We have loved having everyone back in school with us this week. It has been extra special as this will be the last ever first week back at Astley Park School for all our 11G learners! We are all so excited for the year ahead. Apologies for the lack of photographs, we are still getting back into the swing of being back in work!

On Monday morning we welcomed everyone back into class. Over the summer break we have been lucky enough to have new flooring fitted in class which is wood effect and looks very smart! We have had a big move round of furniture and we all cannot believe how much bigger the classroom looks and how much more space there seems to be.

This week we have introduced our new routines and started to look at what the new timetable will look like going forward. The first part of the morning remains similar to how it was before, we will continue with our running (although we haven’t managed to start this week due to the hot weather!) and then we have Café and Games Zone. In 10G, our café was ran by everyone in class and everyone had a job that they needed to do to contribute to the running of the café. This year, we are changing things around and the café will be ran by 2 pupils. It will also take on a more conventional structure of a café i.e. pupils will need to come to the till, look at the menu, make a selection, give their order and table number, then pay and listen out for their table number being called. Pupils will need to work together to work through each step of what is needed to make the café run smoothly when it is their turn to do so. We are only in the beginning stages of this and assure you that all pupils are being adequately supported whilst they learn the steps they need to take.

Games Zone will take place whilst the café is running where all learners will be involved in playing games together with staff support. We are hoping that this will help us to target a whole host of things with the pupils such as improving social and conversation skills, teaching new games that pupils can play and encouraging them to play together more during free time when they have finished their work. Playing on iPads will be reserved for a Friday afternoon during Golden Time rather than once they have finished their work during the week as we want to encourage everyone to continue to build and strengthen their relationships within class (and I’m sure you all know that that is quite difficult to do when people are glued to technology).

We have successfully voted for the preferred colour of leavers hoody between ourselves and the pupils in 11R and the winning colour is cornflower blue! Mrs Fisher is in the process of organising collecting some sample sizes from the supplier so that pupils can try them on a decide which size they would like to order. Once this has been decided, the supplier will let us know costs and Mrs Fisher will then be in touch with parents/carers. We are hoping to collect our hoodies slightly earlier than usual before October half term this year, but we will keep you posted.

Monday afternoon was a scorcher so we sat outside in the shade under the trees on the field. We played lots of circle time games and chatted about things we have got up to over the summer break. It was really nice to catch up with everyone.

On Tuesday morning the whole class walked over to Asda together. We ate snack in the café and did our shopping. The pupils chose to make chocolate fudge cake for food tech this week so we purchased the ingredients that we needed to make it.

In the afternoon, the class split into two groups. One group went into the food tech room with Miss Smith and Miss Greenwood to make their chocolate cake, whilst the second group stayed in class with Mrs Cobham and Mrs Fisher to do some life skills work. Every week, we will stick with the same groupings and will swap activities weekly. In class, we were learning about washing up; looking at the differences between dirty and clean, sorting dirty and clean pots and cutlery, then going through the stages of washing up and following a schedule to do so.

On Wednesday morning we were off to the gym at Chorley All Seasons. We used this initial visit to allow the learners to explore the new environment. We all tried the different cardio machines that we are allowed to use whilst we are there, played around with the settings and speeds and challenged our friends. It was a very positive experience and this will link in with our Duke of Edinburgh qualification. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a way for us to use the changing facilities and showers following our gym session as it stands however, we are looking for alternatives so we will keep you updated.

In the afternoon we used the brand new class set of laptops and practiced using our logins to log on to them. We used PowerPoint to design our new tray labels for this year.

On Thursday, we focused on the Zones of Regulation and re-introducing these to the pupils. We discussed each Zone and which emotions fit into which Zone, as well as what your body might be doing when you in each of the specific Zones. This led to some very open and honest discussions between the pupils and staff about times when they have been in the different Zones, what happened and why and what they could do differently last time. We looked at new strategies that we can add to our class display for everyone to use when they are in a particular Zone. We are really proud of everyone for opening up to us and feeling safe enough to do so.

On Friday mornings, Mr Murphy is in class to do some ICT work and this week the class were looking at using OneDrive on both the laptops and their iPads.

In the afternoon we had Golden Time as usual, followed by Celebration Assembly. Our Star of the Week this week is Eshan! We are really proud of Eshan this week. Whilst walking to Asda and to the gym, Eshan has been taking the lead of the group with Miss Greenwood and has been using his assertiveness to remind his peers about not overtaking him and keeping behind him in the line. We are loving seeing this confident side of Eshan! Similarly on Thursday when we were discussing the Zones, Eshan shared with us a time when he was in the Red Zone and spoke honestly about the situation. Well done Esh!

We hope everyone has a lovely weekend and a well-deserved rest ready for more fun next week!

Mrs Fisher, Mrs Cobham, Miss Greenwood and Miss Smith

11G Week 1 Autumn 2023