This week began with a meeting to plan the roll out of Apple iPads during the course of this school year. We are very excited about this as we believe it will support our vision of the positive impact technology will have across the school:

• Pupils realise the potential of technology to enhance their learning and enable them to reach their aspirational destinations
• Teachers use technology to inform precise assessment, target setting and feedback in a seamless process that supports our young people’s learning
• We work collaboratively as a community to ensure that technology has a sustainable impact on our learning
• Our school environment is innovative and interactive in order to offer our young people the freedom to control their learning

The meeting involved looking at the detail of how we will roll out this technology and plan the many steps required to successfully embed the iPads into the teaching and learning process. At the moment, this work is currently at the stage of ensuring the infrastructure is in place to support the initial roll out. I’ll keep you posted as we move to the next stage of bringing the iPads into use.

Wednesday was the inaugural meeting of the 2018-19 School Council. All councillors were presented with their School Council badge and introduced themselves to each other and our School Governor Miss Williams. The Council reviewed the matters arising from the last Council meeting and discussed a number of new agenda items. This included next week’s Children in Need; the Council was unanimously in favour of supporting this event and agreed to a ‘wear something spotty’ themed non-uniform day in which both pupils and staff donate £1 for the privilege.

On Friday, the whole school came together to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War. Mr Hanif led a remembrance assembly that brought to life the events that took place during the war through the work of our pupils and archive footage. The pupils and staff then honoured all those that fought and died in the First World War and all the wars that have taken place since then with a two minutes’ silence. On this Armistice weekend our thoughts are with our pupils and their families who have lost loved ones in these wars.

Our New Bridge Scouts baked poppy biscuits and raised a total of £45 for the British Legion at break time on Friday.

This week, our curriculum focus is on our Autism Base, starting with AB1. As with our other groups, the class get settled and ready for the day with their morning routine..

They have really enjoyed their Harry Potter themed English and Maths sessions..

They love visiting the park for Outdoor Education and have been making the most of the beautiful Autumn sunshine..

Armistice Day saw the group carefully painting remembrance poppies..

AB2 have been using Bonfire Night to order numbers up to 20, cutting and sticking using symbol support..

They made chocolate sparklers using breadsticks which proved very popular!

Their Maths sessions have also included matching..

..and coins..

As part of their topic on the plains Indians, the class have been designing their own shields..

Outdoor Education is always one of their favourite lessons and the Autumn leaves are adding to the fun this term..

This week in school, AB3 have looked at Remembrance Day as Mrs McLaughlin explains..

We started by having a look at a few clips on the interactive screen around how people mark the day..

We then had a look at ‘Poppy Day’ which is a new incentive to encourage young people to get involved with raising awareness to continue remembering service personnel both past and present. We practised our writing skills by writing the word ‘poppy’ to include on our Remembrance class display which will be finished for you to see on parents’ day..

We then went on to continue to work on fine motor skills by printing on poppy templates using cotton buds. The results were beautiful and everyone worked really hard, these will also be included on the display..

Finally, we practised doing some quiet sitting in preparation for the two minute silence in assembly on Friday. We watched this video to help us to prepare.

This was also the video that was shown in assembly which will consolidate the learning from this week. Well done AB3, absolutely fantastic work!

Mrs Coleman-Celis’ Communication Group have also been working hard..

This half term the group have settled in to the new classroom and new routine and structure. Each student has worked hard and enjoyed our English and Maths topic theme of Harry Potter, specifically the magical aspect with spells and potions. We have had a wand, sorting hat, cape and glasses for the students to try on and experience being Harry Potter, with some students even trying to turn staff in to frogs!

The group have enjoyed practical lessons the most with Swimming and Outdoor Education being the most anticipated..

We have visited and explored some great places such as Tandle Hills and Heaton Park and it has been great to see our students starting to form some brilliant friendships within the group..

There are some last minute tickets now available for our trip to the Opera House on 18th December to see Cinderella if you are quick! Our staff will be there to support our young people and you can find out more by calling Isabella on 0161 883 2401.

A note to all parents and carers, Parents’ Evening on the 21st November is fast approaching. This is an incredibly important event as it provides us with the opportunity to share your child’s learning with you and consult with you on how we can continue to ensure your child makes progress. You will have received a letter providing further details on how to book appointments to see your child’s teachers and we look forward to seeing you on the night.

Gavin

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

Click here to read this week’s news from Graham

You can find my previous blog posts here