HWA Blog - 21.3.25
This week, we have been carrying out learning walks with the senior leadership team, curriculum leads and the central team. The focus of the learning walks is on marking and feedback and this week we have observed the following subjects at both primary and secondary: science, RSE, HRE, maths, food, art and English. We have enjoyed being in the classrooms and observing the practice across the school.
On Tuesday, a number of our local Colleges visited Hollinwood Academy and spoke to all of our students in Year 10 and 11 to introduce their colleges and allow students to ask questions regarding further studies. Year 10 have now started to think about their next steps and Year 11 asked for more information about their future plans and what it would look like. Students had a quiz to complete, the winners who were chosen at random were Lexi, Nathan, Jacob and Reece who won an easter egg! We are very proud of our students' enthusiasm and attitudes towards the event. Well Done!
Careers Event
As you are well aware, over the past few weeks, Hollinwood Academy secondary students have completed three rounds of our chess tournament for the opportunity to represent Hollinwood Academy in the first Oldham Secondary School Chess Tournament. The tournament took place today at North Chadderton School and Mrs Needham took: Charlie, year 10, Lucas, year 10, Daniel, year 9, and Marley, year 8 to compete and what a day they had. All the students who took part at Hollinwood Academy and the Oldham School tournament showed remarkable resilience and outstanding sportsmanship. We will be revealing more about this event in our Spring newsletter.
Let’s see what some of the classes have been doing starting with Miss Oakley’s class…
"This half term in English, we have been exploring how to write a brilliant setting for a story. We have focused on giving settings interesting names, using adjectives and similes paint vivid pictures in the minds of the audience. We have explored this through games and sensory related activities, Miss Chloe, Miss Emily and Miss Tracey created
a 'Tasty town' in a tuff tray filled with tasty treats to spark the children's imaginations. With collaborative discussions and creative exercises, the children have come up with some incredible ideas for their own stories which they will write about next week.
In mathematics, our focus has shifted towards shapes—identifying 2-D and 3-D shapes and their properties. Students have engaged actively in practical activities by drawing them in various stimuli e.g. shaving foam, chalk outside etc. They have also been exploring angles and working together to decide whether it may be less than or greater than a right angle. To take this one step further the children have been exploring parallel and perpendicular lines
Our PSHRE lessons have centred around the vital theme of recycling. We have been learning why it is important to recycle, where recycling goes and how we can recycle at school. The children participated in a litter-picking activity around the school grounds, fostering a sense of community responsibility among students. In addition, to further intertwine our learning with creativity, we embarked on a recycled art project in celebration of Science Week. We created a tree created from recycled cardboard, accompanied by birds fashioned from toilet roll tubes. It looked incredible!
In Science we have been delving into the topic of light. Our exploration began with understanding the nature of sunlight, shadows, and how our eyes see objects. We engaged in a hands-on investigation to determine which materials reflect light most effectively. We all agreed that metal is the best material to reflect light and that is why mirrors are made from this material. We have also been classifying and sorting deciding whether items are natural sources of light or artificial.
As always, the children have blown us away with their love to learn and gain deeper understanding in all of the subjects. You are all amazing, keep working hard and keep smiling!"
Miss Chloe, Miss Emily, Miss Tracey and Miss Jess
COY - 21.3.25
Now to Mrs Nelson’s form…
"This week, the students have been studying the poem The Bright Lights of Sarajevo, where they have been applying their analytical skills to explore the poet’s use of language. Ms Nelson has been extremely impressed with their progress in selecting appropriate quotes from a poem and exploring the writer’s use of language. Well done!
On Tuesday, the students attended a Careers Fair, where they met a number of colleges and they explored different courses and apprenticeships. The students had an amazing time thinking about their future!
In Geography, the class have been applying their mathematical skills to produce bar charts to reflect the data that they obtained from their fieldwork on whether Hollinwood has a micro-climate.
During RSE, the class has been exploring the impact of positive and negative role models on our lives. They have been learning about peer pressure and how to respond when someone is trying to pressure you.
In EHCP time, we have been developing our social skills by playing games as a class. We are developing our ability to think strategically and we are learning how to lose gracefully!
Keep up the hard work 10ANN."
ANN - 21.3.25
Now to Mr Challinor’s music lessons…
"This term the Year 7 students have been developing their musical skills using the drum kit and their own voices to explore sounds.
Year 8 have been exploring music for film, looking at how different atmospheres are created through music – they created some fantastic tracks using GarageBand ranging from very spooky to upbeat and uplifting.
Mr Challinor has been very impressed by Y9 – they have been playing cover versions of songs on keyboards and guitars; we have some very musical students here at HWA!
The Choir had a fantastic time at the Young Voices Concert back in February and were happy to be joined by Miss Mayers, who brought along her fantastic driving, organisational, and boogie-ing skills!
This year the concert was held at a new venue – the Co-Op Live Arena and the choir had the full star treatment there!
With their own VIP area and fantastic view of the performers, the choir sang, danced, and performed their best with help from Tommy Blaize (the awesome singer from Strictly Come Dancing) and the Urban Strides dance crew.
Our favourite songs this year were the Hairspray Medley, Birdhouse In Your Soul (by They Might Be Giants) and Little Blue (by Jacob Collier). We are looking forward to taking part again next year.
The Y10 option group took part in an African Drumming workshop earlier in the term and have been working hard towards their Arts Award, practicing their instruments, teaching other people how to play and researching into their favourite artists."
SCR - 21.3.25
Now to our amazing SUPER STARs and HWA We are Creative STARs...
Mrs Lerigo’s STAR of the week is Isla for amazing independent spelling and writing of words in phonics.
Mrs Lerigo’s HWA We are Creative STAR is Ariella for super homework and producing an amazing paper mâché balloon.
Mrs Sutcliffe’s STAR of the week is Albi for turning his behaviour around and having a positive week.
Miss Sutcliffe’s HWA We are Creative STAR is Louie for his amazing recreation of a Clarice Cliff plate in Art.
Miss Oakley’s STAR of the week is Simon for trying his best to be positive about his work and completing it independently. Well done you!
Miss Oakley’s HWA We are Creative STAR is Eliora for excellent Maths work this week all around right angles, parallel lines and perpendicular lines.
Miss Bailey’s STAR of the week is Noel for fabulous work in communication this week and excellent engagement in sensory story too!
Miss Bailey’s HWA We are Creative STAR is Jack for great engagement in mark making this week - independently painting a lovely whale in our sensory story session.
Mrs Quinn’s STAR of the week is George for great concentration on the Leprechaun task.
Mrs Quinn’s HWA We are Creative STAR is Euan for independently tidying up without adult prompt.
Miss Pietraszewska’s STAR of the week is Alfie for trying hard with his handwriting. Well done!
Miss Pietraszewska’s HWA We are Creative STAR is Teddy for doing amazingly with his transition to a new class! Well done!
Mr Corrigan’s STAR of the week is Lewis for some excellent work in English this week.
Mr Corrigan’s HWA We are Creative star is Simisola for earning her swimming badges this week.
Mr Corrigan’s WOW moments go to Kai. Well done!
Miss Hulme’s STAR of the week is Jaxon for trying super hard in his maths end of block assessment and achieving a fantastic score!
Miss Hulme’s HWA We are Creative STAR is Loki for creating a fantastic piece of music using GarageBand based on a colour.
Miss Tootill’s STAR of the week is Jason for being creative during lessons.
Miss Tootill’s HWA We are Creative STAR is David for having a calmer end to the week and making the right choices.
Miss Gittins’ STAR of the week is Lewis for trying hard during a tricky Science lesson this week.
Miss Gittins’ HWA We are Creative STAR is Joshua for excellent contributions in English.
Miss Matthew’s STAR of the week is Bobby for his positive attitude to learning this week.
STARS of the Week (21.3.25)
Scientists of the week is George from Mrs Quinn’s class.
We have a busy weekend of football and netball practise Saturday morning before we travel to Colchester, Essex, Saturday afternoon.
Our youngest daughter, Isla, plays netball for Oldham and they have qualified for the ENG U10 Netball Cup - National Finals 2025 on Sunday.
This sees the top sixteen teams in the country come together to see who No.1 in this unmissable youth netball competition is.
Come on Oldham U10s!!
I hope you have a lovely weekend too.
Mrs Millard
