO using our handprint, we’ve made a stained glass window planet Earth, we have enjoyed making a galaxy sensory bag with cotton wool and lots of glitter and created a moon picture using tin foil..

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”224″ gal_title=”IB3 English”]

In Maths we have been counting moon rocks; we had to choose a number then count the moon rocks and put them in our bucket to throw them down to Earth!!

In cooking we have been making fruit rockets, space themed chocolate buns and galaxy cookies, as well as baking for Halloween, Children in Need and Bonfire Night. We have been working on our fine motor skills and learning basic cooking skills including mixing, pouring and spreading. We have loved tasting all the different ingredients too!

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”226″ gal_title=”IB3 chef”]

Other lessons this term include Outdoor Ed where we have been enjoying visiting lots of different places including parks, garden centres, Ability Wheelz and, most recently, Heaton Park to look at the Lightopia event taking place..

In our History lessons we have been on a sensory journey to the moon. We have been re-enacting how it would feel to be in a rocket during lift off, what the material would feel like dressed as an astronaut and looking at the stars from being on the moon. It was very relaxing!

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”228″ gal_title=”IB3 History”]

We’ve enjoyed intervention sessions of communication using mirrors, pom poms and rhythm sticks; during these sessions we have been working on following instructions, copying adults and our turn taking skills..

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”230″ gal_title=”IB3 Intervention”]

..and soft play and sensory time, which is a perfect opportunity for us to work on our gross motor skills and have some down time after a very busy week of learning..

This term we have been lucky enough to be selected to take part in Music Therapy. Paul from Live Music Now comes into class every week with his instruments for us copy tunes and experiment with playing the instruments. We have been using our iPads to create sound by copying the sound played to them via an app, eventually we will be able to play Jingle Bells!! Exciting!

So, as you can see a very busy first term in IB3 and now we are busy creating and exploring all things Christmas!!

Miss Carter and her team would just like to say well done to each and every one of the class for all their hard work this term. Also thank you to the parents for their continued support and we wish all IB3 and their families a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

There has been more excitement this week with a visit to a special sensory session at the Winter Wonderland in Media City with Mr Smith..

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”234″ gal_title=”Winter Wonderland 2019″]

We even made it on to the ITV evening news, as you can see here!

We now have pictures to share with you of last week’s Table Cricket tournament held at Old Trafford – our pupils really enjoyed the event and represented the school brilliantly. Well done everyone!

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”235″ gal_title=”Table Cricket 2019″]

The last week of term is packed with festive activities including our Super Learning Day on the theme of ‘The Joy of Giving’ and our annual staff talent contest – plenty to look forward to!

I hope you all have a good week,

Gavin

Click here for this week’s news from Graham

You can find Dawn’s blog for the Learning Centre here

For news on our Key Stage 5 pathway groups at Medtia Square please click here

You can find my previous blog posts here