Summer 2023 Newsletter

Message from Adele Head Teacher

Our wonderful students have continued to make fantastic progress due to their very hard work and teachers’ excellent teaching.The resilience and determination shown by everyone within our Pioneer House family has made me so proud!

We have 19 students leaving us this summer and we are delighted with what they have achieved in their time at Pioneer House. All will be moving on to new courses and opportunities in September and we send with them all our very best wishes and the very best of luck! We will miss them all!

I hope you enjoy our summer newsletter, finding out about what our students have been up to this term. What wonderful students we have here a Pioneer House. I am super proud of every one of them!

Take care everyone!

Message from Ruby

NEWSLETTER

To all my Pioneer friends have a wooferful Sum-

Group 1 have really enjoyed exploring Pop Art this term. They have researched different Pop Artists and their styles including Romero Britto, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol. As a class, we created an Andy Warhol inspired King Charles display for our classroom door to celebrate the Coronation of Kings Charles.

Pupils also took part in the Wythenshawe Civic Pop Art competition and produced some fantastic pieces of art for display in the Civic centre!

To finish off the topic, pupils created infinity rooms in the style of Yayoi Kusama using mirrors and their own clay sculptures.

What

a beautiful creations!! Great work!

Group 1

Skills Builder Day

On the 21st of June, Pioneer House had their Skillsbuilder day!

KS3 completed a challenge called “Game On” where they were tasked with working as a team to create a new game. Throughout the day they have to create the rules for the game, a kit for the game and got to try out the games they had created! Students worked on all 8 of the essential skills and the teamwork, creativity and presenting of ideas really shone through!

Upper School completed a virtual trip with London Stock Exchange Group. The students were challenged with considering ways to prevent waste and support the company to become more sustainable. Some students went through to the next round to present their ideas to employees of the London Stock Exchange Group to get feedback from them. The speaking, creativity and teamwork of all of the students shone through in upper school!

Amazing work everyone!!

Group 2 worked hard on completing their “Gallery Opening” project for Enabling Enterprise this Summer term. Within this module they had to work as a team to complete the required tasks and to meet the deadline for sharing their art work with the whole school community.

Well done to the Artists, Curators and Tour Guides of Pioneer House Galley 2023!

Pioneer House students took part in the Carbon Ruins workshop this year.

A group of people working with Manchester Museum and the University of Manchester came to Pioneer House to support students with creating initiatives to make the world carbon neutral by 2050.

Pioneer House submitted one of fifty entries from schools over Manchester. An independent body chose our idea, to make it one of the twelve ideas on display at an exhibition in Manchester Museum!

Group 3

Group 3 visited the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester in June to view artwork by people who have been displaced. The ‘Traces of Displacement’ exhibition uncovers stories of persecution, creativity, and resilience, and the experiences of artists and makers who were displaced in their homelands, forced to flee, survived, and even thrived in exile. Along with famous artwork by Lowry and the wallpaper designers Allen Jones and Thomas Wardle.

We visited the art gallery to observe how art and sculpture are housed in collections. We looked at how paintings are grouped together and hung which tied in with our Enterprise topic this term of Gallery opening.

We also had time to visit Whitworth park and soak up the sunshine!

We also visited the Football Museum as we are focusing on Manchester History – everyone loved the football games through the ages.

Fabulous work Group

Meet our fabulous kitchen team!

Our wonderful Kitchen team, Shani and Charlotte, do an amazing job every day producing delicious fresh and tasty food for our students and always do so with a smile! They were delighted to be asked to introduce themselves in our newsletter!

‘Working and running the kitchen at Pioneer House is the most amazing experience. Each day we get to work and interact with students that inspire us. Watching the confidence and intendance of all our students and seeing them grow day by day is the most rewarding part of the role.

The students are kind, polite, and extremely well mannered and are a credit to the school and of course all parents. Each and every one of them are appreciative of the work the kitchen staff put in to provide them with delicious healthy meals – both hot and cold!

Becoming part of the Pioneer House Team is fantastic and extremely rewarding. The relationship between the staff and students is amazing. All staff are supportive and there is a fantastic energy and atmosphere. We are all here working towards one goal and that is to encourage and support all our students – your children - to become the very best and be achieve the very best.’

Thank you for all your hard work ladies!

Group 4

During the summer term, Group 4 participated in a cross curricular project, culminating in an end of term trip, which they had planned from start to finish.

In English our module was writing instructions. So, group 4 wrote directions to the tram stop in Northern Moor from school. They then went out and followed those instructions to see what improvements they could make, added extra details and peer assessed each other’s work.

In Geography the focus was around transport in Manchester, which included buses and trams, comparing costs and journey times. Using their digital literacy skills they researched routes, planned the tram journey, including platform sides, number of stops and changes to Manchester Piccadilly.

From there they used their functional reading skills to follow signs to Mayfield Park and applied their using money skills to purchase lunch, before making their way back to school!

Some fantastic work, Group 4 Commended by many of the group receiving headteachers awards for the high quality of work done and incredible effort combining and using these valuable skills for independence!

Our annual sports day was again held at the Etihad complex on Thursday 13th July. Students took part in the full range of athletic events, covering running, jumping and throwing. The effort and attitude of students was outstanding throughout the day, with some fine performances on display across all disciplines. Most valuable participants for their contribution to their team performance at Key Stage 3 was Cody Cohen, Cody Hewitt and Eve Mundy, with the winning team Stockport House. Key Stage 4 & 5’s most valuable participants were Mohammed-Easa Raja, Adam Mullen and Jason Poole, with Bolton House taking the title. We continue to build on the success of previous years and would like to extend a big thanks to the over 100 parents who came to support. I’m sure you’ll agree the students rose to the occasion. A big well done also goes to our 28 sports Leaders, who without their effort the event would not run anywhere near as smoothly. Roll on next year!!!

Group 5 have been planning a trip to Heaton Park in their geography lessons as part of their Travel and Tourism module. Pupils chose the best route to get there on public transport and learnt about map symbols to plan what they could do there. At the park pupils used maps to navigate safely around the park. They enjoyed a day of meeting local wildlife – squirrels, pigs and peacocks, a picnic lunch, rolling down hills, and playing in the Adventure Play Area.

A member of the public reached out to Pioneer House saying:

“The children's behaviour was exemplary, they listened to instructions and were genuinely lovely students.”

Wellbeing Award

‘

GOOD NEWS everyone! We achieved the GOLD award for Wellbeing at Pioneer House!

We were delighted to be awarded the Wellbeing Gold Award this term! An assessor looked into our policies and procedures and met a number of our school staff throughout her visit.

As our assessor stated on our report:

Wow!! So happy for you that you can now call that glitter you sprinkle GOLD!! Staff I met were very aware of how lucky they are with access to the required resources, skills & knowledge to give the best possible support to your pupils and I really was blown away by how much pride they all take in their roles. The work towards reducing workload and ensuring that training and CPD is relevant and focused was also appreciated and recognised by staff, something to be really proud of. Here are some of my favorite quotes from my interviews today:

"We are one big team here"

"There is a true open-door policy, no-one is unapproachable if you need anything"

"I feel so lucky to work at Pioneer"

"I have never had that "Sunday night dread" feeling working here, I love coming into work"

"There is no greater reward than seeing the difference we make for our students"

"I am so proud to be part of something as great as this school"

We are all so proud of our

PIONEER FAMILY!

Group 6

Throughout this year, Group 6 have been working towards increasing their independence and problem-solving skills in school, at home and in the community. Students have also accessed a range of trips across Greater Manchester including the Imperial War Museum, Heaton Park, Wythenshawe Park, the Trafford Centre, Manchester Airport and MOSI.

During the Summer term, Group 6 English topic has been instructions. They chose to write their own pizza recipes and followed their own instructions to make some delicious pizzas! Students wrote the recipes in their English lessons and then followed these in the catering kitchen, they turned out great! Great work Group 6!

Pop Art Competition

This term all of KS3 have taken part in a Pop Art Competition, creating their own Pop Art Pieces to be displayed in Wythenshawe Civic Centre in our very own Pop Art Gallery! Students planned and designed their pieces, before making their final art work, using paints, pens and digital skills. SLT had the tricky decision of picking 10 fantastic winners who will have their artwork displayed in the gallery window over the summer

Husnain Yr 9

Wing Yr 11

Finley W Yr 8

Eve Yr 8

Ndapanda Yr 8

Benjamin Yr 8

Bella Yr 8

Jayden Yr 7

Harvey Yr 11

Noah Yr 8

Beautiful art work. What a fantastic opportunity!

Noah—Eve—Bella—Husnain—Harvey Benjamin—Jayden—Finley—Wing— Ndpanda—Harvey

Group 7

Group 7 have been working on their independent living skills in Life Skills, focusing on washing, ironing, finding recipes, buying food from the supermarket, making basic meals and using public transport. Group 7 have excelled and can now carry out lots of tasks independently. They can even help with household chores now!

• Making lunch

•

Washing clothes

• Ironing

•

Buying food

• Using public transport

• Finding recipes

Super proud Group 7!

Working in collaboration with Barlow Moor Community Association our students represented Pioneer House during the half term holiday. Setting up a stall at their summer festival, 2 students served refreshments and snacks, whilst showcasing ‘Coming soon – The Strawberry Fox Café’. The lord Mayor of Manchester met the students and was very excited about the up-and-coming possibilities for the café and the links with the community. Super proud of our representatives.

Group 8

Group 8 have enjoyed learning about crime scene investigations and looking at evidence in their science lessons. They have also enjoyed looking at hair follicles and deciding whether teachers and TA’s have healthy or unhealthy hair.

We would like to introduce one of our school Governors Caroline Ross.

‘It is always a delight to visit Pioneer House and to work alongside senior leaders at the school and the team of governors. My role is to focus on safeguarding and also the behaviour and attitudes of students. Through visits, audits and from the detailed reports, it is clear that pupils feel safe at school, that all the policies and procedures are firmly in place and that the pastoral team is second to none. It is also apparent how much students enjoy school, school life and the extensive range of opportunities outside of lessons, and that they strive to do their best. It is also humbling to witness how hard all the staff work, how they go 'above and beyond' for all the students, to ensure their happiness, progress, well-being, self-esteem and independence are at the heart of everything they do’.

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 9

Group 9 have had an amazing year and achieved so much. We have all made great progress with accreditation and classroom monitor subjects. We have managed to get out of school and learn in other surroundings. We are now prepared for searching for, applying for and attending an interview. We visited the Trafford Centre and found job opportunities which we found out about. We celebrated a group of our students who won the SkillsBuilder competition with their great idea for a sustainable phone holder / charger / window! At the end of the year, we had a reward trip and we went bowling. T’Aine and Dwaine were the champions and Marcus was a close 3rd – however, it doesn’t matter who won because it was such a great day, spent with great people.

Well done Group 9!

Kay Fry Challenge

On Friday 27th January – Sunday 28th January 2023, 9 students from Pioneer House had an exciting opportunity to participate in the annual ‘Kath Fry Challenge’ held at the Ghyll Head Outdoor education and Activity centre in the Lake District.

An inter-school competition where points were awarded for teamwork, problem solving, resilience and communication. The event took place over several weekends throughout January and February, Ghyll Head facilitated two – three groups in the house, per weekend with 9 school and youth groups competing in total.

Behaviour, respect, housekeeping and inter group relationships were also part of the assessment process, as well as performance in the team tasks and finishing positions in the mini competitions.

The results came back this week and Pioneer House secured 4th Place! Manchester Grammar School were the overall winners, scoring only 45 points more than our team! What an AMAZING achievement; it was a fantastic weekend for the staff supporting, the students participating and even the group leader, Robert Humphries, who said;

‘’ What a weekend! Cheers for all your help as I said to the students it really has been an easy time at work for the past 2 days.’’

We would like to make a special mention to Chorlton High School, who came 2nd and Parrs wood who came 3rd. Well done! Super Proud!!

Our new build

We are super excited about the progress of our new build. This will house our 6th Form! Some of our construction students have enjoyed taking an active part in inspecting the progress and checking through the building plans and even Ruby has had walk round to find out more! The build is aiming to be complete by Christmas and we cannot wait for our students to start to enjoy all the opportunities it will bring! Exciting times!

Group 10 have been visiting local parks in the community to help improve mental well-being. The group are aware that people visit parks for different reasons such as: scenery/ fresh air/ socialising/ meeting family& friends/ picnics/ play sport.

•

Dunham Massey

• Hale Croft Park

• Sale Water Park

• Chorlton Water Park

• Bruntwood Park

• Walton Park

Leavers Residential to London!

This year was our first leavers’ residential to London. Our Accessing the Community curriculum in upper school focuses on developing students independent living skills and ability to navigate around Manchester with independence.

The London residential is the culmination of this learning and students handled the capital with confidence and maturity. They visited all the main landmarks, braved the London Dungeons, shopped till they dropped on Oxford Street and filled hungry stomachs at the Wembley Stadium global buffet. 26,000 steps, happy faces, tired feet, and lifelong memories made!

We are so proud of you all!

Keep on shining!!

Group 11

Group 11 students have been busy planning, preparing and carry out ideas for their social action projects. Firstly, students considered what was the most important topic for them by sorting needs vs wants. Students carefully considered that a big, modern water park would be fantastic, however with the current cost of living crisis Food Poverty, Animal Welfare and Finding safe spaces for students with additional needs were the 3 most important topics.

Students worked together whilst thinking of ideas of how they can raise awareness and impact the 3 chosen topics..

Food Poverty: Students held an own clothes day in return for a tin of food. They collected over 90 tins! The tins were split between supporting families in need in our school and to a local food bank.

Animal Welfare: Students planned a bingo event for the ladies at Wythenshawe Good Neighbours. They each paid £2 for tea, cake and a game of bingo. Students raised £47 to be donated to Society for Abandoned Animals

Safe Space: Students created a proforma for a safe space and carried out an inspection at Barlow Moor Community Centre. The centre ticked all 10 boxes! Students are happy to share that they have found a local safe space.

Super proud Group 11!

The Summer term is always a busy time that brings great changes for 6th form students, the college and internship transitions start and the next chapter in their journey begins. Here are some messages from students as they leave and goodbyes from students who will be staying with us!

What has been you best memory from Pioneer House!