Newsletter

Summer 2018

Hello everyone,

Well can you believe it, another school year has finished and what a year it has

been! Ofsted, new pupils and staff joining us, Fiona leaving, potentially becoming an

academy……. (the list really is too long!!!)

We have new staff starting with us in September. Hannah, Stephanie, Charlotte,

Danielle, Rachel and Mark join the teaching team and Ramona, Samantha, Joanne,

Zoe, Demi, Donna, Vicky, Becky, Kimberley and Natasha are new teaching

assistants. We have also welcomed three new ‘Kemball’ babies this term. Katy had

a little boy and Tabatha and Stacey both had girls. We do however say goodbye to

Kelly, Kaylea and Marie Clare. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for

their hard work whilst at Kemball. We will be recruiting a new safeguarding assistant

to replace Kelly, in September. In the meantime, Liz is working tirelessly to support

our families (I don’t know what we would do without her!). Liz, Jas (bilingual

assistant) and Andrea (CAMHS) will be organising a parent coffee morning during

the autumn term. I hope to see some of you there.

We are also saying goodbye to our Year 11 and Year 13/14 pupils who are moving

on to college. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house on Friday during their leaving

assembly. We are so proud of all they have achieved whilst at Kemball and I am

sure that they will continue to excel as they move onto their next big adventure.

Anyway enjoy reading about what the classes have been up to. It always amazes me

how much we manage to pack in to a term. Hope you all have a fantastic summer

and that the sun continues to shine. Thank you once again for your continuous

support this year. Helen and myself really do appreciate it. See you all again on

Tuesday 4th September

Lisa

Spode 1

The Summer Term has again been a very busy time. Our first topic of the summer

term was houses and homes and we explored where lots of different animals lived

as well as where we lived. We had lots of fun making animal footprints and looking

for minibeasts. Our second topic was holidays and we did lots of adventuring- we

made a campfire and sat in our tents, we got on an aeroplane

and visited Egypt and we went on a bus tour around Paris! We

avoided the snails and frog’s legs though!

During our Cultural studies week we went on a journey down the Nile, making and

tasting hummus, making our own pyramids and Moroccan pottery and listening and

moving to different types of music.

Our sensory story was all about a visit to the magical beach- the children particularly

loved the water spray bottle, especially in the recent hot weather. We have taken

advantage of the weather and had lots of water play, exploring floating and sinking

and finding numbered fish and practicing our counting.

We really enjoyed our visit to the monkey forest- we made it just in time to see them

being fed! We saw lots of monkeys and watched them moving around, cleaning each

other and climbing to the tops of the trees!

At the end of the school year we would just like to say how proud we are of all their

achievements this year. In September we will be welcoming new children and new

TAs- Amy, Kim and Jenny are joining us from other classes while Sam and Ceara

will be moving to another class in the school. Sadly we are saying goodbye to

Kaylea, our TA, and she will be missed. We hope that all the children from Spode 1

have a lovely summer break.

Spode 2

We have had a busy term focusing on ‘holidays’. Our sensory story has been ‘Maisy

goes on Holiday’. We explored lots of aspects relating to going on holiday from

packing, exploring different clothes for hot and cold climates to the different activities

people typically do when they go on holiday e.g. site seeing. We have done various

mark making activities and printing throughout the term.

In maths we have focused on number recognition, matching

and beginning to write numbers.

We have also explored the Middle East and Asia during

Cultural Studies week, focusing on Morocco. We tried some

cous cous, humus and peppers, which not everyone liked. We

listened to various Moroccan music, made necklaces and

bowls and did various printing.

We would like to say a big ‘congratulations’ to the children this year as they have all

focused and worked hard with all of the staff and we are all proud of their achievements

this year. We wish them all the best next year.

Enjoy your Summer.

Steph, Kim, Amy, Ramona and Nora.

Paragon 1 newsletter.

What a great term we’ve had in Paragon 1 Class.

In English, we have been reading “Commotion in the Ocean” and “Handa’s

Surprise”. The children have enjoyed both stories. We explored lots of sea creatures

and made hand print fish for our class display.

In Maths the children have been learning about capacity and size. We have done

lots of measuring and pouring in the water play and the children especially loved

exploring the 3 bears and putting them into size order. We also covered ‘big’ and

‘small’ and had lots of fun with the different sized balls.

In RE this term we have looked at places of worship focusing on Islam and

Christianity. The children loved re-enacting a christening and practising praying on a

prayer mat.

In Science we covered hot and cold climates and looked at animal habitats. The

children enjoyed sorting sea and land creatures and feeling the different

temperatures of ice and hot sand. We also created collage pictures to represent

arctic animals.

DT has seen us doing lots of cooking this term. We tied this in with our cultural

studies topic of ‘Egypt’. We made hummous, baba ganoush, taziki and pitta bread.

The children loved these lessons and were very good at tasting the new foods.

In Geography we looked at “The ancient Egyptians” the children enjoyed exploring

the Egyptian small world play. They also created pyramids using the large soft

blocks in our sensory room. The lesson that was mostly enjoyed by all was digging in

the sand for ‘ancient artefacts’.

In PHSE we looked at “Feelings”. The children explored the different emotions using

the puppets. They made a feelings fan and practised making faces in the mirror.

PE has been all about ball skills and parachute games. The children have worked with a partner rolling and throwing a ball. They have attempted to roll the balls to a target and loved using the large bowling set. The parachute was used to play games together and follow instructions, taking it in turns to move under and swap places with a partner.

As you can see it has been a fun packed Term once again. We finished off this

wonderful Term with a trip to the Peak wildlife park. The children and staff had a

fantastic day and they were all a credit to our school whilst out in public-we are very

proud of them. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the cards

and gifts received and most importantly the support from all of our parents and

carers this whole school year. We hope all the children have a wonderful summer

break.

Rachel, Emma, Stacey and Katrina.

Paragon 2 Summer newsletter

Dear Parents/ Carers,

It has been a fantastic year in Paragon 2 and I will certainly be sad to see this class go. The

children have made fantastic progress over the year and I know I speak for all the staff when I

say how proud we all are of them. This has been another hectic term with lots of exciting events

and activities.

In English, we have been looking at ‘The Rainbow Fish’ and ‘Handa’s Surprise’. The children

have really enjoyed exploring these sensory stories and engaged especially well in the sea

themed play activities and enjoyed using the green screen to act out our story.

This term, across most subject areas, we have been looking at Egypt as part of our Cultural

Studies topic in school. During Cultural Studies week, the children participated in a school wide

Key Strings session with each child getting the opportunity to play a different instrument. We

have also looked at Egyptian recipes, The Sahara Desert and The Ancient Egyptians. The

children really enjoyed our Egyptian sensory story ‘We’re Sailing Down the Nile’ and enjoyed

exploring a range of different places.

As part of our Science topic, this half term, we have been on trips to Peak Wildlife Park and

Trentham Gardens. Peak Wildlife Park was another great opportunity to observe the animals that

we have studied and the children really enjoyed this although the day went by far too quickly!

The children observed penguins, wallabies, lemurs, zebras and all sorts of other animals and

even managed to stroke some goats which I know that they enjoyed.

At Trentham Gardens, we took a Barefoot walk and were able to observe a range of different

plants. The children really enjoyed this trip and especially liked the play area.

Overall, it has been a very busy but very fun half term and it has been lovely to get out and about

with the children. We will all miss them very much but I am sure that they will continue to work

hard and progress well as they move into their new classes. Have a lovely summer and we will

see you in September!

Cath, Chris, Lisa and Khatija. (Paragon 2 team)

Bridgewater1

WOW! What an exciting summer term we have had this year. The weather has been

wonderful and the children have been great and working extremely hard.

I want to thank each child for all the hard work and the learning that we have shared

this school year.

I would like to thank all of our families who attended Bridgewater 1’s celebration

assembly. It was a fantastic turn out and so wonderful that you were all able to

celebrate your child’s amazing achievements this year.

The theme this term has been all about the Middle East, Bridgewater 1 have focused

on Morocco and Israel. As part of our History lesson we have been focussing on the

history of Israel and Morocco and comparing the weather in the Middle East to the

weather in the UK.

In English this term we have been practising our handwriting skills and sentence

writing using capital letters, fingers spaces and full stops. Children have also been

focusing on fine motor skills.

In Maths the children have focussed on money, capacity, measure, weighing and

fractions. One of the highlights they really enjoyed was making their own pizzas and

sharing them in halve with their friends. Yummy!

In Art/DT the children have enjoyed cooking lots of different recipes from the Middle

East. It was so lovely to see them trying out different foods from Israel and Morocco.

During RE the children had a visit to Newcastle-Under-Lyme synagogue where they

got to look at the Torah and the special artefacts belonging to the Jewish religion.

We have had great fun during PE, the children have been focusing on balancing and

coordination using different types of apparatus, they have also enjoyed joining in with

the cosmic Yoga sessions doing yoga to the story ‘we’re Going on a bear hunt’.

I cannot believe how well all the children have done in Science this term. Our focus

has been lights and shadows, by the end of the term the children were using

scientific vocabulary like transparent, Translucent and Opaque.

From all the Bridgewater 1 staff, we wish all the children the very best and hope that

you and your families have a wonderful summer break.

Claire, Lisa and Sophie.

Bridgewater 2 Newsletter

Summer 2018

We’ve had a great year in Bridgewater 2 and I would just like to say a big thank you

to all the children for being such a wonderful class this year. You have all made great

progress and tried your absolute best this year. We’ve had some great fun but we

know you will equally love your new classroom, friends and staff.

This term we have worked hard on our Cultural Studies topic of the Middle East. We

chose to explore Israel and Morocco. First we looked at Morocco and created a

Moroccan Souk experience, we also explored the Blue city in Morocco and made

some fantastic food. Most of us didn’t like the Hummus we made but we all loved the

one we bought from the shop. We then moved on to exploring Israel and comparing

the way Israel and Stoke compare and seeing the difference between Israel today

and when Jesus was alive. We liked dressing up in the clothes which would have

been worn when Jesus was alive. We recently made some flatbreads and had a go

at kneading the dough

In Science this term we have learnt about the Animals from Morocco and loved

remembering the different facts about the Hyena, Gazelle and Lizard. Our favourite

part was playing hunter and prey outside with one part of the team being the Hyena’s

and the other the Gazelle’s.

We’ve been lucky enough to have Key Strings again this year and loved listening to

the music from the Middle East. It’s great when we get to go up and have a go on all

of the instruments.

We hope you enjoy looking through all our hard work in the books we’ve sent home.

It’s been a lovely year and the children in the class have all been a pleasure to

teach.

We would like to wish you all a wonderful summer holiday and hope we can enjoy

some more great weather! Stay safe and have lots of fun and we look forward to

seeing you in September.

From Emily, Ceris, Jess, Stacey, Megan and Helen.

Thank you to all the staff and students in the class from this year Ceris, Jess,

Stacey, Megan, Helen, Stephanie and Melissa.

Gladstone 2 Newsletter

Summer Term 2018

We have had another fun and action packed term here in Gladstone 2! We have all

made great progress and this shines through all of our achievements

Cultural Studies Week

We really enjoyed celebrating cultural studies this year and looking at Egypt. We did

lot of fun activities, for example in PE we enjoyed playing a pyramid game where one

team tried to build up a pyramid and one team tried to knock it back down again. We

also enjoyed tasting and making our own Ancient Egyptian style bread. Finally, we

created our own large scale Art Attack style piece of work to create an African

landscape.

Wimbledon Morning

To celebrate Wimbledon, we enjoyed a morning full of tennis themed activities. We

designed our own tennis outfit and winning trophy, choosing our own patterns and

colours for this. We also enjoyed practicing our tennis skills to see if we could match

up to the professionals!

Beatrice Barge Trip

We enjoyed a school trip out on the Beatrice Barge, where we learned all about how

to steer the boat, and enjoyed traveling around the canals of Stoke. We enjoyed

socialising and playing games with each other whilst on the boat, and the sunny

weather helped to make it a lovely day out!

Celebration Assembly

We shared a lovely celebration assembly with our friends and family, where we

looked back through pictures of our school year and received certificates showing

what brilliant progress we have made throughout the school year. We really enjoyed

creating a dance video to play during this.

Once again in Gladstone 1, we are glad to inform you that we have had such a fun

filled summer term. This term we have been studying Ancient Egypt in Cultural

studies which has been the topic across most subjects. We have learnt all about the

Ancient Egyptian life and some of the rituals that Egyptian people still believe today.

We have also explored hieroglyphics in Art which was the Ancient Egyptian writing

using symbols and we have even wrote our very own messages. Overall, we have

really enjoyed learning about Ancient Egypt and learnt many new things.

During the summer term, we have had the fantastic opportunity of taking part in key

strings. They brought in lots of instruments for us to play with and played us some

music which we would find in the Africa. They also played some familiar songs like

the Lion King which we really enjoyed.

As you can see, we have had lots of fun this term and we really do not want it to end.

However, towards the end of the term we have spent time in our new classes and

the children are really looking forward to starting back after the summer holidays.

We hope you have a lovely summer and we will miss those who are moving to a new

class in September!

Happy holidays

Gladstone 1

Darryl, Mandy and Kim

Doulton 1 Newsletter

The Summer term has given us lots of opportunities for learning and exploring. Our

first topic was houses and Homes. We used the Gruffalo story to find out about

woodland homes and some of the creatures that live in the woods- foxes, snakes,

owls and mice. We built homes for our creatures and compared how the creatures

looked and moved. We also explored garden and pond homes and found out how

tadpoles and caterpillars change into frogs and butterflies. We had our own

caterpillars and we watched them each day as they changed and then released them

as butterflies. We enjoyed exploring the jungle home of creatures and found out how

warm it was there. We used the story Monkey Puzzle to find out what kinds of

creatures live in a jungle. We did lots of role play about living in a castle, we dressed

up as kings and queens and knights and made some tarts for the queens of hearts.

We explored an Arctic home and saw how people and creatures live in such a cold

place. We read a traditional tale called the Polar Bear Son.

The second half of the Summer term has been all about Holidays. We have found

out about beach holidays, what we need for them and even made a few sandcastles.

We role played a camping holiday, sang around the campfire and listened to our

favourite music under a starry sky. We used the camera on our sight seeing holiday,

taking photos pf the orang-utans in Borneo, the treasures of an Egyptian Tomb and

creatures of the Great Barrier reef. We role played being on Safari. We explored lots

of sights, smells and textures on our journey.

Our cultural studies week was focused on North Africa- Egypt. We discovered the

tomb of Tutankhamen, went on a sensory magic carpet ride from Stoke on Trent to

Egypt. We found out that both places made and used pottery and famous flower

patterns – The lotus and the crocus. We even went for a spin on the potter’s wheel!

Karen, Cathy, Kelly and Jenny wish you all a happy Summer holiday. We are also

appreciative of the support we have had from you through the school year. We wish

the children who are moving into other classes well. We are sure that you will love it

in your new classes. We look forward to seeing those who are remaining in Doulton

1 in September ready for our topic “All About Me”.

Doulton 2 Newsletter

Summer Term 2018

We have had another fun and action packed term here in Doulton 2! We have had

many exciting days and experiences throughout this summer term.

Cultural Studies Week

We really enjoyed celebrating cultural studies this year and looking at Africa. We

enjoyed to design African outfits using fabrics with bright colours and patterns. We

also made fruit smoothies and pressed the switch to power the smoothie maker

ourselves. We enjoyed listening to African style music during key strings and some

of us even had a go at playing a range of string instruments!

Wimbledon Morning

To celebrate Wimbledon, we enjoyed a morning full of tennis themed activities. We

watched a tennis match and then played our own to see if our skills could match

those of the professionals! We also enjoyed a treat of strawberries and cream in true

Wimbledon style.

Triathlon Day

We had a really exciting triathlon day this term, where we engaged in a wide range

of active and physio activities. These included bike riding, circus skills, swimming

and rebound. We were very tired afterwards but had a lovely time!

Celebration Assembly

We shared a lovely celebration assembly with our friends and family, where we

looked back through pictures of our school year and received certificates showing

what brilliant progress we have made throughout the school year.

Coalport 1

Summer Term

Hello everybody! We have all had a wonderful half term exploring lots of different

topics!

In English we have been exploring the sensory story, “The Snail and the Whale!”

which tells the story of a little snail who travels across the oceans on the tail of a

humpback whale and what they see on their adventures! We explored mark making

in sand and foamy waves, explored sequencing the story and made themed art.

In maths we have been exploring Positional Language, Patterns, and Money. We

explored the key words ‘in’, ‘out’, ‘on’ and ‘under’. We made repeating patterns using

colours and objects, we really enjoyed working with our friends to create a pattern

using our handprints.

In Science we have been exploring Growing and investigation skills. We have

explored seeds and bulbs and planted our very own flowers, vegetables and herbs.

In Art we have been exploring making African Art using

lots of bright colours, tools and methods. We have made

masks, jewellery, artwork and more!

In Cultural Studies we have been looking at Africa. We have been baking and

cooking different African food such as South African Banana bread, Couscous, West

African Lime cake and African fruit salad. We explored what it might have been like

in Ancient Egypt; we dressed up, mummified peppers, and made a pyramid. We

made lots of artwork and painted our own huts using mud paint.

Everyone has worked really hard all year and we hope you all have a lovely holiday!

Jasmine, Rebecca, Michelle and Jackie

This academic year has flown by and we can’t believe that the summer holidays are

nearly here!

The end of the year is a time for reflection and looking back at how much the pupils

have achieved over the year. You all should be so proud of your children, they have

worked so hard, which we think was demonstrated at the end of year achievement

assembly. It’s lovely to look back on all of the photos to remember the exciting things

that we have done.

The weather has been glorious, which has enabled us to spend lots of time outside

in the fresh air. We have enjoyed pushing our table into our class garden and

working outside in the shade.

We have loved our ‘investigation skills’ topic in Science this term. We have

conducted a series of mini investigations but the children were most excited about

the bug hotel. We had to check our bug hotel each week and finger paint a tally chart

to record what bugs we found. We found beetles, snails and woodlice!

We are really looking forward to the next chapter in September after 6 weeks of rest.

We shall look forward to hearing about what you all got up to during the holidays!

Danica, Clare, Yvonne and Hayley.

Music in the Summer Term

Wow! What a great term we have had in music!

As well as the usual class music sessions, exploring our school percussion

instruments and developing our understanding of using them to create lots of

different effects, writing and recording our own music and developing musical

stories, we have been lucky enough to have 3 sets of visiting musicians this term.

Our first visitors were Steve and Zoe from “Unbeatable Energy”. They brought along

djembe drums, boomwackers, sound shapes and other small percussion for 3 days

of drumming / percussion workshops. All the pupils in the school were involved

for a session of 40 minutes, learning to play different rhythms on the djembe

drums and even doing some African dancing. The pupils learnt to play rhythms

such as “Juicy, juicy mangoes” and “piece of cake”, adding them into call and

response pieces to great effect. The pupils all listened and responded well to

Steve and Zoe accompanying their music making on their own djembes and dune

dune drums. All the pupils were a credit to our school and I know Steve and Zoe

enjoyed their time with us as much as we did with them.

This half term, during our cultural studies week we had our visit from Key Strings.

We had 2 great concerts from them, again for the whole school, learning all about

the instruments from the string family they brought along with them

such as the violin, viola, cello and double bass as well as a short

introduction to the woodwind family, with some jazz music on the

saxophone. The pupils were able to have a go at playing along on the

stringed instruments and small percussion as the guys played for us. Another

enjoyable day was had by all.

During the past 6 weeks’ pupils from Minton 1, Minton 2 and Wedgewood 1 have

been having a weekly workshop with “Make Some Noise”. Chris and Kurly – a real

live rapper from Birmingham! came along to take the sessions teaching the pupils

how to create a Beatbox orchestra. The groups created their own raps, developing

their voices and adding in rhythmic percussion to their work. The pupils really

enjoyed the sessions and the final results after just 6 weeks were amazing. Yet

again our pupils were a real credit to our school and I was proud of how they all

approached the project and worked so well.

I look forward to having another great year of music with our pupils next year but

until then have a wonderful and restful summer.

Lorraine

Wedgwood 1 Summer Term.

During Summer Term we have looked at the amazing topic of Ancient Egypt.

In term 1 we looked at the History of how they lived. The students couldn’t believe

some of the things they found out, such as the mummification process, how cats

were worshipped, but most of all the pyramids. We had a go at building our own

pyramids with blocks and found out that a square base was one of the most

important things to get right! Following this we looked at the River Nile in detail as

out Geography topic, as well as looking at the modern day capital city Cairo.

We have had a definite outdoor theme for lots of our Science during the first

half term of Summer. We looked at detail plants and in particular the term

photosynthesis. The pupils had the opportunity to go out and look at plants which

looked healthy, and then worked out why some plants maybe didn’t look so healthy.

As a class we also made sure we looked after a plant of our own in our outdoor area,

where pupils watered it and tracked its progress into a full flower. Following this we

looked at forces, and did experiments and investigations about friction on different

surfaces, magnets and gravity.

In English we started Summer term by looking at instruction manuals and

what a good one looks like. We also tested our own instructions to see if they helped

students to make some lovely jam sandwiches! In the second half of the term we

were involved in an exciting drama and film project along with some other schools in

the area. Ourselves and Minton 2 class worked together to script and perform a

trailer and a 10 minute film based on the story of Peter Pan. On the whole the

student’s attitude and commitment to the project was fantastic, and it was screened

to all the other schools at the Mitchell Arts Centre, Hanley on 19th July.

In Maths we have continued to work on and develop the skills we have

worked on all year. The students have come a long way and are moving onto to work

with bigger numbers. We also developed our measuring skills in Maths where we

looked at capacity with lots of jugs of water, and measuring weight with scales, which

also came in handy with our cooking this term!

In the cookery room we stuck to our theme of Egypt and made an Egyptian

dip with pitta bread, as well as the Egyptian desert Palace Bread. In Design and

Technology we worked hard on our project of making Cat Mummies. We first

designed them on paper, then used newspaper and plaster cast to make the shape,

then decorated with paint to create some amazing mummy-looking sculptures!

In Computing, the students have really excelled this term and have shown

that they are able to edit a photograph using a computer program in lots of different

ways. Also, the students looked into how computers are used in school, and in

different work places.

As our RE topic was “Growing up with religion in the UK” we looked at what it

is like for young Muslims to practice their faith in this country. Following this we had

the opportunity to visit City Central mosque in Hanley, which was particularly special

as we visited during the holy month of Ramadan, which the pupils learned about

also.

Finally, following our Hockey based half term where we developed our skills

such as passing and shooting before having a tournament at the end, the students

were able to access the school pool and enjoy playing water based games as well as

learning some key strokes, safety and pool hygiene.

Wedgwood 2 In Wedgwood 2 we have had a very busy summer term! We explored Africa and the

Middle East in particular we looked at Egypt. We enjoyed sampling foods from Egypt and made some Egyptian bread. Some of us tried foods we’ve never had

before.

We really enjoyed looking at our Cultural studies topic further in Cultural studies week. We enjoyed the drumming music session we had and looking at more detail at

Egypt, exploring the pyramids and Pharaohs.

We have done some great work in PSHE and some of us have made massive steps in this area to be more independent. We have enjoyed our mindfulness sessions and

have been learning new ways to stay mindful!

We have been learning about The Borrowers in English and have been going on adventures with them. We have also done some great advertisement work towards

the end of the term.

In maths we have been looking at shapes. We have looked at both 2D and 3D shapes and we have explored their properties. We have also looked at the use of

positional language.

It was lovely to look back on the year in the achievement assembly. Thank you to all those that attended and well done to all the children. Your certificates were well

deserved!

We have achieved so much this year and the staff in Wedgwood 2 are extremely happy with our progress and our attitude to work. We would like to take this

opportunity to say how proud we are of the children and wish them good luck for

Year 7/8. Also to thank parents for their support this year. We hope you all have a lovely summer holiday and stay safe!

From Kat, Danni, Lauren and Catherine.

MINTON 1 SUMMER TERM 2018

During the summer term we experienced a Victorian history day and a wellbeing day

as well as working with a couple of beat-boxers to write and perform raps and poetry.

SCIENCE (Space/Gas Exchange Systems) The study of our solar system gave us

the chance to explore aspects such as night and day, the planets and how the Earth,

sun and moon interact. We launched a bottle rocket into space but it ended up on

the school roof. We then moved onto studying how our lungs work and how our

breathing can be affected by exercise, asthma and smoking.

GEOGRAPHY/HISTORY/CULTURAL STUDIES (Egypt) Our topic of Study in this

area for the summer term has been Egypt. We have used maps, globes and Google

maps to find where Egypt is and some of its geographical features. Of course, we did

lots of work on mummies, pyramids and pharaohs. The pupils used the computer to

find the answer to facts about Egypt. Many of the other subjects were also tied into

Egypt.

RE (Art In Religion) This involved exploring how art is used to represent and reflect

religious ideas. We covered Muslim, Buddhist, Christian and Roman Catholic art

through aspects such as The Mexican Day of the Dead and Native American beliefs,

before making a dreamcatcher.

PE (Swimming/Ball Games/Athletics) We have used the large pool at Trentham this

term on Thursdays. The coaches there put everyone through their paces to see what

distance they could achieve. Ultimately, some just improved their confidence in the

water. In ball games, we have learned the skills to play tee-ball and cricket. For the

final few weeks we will try to get some athletics events in.

ART & DT (Egypt art & problem solving) We produced a whole range of artwork such

as Egyptian jewellery and headdresses. For DT, I set a problem to solve by building

a shaduf (water moving device) by following a set of instructions and using tools

such as saws. There were also design elements to build a tourist coach and to

create a bottle design for people suffering from bad “mummy” breath.

PSHE (Environmental issues/Managing change.) The environmental study allowed

us to look at our school environment and then the local environment. We went for a

walk around the local area to see how clean it was. We did find traffic cones and two

sofas in the local pond alongside the wildlife. To study managing change, we talked

a lot about what their hopes for the future were. To learn to drive? To travel?

Everyone was asked to think of the job that they may want to do and to think what

may be involved in doing it day-to-day.

ICT (Controlling/Multimedia art) We have used computer programs, iPod and a

programmable Beebot robot to explore how we can programme instructions and

directions and use the movement to solve problems. For multimedia, we looked at

how to use different programs to create things to print like cards and posters.

In English studies, we have covered some interesting areas such as classic poetry

“Jabberwocky,” Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet,” newspapers, instructions, Big

Writing Week and Roald Dahl novels.

SOCIAL SKILLS- Friday mornings are taken up with social skills. So we have

covered: ironing, ordering a takeaway and taxi, medicines, safety around the home,

shopping, cleaning and cooking. Please feel free to ask them to use any of these

skills at home!

At the end of this school year, the whole class will be moving on. All of the staff have

thoroughly enjoyed working with the pupils in Minton 1; we’ve done a lot of learning

and a lot of laughing. Enjoy your summer.

Ian & Sandra and all in Minton 1

Minton 2 Newsletter Summer 2018

We have had a fantastic summer term and enjoyed lots of adventures. I would like to

take this opportunity to thank parents for their continued support and say goodbye to

pupils and wish them luck as they move on into their new classes.

The theme this term has been Egypt and what a wonderful time we have had. As part

of our history lessons we have explored life during Ancient Egypt exploring the lives.

Gods, homes, jobs and inventions. We had fun mummifying our friends.

In English pupils have participated in a film project. They have based the film on ‘Peter

Pan’. After exploring the book pupils have written scripts, designed costumes and

practiced their acting skills to produce a fabulous movie. We watched the final film on

the big screen at the Mitchell Arts Centre.

In science pupils learnt about space. They have explored the Solar System and learnt

about the planets. They had fun experimenting with gravity by dropping objects of

different weights and timing the fall.

In art we have focussed on Egyptian death masks. Pupils have designed their mask

before creating it from cardboard then using mod roc cast before finally painting them

with colourful designs.

In design and technology we have been focussing on a multi-stage project. Pupils

designed and created a sarcophagus with a mummy and cartonnage inside. They

used a variety of materials and tools.

Our ICT focus this term has been digital art. Pupils have used various digital programs

to produce pieces of artwork including paint and photo editor.

Pupils have had a great time in P.E. this half term practicing and developing their

hockey skills. They have also enjoyed swimming with many pupils working towards a

certificate with the instructor.

Our Geography topic has been Egypt. Pupils have explored the importance of the river

Nile and made a sensory model of the river Nile which they then flooded to find out

the importance of flooding for crop growth for the people of Egypt.

Cultural studies week was a real treat, from our Egyptian food tasting, to large scale

art every moment was filled with fun and educational activities.

All the staff in Minton 2 wish you a happy summer holidays and look forward to a fun

filled year when we return in September.

Felicity, Christa and Laura

Summer Term in

Regency 2

We have had a very busy term in Regency 2 and have done lots of hard work!

Cultural Studies

This term we have been researching Israel for both cultural studies and ASDAN. We

looked at the environment in Israel including; work, weather, homes, buildings and

artwork.

ASDAN

All pupils have successfully completed the bronze award qualification in ASDAN.

They have all worked extremely hard to complete six modules; communication,

home management, number handling, health and survival, science and technology

and the wider world.

Travel Training

All pupils collected their bus pass from Stoke library and we have travelled to Stoke

and Hanley.

In June we travelled on train to Stone from Stoke station. All pupils ordered their train

tickets independently.

English

In English, the pupils learnt about writing in past tense, understanding food labels,

writing instructions and using conjunctions. All pupils have achieved their expected

English adult learning targets.

Maths

In Maths, the pupils learnt about ordering amounts, sequencing distances, mean,

median, mode and range, creating bar charts and line graphs and completing

number bonds up to 1000. All pupils have achieved their expected Maths adult

learning targets.

Science

In Science, the pupils learnt about the Earth’s atmosphere and how it effects the

weather. We looked at global warming and how we could prevent it. We then looked

at electricity and created circuits. Pupils then looked at everyday electrical items and

stated whether they were mains or battery operated and the number of volts or

wattage they used.

The pupils have worked extremely hard this term and should be very proud of their

achievements.

We hope they have a fantastic summer holiday and just as much success in year 10.

Regency 2

Nikki and Shelley

Aynsley 2

It’s been a fun, but emotional last term in Aynsley 2 this year. We have all been

enjoying the sunshine and time spent outdoors and are all looking forward to the

summer holidays. Unfortunately in Aynsley 2 this means that some of our students

will be leaving us to move onwards and upwards to college in September. Those

year 11 leaving us have all undergone a week’s worth of work experience in various

settings around the city – from a bike repair shop to a special needs nursery. They

all enjoyed their experiences and each managed at least a day working

independently away from the supervision of Kemball staff, which must have been

nervous and exciting for them. As the end of the year has approached we have

focused more on life skills and cooking and have enjoyed creating various dishes in

the kitchen, including vegetation chilli and pasta bakes. Everyone is showing brilliant

progress in life skills learning the basics of chopping and cooking food, road safety

and personal safety.

Both our year 10s and year 11s had a stressful few weeks after half term completing

their entry level exams in maths, English and ICT. We were very pleased with the

mature attitude they all showed towards these and I am happy to say that they have

all done incredibly well in them.

We are immensely proud of how everyone in Aynsley 2 has progressed and we

would like to thank you all for your support throughout the year. We are very sad to

see some of the class move on and wish them all the best in their next placements.

We hope that they will come back and visit us once in a while and look forward to

seeing them again soon. Have a lovely summer holiday and see you for another year

come September!