Meadowside Magazine Spring 18

Meadowside Magazine

Issue 15 Spring

2018

Find out how we celebrated World Book Day! Read about our delicious Cookery activities!

Welcome to the Spring 201 8 edition of the Meadowside magazine. It may only have been a short term but, as you will see from the following pages, the weeks have been as action-packed as ever.

As Easter approaches we look forward to welcoming parents into the school on the afternoon of Thursday 29th March to join their child in Easter craft activities, the Easter bonnet parade and for our traditional raffles.

We wish you a very Happy Easter and look forward to seeing learners next term when school re-opens on Monday 16th April.

Next term will see the completion of our new hydrotherapy pool and changing facilities. Seven months into the project, the photos below show the scale of the work that has been undertaken and the finished result beginning to emerge ready for use during the Summer Term.

Paula Wareing Head Teacher

Meadowside School Council & Interact Club During the Autumn/Spring term Student Council/Interact Club have been involved in various activities including: Voting, Fundraising, Visits to Princes School, Planning and Environmental Projects.

This year we will be fundraising for The Charles Thompson’s Mission in Birkenhead.

The mission has been serving the people of Birkenhead and Wirral since 1892, it looks to help men and women who are homeless, poor and needy, out of poverty. They provide hot food, clothing, toiletries, other basic essentials, along with much love, care and compassion.

We will begin a programme of events and organise a collection station in school after the Easter holidays.

Princes School Visitation Grace and Ellie represented Meadowside School at Princes School in Liverpool for a meeting with all the other schools. They were involved with the decision making for the new fundraising venture 20172018. The girls did a great job.

Environmental Project Unfortunately we had to postpone the litter pick at Thurstaston Country park due to the bad weather, It has been re-arranged for Friday 23rd March.

Gordon Caddy from West Kirby Rotary has been busy finding us a venue to plant 30 tree saplings for West Wirral Rotary.

The Duke of Edinburgh group will be meeting Gordon, other Rotarians and Paul Sinclair, the Ranger, at Wallasey Central Park on Friday 9th March. Fingers crossed it doesn’t snow again!

School Information There will be a bag2school collection on the 25th April 2018. Any donations of clothing or bedding are welcome and help raise funds for school.

If there are any parents/carers not signed up to the Class Dojo system, could you please contact school for a code. Support is available if required.

A large print version of this magazine is available on our website:

www.meadowsideschool.com Keep up to date with our Twitter feed.

Meadowside School.

Pool Lane,

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Woodchurch, Wirral. CH49 5LA

This term, pupils in Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 and Post 16 have worked on the topics: Explorers, Travel and Holidays. Some learners in Key Stage 3 have worked on their individual English targets while exploring the Rainforest, Polar Regions, Under the Sea and On Safari. They have practised pencil grip control, joined in phonics, guided reading activities and completed speaking and listening tasks to improve their understanding.

Other learners in Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 have worked on different chapter books from Purple Mash and they have completed activities to demonstrate their understanding. Some pupils are also working on a piece of extended writing and they’re doing a fantastic job! In addition, pupils in Key Stage 4 and Post 16 are working on the AQA accreditation Step up to English, at the appropriate level. Learners have completed the first component, Travel, which included reading comprehension and written tasks as well as preparing a short presentation to the rest of the class!

Pupils in Fusion have continued to develop their communication skills both in school and offsite. In school, they have tried new literacy games, such as story dice and cards to create their own stories while working towards their individual targets.

Offsite, they have visited a cafĂŠ and a local shop and they have practised their communication skills.

Mrs Ubeda

We have had yet another busy term in the Maths Department, exploring and developing our skills in some creative ways and using a variety of methods to help. In Fusion group, some pupils used a number line to help solve problems by counting on and back, they continue to put their money skills to good use during their Friday morning café visit. Some of the Key Stage 3 and 4 groups have been answering questions like ‘how tall/short?’, ‘how many?’, ‘how far?’ and ‘how much?’

The Planets group spent an interesting morning trying to measure the corridor with strides.

The group started off taking care to count each stride. Did this continue, or did they soon begin to count who could cross the corridor the quickest whilst shouting numbers really loudly? It was great fun, but I will keep the answer to that question between me and them!

In some lessons, learners worked independently to order themselves according to height, whilst others have enjoyed money bingo, sorted and identified coins, and counted out different values using a range of combinations of coins.

Learners in Key Stage 4 and Post 16 have commenced their accreditation work this term.

Watch this space for news on how they are progressing!

Mrs Dunn

Computing

Pupils have enjoyed developing Coding Skills, on Computers, iPads, laptops and the big touchscreen. They have enjoyed inputting instructions to make things happen. There have been some challenges, particularly with Lightbot. Even the staff were keen to work out each level and downloaded it to their own devices to keep on playing!

Post 16 pupils worked on block style coding with Scratch, a free coding program, designed to develop problem solving skills, creativity and communicating ideas.

The activities on the Hour of Code website included challenges based on Minecraft, Star Wars and other motivating activities. Pupils enjoyed completing the tasks and printing a certificate. Some pupils took the coding a step further, writing the code for an iPad App that was actually playable.

Mrs Hughes

BONJOUR!

MFL

This term we have learnt about school and the world of work!

Pupils have learnt new vocabulary like items around the classroom , names of subjects and of the different places around school.

Some learners are practising how to say “I like” and “I don’t like” in French.

One of the highlights has been playing “what’s in my pencil case?” Qu’est-ce qu’il y a dans ma trousse?

They worked well and showed enthusiasm!

Some pupils have enjoyed asking each other which subjects they like. Others have done a great job at doing a PE lesson in French, including instructions such as “stand up-levezvous, sit down-asseyez-vous, jump - sautéz, bounce - sautillez…”

As part of our whole school topic link, Explorers and Holidays, in the coming weeks we will be looking at Easter in France.

Mrs Ubeda

Invaders & Explorers is the topic for the Spring Term this year. In History, pupils have been learning about the Vikings and the Romans and who lived locally in Wirral and Chester.

Pupils have studied where they came from, how they travelled, what they did and how they lived and survived, through different activities. They have learnt more about the Vikings and Romans via stories, programmes, movie clips, research, photos, music and practical tasks.

Pupils in Acorn group followed a recipe to make Viking biscuits made with oats, honey, apricot and cinnamon. They were tasted by pupils in Key Stage 3 and highly rated by lots of pupils.

Chestnut group pupils worked together to build a map to find places where the Vikings came from. They followed instructions to make a Viking helmet and looked fierce when wearing them!

DID YOU KNOW Facts about the Wirral The Viking Parliament was at Thingwall. Local places named after the Vikings includes Tranmeir (Tranmere), Greasbyr (Greasby*), Pennsbyr (Pensby) , Hesliwella (Heswall), Rå-býr (Raby) and melr (Meols).

In Central Park, Wallasey a Romano-British coin was found.

In Raby, Hargrave Lane has the remains of a Roman road. *Gravesberie (Greasby) is officially one of the earliest settlements in Britain. It dates from 8500BC, that is older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids.

Mrs Jones

In KS3 Independent Living Skills lessons, pupils have learned about food safety and had the opportunity to try different foods or drinks. Some pupils have used an ultra-violet lamp to check if they washed their hands correctly. They’ve watched and played interactive games and some have had the opportunity to taste and evaluate different foods including sensory tasting using blindfolds.

For DLS lessons, Key Stage 4 pupils have been making a range of healthy food items, working on their AQA accreditation and helping make cookies to raise money for charity.

Life Skills lessons for Post 16 has included AQA accreditation work and recipe development for ideas of items to sell in the Meadowside Café, running in life skills lessons near the end of term. Profits from the Meadowside Café and cake sale events will be donated to a charity chosen by Post 16.

Thank you to all of you who support the Life Skills department when we run fundraising events. Details of the total raised and the chosen charity will be in the next edition of the school magazine.

Harvest Festival update- a big Thank You for your donations of food items. Wirral Foodbank was the charity selected by Key Stage 4 and a total of 62.91 kg of food items was donated to support people on the Wirral.

Mrs Jones

We have learned all about the instruments of the orchestra, identifying the different families to which each instrument belongs.

Pupils have enjoyed trying to make sounds on different instruments.

Pupils in Acorn, Beech, Chestnut and some Post 16 pupils have been preparing for a visit to the Philharmonic Hall, in Liverpool. The orchestra performed pieces from a scheme called ‘Come to Your Senses’, which includes music from The Incredibles movie.

One of the pieces of music was Sibelius’s Finlandia and the version played by the BBC orchestra was a great way to see each instrument performing as part of a whole group, including the huge choir that added the vocals.

Pupils enjoyed listening to Playful Pizzicato, by Benjamin Britten. It was fascinating to see the whole piece played by stringed instruments not using their bows.

We listened to Ravel’s Empress of the Pagodas and composed our own pentatonic melodies that sounded oriental and very effective.

Mrs Hughes

All pupils in Fusion group have been working hard and have practised new skills. Pupils in Acorn and Beech groups are working on their Jack. They have learned about hydraulics mechanisms. They will use syringes to make it lift for their pneumatics project. Chestnut pupils experimented with different tools to help them make a rag rug.

Ms Hoffmann

Pupils worked hard to make products to show at the Enterprise Showcase in Aintree. Pupils enjoyed the day , their hard work paid off by the compliments they received for their hand made products. Well done Enterprise Team, I’m proud of you all.

Ms Hoffmann

Flair Our sensory work has linked to the whole school topic of Invaders and Explorers by following the thematic unit ’A Pirate’s Life for Me!’ We have been creating sea pictures, using different textures to take rubbings. We explored the science concepts of pushes and pulls using ropes; Ellie especially enjoyed feeling the tug of the rope with her classmates. and our sensory story about treasure was fun in the Immersive space. We made our own treasure boxes and enjoyed exploring shells and sand. Our music work included exploring contrasting drum beats— fast/slow, loud/quiet. The soundtrack from Pirates of the Caribbean was used as part of an introduction to the instruments of the orchestra.

Mrs Lawrence and Claire Albertsen

This term, pupils have been able to take part in lots of different after school clubs including Lego club, WiiU club, Table tennis club, Basket ball club, Hair and Beauty club and CPR Lifesaving club. In CPR club pupils have been looking at how to give safe CPR and putting someone in the recovery position. This club will help the School towards becoming a National lifesaving school in collaboration with The British Heart Foundation. Mr Stubbs

Key Stage 3 lessons have been based upon money, recognising coins, saving, different currencies and learning about children in different parts of the world such as child workers.

Key Stage 4 lessons have covered banks, savings and financial safety. Pupils have watched safety adverts and looked at priorities for expenditure such as shelter, food and warmth.

Post 16 groups have learned about money and how it relates to them. Pupils in KS4 and Post 16 have also been working towards completing their AQA accreditation.

Mrs Jones

This term Key Stage 3 pupils have been taking part in Outdoor and Adventurous activities, looking at problem solving skills, teamwork skills and orienteering using simple maps.

Acorn, Beech, Chestnut and Willow groups have been taking part in teamwork games, ‘human knot’, ‘cross the river’ and ‘don’t drop it’.

Fusion group has taken part in games looking at teamwork skills, problem solving and creating their own games to play with others.

Key stage 4 pupils have been taking part in a health and fitness unit, looking at how to keep fit, through different types of training, (interval, strength, circuit). They have been taking part in different fitness tests including the bleep test, agility test and cooper run/12 min run test.

New Age Kurling Tournament Pupils from Key Stage 3 and 4 have taken part in a New Age Kurling tournament where they won the Wirral Championship, at Leasowe Sports Centre. They now progress to the Merseyside County Championships, against the SEN school winners from Liverpool, Sefton, Halton, St Helens and Knowsley, which will take place in the summer. Venue/date TBC. Health and Well-being with Post 16 Post 16 pupils have been finishing off their healthy lifestyles unit and also they are well under way on their keeping safe unit, looking at their own personal safety in and out of school, relationships and we have started our CPR lifesaving course with the British Heart Foundation. Pupils are being taught how to give safe CPR and how to put someone safely into the recovery position

Mr Stubbs

In Science Key Stage 3 and 4 pupils have been learning about living things and their environments in Biology, looking at different types of animals, their habitats/ where they live and food chains/webs.

In Chemistry, pupils have been learning about heating and cooling and what happens to different materials when placed in different temperatures.

In Physics pupils have looked at Forces and how they affect our every day lives from pushes and pulls, gravity, friction and air resistance. Pupils have taken part in experiments in building a paper aeroplane as well as exploring balanced forces by creating a ‘human table’.

Mr Stubbs

In PSHE pupils have been learning about road safety.

Key Stage 3 pupils took part in the keeping safe unit, looking at their own personal safety around school and at home, safety on roads and safe/ unsafe medicines and drugs.

Key Stage 4 and some Post 16 pupils have worked with ‘Paddy’ from Health Services in Schools (HSiS), working on their own personal safety. Pupils have looked at how to keep safe in relationships, awareness of drugs and keeping safe in school and at home. Pupils have used the ‘beer goggles’ to see how vision and judgments are impaired when under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Mr Stubbs

Learners this term across the school have been exploring various subjects to draw inspiration for their art projects.

Chestnut pupils are using different techniques with paint to create different textures on the page. These will then be used to create our ‘Under the Sea’ mural that will be on display outside the Art room.

Pupils in Acorn and Beech are investigating Mexican carved animals the ‘Alebrijies’ to help inspire them to design and create their own carved animal heads.

Post 16 pupils have been working hard, making individual replicas which will go together to make a totem pole.

Ms Hoffmann

In Religious Education, pupils have been learning about different Creation stories. Fusion, Acorn and Beech pupils have explored differences and similarities between the stories by researching information in books, creating storylines using pictures from each story and even exploring the outfits that would have been worn in different times.

They have been very creative, making their own replica outfits and ‘creation timelines’.

Mrs Hoffmann

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It is important for personal, social and physical development that teens and tweens access a wide range of rich experiences both in school and at home. We know that lots of our learners keep themselves busy out of school hours, participating in Guides, Scouts, Young Leaders schemes and training, amongst other things; so we are introducing a new article to our termly magazine, which will help us to celebrate these achievements. If your child participates in anything exciting, or has made achievements outside of the school day, send us the details via Class Dojo if you are able, or just let us know so we can share them here, to celebrate and inspire others.

This term, Maddison drew on all of her perseverance and determination to conquer the climbing wall at The Hive, it took several attempts but she didn’t give up! Meanwhile, Olivia has been very busy. She made her promise with the Girl Guides and then went on to learn how to ski on dry slopes: her mum was impressed with how quickly she learnt to change direction. As well as this, she went walking with her family in the Lake District and climbed to the top of Skiddaw in some really challenging weather conditions. Huge well done to these two!

Mrs Dunn

We have had a busy Spring Term in Careers, developing our new Careers classroom in the Pink Room and preparing for Skills Week in May. We are also developing links with Wirral Metropolitan College to support parents and pupils with high aspirations in careers.

The theme for Careers has been ‘community’. Pupils in Key Stage 3 are learning all about the different supporting roles employees make to our local community. We are looking at the Police, NHS, Local Government, Community and Religious groups, as well as non governmental organisations such as The Citizens Advice Bureau.

In Key Stages 4 and Post 16, we have started our qualification. Across Careers, PSHE and Citizenship, pupils are evidencing their in depth learning in order to gain an Entry Level Award in ’PSE’ (Personal and Social Education) with the awarding body AQA.

Pupils in Fusion, Flair and Team are completing Unit Awards with AQA as an accreditation. This includes the role play of various community groups. In the photograph, some of the Fusion Group are role playing how staff in cafés can be a support in the community

Work Related Learning We actively encourage all pupils to take part in learning outside the classroom. This includes a variety of work experience at placements such as Dale Farm and Best Bites. Where possible work experience is tailored to individual aspirations. From January 2018 we will be using AQA to ensure accreditation for skills pupils have gained through their placements.

If any parent is able to offer placements for pupils at their own work place, please contact me at school. Many thanks for your support

Ms Goalen

KS4 Horse Riding with the Foresters Horn RDA Group at Foxes Riding School The first few sessions involved being measured up for safety riding hats and learning about riding safety. The students looked around to familiarise themselves, with the layout of the arena.

They also studied some horse information boards, ready for when they began their riding lessons.

During the Spring Term the students have been working on their reining skills.

They have also been using their trotting skills.

The students were presented with their certificates at the end of the Autumn Term

Trish Pude TA3

Post 16 students met with Gordon, from West Wirral Rotary,, and Paul, a Park Ranger, to plant trees in Central Park Wallasey.

We met up by the Walled Garden to collect all the equipment we needed; spades and gloves and the tree shoots, and then students watched Paul as he taught them how to plant tree shoots.

The students worked hard planting many different types of trees.

These are the types trees that we planted.

Trish Pude TA3

Trish Pude

Together Everyone Achieves More!

This half term TEAM have been continuing with their outdoor education. That includes sailing at Crosby Lakeside, volunteering at Dale Farm and attending the Hive youth group. On Tuesday afternoons TEAM have been working on individual tasks thatcater to their different interests. One member has been attending horse riding lessons, another playing tennis, and another acting in a support role in Flair class. TEAM now receive Life Skills lessons in school on a Wednesday afternoon where they have been learning about kitchen safety, hygiene and cooking some chosen researched recipes. The bread making was a particular success.

Dale Farm 16V and Team have both enjoyed sessions at Dale Farm this year. The Farm provides a working environment for our pupils to participate in a variety of activities including planting and growing organic fruit and vegetables in the fields and poly tunnels.

Crosby Lakeside This term Team have enjoyed a host of fun filled adventures at Crosby Lakeside Centre. Each week we have experienced the thrills of the cold lake participating in sailing, rock climbing, paddle boarding and kayaking.

Michael challenged himself to reach the top of the climbing wall one very cold morning when the lake was too icy to use. Jenny Wright TA3

Best Bites Café Our Students who have been placed at Best Bites for work experience continue to improve on their skills and learning.

Ryan is working in the kitchen at Willow Bank and is becoming more independent. He recently made a batch of scones with only a few verbal prompts. He was really pleased with how the scones turned out. Lauren continues to do well at Bluebelle’s Tea Room, she can work independently and is part of the team. Leanne enjoys working at Mendell Court and has been joined by Ewan who previously worked at Willow Bank, he has been able to transfer his skills and apply them to the different setting.

Debbie Gardiner TA3 and Jenny Wilson TA3

Once again, we enjoyed World Book Day, celebrating characters from books old and new. Thank you to the parents and carers who support these events, organising costumes home-made or bought. A great effort clearly went into the costumes and it was lovely to see everyone ‘in character’.

Staff News We will soon be saying goodbye to our much loved School Nurse, Jane Cleaver. Jane has been a much loved member of the Meadowside Team for some years and will be greatly missed by us all.

Good Luck for the future Jane!

Also, one of our Teaching Assistants, Norma Lightfoot, is retiring this term.

Norma has supported our learners for a number of years and will be greatly missed.

All the best Norma!

All at Meadowside wish our learners and their families a Happy Easter and look forward to seeing you back when the school re-opens on Monday 16th April.

We are grateful to our sponsor Newhall Publishing, for printing this edition .