Redwood School

Redwood School

New Term- What a fabulous start to the new term. It is great to see all the pupils settling straight back into their routines at school. I know we are in for a very successful year ahead. 2012 Olympics - At this week’s staff meeting we formally launched our plans and activities to celebrate 2012 and living the Olympic and Paralympic values. We will focus each month leading to the games on one of the values: January being ‘Friendship.’ Regular updates will be provided to parents on the activities taking place. For example we will be holding our own Winter Games on Friday 10 February – watch this space for more details in the next few weeks. The after School and Youth Clubs programme which has been so successful has started again and the weekend club started last Saturday. Feedback from parents has resulted in a few minor changes to some of the clubs. If you want your son/daughter to attend one of the clubs please contact David Butterworth at school.

Multi sports club - Oulder Hill Sports Hall – park up near Redwood Reception. Turn up and register on the evening – open to all abilities. There are to be TWO sports on offer until 1/2 term trampolining and archery. To follow at a later date; basketball, cricket, boccia, badminton, new age curling and many other sports). The sports will change for the next 1/2 term.This is a great opportunity to have a go at some new sports or further your existing skills.

Training 5.00–6.00 Thursday evenings at Oulderhill Sports Hall - Turn up and register at 4.50 – come in trainers and suitable kit. Park in the Redwood car park and enter via Oulder Hill Sports Hall side doors. The surface is also suitable for wheelchairs – users are welcome to attend. All abilities welcome – potential to form a team and play matches against other clubs.

KS4 news -the pupils got right back into working hard, the motor mechanics group have been unable to attend MANTRA this week so instead they have looked at sports cars and their important facts. The boys enjoyed talking about the cars that they may have in the future. The Cook and Eat group in school were making some yummy foods for dinner; they made a healthy pizza and some chocolate brownies. SEB have been looking at the work of artist Jackson Pollock and re-created one of his paintings. Key Stages 3 and 4 have been working in unison. The Christmas showcase, held just before the holidays featured students from KS4 SEB along with KS3 students. The parents and carers of performing students were treated to our version of the Wizard of Oz. The performance was the result of weeks of hard work and re-writing of the story to fit in with our needs. The success of the show will lead to future collaborations as not only was it a huge success but great fun for all involved. The P.E group got their hearts racing and practiced their Basketball skills and had a swim over at Oulderhill pool. 4U are starting independence and life skills programme where they will be look at visiting places like ASDA, cafe’s, etc. Visiting these places will allow the pupils to develop their social skills and money skills.

Key Stage 3 News— The Year has got off to a good start with lots of varied activities taking place across the dept. Year 8/9 Yellow had an exciting time practising an earthquake drill. Maths lessons see the students learning about number, Algebra and Shape. The students will be working on a Maths Olympics to find the top ‘Mathletes’. Year 7 Red have been reading Ann Frank, using various communication aids to support their learning—’go talk 4 and go talk 9’. Jordan D has been joining in with Key Stage 4 SEB music sessions which have proved to be both fun and educational. This term the topic is ‘Time Travel’ - meeting composers from many years ago.

6th form news - Just before we broke up for Christmas 6th Form held their annual Christmas coffee morning and enterprise sale. We made £645.36 that day. Thank you to everyone who attended. 6th Form offer a very warm welcome to new tutor Catriona Prestwood. Catriona will be taking over as the 2nd Year tutor. She has worked as a teacher for a few years now and she specialises in Art and Design. Interviews took place for the TA3 post in 6th Form. Many congratulations to Anne Simpson for securing the post. 6th Form Student Council held their very first Student council surgery. An opportunity to meet and chat to their 6th Form Council members face to face and discuss issues and look for ways to make 6th Form even better. Well done and a big thank you to all who attended the surgery and of course the 6th Form Student Council members: Sarah, Louis, Sophie and Declan Law who gave up their lunchtime break to hold this surgery. The personal clothing and care group have been learning how to iron and fold laundry this week. The group have been looking at different settings on an iron and how to use and store an iron safely. The group worked really hard and got through a mountain load of ironing.