Good afternoon and a very happy Friday to you all! It has been another crazy week in 10G, I am beginning to think that every week is a bit crazy in 10G at the moment!

On Monday morning we had a bit of a dilemma with the minibuses and unfortunately, we were told that 10G couldn’t go to the swimming at Hindley this week as there wasn’t a minibus for us to use to get there. Miss Greenwood had a brain wave that we could take Mrs Fisher’s car with 3 pupils, then at least the swimming slot wasn’t completely wasted. As a team we chose our least confident in water swimmers to take and Mrs Fisher and Miss Greenwood took them in Mrs Fisher’s car. In the swimming pool, we worked on building confidence in the water and learning about how the pool noodle and arm bands help to keep us afloat, meaning that we don’t need to panic when we are out of our depth in the water as the floats will hold us up in the water. We sang songs and played games and coped with being away from staff in the water, understanding that we were safe if we could stand up. To finish the session, Paula the swimming teacher set us a challenge of going completely under the water to pick up a brick off the floor of the pool. Mrs Fisher and Miss Greenwood set the bar first by retrieving the brick and both said how much more difficult it is to swim to the bottom of the pool. Three very determined boys worked extremely hard to collect the brick. It was brilliant to hear them cheering each other on and reassuring and encouraging each other. Everyone completed their challenge and Mrs Fisher and Miss Greenwood were very very proud of the three boys.

Back in class, Mrs Cobham and Miss Smith and the rest of 10G were completing some Easter based activities. They decided that they are going to decorate our classroom door in an Easter theme next week and so were making Easter themed items that can go on the door. We can’t wait to show you the finished article next week!

In the afternoon, Group 1 went to Asda with Mrs Fisher and Miss Smith to visit the café. The rest of the class stayed in school with Mrs Cobham and Miss Greenwood to continue with their Easter activities.

On Tuesday, 10G were very lucky to have a new volunteer in class to help us out- Mr Greenwood. Mr Greenwood will be joining us for the next few weeks and we are all thoroughly enjoying having him in class. Lots of pupils have commented on how nice it is to have a man in class (as we have a majority female staff across school). Tuesday morning, Group 2 finally got to go to Asda café (after what feels like forever to wait!) and they went with Mrs Cobham and Miss Greenwood. In class, the rest of us were working on some maths-based targets. Three pupils were continuing improving their learning to learn skills by taking part in a Playdoh Gym regulation activity, followed by workstation. Whilst a group were demonstrating their knowledge of money by taking part in a Kahoot quiz led by Mr Greenwood.

It was time for Cooking in the afternoon. Pupils had chosen what they would like to cook on toast this week. Three pupils at a time went up to the food tech room with Mrs Fisher. They were given a visual list of items that they needed to collect before they could start cooking, then everyone followed a schedule to cook their meal. It was brilliant to see everyone trying hard to use their independence skills and remembering to use their schedule to see what they needed to do next. We think it would be a brilliant idea to have a go at making something similar at home, perhaps that could be everyone’s challenge for over the Easter break!

In class, Mrs Cobham led our next PSHE lesson. We recapped reproduction from previous weeks and everyone demonstrated excellent recall of the information and the key vocabulary that they have learnt. The group then moved on to thinking about their emotions and how feelings can change, especially when going through puberty. We thought about times when we might have been feeling lonely or sad or anxious or frustrated, then discussed as a group strategies that we could use to help ourselves when we were feeling that way.

Wednesday morning came and we had a lot of pupils in the Blue and Yellow Zones right from the get go due to our visit to Runshaw College in the afternoon. Some of us were feeling sad or scared about going, some of us were feeling nervous or excited. We talked about how all these feelings are OK and that it is completely normal to feel this way when we are doing something new or going somewhere that we have never been before. We looked at a breakdown of what our afternoon would look like to help reassure everyone.

Mrs Brereton visited class to have a catch up with us all and she took part in our Online Safety session. This week we were thinking about friends that we have in real-life and friends that we have online and what the differences between them are. We discussed how we know who we are talking to online and how someone could pretend to be someone else online. We helped Miss Greenwood with a dilemma that she was having about meeting up with someone online, and Mr Greenwood gave us some interesting scenarios to think about and decide on what we could do to help Mr Greenwood make the right choice and keep safe.

After we had eaten our dinners, it was time to go to Runshaw College with 10R. Some of us travelled there in the minibus with Mrs Cobham, Miss Smith and Mr Greenwood, and the rest of us went in Mrs Fisher’s car with Miss Greenwood. We had some very nervous pupils when we arrived, some didn’t want to even go inside the building and others were very aware of the number of people that were walking around the outside of the college. Inside we were greeted by Karan Bamber and some learners from Runshaw College. After a quick introduction, we sat at tables and the Runshaw students came round and served us with delicious sandwiches and pastries. After some initial reluctancies, everyone in 10G started to relax more and everyone tried some food and drink. A girl called Parker, who attends Runshaw College, joined us at our table and spoke to us about the course that she does and how she had prepared for our visit today. We were offered some wonderful cakes and biscuits, then everything was cleared away and we all took part in an Easter themed craft activity. Time flew by and it was soon time to head back to school. When we arrived back, a few of us commented on how they had enjoyed their visit and that it hadn’t been as scary as they first thought it might be.

On Thursday morning it was Group 3’s turn to go to Asda café and they went with Mrs Cobham, Miss Smith and Miss Knowles. In class, Mrs Fisher and Mr Greenwood were completing some time based activities with the remaining pupils and testing their knowledge of days of the week and the order that they come in. We talked about what activities happen in school on which days and we were impressed with the number of pupils who could easily tell us the routines for different days at school. In the afternoon, Miss Anderton lead a Science lesson, continuing the Forces theme. Next week, Mrs Line and Miss Anderton are going to take the pupils bowling as a treat to finish the topic and to put their knowledge of forces into practice in real-life. Keep an eye out for a letter being sent home on Monday with more information.

On Friday we were joined by Mrs Kelly as usual and Group 4 went to Asda with Miss Greenwood and Miss Knowles. In class, Mrs Cobham decided to start a 60 minute makeover over the classroom and everyone worked together to move furniture and resources. This uncovered a whole host of dirt and dust that was lurking underneath the furniture so we demonstrated our independence skills by all helping to mop, clean and sweep the areas that needed it. You need to look at the photos if you don’t believe us, we think this could be a way of pupils helping out at home! Kristen, Emily and Chloe from 10R came to spend the morning with us whilst their class went swimming and they had a lovely time with Lily and Katie, playing a social skills game together and generally enjoyed a good chat and gossip between themselves.

In the afternoon, it was Golden Time and the First Aid kit was out in full force with all members of staff being “treated” by the doctors and nurses in class for their various ailments and injuries. A huge congratulations to our Star of the Week this week, Harry! Harry has really pushed himself out of his comfort zone this week, both with swimming on Monday and at Runshaw College on Wednesday. Harry has been very open and honest about how he is feeling and has let staff members support him with talking about his feelings and helping him to regulate himself. Great work H!

We have our final swimming session for this half term next Monday and Mr Murphy has told us we will be swimming again after the Easter break. We will let you know which day of the week this will be as soon as we know.
A letter was sent home tonight regarding our class visit to Wetherspoons next Friday for our dinner. This was decided by the pupils and they have chosen what they would like to eat whilst they are there. Apologies that we will be asking for voluntary contributions for two visits in one week next week (Bowling Thursday and Wetherspoons Friday), if you have any issues with contributing please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Enjoy your weekend’s and we will see everyone on Monday!

Mrs Fisher, Mrs Cobham, Miss Greenwood, Miss Smith, Miss Knowles and Mr Greenwood

10G Spring Week 11