What a wonderful festive week we have had to start advent!

It began with our Hadrian Advent Assembly, we then done some festive yoga in the class.

We enjoyed a day in the Yurt (which the staff had secretly made into a magical grotto) the children loved the lights and decorations. We all worked together chopping, slicing and mashing vegetables to make some delicious soup which we cooked on the top of the log burner. In the afternoon we enjoyed a sensory story of ‘Norbet the green nosed reindeer’ which the children loved. We then enjoyed hot chocolate, warm mince pies fresh from the fire and our homemade soup.

We were also lucky enough to each be given a handmade blanket from Project Linus Northumberland. The children chose their personal favourite blanket and enjoyed being snuggled up in them all afternoon.

School has also been transformed into the festive season and is looking truly magical!

Have a wonderful weekend.

We all worked together on an art project set by Scott! We had to create some road signs, just like the artist Clet Abraham who adds things to the road signs of Florence to make them comical!

The children chose to create a hedgehog Christmas tree, a frog prince, a leafy frog and an alien abduction!

Here are the pictures of our work in progress, then the finished product!

We are very proud of our fabulous work, well done team 3/4.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all keeping well! Today I sent out invitations, via email, to join a class communication tool called Class Dojo. This will help us keep in touch a little easier while we are apart. I only have emails for 8 out of 13 of you, so if you I do not have yours please send it over to ellen.jankowski@hadrian.newcastle.sch.org.uk. In addition to this, if you have contact details for anyone else in the class, please ask them to send these details over to me so we can keep in touch.

Remember, you are not alone. There are lots of ways for us to keep in touch! Isn’t technology wonderful?

Ellen x

Hi everyone

I am going to send home (physically or via email) a pack of ideas for learning activities to help occupy and engage your children while school is closed. These will be fun, practical, suggestions which should be easy to resource using things found around your home (no precious toilet rolls I promise!).You will also find a link to a website which contains a long list of free online resource to help support your child’s learning. In addition to this, I will also send home your child’s most up to date PLP, this is so you can see the aims we put together at the recent EHCP review meetings. This document may help you to work some of these outcomes into your child’s day and continue the learning that has been happening in school. Please do not feel you have to do anything in the pack I send home, they are merely suggestions to help fill your time.

Over the coming weeks, you may see an increase in dysregulated behaviour in your children. Whether it’s anxiety, anger or frustration that they can’t do things as they used to. This is normal and expected under these circumstances. What our children need right now is to feel comforted and loved. To feel like it’s all going to be OK. For some children you may want to put all of the things I send home aside, play outside and go on walks. Bake cookies and paint pictures. Play board games and watch movies. Do a science experiment together or find virtual tour of the zoo. Start a book and read together as a family. Snuggle under warm blankets and do nothing. For other children, the lack of structure, routine and familiarity will be difficult. For them I have included a toolkit of symbols and schedules – it is from the USA but I think it’s really nice.

One thing my pack cannot provide is social contact so please use this blog to comment and share with other families in our lovely little class. If you would like me to facilitate the swapping of email addresses or mobile numbers to create a class WhatsApp group or to video call your child’s friends, please let me know.

At the end of all of this, your child’s mental health and physical well-being will be more important than their academic skills. And how they felt during this time will stay with them long after the memory of what they did during this time has faded.

Stay safe!

Ellen & team 2/3

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Today we took the opportunity to enjoy the fresh air and we all had such a wonderful day. In this uncertain time, it was lovely to escape from all the current worries and enjoy time with each other in such beautiful surroundings!

We took part in an outdoor art session in which the children collected natural materials of different colours. We then did some exploring for textures and did some beautiful rubbings. After that we used mud and sticks to mark make which they absolutely loved!! Finally we looked at the work of Andy Goldstein and used sticks, nuts and leaves to make our own works of art – just look at James’  concentration!

As a team we are so please that we had today to spend in a happy little bubble enjoying spending time with your wonderful children. We feel very privileged to do this job everyday and we are going to miss seeing their faces everyday when we close on Friday. The whole team would like to send you their best wishes and hope that the coming weeks or months pass quickly, peacefully and healthily. I will keep in touch via the blog and I’m hoping to stream some yoga classes on the school website too (software permitting). If there is anything you feel you need to support your child in this tricky time, please know that we will do all we can to support you. You are not alone. Use the ‘Friends of Hadrian’ Facebook site, twitter, school website and parents watts app groups to maintain those vital links. You all have my email, and if not it is ellen.jankowski@hadrian.newcastle.sch.uk, and I will check this during any isolation and try to help in any way that I can.

All our love, keep safe,

Ellen and team 2/3 (the dream team!)

Today we made lovely shamrock hats ready for our St Patrick’s Day assembly this afternoon! The children loved learning about St Patrick’s Day and all things Irish, especially Leprechauns! 

To our friends at home – we miss you and we will be sending you messages and lots of love via our blog!

Team 2/3

x x x