SPRING COMMON SCHOOL PARENTS NEWSLETTER

May 2014

TERM DATES – 2014

School opens to pupils Monday 2nd June

Lower School Parents’ Evening Wednesday 2nd July

4pm – 7.30pm

Upper School Parents’ Evening Wednesday 2nd July

6pm – 8pm

Staff training day Friday 11 July

Pupils not in school

Summer Term closes Wednesday 23 July

Term Dates for the 2014 – 2015 academic year are attached to this newsletter.

Head Teacher’s Message We close our half term with an International Day which is always very special. Our children will learn about the importance of other countries as global citizens and about countries in the Americas. There is no doubt this will generate interest in the world cup in Brazil 12 June to 13 July for football fans – of which we have many! I think parents should be prepared for another day of industrial action because the 1% pay offer has been rejected by unions with the government. In the Times Educational Supplement this week it was mentioned that there may be a joint strike action day of teachers and support staff in July. I shall let you know more news when available. We are still trying to find out more information about the impact on travel on Monday 7 July for the Tour de France. The convoys of traffic will travel from Peterborough on the A1 and then A14 in addition to hoards of the general public to the start of the cycle race in Cambridge which starts at 12.15. We have been informed of the expectation of traffic jams which could be difficult for our children to manage. I will write to you separately on this matter after half term when I have full information from Education transport. I thought I should warn you of a possible school closure on this day. Thank you to parents, Speech Therapists and staff for making the speech and language surgery sessions so successful. Thank you to parents who gave us feedback comments they are always appreciated by the staff. I wish everyone a good half term and look forward to seeing you all back soon!

Early Years This term Early Years have been learning about “People Who Help Us.” Our sensory story for this half term is all about a trip to the dentist and we’re getting good at brushing our teeth- some of us like smelling the mouthwash- but some of us hate it! We have dressed up as doctors, fire fighters and postmen and had a go at using the camera to take photos. Lots of us like feeding envelopes into the postbox – as Daniel is showing us in the picture!

Class 1 Class 1 have had a very productive half term, learning all about 'People Who Help Us'. We have all enjoyed learning about visiting the dentist through sensory story props and brushing our own teeth! We have experienced a variety of Maths based activities including exploring and using money. We have used ICT to record through different formats such as photos, video and sound of pupils dressing up as different types of occupations. We have also been very lucky to take part in several workshops such as 'Circus Skills', 'Cooks on the Move' and a visit from Wood Green Animal Shelter, which all the pupils have enjoyed taking part in. Our new topic this term is ‘People Who Help Us’. In Literacy we will use information books to find out about people who help us and look at a range of books such as: ‘The Jolly Postman’, ‘Emergency’, ‘Freddie Visits the Dentist’, etc., to develop early reading and writing skills. In Mathematics we shall experience a variety of Maths based activities including counting, recognising and ordering numerals to 10. In ‘shape, space and measure’ we will experience weighing parcels, comparing size and shape of letters and parcels, use positional language when talking about the route the postman has to take in ‘The Jolly Postman’.

Class 2 This half term, we have started having a weekly Dance workshop with Emma. The class are really enjoying this. At the beginning we have a warm up, getting bodies ready to dance! Then Emma helps us to practise a range of ‘moves’, in preparation for a sequence through some music. The different ‘moves’ are fun, especially when we join together in a ‘train’ to move around the room. We can dance to a number of songs now, such as ‘Bob the Builder’, ‘Row the Boat’ and the ‘Hokey Cokey’. We really look forward to Emma coming each week.

Class 3 This half term Class 3 have been learning about Rainforests. We have slowly been turning our classroom into a rainforest. We have made trees, vines and lots of leaves. Our trip to the Botanical Gardens in Cambridge gave us lots of ideas. We got to see and feel lots of different rainforest plants. We know that the trees grow very tall and try to reach the sun. The vines are very curly and hang down. Recently we have been adding animals in the rainforest, finding which ones belong in the different parts of the rainforest. The birds are at the top and the frogs near the bottom of the trees.

Class 4 We welcomed Jessica into Class 4 on the first day after the Easter Holiday, she arrived in style as it was her birthday too! Class 4 have enjoyed this short half term, as we have taken part in lots of fun activities. In Science the children have enjoyed exploring the Nature Trail looking for and identifying different mini-beasts and even made their own clay versions of the 'Life cycle of the frog'. Great fun was had at the circus skills workshop towards the beginning of May. Here are a couple of pictures of Mikey and Jessica spinning plates.

Class 5 – Senses and Sensibility We have had a lot of fun exploring our senses this term, not just linking our senses to organs but also exploring sensory materials. We went on a smell walk around school and rated the best and worst smells. It would appear the toilet is pretty low on our list but the swimming pool scored a smell-tastic ten out of ten! During our literacy this term we listened to and read the story ‘On the Way Home’. We focused on Who? What? and Where? Created an alternative ending to the story in groups and used drama techniques to act out our stories to the class.

Class 6 Class 6 have been using the programmable Bee-bot robots in their numeracy lessons. We have been listening to and giving instructions as we guide the Bee-bots around the classroom and through different mazes, solving problems as we help the Bee-bots get to their destination and working with Bee-bot simulations on the computers and iPad. Pictured is Daniel with his Bee-bot. A Taste of France Class 6 and some of Class 5 have been learning about French culture and the French language this half term. We have already learned how to answer some simple questions in French. A classroom was turned into a ‘French cafe’ for an afternoon, and we were able to try a range of French food and drink, as well as demonstrate our good manners in another language. Pictured is Lisamarie ordering from the waiter.

Lower School Circus Skills Lower School were very lucky to have circus skills workshop this half term. We had the opportunity to try a range of skills, including juggling scarves, balancing a feather, spinning a plate and using the ‘wheelie-gos’. All the pupils enjoyed the sessions and had lots of fun. Pictured is Mia in Class 6 juggling with two scarves.

Class 7SB Although it has been a very short term we have been very busy. In April we went to Oundle to take part in ‘Have a Go Day’, we tried lots of different activities including, Tennis, Football and Archery and some of the class had their faces painted. We also visited Duxford War Museum with Class 7LM, we had a fantastic Day and enjoyed looking at the planes especially Concorde.

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Class 7LM Class 7LM have embraced the start of summer by working hard and achieving lots of good results. We have covered topics including Floods and Droughts and visited local rivers as part of our Geography field work. We posed for a photograph on the swing bridge across the river at Ferry Meadows. We have enjoyed a fabulous Science day whereby we were able to observe and partake in lots of practical experiments. Some of us have visited The Raptor Foundation as part of our Harry Potter sensory drama sessions and the highlight of our term so far is definitely our visit to Duxford Museum. What a place! We all got to walk inside Concorde and interacted with all the hands on activities. It was splendid and consolidated our knowledge and learning about Vehicles.

Class 8 Year 8 have begun to plant and grow their own sensory, edible and decorative garden. All the pupils made choices of what to grow according to the conditions of our courtyard. Our potatoes are going from strength to strength as our dedicated team of gardeners ensure they are well fed, watered and weeded every day. We had great success in the Wow factor winning Best Upper school performance for Tuesdays show. Class 8 treated the audience to a fantastic and energetic rendition of ‘Footloose’ which kept the audience tapping their feet all the way home!

Class 9 On Tuesday 13th May the Arts Award group had a whole day of print making with professional artist printmaker, Kit Price Moss. Kit met the pupils back in September when we visited the Art Exhibition at Blackthorpe Barn near Bury St. Edmunds. Lynn made a bid for a free artist workshop and we were lucky enough to beat lots of other schools to be awarded a whole day with Kit. We started the day looking at the work of Norfolk print artist Robert Gilmore. We also looked at the artist Paul Klee and Gustav Klimt. We tried printing a range of different patterns in the style of Klee and Klimt. We then went onto creating press prints inspired by Gilmore. Some of our work will be on show in Waitrose after half term and next September our work will be exhibited as part of the schools exhibition at Blackthorpe Barn. Everyone had great fun and worked really hard.

Class 10 The literacy topic this term is Leisure and as part of this topic, class 10 visited Huntingdon Library. They found out what was available and how to take resources out. Back at school they wrote about their visit then looked at an information book called ‘The Librarian’ and compared the two sources of information.

Class 11 Class 11 had another extremely busy term when they focused mainly on their future at local colleges and other establishments. As part of their Life Skills programme of study they visited Peterborough and Huntingdon Regional Colleges and met other students and tutors. Students also worked very hard on completing their accreditation papers and we can’t wait to see the certificates.

P16KD Our class have really enjoyed our yogalates sessions this term. Yogalates is a combination of yoga and pilates. We have been able to develop and expand on the basic techniques that we learnt in the last term. Within our sessions we learn techniques which help develop our strength, flexibility, balance, posture, muscle tone, joint mobility and breathing techniques. All of us have a favourite yoga pose which we like to demonstrate in the sessions. We enjoy working on the floor with mats, standing up and using equipment (see photograph).

P16 JL Despite this being a very short half term, we have managed to host our final two Restaurant Days, ‘The Best of British’ and ‘A Taste of The Mediterranean’. These were both very well supported by our valued customers-parents, family members, friends, current and former staff, governors and other professionals who work with our students. This has empowered our students to have a realistic work experience in Catering and Hospitality, whilst developing their communication, social and functional skills to transfer and any working environment and adult life. The group is now planning a Reward Day activity to spend their well deserved ‘tip’ money. We have made two visits over the past few weeks to investigate local free and active leisure pursuits as part of our Healthy Lifestyles and Citizenship curriculum. Students enjoyed exploring Wadenhoe Church and surrounding countryside where we were lucky enough to see 2 red kite birds flying and nesting nearby! At Stanwick Lakes, the wooden assault course equipment inspired an energetic and creative game of ‘tag’! At Godmanchester Nature Reserve, the Wildlife Trust Ranger gave us an insight in to the development of the site and we listened to birdsong, discovered wildlife and places to walk. The photo shows the group standing in front of a copse of trees planted as little saplings by a former class of Spring Common students 20 years ago! Some of our students will be carrying out volunteering work at the Nature Reserve to maintain the site further, after half term. Hope some of you will get to enjoy the countryside in the sun over the holiday!

Post 16ML In P16 the topic this term is planning an event and when some of P16Ml went on their community inclusion they went to Tesco's and in groups of three looked at and recorded information on planning a birthday party for a young child. They looked at what they could buy including balloons, party plates and a birthday cake and they also recorded how much it would cost.

Connecting Classrooms – visit to South Africa Stela Plamenova and I have returned from a British Council visit to Johannesburg. The trilateral project with Ghana, South Africa and Spring Common is established. We expect visitors from St Vincent’s School in Johannesburg in October. We both met some amazing teachers and teaching assistants and had the opportunity to visit townships in Soweto and to meet families there. We both appreciate the quality and provision at Spring Common and realise how much we take our personal safety and freedom for granted in the UK. Comenius –Visit to Poland Richard Gamman, Andy Moore and Judith Ledwith have visited a school in Poland with Post 16 pupils. They appreciated the richness of the culture from Poland and our pupils had an amazing time they will treasure.

Welcome Back to the Office We are pleased to welcome Eija Jeakins back to the office after a period of maternity leave. After half term Eija will be working part-time in Reception, Monday – Wednesday inclusive. We are thrilled that Kate Higginbotham will continue to work part time in Reception, Wednesday – Friday inclusive.

Term Dates

2014 / 2015

2014

Staff training day Wednesday 3 September

Autumn Term opens Thursday 4 September

Half Term 27 - 31 October

Autumn Term closes Friday 19 December

2015

Staff training day Monday 5 January

Spring Term opens Tuesday 6 January

Staff training day Friday 13 February

Half Term 16 - 20 February

Spring Term closes Friday 27 March

2015

Staff training day Monday 13 April

Summer Term opens Tuesday 14 April

May Day Monday 4 May

Half Term 25 - 29 May

Staff training day Friday 10 July

Summer Term closes Wednesday 22 July