Spring Newsletter

NEWSLETTER

Spring Term 2023

Message from Adele

Head Teacher Welcome to our Newsletter for Spring 2023 As always, can I take this opportunity to say a HUGE thank you to all our school community for your support this term. Your children have been working tirelessly and have continued to develop their learning. As always, we are so proud of our students and we salute the determination, resilience, and enthusiasm that they display on a daily basis!

We hope you enjoy reading our newsletter and we look forward to an exciting and successful summer term!

Take care everyone and see you all in 2 weeks time!

Adele and the Pioneer House Team Ruby—our most popular staff member!!

Ruby continues to be one of the most popular staff members at Pioneer House and enjoys moving around school supporting our students! She gets lots of mentions in EHCP reviews in the ‘What is working well?’ section!

Well done Ruby!!

GROUP 1 Food and Nutrition Group 1 have had a busy spring term at Pioneer House!

In food and nutrition, the students learnt about where our food comes from and how to make sure they are eating a healthy diet. Students then explored the training kitchen and demonstrated that they can follow food safety and hygiene rules by using the equipment safely and making sure the kitchen was properly cleaned when they had finished. They all enjoyed practicing their cooking skills by making cupcakes, scones, and pizza!

Great work Group 1!

STRAWBERRY FOX CAFE

Our sixth formers have had the opportunity to work in our new Strawberry Fox Café to develop their customer service skills for when the café is officially launched in September! They have welcomed a number of customers, including staff and students from Piper Hill, Chorlton High School, a wide range of employers on our Careers Day morning and staff from across the trust for training events.

We now have smart uniforms and our Barista machine has been installed, ready for our some of our lovely students to begin Barista training! We have welcomed staff and students from

GROUP 2 Living Eggs Group 2 had the pleasure of accommodating Living Eggs in the classroom this Spring term. It was a wonderful opportunity for our students to observe the hatching process and interact with the little chicks when they hatched.

Thankfully, all the 10 eggs hatched. Our students looked after the chicks when they came out. They fed them, watered them and moved them out of the box when the staff cleaned the brooder box. We invited other classes to come in and visit too!

All 10 eggs grew up fast and were all healthy and happy.

At the end of the 2nd week, they were taken to live in a free-range farm in Yorkshire, where they originally came from.

GROUP 3

Science fun!

This half term pupils have been learning about everyday materials and their uses. We have been looking at their physical properties of bending, stretching, twisting, absorbency, conductivity and waterproofing.

Students were set a challenge to build a polytunnel, desk tidier or tent and to choose materials that would suit the task. As you can see students concentrated hard on the task and were asked to complete the task as independently as possible. There were some amazing builds!

Super work Group 3!

KS4 Auto Trader visit This term KS4 students were delighted to have a visit from Auto trader who came in to school to talk about their business model and potential career opportunities available to our students as they make the transition into the world of work.

Following this exciting visit, students will now have the opportunity to visit Auto trader offices in Manchester for a full day of careers workshops which will bring their learning to life.

This will be a fantastic opportunity for our students and is a great example of how well Pioneer House are engaging with employers across Manchester to enhance the curriculum offer for students.

GROUP 4

World book day Group 4 went on a fantastic trip as part of our World Book Day celebrations, and we loved it!

We had some vouchers to spend on one book each in Waterstones and so we used our public transport skills to get to Altrincham.

We walked to the tram stop and got on two trams, arrived in Altrincham, walked to Waterstones, chose our books, had a beautiful hot chocolate in a local café and then sat in the center of Altrincham in the sunshine enjoying our lunch together. After such a wonderful day out, we got on two trams back to school.

ECO WARRIORS AT PIONEER! Well done to the Eco Warriors this term who have labeled and helped to distribute the green food bins in each class for fruit and food waste.

We made paper liners for the bind which will decompose and help to dry out of the compost bin. These will be turned into soil over the next 6 months with the help of some worms and shredded paper and be used to plant vegetables later on in the year.

Group 5 have also applied online and received a battery recycling box which is located at reception – these are for A, C and D class batteries. If you need to recycle these smaller sized batteries please bring them into reception – THANK YOU GROUP 5!

Group 5 have also been recycling plastic bottles from the plastic bags we have in each classroom.

They are then recycled at our local recycling center. In March we recycled 204 plastic bottles and cans.

THE BIG SPRING CLEAN

Eco Activities!

As part of this terms Eco activities group 3, group 5 and group 6 took part in the ‘Big Spring Clean’ on Friday 17th March around our local area. Back for its eighth year, the Great British Spring Clean is the nation’s biggest mass-action environmental campaign. This year’s focus will be on the pride our #LitterHeroes have for their local community. We collected 8 bin bags of rubbish in 4 hours of litter picking. Our students were amazed at the amount of rubbish collected and the tiny amounts of plastic that they found in hedges and grass, along with the number of cans and bottles on pathways and at the edges of roads. Pupils enjoyed the litter picking so much we are back out again this Friday!

CAREERS EVENT

On February 8th, the school hosted a number of employers, next steps providers and community organisations as part of our annual careers and next steps event.

Following on from last year’s successful event this year’s event took the format of a drop-down morning with a number of visiting organisations delivering interactive 30 -minute workshops for students across all key stages. The aim of this annual event is to support students’ understanding of potential career pathways and learning opportunities to ensure that they are able to make informed choices relating to their next steps beyond Pioneer House.

This year’s attendees included a range of organisations, offering academic and vocational opportunities for students with SEND. Guests included local mainstream and specialist colleges, Manchester Young Lives, Pure Innovations, The Department for Work and Pensions, and Cardinal Logistics.

Some warm hospitality, which was exceptionally well received, was provided in the Strawberry Fox café by students studying on our skills pathway at Key Stage 4 and 5. One attendee commented that they “loved the informal contact with students and staff in the café as well as the classroom environment” whilst another commented that “all members of staff were polite, welcoming and had smiles on their faces. Made my day. Café great, better than Starbucks”.

All students engaged fully with our visitors and feedback from students was extremely positive particularly for sessions which had a more practical focus such as the Snap Circuits session from Equans and the coding session from DISC College. One student commented on how the event would have been better “if we could do it all day”. Organisations attending commented on how they had been particularly impressed with students levels of engagement and knowledge relating to careers and skills required for employment with one organisation scoring the event as 11 out of 10.

Well done to all our fantastic students who are always keen to impress and a great morning was had by all !

Hate Crime Awareness This term, pupils at Pioneer House took part in the Hate Crime Awareness week. Schools and key speakers from all over Manchester came together at Gorton Monastery to share ideas on how to be inclusive and put an end to hate crime. Pupils sang songs, listened to speakers, completed artwork and created peace malas. It was a really interesting day and Pioneer House were delighted to be part of it and share all they learnt when they got back to school!

Meet another one of our Governors!

At Pioneer House we regularly have visits from members of our Local Governing Body. One of our LGB visitors this term was Dave Tattersall! He came into meet with some of our Senior leaders, to have a walk round, and see many of our wonderful students! Lovely to see you on site Dave!

“It is a pleasure to be part of a small, committed team of governors at Pioneer House. My role as part of the team is to look at health & safety, sustainability and how the school is helping students plan their transition from school to higher education or employment. On my recent visit the latest comprehensive external health and safety audit had just been completed and with just a few minor recommendations for improvements, the report was excellent and demonstrated the whole schools’ commitment to providing a safe and welcoming environment for both students and teachers.

On my next visit I will be able to sample a Barista style coffee in the recently completed café area which is just part of the “ready to work” development plans for students. Not only a teaching area but this café will also be a welcoming space for the local community and allow students to interact with people across the generations, a vital part of learning and self-development.”

Being a governor may require some of your time and can be challenging, but It can also be extremely rewarding. At Pioneer House, working together to promote high standards and achieving the best outcomes for our pupils is at the heart of our ethos.

There is great satisfaction in knowing that your contributions are productive and valued.

There is immense pride derived from serving on the fantastic Pioneer House team.

If you are interested in being a Parent Governor, WE HAVE A VACANCY – contact school and we can give you more information!

Group 6 Group 6 students from Pioneer House are gaining so much confidence and skills from their work experience with the Alpacas at GRANGE School. The student’s teamwork, independence, problem-solving and communication skills are improving, and this is all having a hugely positive impact on students’ self-esteem.

The students look forward to their work experience every week and cannot wait to spend time with Derek, Chewbacca, and Sugar Puff!

Great work Group 6!

TREE PLANTING WORKSHOP A huge thank you to the ‘Fund4Trees’ tree planting workshop which some of our Eco committee and students attended on Wednesday 22nd March. We now have a new Beech tree in our forest school which grows more upright than outwards saving us space underneath the tree for further planting.

Russell and his colleagues gave us some great information on how trees eat and drink during the seasons and how they store sap for winter (‘the gooey yellow liquid’ that comes out of the trunks of trees that you sometimes see.)

We all enjoyed helping to plant the tree and hope to enjoy its beauty for many years to come.

Manchester United Foundation Access Sports Tournament

Our students had great time and it was a huge success, with 8 students across KS4 taking part. Everyone acknowledged our students were positive, engaged and were an asset to Pioneer House!!! Students were involved in a variety of different sports- baseball, rugby, squash, cricket and football.

All our students conducted themselves in a positive manner and it was a brilliant day!!

The Foundation can offer our young people tickets for games/matches!

Samuel Politt and Kieron Hughes have both had the opportunity to attend recent games and had a fantastic experience at the stadium! They were selected for always trying their best to follow our Pioneer House ‘Code of conduct ‘and trying super hard in lessons!

Group 7

Preparation for adulthood

Group 7 have been learning new skills in preparation for their adult lives and independence. During Life Skills lessons, pupils have been ironing, making beds, hanging clothes, folding clothes and hoovering.

Also, students have been making healthy meals and using maps to find their way to new places in the local area.

All if these skills are supporting students independence and ensuring they are gaining skills for life!

Well done to all in Group 7!

Competition time Sadie Massey ‘Art of the Book’ Competition.

This term all students in the school have taken part in a writing competition run by the Portico Library.

The students have written a book about either themselves, or a place. Through the project they have developed their skills in planning, editing, illustrating, and publishing. It has been fantastic to see the students’ finished books and their enthusiasm for the project!

The competition was open to schools across Manchester and there were over 200 entries. We are thrilled to announce that we had four winners at Pioneer House!!

We also had other students who were invited to attend the award ceremony due to the high quality of their writing. Below is a picture of our students at the award ceremony hosted at the Central Library.

PIONEER HOUSE WINNERS!!!

Hassan Raza, Helen Anstice, Heather Stead and Usmaan Hassan.

Group 8

Group 8 have worked very hard this term progressing in all areas of the curriculum. The pupils particularly enjoyed taking part in different work experience opportunities across school during preparation for employment sessions, furthermore, they enjoyed a trip to the Trafford centre to look at and discuss different job opportunities!

Keep up the hard work group 8!

Group 10 Work Experience!

Group 10 have all been working well within their work experience roles. Some students have been based in school, undertaking the role of being a Teaching assistants, supporting our learners and assisting in daily jobs that are needed. Others supporting our site team in ensuring our school is looking fabulous!

One learner has been working at Wythenshawe Park farm helping keep the farm clean and tidy, as well as feeding all the animals

Some of our learners have been helping in a charity shop. Some of the jobs they have been doing include stocking the shelves on the shop floor, putting price tags on clothes, and helping on the till.

One learner has been working in a hair salon helping wash hair and sweeping up.

Two of our learners have been working in the school kitchen helping make staff lunches on a Friday. The feedback from staff is that ‘The food is amazing’!

Well done Group 10!

Ghyll Head Kath Fry Challenge This term, students spent a weekend at Ghyll Head in the Lake District as part of the Kath Fry Challenge. Pupils competed against other schools and social groups around the North West to gain as many points as possible in various ways, including teamwork.

The students all supported each other and did a brilliant job all weekend. They did loads of fun activities, including orienteering, mountain hiking, puzzle challenges, fire building and making hot drinks.

Additionally, students were using their independence skills to make their beds, wash up after themselves and tidy the communal areas.

Well done Group 11!

Spring Term Attendance As the school year progresses we are working hard with families to improve attendance for all and we are now making great strides towards achieving our whole school attendance target of 96%. As the saying goes however, ‘Every School Day Counts!’. We have had a positive number of our students attaining 100% attendance throughout the Spring term, a fantastic achievement. Let’s aim for more for the summer term!

Please take the Easter holidays to relax, unwind and recharge and ensure your child is ready for a fun packed Summer term. Excellent attendance is vital for pupils to achieve their full academic potential, allows consistency of relationships, and encourages the development of good habits for later life. Please make doctors and dentists visits out of school

Group 11

During Spring term Group 11 students were involved in the Heartstone Project in Manchester Central Library. Students explored a book called ‘Heartstone Odyssey’ which explored topics such as stereotypes, racism and hate crime.

Students used their creative skills to create different ways to express their thoughts and feelings through different formats of art. Students work will be shown at an exhibition which we can’t wait to attend!

Well done Group 11!

The Mayor of Manchester vising Pioneer House!

Pioneer House enjoyed a visit from our Manchester Mayor ‘Andy Burnham’. He visited our Strawberry Fox Café to find out more about our ‘Music Therapy’ interventions and to be entertained by some of the members of our fabulous choir!

He was blown away by our students and had a wonderful visit!

He also asked if he can come back and meet the rest of the staff and students! Maybe for the official Strawberry Fox Café launch in September—Watch this space!

Return to school date: Tuesday 18th April 2023

Return to school date: Tuesday18th April 20223