Happy Friday to you all at the end of our first week back in school for Spring 2 half term. We feel like this week has flown and like we’ve never been away!

On Monday we were back at swimming for the first time since before Christmas. We are still going to Hindley Swimming Pool in Wigan for our lessons. Unfortunately, there was a mix up in communication as Wigan schools have been off school for half term this week so there were no swimming teachers available. Instead, we got to have play session in the smaller pool. We all had lots of fun with our friends in the water.

When we got back to school and had had our dinner, Group 1 went off to the café with Miss Greenwood and Miss Smith. The rest of us stayed in school and split into smaller groups for some intervention work. One group worked with Mrs Fisher looking at conversations and role playing starting to speak to someone we know and someone who we don’t. It was interesting to hear how some of us think it is appropriate to address people we know and people we don’t, and we discussed socially appropriate and inappropriate interactions. Another group worked with Mrs Cobham in their Good to Be Me group where they were talking about things that make them happy, and why it is OK that different things make different people happy.

Tuesday morning meant it was Group 2’s time to go to the café at Asda with Mrs Cobham, Miss Greenwood and Miss Smith. They chose what they wanted to order and then the pupils all sat together to work on their social skills. Lots of spontaneous conversations and questioning used to prolong conversations too. Amazing work Group 2! Back in school, Miss Holliday and Mrs Fisher were working with pupils on their individual timetables, as well as a small group working on following simple instructions independently. We followed instructions to make pancake batter ready to cook in the afternoon. A small group of pupils went into 10R to access some Maths activities to prepare them for their entry level qualifications.

Tuesday afternoon was cooking and we took it in turns to go up to the Food Tech room with Miss Greenwood and Miss Smith to cook the wonderfully made batter from the morning. Unfortunately, we were very limited on equipment and so had to use a wok to cook the pancakes! It was definitely a challenge to flip the pancakes due to the wok being so heavy, but we all gave it a good go. Back in class, we prepared toppings and set up a pancake station for everyone to select their own combinations of toppings for their pancakes. We had some interesting combinations!

On Wednesday, we were all in class together all day. In the morning, some of us were working on our individual timetables with Miss Smith, Mrs Cobham and Miss Holliday, whilst the rest of us took part in an Online Safety session in class with Mrs Fisher and Miss Greenwood. We were looking at the difference between Avatars and Profile Pictures that we might use online and spoke about the pros and cons of each. We established that an Avatar would be safer for us to use as it didn’t give away our identity because we can make an Avatar look however we want, it doesn’t need to look like us. We had a go at making our own Avatar, then shared them on the screen in class to see if anyone could decide who was who. It was very tricky to work out who each person was as most of them looked so different to who they were meant to be, but two of us made them look just like themselves. We talked about why it was better for an Avatar to look different to who we really look like, so we can keep our identities safe when we are playing online. Then we had a go at exploring some online gaming scenarios and deciding what the best way to deal with the situation should be.

In the afternoon we alternated between PE in the hall and interventions in class. In PE, Group 1 are learning about circuits and we are working on different exercises each week that we will add to our circuit. This week it was Shuttle Runs and we had to count how many runs we could do in 45 seconds. It was great to see everyone’s competitive sides come out as well as everyone cheering for their friends to encourage them. Group 2 have moved on to basketball in their PE sessions. We looked at dribbling the ball this week, with two hands, then one hand, then moving into a space whilst dribbling. We finished the session with a game of basketball and Miss Greenwood even joined in the fun. It was very competitive and some of us need to work on our sportsmanship as we found it difficult to say well done to the winning team.
Back in class, Miss Holliday was working with some of us exploring different regulation strategies and Mrs Cobham was looking at different social situations that might happen to us and exploring our emotions and how this relates to the Zones of Regulation. Miss Smith was helping with our Learning to Learn skills, supporting us to work with more independence in the workstation.

On Thursday morning, Group 3 went to the café in Asda with Mrs Cobham and Miss Holliday. They were working on choosing what they’d like to eat and ordering it at the counter, as well as selecting a correct coin to pay with. In class, Mrs Fisher, Miss Greenwood and Miss Gynes were working on some English targets with everyone else. Some of us were finding information on menus and answering questions about the menus and some of us were practicing our writing with number formation and writing the number names in words. In the afternoon, Miss Anderson came into class for some more Science fun. We were learning more about forces and played Boccia outside on the grass together.

Finally, on Friday morning it was Group 4’s turn to visit Asda café whilst the rest of us stayed in class working on our Maths targets. In the afternoon, it was Golden Time and we enjoyed spending some free time doing an activity of our choice. A big shoutout to Josh who is 10G’s Star of the Week this week for showing improved communication and interaction skills across all aspects of the school day, as well as enjoying some intensive interaction with Miss Greenwood on Thursday. Excellent work Josh!

Don’t forget we have got swimming again on Monday, hoping we will have a swimming teacher this week! Please check EfL to see what your child has been getting up to this week in more detail.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs Fisher, Mrs Cobham, Miss Greenwood, Miss Smith and Miss Holliday

10G Spring Term Week 7