Hi everyone, we hope you all enjoyed the Easter Holidays! We’ve jumped straight back in to our timetable and have had a wonderful week!
On Monday we began the week with some massage, to ease us in to busy week ahead. We then enjoyed a lovely Music and Movement session.
On Tuesday we were so pleased to be able to get back in to the Hydropool – we had such a great time, there was lots of splashing and jumping! We also enjoyed our Sensory Story ‘We’re going on a monster hunt’ on Tuesday afternoon.
On Wednesday we had a fantastic Jabadao session. In the afternoon we did Exploration where the children could explore lots of different stations such as The Hair Salon, The Shops, Water Play and Natural Materials
On Thursday we were very kindly invited to Nunsmoor Fair! The children, and staff had an amazing time! We went on lots of different rides like the Waltzers, The Dodgems and The Ghost Train! Some of us were very brave and went on ‘The Kickdown’ which was the biggest, scariest ride at the fair! In true fairground style we all got some candy floss to take home too!
We can’t thank the staff at the fair enough for providing us with such a fantastic experience!
On Friday we all had assembly where our lovely Morgan got the weekly achievement certificate for showing interest and initiating interactions with his peers! On Friday afternoon we did some Art and made some ‘thank you’ cards to give to the staff at the Fair!
Have a lovely weekend everyone
Loveday and team x
Happy Easter everyone and Happy Half Term!
We have had a wonderful, very busy half term jam packed with lots of fun, smiles, laughter and learning. We’ve had lots of very special days such as Red Nose Day, where we were all dressed up as our favorite super heroes or came in wearing our comfiest PJ’s! We also celebrated ‘World Book Week’ where we took part in lots of lovely activities. We read a Peter Pan Sensory Story, visited Tinkerbell’s Cave and had a woodland themed Exploration session. We all dressed up as our favorite story book characters and took part in a parade in Assembly. We’ve also had lots of fun getting messy this half term, whether it’s been while getting crafty making gifts to take home for our families or getting messy in Sensory Art exploring ‘gloop’.
We’ve absolutely loved all of our Outdoor Learning activities this half term too, we’ve been soaking up the lovely sunshine we’ve had, and the snow! We’ve had lots of lovely Exploration sessions and it’s been great being able to mix with other classes in school now that some Covid restrictions have been reduced. We’ve also been super busy during Rebound, Music and Movement, Jabadao and Body Awareness!
Even though we have been having lots of fun we have been working super hard too and as a result we’ve had some fantastic achievements to celebrate from independent walking to excellent communication! Well done to all of the children in class for everything they have achieved this half term, enjoy a well-deserved break
Loveday and team x
Outdoor Learning in Loveday’s Class
This week we thought we would share a little bit about Outdoor Learning. Here at Hadrian we are really lucky to have so many wonderful outdoor areas to use. In Loveday’s Class we aim to do some Outdoor Learning at least once a day – no matter the weather!
We all love the sunshine but the children have just as much, if not more fun, getting their waterproofs and wellies on and playing in the rain and snow.
The Mud Kitchen is somewhere where the children can engage in pretend and messy play. There’s lots of pots, pans and utensils to use and it’s a great resource to work on our exploration, role play, fine motor and communication skills. We tend to get very messy when we play here but it’s definitely worth it!
The Water Wall is a great resource, even though we do usually get soaked! The children love filling and emptying buckets of water, splashing and jumping in puddles.
The Early Years Playground is a lovely space which always scores highly on our Engagement Board! In this playground there’s lots of bikes and cars for the children to use as well as lots of space to run around. The children love exploring the outdoor musical instruments too!
The Adventure Playground and Internal Quad are definitely a favorite of ours here in Loveday’s Class. These spaces have lots of swings, slides, spinners and see-saws which everybody loves! We always have lots of fun out here and the big equipment provides us with the perfect opportunity to work on our Core Vocabulary ‘more, stop, fast, slow, go’ and ‘help’.
Here in Loveday’s Class, communication is such a huge part of our everyday learning. It is integrated in to every activity we do throughout the day. The children in class are exposed to a ‘Total Communication’ approach, which means alongside speech we use photographs, symbols, signs and VOCA’s.
We thought it would be nice to share on our blog some of the ways in which our children communicate. Throughout Hadrian there is a focus on ‘Core Vocabulary’
Core vocabulary is a small amount of words that make up a lot of what we say throughout our day. These words are useful in many scenarios and can have many meanings. Core Vocabulary is powerful because it allows us to express a wide variety of concepts with a very small number of words.
Some of the Core Vocabulary we focus on in our class is: ‘more, stop, go, and help, fast’ and ‘slow’. Lots of the children in class are working on this vocabulary using symbols and are doing great!
We also have two children in class who are using VOCA’s (voice output communication aids). They are also able to access the Core Vocabulary using their devices as well as a lot of other words.
We’re also fantastic at making choices here in Loveday’s class. We can use photographs, symbols, signs, objects or our VOCA’s to make choices. We’re able to choose our snacks, favorite toys, songs, activities and so much more.
We like to fill our timetable up with lots of exciting and engaging activities to encourage the children to communicate.
We’re loving seeing the children communicate so effectively!
Hello everyone and welcome to our weekly class blog!
This week in Loveday’s Class we have had a very busy week. On Monday’s we always begin the week with Outdoor Learning and we are so happy that the sunshine is starting to make an appearance! We’re really lucky here at Hadrian and we have lots of fantastic outdoor areas to use. This term we have been using the Mud Kitchen and the Early Years Playground. We have also enjoyed Sensory Art, it does tend to get very messy but it is lots of fun! This term we have been exploring ‘gloop’. The children are fantastic at using their hands to explore as well as using a range of tools and utensils – to help develop their fine motor skills.
We have also enjoyed some physical activities this week such as: Music and Movement, Body Awareness, Jabadao, Rebound and Soft Play! These sessions are always high scorers on our Engagement board!
This week we started our new Exploration theme. Child led learning is such a success with the children in our class so we decided to set up a variety of different stations for the children to choose from. We had lots of small world activities set up for the children to explore such as, cars, babies and dolls houses. The babies were such a hit but we think that might have something to do with the baby baths and lots of splashing going on! The children also enjoyed our Salon and Messy play area.
Unfortunately our St Patrick’s Day assembly has been postponed, but that didn’t stop us having lots of fun!
In preparation for assembly we had a very special St Patrick’s Day exploration session. We hope you enjoy the video which shows what a lovey time we have had!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13cvzPd6tifK-CxytJ9V9tbFsRBKT8Oxd/view?usp=sharing
We were very lucky to have our very own Panto in school. A great theatre group visited us on Monday morning to share their performance of Dick Whittington. The usual panto fun and games were enjoyed by the whole school. It was lovely to see classes come together again to share group celebrations. We had a Christmas dinner on Tuesday, which went down a treat!
Outdoor Christmas Carole’s with the whole school was excellent and much enjoyed by all. Thank you to our Hadrian band for performing for us all.
We shared a Christmas party with Dave’s class in the sports hall so we had a wide range of space and had a surprise visit from Santa, who brought us all presents. We had a dance and sensory play and of course Christmas music!
All children and staff looked great on elf day, thank you all for participating. The sponsored bounce was enjoyed by the children, thank you all for the donations. We took part in the outdoor elf run, the weather was great for it.
We are also saying goodbye to Clare who has been with us for many years, Goodluck on your new adventure. You will be missed.
We hope you all have a fun filled, safe Christmas with loved ones and a great start to 2022. We will see you back in school in the New Year!
From,
Happy Christmas jumper day. Thanks to all of you for a great effort today. We had fun playing outdoors and in our special assembly. Look at those lovely faces.
Well done to our Dan for being our star of the week. His independence skills and perseverance have impressed us all.
This week we began our Hadrian School countdown to Christmas in style this week.
Monday and Tuesday we began the week with our annual class Christmas trip. Due to adverse weather over the weekend, we decided to stay nearer school and visit Jesmond Dene. We had a lovely 2 days out. Children played in the park and enjoyed a walk before having a packed lunch on the warm bus. We returned to school in the afternoon just in time for snack.
Children came into class on Wednesday December 1st to a magical array of Christmas lights. Our school hall, reception area and classroom looked very festive. School always looks magical at this time of year. We spent the first part of the morning in our Advent assembly introducing the Christmas story of baby Jesus being born. Children from each class added characters to our nativity scene to build a picture of the manger in Bethlehem. We lit the first advent candle, which signified ‘hope’. It was a very moving assembly, in which we sang and signed carols. We shared a small taste of this on our Friends of Hadrian Facebook page. Here is the link…….
https://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/category/Community/The-Friends-of-Hadrian-School-433686086649174/
Huge thanks to our friends from Greggs the bakers for their kind donations to school. We are thankful for the continuous generosity for our children all year around.
We also began making baubles to send home to decorate our trees in sensory art. We had so much fun with the jewels, glitter and sticky back plastic. I am sure this explains many glittery children going home! We do change clothes to avoid too much mess but it does seem to sneak everywhere! Apologies. I am sure the children’s handmade crafts will be worth it, I am sure!
Well done to our Basheer for being our class half term achiever. Our lovely little boy has made lots of progress in his time with us. His consistent communication and independence around school has astounded us. Well done Bash. Your family must be so proud, as we are!
Here are some photos of our first hydro session this term Our new lights were a huge hit. Every child had the opportunity to explore both the paddling pools and shower area then the main pool. I can’t tell you how happy this made everyone. We look forward to a weekly session in the pool, working on our communication and Halliwick skills.
On Monday and Tuesday of next week we will be venturing out on the school bus to Bolam Lake. Could all children be sent t school in warm clothes. Uniform is not necessary on these days. Watch out for photos on next weeks blog.
In other news, we begin our count down to Christmas next week in school. Decorations and trees galore from December 1st. Lots of exciting festivities planned.
Watch this space.
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
This week we enjoyed a brilliant exploration session in the classroom with our car theme. We saw many of our children play and explore for longer periods. Every one was so focused on what they were playing with and with the adults they were working with. Excellent!
We’ve had lots of visitors to school this week – from other schools, university lecturers and students. It has been such a pleasure to show them our brilliant children, the learning and our staff.
Today was our Pudsey Day for Children In Need. It was lovely to see children all dressed in bright colours, spotty clothes and pyjamas. We are still counting up money collected. Thank you all so much for the kind and generous donations.