HWA Blog - 16.1.26

As we reach the end of our second week of the spring term, it’s clear that we’ve already hit the ground running across the whole school. The pace has been energetic, purposeful, and full of exciting moments that remind us why Hollinwood Academy is such a special place.

This week has been particularly busy behind the scenes. We have interviewed for our curriculum lead posts, an important step in continuing to strengthen the quality and direction of teaching and learning across the academy. Our GCSE Photography team have also been hard at work with their standardisation process, ensuring consistency and excellence across all assessments.

In the Food department, our GCSE students have been fully immersed in their practical assessments the creativity and skill they have demonstrated has been fantastic to see. We also had the pleasure of welcoming our CEO and the Chair of Trustees, who joined us for our destinations training. They shared the MAT’s vision, mission and values with all staff and took the time to acknowledge the incredible commitment and dedication shown by everyone here at Hollinwood Academy.

In classrooms, our children and young people have settled back into their routines with confidence. Year 11 students are already focused on their fast-approaching GCSEs, demonstrating maturity and determination. Year 10 Photography students are excitedly discussing their upcoming trip to Berlin a brilliant opportunity to broaden their creative perspectives. Meanwhile, our Year 8 students are buzzing with anticipation about the Disney trip, which has certainly added a spark of excitement to their week.

It has been wonderful to see students across the school looking forward to the opportunities ahead, embracing new challenges, and reconnecting with enthusiasm.

 

Sharing the highlights…

 

Let’s see what has been happening in the classroom.

 

In Miss Neelam’s class this week…

 

"What a fantastic week we’ve had in class year 5/6, packed with learning, creativity and curiosity! We have a new student who has joined our class at the start of the term. The children have made her feel welcomed.

In Maths, we’ve continued building on our understanding of multiplication and division. The children worked hard practising how to multiply and divide numbers by 10 and 100. They used different methods and concrete resources to support them to work out the answers. It was brilliant to see their confidence growing as they spotted patterns and applied their knowledge to problem solving activities. The children have also enjoyed practising their timetables through Daily ten.

In Literacy, we have dived into our exciting new text about Henry VIII. We began the week with some short burst writing, focusing on using powerful vocabulary to create descriptive sentences. We are using Talk4Writing to support us with our learning. The children enjoy this, especially being imaginative when creating our story maps. The children have enjoyed reading aloud and learning about Henry VIII’s life. We will be focusing on persuasive language features within the text. The children will choose their own character and write their own persuasive text.

In science, our focus has been on how we see light. We have explored luminous and non-luminous objects. The children have enjoyed experimenting how light travels. The children used card and torches to see the direction of light. The children have grasped the concept of light travelling in straight lines. Our next lesson will focus on shadow formation.

In history, we have been learning about kings and queens. This term we are focusing on Henry VIII and his six wives. We learnt a song to help us remember who they were and what happened to them. The children came up with actions to remember the song. The children have also participated in roleplay to act out how life was like in Tudor England.

It has truly been a brilliant and busy week in year 5/6."

 

LTO - 16.1.26

 

 

And now to Miss Gordon’s class...

 

"10AGN are back from the Christmas break and ready to learn. AGN have settled in really well after the break and have been enjoying their lessons.

In P.E the class has been doing Health and Fitness. Since coming back, the class have been doing circuit training which means they gets to try lots of different types of exercise to help them stay healthy.

In English, AGN have been studying their Anthology texts and practising their analytical writing.

In Science the class has been learning about Reactivity and Health and Disease. In our lesson about reactivity students were excited to take part and observe experiments using Alkali metals.

In Food Technology, last week the class made delicious cheese and onion quiches - they all did really well and enjoyed making their own pastry.

In Leadership the form have started to work on their Emotional Wellbeing module where they are learning about lots of different emotions and feelings and strategies to help when they are feeling overwhelmed.

In Outdoor Education the students have been enjoying walks along the canal in Uppermill - they saw the frozen canal and learnt about the dangers of ice.

AGN are having a great start to term and are enjoying being back at school."

AGN - 16.1.26

 

 

Now to our amazing SUPER STARs and HWA We are Creative STARs

 

Mrs Quinn’s and Miss McDonald’s STAR of the week is Arriving with a positive attitude in the morning and engaging in great work. Well done.

Mrs Quinn’s and Miss McDonald’s HWA We Are Creative goes to Olly Embracing new peers within his class, showing kindness, and building positive friendships. Well done.

Mrs Bailey’s HWA We Are Creative goes to Ohud - For building positive relationships with peers and working super hard on your communication, trying your best to communicate verbally with adults.

Mrs Bailey’s STAR of the Week is Ethan - For settling into his new class fantastically and accessing the playground with his friends – we are so proud of you.

Mrs Lerigo’s and Mrs Sutcliffe's STAR of the Week is Ezra for a positive end to the week, with super behaviour in class and amazing engagement in his learning.

Mrs Lerigo’s and Mrs Sutcliffe's HWA We Are Creative goes to Finley for creating a wonderful push pull toy in Science.

Miss Boothroyd’s STAR of the Week is Ethan for his amazing writing this week.

Miss Boothroyd’s HWA We Are Creative goes to Louie for sharing items with his peers in class.

Mrs McDonalds’ and Mrs Bramley’s STAR of the Week is Zachary for having a great first week back after his holiday.

Mrs McDonalds’ and Mrs Bramley’s creative star goes to Diana for being creative with our class marble run and working as a team with her peers.

Mrs Matthews’ STAR of the Week is Loki for doing his homework every week and for working his way through the Goosebumps books.

Mrs Matthews’ We Are Creative STAR goes to Toby M for some excellent contributions to class discussions this week.

Miss Pietraszewska’ s HWA We Are Creative goes to Nevaeh

For: doing amazing writing in phonics. Well done, Nevaeh.

Miss Pietraszewska’ s STAR of the Week goes to Rose.

For: being more independent at school (putting her socks and shoes on her own) and for engaging more with the class during lessons this week. Well done.

Miss Oakley’s STAR of the Week is Eliora for great listening to teachers.

Miss Oakley’s HWA We Are Creative goes to Simon for being more independent and trying to think of his own ideas in English lessons.

Mr Corrigan’s STAR of the Week is Abu-Bakr for doing really well with his personal care this week and asking to go to the toilet.

Mr Corrigan’s STAR of the Week is Hope for some excellent independent maths this week.

Mr Corrigan Congratulates Albi-Lee & Jack for being proud of their friends.

Miss Hulme’s STAR of the Week is Korey for trying so hard to include finger spaces in his writing.

Miss Hulme’s HWA We are Creative goes to Gabriel for creating some fantastic new adjectives about the Gruffalo.

Miss Jahnara and Miss Neelum’s STAR of the Week goes to Cole for being a role model to his peers and working hard in Maths.

Miss Jahnara and Miss Neelum’s HWA We are Creative goes to Matthew Hall for his positive attitude to learning and always making the right choices.

Mrs Boylan’s STAR of the Week goes to Faiha for being a kind friend on the playground

Mrs Boylan’s HWA We are Creative goes to Oscar, for being exceptionally well behaved and always being a role model to others.

 

STARS of the Week (16.1.26)

 

 

Well done to everyone.

Wishing everyone a restful weekend after another busy week. Here’s to more learning, more progress, and more opportunities as the spring term unfolds.

Miss Gordon.