Happy Friday! We have had a very busy week this week in 11G and as of today we have less than 50 days of 11G left!

On Monday morning Mrs Cobham was needed to cover in 9P next door, so Miss Snailham very kindly offered to come into school for an extra day to cover for Mrs Cobham. We all went to All Seasons Leisure Centre gym for the first time in a while. This week’s challenge was pitting partners against each other. Each person had to complete 5 minutes on each piece of equipment then their partner challenge them to do the same and try and beat the distance that they had covered. A massive well done to Lily, Reece, Danny, Harry and Clayton for being the winners for each of their pairs. It was sweaty work!

In the afternoon, Mrs Cobham was back with us for Good to Be Me where she was discussing with the group about having a survival backpack that they could carry around with them. This backpack would contain items in it that would help to regulate your Zone when needing to do so. Learners thought of items such as a photo of their family, some hand cream to massage into their hands, headphones to listen to music or a cup of tea to drink and calm down. In Food Tech, Mr Crofts and Mrs Fisher were baking goodies for our Tuck Shop on Wednesday: school cake and Biscoff rice crispy squares.

On Tuesday morning we finished off our baking by adding the icing and chocolate to the top of each of our cakes whilst Mrs Fisher and Mrs Cobham finished off reading assessments. We are very proud of the progress that our learners have made in their reading this school year!

In the afternoon Mrs Fisher led an Online Safety session based around sending and receiving explicit photos and videos. This has been an issue recently in Key Stage 4 in school so it was important that we covered this topic so that learners are aware of the issue and can keep themselves safe. We talked about the types of photos and videos that we send to our friends and then thought about which body parts we are OK to send photos of such as our face. We learnt that some people take photos of their private body parts and send them to people and we talked about this being against the law when you are under 18. We had a very mature discussion about the reasons why someone might take and send photos of their private parts, as well as thinking about what might happen if we decided to send photos like this (photos get sent to lots of people or posted online).

On Wednesday morning, Mrs Mahood was in class leading our Enterprise session. Learners worked together to fulfil the bacon butty orders that staff around school had submitted. Josh was cooking the bacon whilst Harry and Lily were writing the labels for the orders. Reece and Clayton were wrapping up the sandwiches and Danny and Jacob and Tyler were delivering the orders.

In the afternoon we all took part in a PSHE lesson around healthy and unhealthy relationships. We talked about how having a relationship with someone means that you are connected in some way e.g. family member, friend, team mate, pet. Mrs Fisher then went on to explain that this lesson would be based around loving/romantic relationships with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Pupils worked in small groups and were given a selection of statements. They had to discuss with their group and then decide if the statement described a healthy or unhealthy relationship. Following this, we debated as a class each statement and where it belonged. We learnt that kissing, hugging and holding hands with your girlfriend or boyfriend is OK as long as they are happy to do so. We learnt that controlling your boyfriend or girlfriend by telling them what they can/cannot wear, who they can/cannot be friends with or telling them where they can/cannot go is unhealthy and that it is up to each person to make those decisions themselves. We learnt that going on dates and playing games together can be fun, as well as making each other laugh by telling jokes or saying funny things and that these are all parts of being in a healthy relationship. We learnt that calling our boyfriend or girlfriend mean names and hurting them (either physically or by name calling) are not signs of a healthy relationship and that if our boyfriend or girlfriend does this to us, then we should tell someone about it. Finally, we talked about saying stop when we want our boyfriend or girlfriend to stop doing something and saying no if we don’t like something that they are doing to us too. We learnt how important it is to communicate with our boyfriend or girlfriend so that we know when they are unhappy about anything and that it is important that we listen to what they say. Mrs Fisher explained that we will be talking more about consent in our lesson next week.

On Thursday morning we all walked to Chorley in Bloom in the pouring rain. This week we were joined by a lady from Chorley Hedgehog Rescue Centre. We learnt that if you see a hedgehog out during the day, it’s not ok as they are not meant to be lying out in the sunshine and this means that they are very unwell. The lady told us that hedgehogs lose their spines and then they grow back like our hair does. They are born with white spines that are soft to the touch. We learnt that hedgehogs like to eat slug but that they often get ill from eating them as slugs sometimes carry parasites. The lady told us that hedgehogs should be encouraged to come into our gardens and that we can do this by putting out a dish of water for them or some cat biscuits that are chicken based. We learnt about the work that the people at the rescue centre do and then it was time for us to have a go at making a habitat for a hedgehog. We worked in groups to create habitats, we hope you are impressed with our efforts!

In the afternoon we walked to Chorley Library to return our library books and then returned to school to complete some reading activities.

On Friday morning Mrs Cobham and Mr Crofts led a session on Passover. We sat and listened to the story of Passover and what Jewish people do to celebrate Passover. Then we all completed a cutting and sticking activity to make a Sedar Plate. In the afternoon it was Golden Time and some of our friends from Rowan class came to join us.

Star of the Week for 11G was Jacob for playing an active part in our Online Safety and PSHE sessions this week. Asking relevant questions, giving sensible contributions and encouraging his peers to do the same. Well done, Jacob!

We can’t finish the blog without mentioning our Get Fit with Rick session. We have been completing a workout of his from YouTube every day this week. There might have been some moaning, but everyone has joined in and felt better for doing so. We will be carrying this on in class whilst the weather is so unpredictable to help build up our fitness again.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Fisher, Mrs Cobham, Mr Crofts