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Bridge Autumn Term Review

2 January 2018 /0 Comments/in , /by

We’ve had an excellent start to the year in the Bridge!

We have done lots of fantastic learning and have been involved in a number of exciting school events.

During Learning Skills time each morning, pupils in the Bridge have continued to work hard at developing their numeracy, literacy and social skills. We’ve had weekly breakfasts where we’ve socialised with our class and further developed our breakfast making skills.

Children in the Bridge have been practising road safety in Learning for Life. We have done really well but will need a few more weeks practice but before we are ready to put our Green Cross Code knowledge into real life practice.

The Bridge and Steps students have had their first joint assembly. The children were so excited! We talked about co-operation and introduced to the whole school to a very catchy song, ‘Do My Best’.

In Science, we have been learning about materials and their properties. We have even re-enacted the story of the Three Little Pigs to find out what material is the best to use when building a wolf proof house. We have also looked at our teeth and talked about how we could best look after them. We have all experimented with disclosing tablets, engaged in role play and practised brushing our teeth.

In Humanities, we have been learning about our local area. We have also done some map work and practiced directions.

Some students in the Bridge also took part in our new school production, Elf, the musical and did an excellent job both on and behind the stage.

Well done everyone!

Year 9 Learning News – Autumn Term

2 January 2018 /0 Comments/in /by

It’s been a fantastic start to the academic year for year 9 and we can’t believe how much we’ve already covered.

In English we have looked at imaginary stories through Darren Shan’s Cirque Du Freak and biographical and autobiographical writing, focusing on the achievements of Lewis Hamilton. In maths, aside from the day to day sessions, we’ve undertaken some interesting activities to develop children’s understanding of number. This includes developing weighing and measuring skills through cookery, handling money through monopoly and challenging children’s mental addition and subtraction skills through playing darts.

In humanities the pupils have loved learning about The Great War, WW1. We have learnt about the causes of the war, the alliances, life in the trenches, the role of animals in the war and the Battle of The Somme and Remembrance Day.

In science the children were challenged to make the largest circuit they could using electrical components in our Autumn 1 science topic Electric Circuits. The pupils also had great fun using the Van der Graaf generator as you can see from the images below.

In the second half term we have been investigating forces, the children rose to the challenge and made parachutes to protect an egg being dropped from the fire exit and designed paper boats and challenged one another to see whose boat could take the most weight.

In the first half of the Autumn term in Learning for Life gave children had the opportunity to learn about taking care of themselves both physically and emotionally, looking at a balanced diet, exercise regimes and taking care of their emotional health. This half term we have been discussing what it means to be British, learning about the government and what a democracy is.

Some of the year 9 pupils have been busy outside with Mr Bradshaw and one of our governors Catherine Muncaster.  The pupils are creating an allotment space in the woodland area where they have already planted Onions, Garlic and a number of Raspberry canes.  They have also spent time out front of the school reception, putting in some spring bulbs including daffodils, tulips and many Crocus corms kindly donated to the school by the Stevenage Rotary club.

Year 10 Learning News Autumn Term 2017

18 December 2017 /0 Comments/in /by

Throughout this term, Year 10 have been working hard to not only improve their skills, but also to learn how to work together as a team.

Our trip to Wymondley Woods was a great success, allowing us to all get to know each other better, helping us to build that team spirit and have a lot of fun along the way. New friendships were made and new experiences had, for staff as well as students!

As we progressed through the term, another area of our learning that has improved due to our ability to work as a team, is our work in Enterprise. We found that by helping each other and passing on skills that we as individuals have, we are able to help others improve in their learning. We also learned that an essential skill in life and business is to be able to listen and communicate with each other. In doing this, we were able to find out what our ‘clients’ wanted, conducting our own market research in school, and then providing what was asked for.

This helped us develop the Enterprise Tuck Shop into a bacon roll and hot dog stall on a Thursday! We worked hard at developing new skills that enabled us to make small items that we could sell, building up enough stock so that we could open our stall at the Indoor Market in Stevenage. This happened a few weeks ago with Callum and M……being lucky enough to meet our local MP Stephen McPartland there. They introduced him to our stall and he was very impressed, and as a result, Mr. McPartland is going to come into school in the New Year and help us promote all our hard work. So all in all, a promising start for Team 10!

 

Elf the Musical Jr – Tickets on sale now!

30 November 2017 in /by

Elf the Musical Jr – Buy your tickets here!

Thursday 14th & Friday 15th December @ 7pm

Tickets are £5 for adults, £3 for children under 16

You can buy online at www.ticketsource.co.uk/valleytheatre or through the theatre’s website at www.valleytheatre.org

In-person box office is open from 4.30pm – 5.30pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays at School.

We do expect to sell out so get your tickets quickly! Over 100 tickets sold in the first 24 hours!

Well done Caleb!

4 October 2017 in , /by

Caleb won a gold medal on Saturday at Hillingdon for his individual 4 length swim, and won gold and silver on Sunday at Enfield. Gold for the relay and Silver for his individual 4 length!

Well done Caleb!