July Newsletter

Headteacher’s Message

Once again, I am delighted to say that we have had an extremely positive year.

Our curriculum continues to play a key role in the outcomes for our pupils. Our external assessments have again produced some fantastic results, with a number of pupils achieving Level 1, 2 and 3 qualifications. We continue to have pupils passing the benchmark for phonics screening and have had a number of pupils accessing SATs. These assessments demonstrate how much progress our pupils are making across our curriculum.

In addition, we have seen eleven of our Post-16 pupils working full time for four days a week and a number of these pupils have been offered full time jobs when they leave us. We are so proud of all of our pupils and the effort they have put into their learning and development this academic year.

During the Summer term, pupils have enjoyed learning linked to two whole school themes.

For the first theme “Bee Happy”, pupils had fun exploring local habitats, looking for and discovering creatures living in many different types of habitats. The second theme “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” focused on teamwork and the Olympic values.  Pupils have taken part in activities, helping each other, both in school and during visits, and worked hard to prepare for and support their classmates during Sports Week.

I would like to give my thanks to the Friends of Winchelsea for planning the Summer Fair and being able to hold the event despite the weather! As ever, we are very grateful for their effort and support and the money they raise for our pupils.

As always, I would like to thank you all for your continued support this year. It has been so good to see so many of you throughout the year at our events.

Finally, a reminder that pupils return to school on Tuesday 3 September 2024 after the summer holidays.

In the meantime, I hope you all have a lovely summer break!

Geoff Cherrill
Headteacher

Safeguarding and Participation Team

Are You Worried About a Child or Young Person?  

If you're worried about the wellbeing of a child, want to report abuse or aren't sure what to do, please get in touch. 

The Children's Service First Response Hub provides the public and professionals with advice, information and support for children who are vulnerable and at risk. 

Children's First Response Hub can help if you: 

• Are worried about a child or young person who is at risk of (or is being) hurt or abused 
• Know of a child or young person who may be vulnerable without additional help and support 
• Want to know more about services to support children, young people, and their families 
• Need support to agree an Early Help offer 

If you're concerned, but not sure a child is at risk? Discuss the circumstances with the Children’s First Team. 

Contact Children's First Response Hub 

If you are a member of the public, please:

Telephone 01202 123334 or Email: [email protected] 

The First Response Hub is open during the following hours: 

Monday to Thursday, 8:30am to 5:15pm 
Friday, 8.30am to 4.45pm 

Urgent help out of hours 

The ‘out of hours service’ offer emergency support for any child who is in crisis, needs urgent help or is at serious risk of significant harm. Their phone number is 01202 738 256. 

In an emergency, or if you believe a child is at immediate danger or risk of harm, call the police on 999. 

NSPCC Training for All - Listen up, Speak up 

Half a million children suffer abuse and neglect a year in the UK. 

But there's something we can all do to change that. 

With the NSPCC’S free 10-minute digital training, they're empowering every adult to know what to do if a child needs help, and where to go if you need support yourself. 

Summer is an amazing time to enjoy Britain’s waterways but we should be mindful that according to the Royal Life Saving Society’s National Drowning Report 2023, warmer weather is directly linked to an increase in fatal drowning incidents.  

Every year we hear of children who get into difficulties in our rivers, lakes and seas, often with tragic consequences.  

46% of drownings occur in the summer months and this rises to 75% amongst 13-17yr olds • Rivers and lakes/lochs pose the greatest risk as there are often unseen hazards and conditions that the average person is not equipped to handle and there is a lack of professional supervision such as a lifeguard. 

The RNLI provide lots of advice and guidance on how to stay safe around water. There are lots of resources that you can share with your child to improve their understanding of the risks and how to stay safe around water. 

Summer Holiday Wellbeing? 

Have you thought about yours and your families summer holiday wellbeing? 

The summer can be a bit disorientating or overwhelming, as weeks without routine or purpose stretch out ahead. The NHS has got five top tips to help you boost your summer holiday wellbeing. 

Make A New Routine 

One of the benefits of term-time is that it gives us structure and routine.  

Lots of people find that routines make it easier for them to take care of themselves. Every day, we do things like brushing our teeth, eating, relaxing, and connecting with others. When these things are part of an established routine, it often seems like they take less effort and energy. Without a routine, taking care of yourself can quickly feel overwhelming. 

So, boost your summer holiday wellbeing with a summer holiday routine. It’s OK to be real about it too – you’re probably not going to get up at the crack of dawn to watch the sun rise every day, and that’s OK. 

Start by asking yourself about the fundamental things you need to do every day. They probably include things like eating meals, brushing your teeth and showering, and maybe getting out of the house or moving your body. And don’t forget about sleep too! 

How can you keep these things up without the external structure? What support do you need? Some people might find it helpful to write or draw their routines out, while others use apps like Move Mood. You could even agree to check in with a friend to keep each other motivated. 

Set Some Goals

Over the summer holidays, you can set your own goals. What interests you? 

Goals don’t have to be complex - it could be as simple as exploring your local area with a friend and/or your family, learning a new recipe, or tidying a room. You could even make a ‘summer bucket list’ that you’d like to aim to complete before September. 

If you’re stuck for inspiration, check out the five ways to wellbeing.  

Make The Most of Opportunities Locally or Online 

You can google ‘summer holiday activities for young people in BCP’ to see what’s going on.  

The Family Information Directory provides details on childcare, local activities and a range of services for you and your family.  Please make sure you check any activity or event is still running before you attend.   

The Family Information Service is to help you and your family find childcare, local services and activities. The Family Directory BCP.    

Be aware of social media 

Don’t fall into a social media sinkhole this summer. You might want to post some of your summer highlights so you can look back on your favourite memories or use social media to find out about cool opportunities in your area – but try to be aware of how much you’re using social media and how it’s making you feel. 

If you’re worried about how much time you and/or a family member is spending online, you can find out how to manage how you spend time on your phone on the Google website or iOS website. 

There is also content about what to do if you or a family member is struggling with body image this summer, or if you come across distressing content online.  

Coping with worries   

Some people find that having more free time over the summer holiday makes it harder to manage worries and spiralling thoughts. You, a friend or a family member might feel unsure about events over the summer (like holidays or meeting up with friends) or about going back to school, college, university or work in September. 

Different people prefer to manage these feelings in different ways. 

Kooth is a free, safe, anonymous online wellbeing community for young people. It has features including a journal, magazine, and discussion boards. Find out more about Kooth on the  Digital mental health support page. 

You don’t have to manage on your own, even if you don’t want to talk to someone you know yet. You can always text NATTER to 85258 to text with a trained volunteer (it’s anonymous and free), or check out other places you can call or online chat on the  Get help now page. 

Every Day in School Matters

Did you know…

There are 175 non-school days in a year for holidays, appointments, weddings, shopping and spending time with friends and family.

Types of Absence

Every half-day absence from school, by law, has to be classified as either authorised or unauthorised. This is why information about the cause of absence is always asked for.

Authorised Absences

These are mornings or afternoons away from school for a valid reason such as illness, emergency medical or dental appointments (routine appointments should always be made out of school hours) and emergencies. Where there are high levels of illness without proof that medical advice has been sought these absences will not be authorised.

Unauthorised Absences

An absence is classified as Unauthorised if the reason was not recognised as acceptable. The Department for Education (DfE) and Local Education Authorities provide information for schools as to what is acceptable and what is not.

Examples of reasons that would not be accepted:

• A birthday;
• A shopping trip;
• Day trips;
• Holidays – unless have been agreed as exceptional circumstances.

If your child misses school without a good reason, local councils and schools can intervene and you may be issued a fine. Under the new national framework which comes into effect from August 2024, all schools will be required to consider a fine when a child has missed 10 or more sessions (5 days) for unauthorised reasons.

From August 2024, the fine for school absences across the country will be £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days.

Getting ready to return to school

We know that a break from the routine of school can make returning to school in September a bit of a challenge. Below are some top tips that may make the return a little easier.

• Get in the habit of going to bed early and getting up in time to eat breakfast;
• Young people need plenty of sleep and fuel for the day;
• Encourage children to start taking responsibility for the things they need to do each day - getting their bag ready and getting themselves ready in the mornings;
• Practise packing all the things children will need to take to school. Get in the good habit of packing the night before;
• Plan the route to your new school and make a few trial runs when it’s safe to do so.

If you would like any support or advice on attendance or punctuality, please speak to your child’s class teacher.

Best wishes
Adam Bradford

Curriculum

In Summer 1 our curriculum theme was ‘BEE Happy’. Pupils have been finding out about local habitats and the animals that you might find in those areas. This took classes on a journey in our local area to the heath, the beach and the forest. The Discoverers really embraced this theme with some fantastic home learning creations of bugs and thoroughly enjoyed their fab finish at the ‘Ugly Bug Ball.’ 

In Summer 2, in our theme ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’ pupils have been working across the school developing their social interactions through sporting activities, using this as an opportunity to get together and work with other classes. Through this theme we have been looking at the Olympics and it’s values: Respect, Excellence and Friendship. To embed the Olympic idea the PE team placed everyone in a ‘country’ and all class work in the curriculum went towards winning points for your country. This culminated in our annual sports week where the focus was very much about joining with others for intra-class competitions and sports day. During our final assemblies Mr Dunnachie presented ‘Kenya’ with the winning trophy.

Pupils in KS4 had a thoroughly exciting and rewarding time on our Annual residential trip to Ferny Crofts Activity Centre. Pupils took part in a range of activities from rifle shooting to their zip wire challenge and abseiling. Pupils successfully catered for the event themselves helping to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner - I hope they are now using all these skills to be helpful at home! 

As part of our fab finishes, classes in the Discoverers Pathways enjoyed a very physically active time at Lemur landings, with pupils really impressing staff with the amount of movement and communication that they were doing, what a great motivator! The Enquirers and Navigators Pathways had a really adventurous day out at Butchers Coppice where they took part in a range of challenging activities that required teamwork and moving out of their comfort zone!

We say goodbye to several leavers again this year, some that have been with us for many years, I wish them much success in their new ventures as some go on to schools, colleges and into work.

It has been another wonderful year, that has seen some fantastic opportunities and outcomes across the school. I hope you all have a lovely break and hopefully we get to see some much-wanted sunshine!

Hannah Parry
Curriculum Lead

Medical

Sleep 

I qualified as a Sleep Practitioner two years ago and have since been providing advice, support and sleep programmes for many of our Winchelsea families. From September I will be offering more sleep workshops and individual support for families who are experiencing difficulties with sleep. Further information about the workshops and how to gain a place will follow in September.

The sleep workshops will provide the following information and support: 

• What is sleep
• Sleep stages 
• Cause of sleep issues
• Impact of sleep deprivation 
• Sleep advice, resources 
• Strategies, programmes 
• Bedroom environments
• Nightmares, night terrors and sleep walking
• Melatonin 

Ticks Awareness 

Ticks can occur throughout the year, but ticks are more common during the spring and summer months. Ticks are small arachnids that carry diseases such as Lyme Disease. These can be found in woodland, grassland, moorland, parks and gardens. 

Please follow the link for information and advice about ticks: 
 https://www.publichealthdorset.org.uk/b/enjoy-dorset-s-countryside-but-be-tick-aware-1 

Heat Exhaustion and Heatstroke Awareness 

Heatstroke is a medical condition caused by the body becoming too hot and overheating, this usually happens after a prolonged exposure to high temperature or physical exertion. Heat exhaustion does not usually need medical help if you are cooled down within 30 minutes. If the condition develops into heatstroke this requires urgent medical treatment. 

During high temperatures it is important the body is cool and very well hydrated. Ice packs, cooling mists and fans are ways you can prevent heat exhaustion from occurring. Please follow the link for further information and advice: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/heat-exhaustion-heatstroke/ 

Medical Email 

Please use our medical email address [email protected] if you would like to discuss any of the following:

Request referrals including: School Paediatrician, ID-CAMHS, CAMHS, Continence Team, Sleep Clinic, Community Dietician, Dental Service, Hearing Support Service, Vision Support Service or the Wheelchair Service.

Please use the Winchelsea enquiry email address [email protected] for any other medical related issues other than listed above. 

We aim to respond to all email enquiries the same day. 

Medication 

If your child has regular medication in school e.g., Inhalers, at the end of term all medication held in school will be sent home with your child. Please check you have received this.

Prescribed Medications 

If your child requires medications during school time for a medical condition you must complete an M2 form, this is available in reception or on the school website to download. 

Paracetamol - please be advised that we have a Medication Policy in place that states we can only administer prescribed medications which includes Paracetamol. 

Protocols 

If your child requires a medical protocol this will have already been sent home to you. If you have not signed and returned this to school, please can you send it in with with your child on the first day back Tuesday 3^rd September 2024. 

As always if the medical team can offer any support or advice, please contact us. 

Have a wonderful summer and keep safe.

Best Wishes 
Michelle & Jane 

Therapy Team

At the end of the summer term, Jess P (SaLT) will be going on maternity leave and we wish her all the best. 

Speech & Language Therapy 

Social Communication Curriculum 

Last September, the SaLT Team introduced a social communication slot into the curriculum and provided a bespoke curriculum of approaches to support and develop social communication skills across all classes. We have had some brilliant feedback from class teams about pupil progress and we would like to thank the class teams for continuing this work. 

Stammering 

Over the past year, some of our classes have been learning about stammering to support pupils in the school who have a stammer. The pupils have engaged really well in learning about this area of communication.  

If you would like to learn more about stammering, here are some helpful links: 

AAC 

The SaLTs have been reviewing and updating communication aids across some Navigators and Discoverers classes and many pupils are now using personalised communication books to support their communication more effectively. 

Physiotherapy 

This term the whole school physio challenge has been ‘Mr Hamilton’s Cardio Drumming’ videos on YouTube. You could try this at home over the summer using any objects for sticks e.g., wooden spoons, chopsticks, or just your hands!

Follow the link to find the playlist of the desk drumming videos here:

The link to Mr Hamilton’s YouTube Channel is: Kent Hamilton - YouTube

Last week, the inflatables were back on the field to reward the pupils for their hard work. The Therapy Team and Physiotherapist Jane had a great time seeing how much the pupils can do physically whilst having fun!

Occupational Therapy 

Our fine motor skills curriculum ‘Active8’, developed by Occupational Therapist Jo, has been continually adapted and expanded over the past year to include more classes. This is now running across all classes at Winchelsea and is always evolving to meet the varying needs of the pupils across the school. 

We hope you have a wonderful summer and look forward to seeing the pupils return in September! 

Ocean

The last two terms have been absolutely amazing, and we could not be prouder of the children. They have engaged fully in our topic of ‘Bee Happy’ where we began to develop some relaxation techniques and calming activities such as yoga, emotions songs, and developing a wonder in the world.  Additionally, the children have shown lots of engagement through our topic songs ‘Walk Like a Millipede’ and ‘It’s a Brand-New Day’. We continued to use these activities through our second theme ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’. As this term has progressed, we have seen more and more children beginning to join in with the actions of several of our songs. All the children are starting to show some interest in exploring construction activities, filling and emptying pots, the loose materials such as shiny jewels and buttons, and our pre-attention autism sessions where we explore light and sound, sharing these resources together.   

The children’s confidence during our PE in the Park sessions has grown, as has some children’s ability to ask for help and show us what they want. We have used shopping crates to pull each other around the playground and enjoyed a multitude of obstacle courses. Swimming has been a huge hit, and it is wonderful to see the children immersed in the water, laughing, chasing small balls, filling watering cans and pouring it, and learning how to keep safe.  

In our food sensory sessions, we have explored chocolate ‘mud’, butterfly coloured cereal, made ladybird bread rolls, and banana and oatmeal pancakes all of which have supported a tolerance of food and aided development of fine motor skills. In Art and Music, we have explored the colours of different countries (linked to the Olympics) and great fun was had by all as we made a large Explorers flag using every bit of our body to paint it!  

It really has been a wonderful year in so many ways. Getting to know your children and yourselves, and working together to support the progress of the children has been a privilege. We wish you a fabulous summer break with much laughter and joy and look forward to seeing you in the Autumn. Thank you and take care! :-) 

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Harbour

We are excited to share all the fun and learning we’ve had during this term with our topics, ‘Bee Happy’ and ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’. The children have been buzzing with excitement as we’ve explored the world of mini beasts and engaged in various activities that support their learning and development. We’ve been practising choosing and requesting songs to sing and the children have built up a good repertoire of favourites including ‘Crawling like a Caterpillar’ and ‘Butterfly, Ladybug and Bumblebee’. This has been a fantastic way to enhance our PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) skills.  

Our PE sessions have been very active! The children have enjoyed climbing, jumping over hurdles, and playing on the park equipment. We’ve also been going swimming once a week and it’s been wonderful to see the children’s confidence grow in the water. Our focus story this term has been ‘Bugs, Bugs, Bugs’ by Bob Barner. We’ve delved into the lives of caterpillars, butterflies, spiders, ladybirds and bees. The children have explored the natural habitats of mini beasts and learned what they need to survive, such as leaves, flowers and soil. This hands-on learning has been very engaging and informative.  

Our food sensory activities have been a hit! We’ve explored colourful wiggly worm spaghetti, oats and yoghurt, custard, honey, pastry and cheese. We also made ladybird and bee biscuits, which were both fun to make and delicious to eat. In art, we’ve rolled playdough to make caterpillars, used colourful tissue paper to decorate butterfly wings and created spider webs by rolling balls through white paint. These activities have helped develop the children’s fine motor skills. Our problem-solving sessions have included matching and sorting shapes, numbers and colours. We’ve also learned a fun ladybird number song. Additionally, we’ve been practising important life skills like brushing our teeth and wiping our faces at the end of the day.  

It’s been a busy and productive term and we’re proud of all the progress the children have made this academic year. Thank you for your continued support and we hope that you all have a lovely summer break and the children come back refreshed and ready to learn for the new year! 

Oyster

It’s a sad time to be writing this knowing that Oyster class will be moving in different directions. Instead I’d like to have a positive spin on it as everyone in class has made such amazing progress across a wide variety of areas. The team and I are so privileged to be part of it and proud of the positive impact we have managed to achieve with the children and with your support. Here are some of the memories and events we have achieved over the final summer term together.  

We have had two themes running, firstly ‘Bee Happy’ and secondly ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me.' The stories that we have covered have been ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ written by Eric Carle, ‘Aaaarrgghh Spider!’ written by Lydia Monks and ‘Down by the Cool of the Pool’ written by Tony Mitton. Each of these stories have been filled with actions and vocabulary that the children have been recalling. As with every story the resources we use make the story more meaningful and fun. I think every child has demonstrated their anticipation at one point during our stories, including; retelling the text with the sound buttons, identifying the next animal in the story or most noticeably keeping a very keen eye on the water tray for the splash of the pool to either get as close or far away from the splash as they can! 

All our creative work has been heavily linked to our themes and class text; you must all have a large collection of bugs at home now that your children have made! As we have previously mentioned in our weekly news we have been learning about our faces and painting self-portraits then painting our friends. The focus and attention during this activity has been a real treat to watch. Several children have demonstrated how proud they are of their paintings and showing them to every adult in the room.  

In our problem solving and life skills activities we have been working on our motor skills in food preparation. We explored different foods and practiced our chopping and spreading! We made some delicious alternative party food including bug sandwiches whilst continuing to explore textures and tastes.

The themes have enabled us to expand on our physical activities with purpose. For our party preparations we followed instructions on how to do ‘The Millipede March’ and practiced several songs, with some favourites including ‘Chu Chu Ragh’, ‘Superman’, ‘Agado’ and 'Baby Shark'. Great fun was had by all at our Bug Ball. 

Together our social interaction has seen a ginormous turn for the better in small groups and whole class opportunities. They have been in the context of sharing resources and turn taking games, PE activities, water play together and community visits to the park sometimes joined by Shells class. 

I think for us though the best moments have been what we do in school has a positive impact at home. We love to hear when one of the class has either; carried on an interest from an activity they like, eaten something new, started to try new things, been out shopping when that was usually a trigger, or used a strategy or their tool kit to overcome a tricky time. These are our golden moments and I can’t thank you enough for sharing them with us.

Thank you for your support we have had over the year and we wish you a lovely Summer break.

Starfish

The summer term is always busy, fun and full of adventure and this year has been no exception in Starfish Class. We have been out and about exploring our local area in the sunshine including the beach, Lemur Landings, Avon Country Park, Upton, wonderful walks along the Chines, and, of course, our local heathlands. Summer is a great time to watch wildlife and plants grow and flourish and to get out and about outside so this was the perfect complement to our Summer 1 and Summer 2 themes, “Bee Happy!” and “You've Got a Friend in Me”.   

In My Communication sessions we have been working on developing commentary through AAC, symbols and Let’s Chat boards. We have been using the Let’s Chat boards to label what we can see and hear and then starting to think about how we can extend our language to describe what we can see and hear. Some of the children have been able to extend that even further and tell us where the different minibeasts live which is fantastic progress.  As part of our Summer 2 theme, we have focused on movement words and following instructions. The children have enjoyed learning how they can move around different equipment, and some have used these newly acquired skills to regulate and request using symbols and verbally.

As always, life skills is an important area of our curriculum and we are constantly driving towards creating independent young people. This has been our focus especially in toileting and self-care this term.  Children are expected to find their pads or spare clothes and take themselves to get changed.  When going on a trip the children have to find their own appropriate clothing and bags before they leave, and there has been a large focus on applying and tolerating sun cream application and we have seen a massive improvement in this area as some children are now attempting to apply this themselves which is fantastic.

Over the past year the children have continued to surprise us with their resilience, flexibility and willing to engage and try something new. We are extremely proud of all of their achievements and wish all of them the very best of luck in their next year of Winchelsea.

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Jellyfish

What an amazing final term we have had in Jellyfish Class. I cannot believe I am actually writing the words “final term” and that is the end of this academic year already!

The Summer 1 Theme was “Bee Happy”. The pupils enjoyed learning about different insects each week and creating a fact file about them in My Communication throughout the term. We also learnt the signs for different insects and this lent to us remembering their names and different facts about them. This new vocabulary was also supported by the pupils telling the story of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Bug Hunt” using Moving Pictures.

In Food Therapy, we themed the food items for each week to the bug of the week; snail-shaped wraps, caterpillar-shaped sandwiches, butterfly cakes, spider rice crispy cakes, Ladybird Babybel cheese, honey on toast. In PE, the pupils prepared for their Sports Day events - whilst dodging the rain! At the end of the term, we celebrated the theme by having “Bee Hive Day”. On this day, we focussed on our mental and physical well-being as well as had fun with a picnic and activities on the field. Pupils were also delighted by a surprise Spiderman Marching Band! Jellyfish Class focussed on building relationships and had lots of opportunities to do this on Community Visits. We were sad to see one key member of the Jellyfish Class leave before Half Term. Joe will be greatly missed and we wish him and his family all the best in their move.

‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me” was our theme for Summer 2 Term. The class have done really well with learning the signs to the soundtrack song “You’ve got a friend in me” from Toy Story – maybe see if they can teach it to you at home! This theme encouraged us to focus on building relationships with friends as well as sharing. We thought about sharing in a variety of ways including sharing space, items and numbers.  In Food Therapy, we have made pizzas each week. We changed the toppings weekly and tasted these before putting them on our pizza as well as one cooked on the pizza. Pineapple caused some controversy, amongst both adults and pupils, and the garlic was enough to keep the vampires away! In Art with Miss Tash, Jellyfish Class have read the book ‘Rainbow Fish’ and have participated in a range of different creative projects about this topic.

This half term, despite the weather, we have been really fortunate to visit a range of different places during our Community Visits. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed going to the new park at Broadstone Recreational Ground, having a picnic lunch and then indulging in a sweet treat at Haskins Café – the adults also particularly enjoyed the second half of this trip! We also delighted in seeing a former Winchelsea / Jellyfish pupil at Poole Park and it was so lovely to see smiles on everyone’s faces. Miss Tash kindly organised for us to go and watch the Year 6 performance of ‘Annie’ at Manorside School. Jellyfish pupils were a credit to Winchelsea School and sat beautifully throughout the performance - even resulting in a whole class Gold Award! In Sports Week, we participated in a range of sports; yoga, table cricket, Boccia and Kurling. It was fantastic to see the pupils’ hard work pay off in Sports Day and Jellyfish parents still dominated the Mum’s race - I think that makes us the winners of the Mum’s race for a third year in a row! The end of the Summer Term brought lots of Toolkit time, to support helpful choices, and fun! We were so proud to see how kind and enthusiastic all of the pupils were at Lemur Landings soft play. Our final ‘Fab Finish’ trip to Swanage was lovely and a great way to spend our last Community Visit trip of the year – all together, having fun and eating chips (whilst avoiding seagulls!).

This has been a brilliant year for Jellyfish Class, full of friendships developing and growing and lots of memories made. Myself and the Jellyfish Class Team wish you a wonderful Summer Holidays (hopefully without rain and full of sunshine!) and we look forward to the majority of the pupils returning to Jellyfish Class in September!

Miss Naomi and the Jellyfish Class Team; Miss Jo, Miss Hayley and Miss Aimee

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Dolphin

Dolphin class have really enjoyed the recent topics ‘Bee Happy’ and ‘You’ve Got a Friend In Me’, where we have learned about various insects, worked on our social skills and developed our understanding of emotions and how using our toolkits can help us understand and manage these emotions.

Dolphin class have had a very busy term with many pupils attending Work Experience or taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award. The feedback from both of these events was extremely positive and pupils showed great resilience and maturity to take part so well. We are especially proud of Tommy for his willingness to take part in The Duke of Edinburgh Award, he really embraced both the home project about weather and the physical challenges that he was presented with.

As part of our recent Problem-Solving lessons, Dolphin class have been learning about the importance of using calendars to help us organise and plan our time. Pupils initially focused on counting, days of the week, months of the year and thinking about events associated with each month. Rocco did brilliantly when joining in with our ‘Days of the Week’ and ‘Months of the Year’ songs and showed great understanding about the types of events that might occur during each month. We then incorporated the use of our calendars into our daily routines whilst learning how to navigate these in order to keep track of dates and future events that we are looking forward to. We have a whole class calendar, but a copy of pupils’ calendars have been sent home, so please do look at these together and add to them when there is a new event to remember.

This term we have continued to build on our money skills and life skills by attending the Winchelsea Café each Friday. Pupils are becoming more familiar with the menu and beginning to pay for items independently. Azra in particular has shown great perseverance and is engaging brilliantly with the Café workers when placing her orders.

During My Communication last term, pupils were delighted to explore a range of minibeasts including; caterpillars, butterflies, spiders, ladybirds and bumblebees. Pupils investigated facts and presented these, along with our own illustrations, on our very own minibeast top trumps. Tyler did a fantastic job of listening to facts in order to write about them and Sabrina really shone with our class presentations about each bug.

As part of Woodland learning, we focused on insect habitats, which helped us to find and discover bugs that we don’t often notice when we are exploring the great outdoors. Nora and Amelie worked collaboratively together using natural materials to create some beautiful minibeasts including butterflies, spiders and caterpillars.

To celebrate all of our hard work last half term, the Discovers classes came together on the field for a grand ‘Bug Ball’, where everyone was able to show off some of their artwork and celebrate our achievements together. Daisy led the way during these celebrations and outdanced everyone for the whole duration of the ball!

As you will be aware the majority of the class will remain in Dolphin class and be taught by Mr Chris in September, with a few familiar faces joining from other classes. We will also say a fond farewell to Shyla, Azra and Yashi who will be moving on from Winchelsea, we all wish them the best of luck in the future. Please stay in touch!

Thank you for all your positivity and support this year. It has been a pleasure working with everyone involved with Dolphin class. We hope all the pupils and their families have a fantastic summer holiday and we look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Dolphin Team

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Octopus

As the weather started to get warmer and the gardens grew greener, Summer term 1 was a fantastic time for our pupils to get outside and explore our theme, Bee Happy. Together we looked at a vast range of insects and their habitats, while also learning about self-regulation and well-being. Pupils loved using mini-beasts as a unique way to help progress their learning in a variety of engaging and exciting ways.

In Summer term 2, we continued to explore our love of the outdoors by visiting different places of play around the local area. Through a focus on play, we’ve seen our pupil’s gross motor skills and fitness improve, along with their general confidence and an increase in positive social interactions with their friends.

In our My Communication lessons in Summer 1 we read our book ‘Bugs, Bugs, Bugs’ by Bob Barner. A beautiful colourful book, that helped pupils explore the language of movement and extend our knowledge of describing words. We learnt insect names, observed them through magnifying glasses, discussed them using let’s chat boards and also followed 3 step instructions to create our own insects, which we then used on an insect march to the Bug Ball at the end of term.

In Summer 2, we’ve been reading ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’ by Julia Donaldson. The class have really enjoyed the story and it has helped embed key learning from our life skills sessions around clothing, the size of clothes and how to fasten them. It also contains a good moral about helping others and doing the right thing.

In our My Problem-Solving lessons in Summer 1, we continued building upon our number skills at the Winchelsea Café, by independently requesting food and paying with real life currency. A skill that was also utilised in our class shop lesson, with the colour and quantity of coins stretching pupil’s learning even further. While in Summer 2, we looked at the language of size and distance, exploring physical objects that are big, small, long and short, then relating this to clothing but also to number to see if pupils could identify the biggest or smallest numbers.

In our Like and Don’t Like lessons, we have enjoyed looking at our friend’s hobbies and showing the class our personal interests. One pupil showed us circus skills that she’d learnt outside school and then helped her peers have a go. We continued this communal session into Summer 2 so that all pupils had the opportunity to share the activities that they love.

In Cooking, our team has been blown away by seeing the emerging independent skills of our students in the kitchen. We have been making increasingly complex recipes either linked to the bug theme such as lady bird canapes and butterfly banana splits. Or in Summer 2, making intricate cakes to share with our friends. The pupils excelled themselves in their engagement in these sessions and giving new skills a go, then tasting the food and letting us know what they thought.

In other important life skills, we have been learning about public and private. So that pupils understand what is appropriate in different spaces, while also increasing their independence and helping to keep themselves safe.

In music, we have been exploring new musical instruments and songs from around the world. With one highlight of last term being able to watch pupils using a piano for the first time and engage in playing along to calming ballet music. It was wonderful to see.

We’ve had a vast range of special events over the whole summer term. Including the Mini-beast Tea Party, our school picnic on the field and our Bug Ball Disco, which was a fantastic way to round off Summer 1. While in Summer 2, we’ve had our inflatables day, Café visits, trips to Lemur Landings and Upton Country Park.

In our local community visits in Summer 1, we looked at lots of different habitats relating to insects, and we loved getting outside, smelling flowers, searching for bugs and exploring meadows and wetlands. A particular highlight, was our trip to Avon Heath Country Park to look at all the bugs we had explored over the whole term. It was beautiful weather, with the whole class together and a fantastic way to consolidate our learning from throughout the school term.

In preparation for Sports Week, our pupils have worked hard on the field, playing group games and developing their understanding of rules and how to work as a team. We’ve also seen great success in our cycling sessions, with pupils who haven’t previously ridden or worn a helmet, doing both for the first time.

There have been many highlights over this term. But seeing pupils play together and help each other on equipment such as zip lines in local parks, or simply holding hands and encouraging each other to go down big slides together, these are some of the moments that will stay with me from this term in Octopus Class.

Thank you for all your help and support over this year. Have a fantastic Summer and we’ll see you again in the future!

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Shells

Shells class had a lovely start to the summer term, exploring the theme ‘Bee Happy’. The children really enjoyed discovering and learning about a range of different minibeasts and different strategies and activities to support them with feeling calm and regulated.

At the beginning of the half term some caterpillars arrived into Shells class, and over the weeks the children loved watching them slowly grow and transform into butterflies. Each week we would look at how they had changed and where they were in the life cycle, with the children identifying and labelling each stage. At the end of the half term, we released them on the field, it was such a magical experience for the children to watch them fly out of their enclosure and land on their hands!

Over the half term we also explored our local community on our trips, looking at different environments and what minibeasts we might find there. The children were so excited to find snails, woodlice, centipedes and ladybirds on our adventures, and enjoyed examining them before returning them to their home.

We also worked really hard to develop our foundational numeracy skills, including developing confidence in our 1:1 correspondence, number recognition and simple addition skills. This has fed directly into our work in Summer 2, where we have been applying these skills to a range of different number board games to play in groups. The children have done really well with taking turns and have really enjoyed sharing these games with their friends.

In Summer 2 our theme has been ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’, where we have focused on developing our social skills such as sharing, turn taking and collaborative play in a variety of contexts. Our book for this half term was ‘Sharing a Shell’ by Julia Donaldson, and we have been working hard on using moving pictures to follow along with and retell the story. The children have really grown in confidence when using the pictures of the different characters to recite the story, it’s been wonderful to see them become animated storytellers over the half term!

We have also had lots of fun exploring different play parks, where we have been practicing our social skills in new contexts. The children have loved getting to play chase games, share swings and explore climbing equipment together, and we have also enjoyed being able to meet up with Oysters class a few times in Poole Park to play with some new friends too!

We have also been focusing on teamwork with games linked to the Olympics. We have played balloon volleyball and tennis, paper plate curling, paper ball table hockey, and tug of war. The children have enjoyed exploring different sports and have been great teammates!

All of Shells class have had a fantastic year, they have worked so hard and we are so proud of all their achievements. We hope you all have a wonderful, well-earned rest during the summer holidays and look forward to welcoming back the children in September.

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Penguins

This term marked the start of swimming lessons at Rossmore for Penguins. Penguins have engaged well when learning new swimming skills. It has also been an excellent opportunity for Penguins to practice their independent dressing skills.  

In My World the whole school theme in Summer 1 was 'BEE Happy.' Penguins have shown a great interest in the different animals that we have learned about. Penguins have been able to identify different wild and domestic animals. We have enjoyed observing creatures in their natural habitats during our Forest school sessions, such as worms, spiders, ladybirds and woodlice. Penguins particularly impressed us when learning about different habitats and which animals we might find there, and later confidently identified all animals and and their homes. We used our Art lessons to create our bug costumes and finished our topic off by attending the Ugly Bug Ball held at main site. In Summer 2 we moved on to our new theme, 'You’ve Got a Friend in Me'. Penguins focussed on developing friendship skills, teamwork and learning new games. We linked this to the Olympic values of 'Excellence, Respect and Friendship.' 

Penguins have continued to work hard in English and have looked at two different books this term. We started with Super Worm by Julia Donaldson before moving onto a text called Ambrose Goes for Gold written by Tor Freeman. We have enjoyed writing sentences about our books, focusing on using capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. Penguins were able to describe the different characters in the book and demonstrate an excellent ability to structure sentences. In speaking and listening, we have been able to recount events from our story and answer comprehension questions about it.  

In Maths, some of us have focused on working on our times tables such as our 5s and our 10s. We have been impressed with Penguins who have challenged themselves to see how far they can count when working on these skills. We have also worked on sequencing numbers in different orders and working on patterns. We used colours to work on pattern recognition and pattern copying before we encouraged Penguins to create their own patterns.  

This term, we have continued to go on our community visits to The Spire café. Penguins have grown in confidence when ordering their snacks and drinks, and have shown excellent table manners, making sure they wait until everyone has finished before they get up to leave. We have also continued to explore Baiter and Poole Quay during our community visits.  

Penguins have engaged well in RE this term. We started our learning with Hindu stories. We listened to moral stories and the stories of creation. We moved on to look at Greek gods. Each week, we looked at a new god or goddess, such as Hera, Poseidon, Zeus and Thor.

In PSHE, we have been learning about who can help us, and support us when keeping ourselves and our bodies healthy. We began by identifying areas of our body and who we need to speak to when we get poorly, for example a dentist can help if we have a toothache, they also keep our teeth healthy, a doctor can help us when we have a pain or feel unwell.  

Penguins have enjoyed their ICT lessons with Mr Tim, and have made great progress with accessing programmes and technology independently.

Penguins have worked hard in their PE lessons with Mr Alex, and put the skills that they have learned to good use during sports week. 

Have a wonderful summer break.  

Kind regards, 
The Penguins Class Team 

Sea Lions

The pupils have had a full packed summer term with loads of fun activities, trips and visits.

Over the last term we have explored all aspects of the Olympics and the class have learnt how the Olympics started and how it’s developed over the years.

Over the term we have read the emotional book “Harry Miller’s Run”. Sea Lions have (once again) loved the story, and due to its sad ending, has sparked some excellent conversations about life and the life cycle of humans!

In PE this term we have practiced our sports day skills and enjoyed a ‘damp’ yet exciting sports day! The pupils LOVED it and all tried their hardest and participated beautifully.

Sea Lions also enjoyed the ‘Inflatable day’ and were super excited to run and compete with their partner along the assault course! They threw themselves down the slide at the end! The class were very thirsty and sweaty after their session, it was a really fun morning!

This term we have been focusing on the Olympic qualities of Excellence, Respect and Friendship. The pupils have impressed me with their understanding of these qualities and have been eager to show them in all aspects of the school day. Sea Lions have really taken on board these qualities and the class team and I are very proud of them!

I would like to wish you all a wonderful summer holiday and look forward to seeing some of you back again in September!

Thank you for your support over the year!

Kind Regards

The Sea Lions Team
Miss Nic, Miss Katie, Miss Paris and Miss Sarah.

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Sea Turtles

The Summer Term has been extremely busy and has provided the pupils with many exciting cross curricular learning opportunities. The pupils have also loved being back in the water for swimming lessons and have all made helpful choices whilst in the pool. We have some very confident swimmers in Sea Turtles class!  

The pupils (and adults!) have thoroughly enjoyed watching our butterflies develop from caterpillars, to chrysalises and finally hatching into beautiful painted lady butterflies! It was lovely watching them fly away as we released them near a patch of wild flowers.  

Our crabbing trip to Poole Quay was a huge success! All of the pupils behaved sensibly on the public bus and we all managed the long walk down to the quay from the bus stop. Crabbing is very tricky and requires a lot of patience. Unfortunately, many of the crabs fell off the crab line when being reeled in so we had to learn to be extremely careful! For most of us, this was our first ever experience of crabbing, and many of us have said that we would like to go back again with our families. 

Another fantastic learning opportunity this term was our visit to Avon Heath. We spotted sunbathing sand lizards and really enjoyed pond dipping. We caught whirligig beetles, ram’s horn snails and lots of dragonfly larvae – some were just exoskeletons! The warden also caught a newt for us to have a look at! Inside the visitor centre, the warden took a huge Madagascan hissing cockroach out of the tank and some of us were brave enough to gently press it and make it hiss!  

Thank you for your continued support and have a restful, safe and fun summer break.  

The Sea Turtles Team (Miss Lisa and Miss Alanna).

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Puffin

We have had a great time in Puffin class over the last term, enjoying learning linked to our themes: ‘Bee Happy’ and ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’

In English, we have worked really hard to develop our sentence structure and use of adjectives to add detail and interest to our sentences. Some of us have developed our grammar further and embedded our previous learning on how to start with varied sentences adding fronted adverbials and adverbs and speech. We enjoyed retelling the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, linking to our RE topic of Greek Mythology. We also looked at the hero and villain of the story, made comparisons and then created a storyboard retelling it in our own words. We used iMovie to create a short animation of the story using puppets and props we made to support our speaking and listening. All the pupils worked super hard as a team to produce their short film. We are so proud of how the pupils continue to use their phonics and visuals aids more independently to support their written work.

In My world, we had a big focus on habitats and how animals have adapted to where they live. We did research about the habitat that we chose and really looked in detail at an animal that lives there and why are suited to their home. We created beautiful mixed media artwork and then did an amazing performance of our learning, which we shared with the Enquirers in an assembly.  The pupils all did so well, they were confident, and spoke clearly and with expression!

In Maths, we have continued developing our problem solving and reasoning skills around number and using number facts to apply to different real-life learning. We learnt our times tables and used this when counting money notation. We used our knowledge to get the correct money to buy snacks in the Café and work out change. We learnt to tell the time and have been using this throughout the school day.

As part of our My World geography topic on Greece, we tried Greek food and voted on a meal we wanted to cook.  We used all the kitchen skills we have learnt throughout the year to follow a recipe to make kebabs, rice and salad. 

In RE, we have learnt about the Hindu creation story and retold this story in pairs, we also learnt about a Greek God/Goddess of our choosing and researched them. We then used our research to create a PowerPoint presentation with text, images and voice recordings to present to the class.

In PSHE we have been learning how to work as part of a team, by completing challenges and cooperating with one another.

We have had fantastic trips out, including a shopping trip to Tesco, Dorset Museum, learning about habitats and adaptation, Canford Cliffs on our habitat walk and Rockley Water sports at Poole Park, which was an amazing experience, we really worked hard as a team throughout the activities on the water!

We have had the best year in Puffin Class and are immensely proud of the progress and achievements of all pupils individually and as a team 😊

We wish you all a fantastic summer holiday!!!

Silvia, Sammy and Emily.

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Lobsters

What a summer term Lobster class have had. 

During the topic ‘Bee happy’ Lobsters learnt how being out in nature can have a positive effect on how you feel. Through this topic we also looked at pets and what is needed to keep different pets healthy. Through a trip to Pets at Home we looked at the different equipment needed and worked out how much it would be to own a pet.

Also, as part of this topic, it was lovely to welcome the families to join us for our picnic and to have the Spiderman band to play whilst the pupils enjoyed being in the sun.

In the second part of this term, Lobsters have enjoyed learning about the Olympics, they have really embraced the key values of the games, thinking about respect, friendship and excellence. We have also been looking at the Paralympics and how people have triumphed against challenges and achieved great things. Through this topic we have also learnt about team work and how to solve conflict. I am really proud of how they organised an events day for a younger class. In groups they not only planned the activities they also lead the activities and ensured that the other class succeeded.  

This term, Lobsters have gone on a range of trips to support their learning. During our trip to the police station, Lobsters enjoyed looking around the station and finding out what the police officers do. It was a great opportunity to see the ‘wrong side’ of the station and explore the cells and finding out what it is like to be locked inside the back of a police van.  

Lobsters have also enjoyed a trip to Moors Valley to learn about different habitats. They enjoyed pond dipping for different creatures. We were very impressed that we didn’t have any Lobsters fall in the water. The class enjoyed looking at the different newts and types of snails. We also got the chance to see a dragonfly lava.   

Although all of our learning trips have been great, we all agree that our favourite trip was to Paultons Park. This was the classes ‘payment’ for working in the café all year. It was lovely during this trip to see the pupils pushing themselves out their comfort zones to try rides that they were not sure of. Running off a ride to go straight back on it because they enjoyed it so much. Talking of the Café, we are all very proud of Lobster class, for their hard work and professionalism. They have gone from strength to strength and have completely wowed all the staff at Winchelsea. We receive complements weekly about how well others think they are doing and how they have developed in this role.  

As the year comes to a close, I have enjoyed looking back at all we have done this year and how much the whole class have developed and matured. I am so proud of each and every one of Lobster class and look forward to hearing about how much they continue to progress next year.  

We wish you all a very much deserved summer holiday.  

Laura, Paula, Ellie and Jane.

Seahorses

Well, we have had a really busy term here in Seahorses class. Pupils have had great fun in learning about the topics – ‘Bee Happy’ and ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me.’

Pupils have had an amazing time in lessons - learning a wealth of different things. Forest school is a particular favourite amongst the pupils and they have been lighting fires (in a small controlled way), built bridges in the stream and made bug (or bee) houses.

“I wanted to make a shelter and help to fix others. I worked hard doing this with Miss Jeaneete” - James M

“I did the flooring in the shelters with leaves so we could sit down in them” Emily B-S

In English lessons we have been learning about inspirational athletes.

“We have been looking at the athletes past and how they got famous. It was fun. Many of them had similar stories as they started off poor, but still became inspirational athletes” recalled Ava.

In Maths they have been looking at world records in athletics track and field. They have been busy researching, measuring and calculating speeds. They tried to replicate the speed of the world record holder in the 10000 metres for 5 seconds. Only one student managed to match the speed which was 6.41 metres a second, however the world record holder sustains that for over 26 minutes! ‘‘I think it is interesting how fast they go. It is insane and unnatural!’’ said Archie. We have also been busy problem solving in maths by looking at and learning to do Sudoku and logic puzzles. The pupils worked at different levels on this and showed amazing resilience by not getting flustered if they got stuck. Pupils have particularly enjoyed playing problem solving or strategic games such as Battleships, Shut the Box, Connect 4 and The Genius Square. It’s a great way for them to learn without them even knowing that they are learning.

In cooking, we have been busy making: soup, noodles, cake and preparing fruit and veg. “It’s been fun to make new things that I have not tried before’’ - Denis M and in ICT we have been looking at animation and coding. ‘’ Coding was pretty fun, I enjoyed it’’ - Reggie H

“We have used animate it on the iPads to make animations, it was all right,” - Curtis D

Pupils have been learning about the history of the Olympics and Greek gods in their My World and RE lessons. They have researched these topics really well and were able to find out some interesting facts. The fact they found the most amusing is the fact that only men competed in the original events and they competed naked!

Seahorses have been busy working towards the summer inflatable challenge, enjoying doing the cardio drumming with Mr Hamilton on YouTube which involves drumming along to music with pool noodles. Although not all pupils enjoyed this, it was worth it to go on the bouncy castle or assault course. All pupils earned this treat and had great fun.

‘’I enjoyed it and I also got slightly injured as I managed to knee myself in the nose!’’ - Liam C, whilst giggling.

‘’I enjoyed it and banged my elbow but it was fun’’ said Harry. Although they got a little banged up, they were all okay, and saw the funny side of it.

Some of our pupils took up the opportunity to go to Ferny Croft on a 4-day, 3 night residential. Although all pupils (and staff) came back absolutely shattered they were very happy to recall what they had done and the fun that they had.  “I enjoyed overcoming my fears on the high equipment” recalled Ava. “My favourite part of the residential was when we did raft building - I was pushed into the water” giggled Darcie as she recalled her experience. “We were playing a mini game in raft building. We had to do something with a ball, I had to grab the ball so I jumped off the raft to grab this with my hands” said Reggie with the biggest smile on his face. They certainly made load of memories and had such a great time!

It has been lovely to see how kind and caring pupils have been to each other and this has really been obvious throughout the whole of the summer term. Seahorses’ pupils are so encouraging and supportive of each other and they have made the staff proud on numerous occasions, from their sportsmanship in PE to supporting their peers when they have had a tricky time.

I wish all of the pupils every success as they enter their next academic year. Some pupils are staying in Seahorses, some are moving to other classes, some moving to Post 16 and some to college! It has been an amazing year in Seahorses with awesome pupils!!!!

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Magna Seals

This summer term has been full of exciting and practical learning opportunities. Seals have had the opportunity to explore a range of habitats in our local area for our Summer 1 theme ‘Bee Happy’. This included visiting Hengistbury Head to find out more about their diverse habitats and Moors Valley to do pond dipping. Summer 2’s ‘You’ve got a Friend in Me’ theme has encompassed all things Olympics and their values.  

In English, Seals read ‘Moth’ by Isabel Thomas, which helped us to develop our skills relating to writing fact files and differentiating between facts and opinions. We used these skills to create our own fact files about a creature of our choice that lives on Canford Heath, and it’s safe to say every pupil learnt something new about each animal! We also used the book to expand our vocabulary of adjectives to describe moths and our sentences using conjunctions. Seals have also read ‘Harry Miller’s Run’ for the last term, which is the story of an elderly man recounting to a young boy his experience running the Great North Run. We’ve used the story to sequence, compare the two characters and develop our writing skills to write in past tense. 

Seals have worked particularly hard in Maths this summer - we’ve covered a wide range of concepts such as understanding place value, rounding numbers, identifying patterns, reading clocks and times and collecting data. During Summer 1, pupils consolidated their understanding of place value numbers and how we can use this to partition a number, as well as finding multiplication patterns through counting in steps and exploring square numbers. Summer 2 focused on collecting data relating to sports, records and interpreting it by answering comprehension questions about what we've collected. 

In My World, pupils have participated in activities involving researching local habitats, such as heathlands, coastal and wetlands. We also considered how animals are suited to a certain habitat and why. Pupils enjoyed their trip to Hengistbury Head and to Moors Valley to further embed their understanding of how wide a range of habitats we have on our doorsteps. We have spent Summer 2 learning about the Olympics, their values, and considering how they promote equality in sports. 

A particular highlight for Seals this summer has been their resilience and leadership skills in PE. We have been practising activities for Sports Week such as javelin, jumping and running. Mr Alex and Miss Ciara have been thoroughly impressed with the determination and support Seals have shown towards themselves and each other. 

Magna Seals have had a wonderful year, they should be incredibly proud of themselves. We are so proud of the group moving up to KS4 and are looking forward to more challenges and memories next year. 

Have a lovely, restful summer holiday! 

Manta

What a great Summer Term Manta class have had!  

All of our students have done incredibly well in their Functional Skills Exams, we have had some amazing results! They have also worked really hard in completing their Laser Accreditation, what an achievement!  Manta enjoyed a group trip to Laser Quest to celebrate!

We have been lucky enough to have had some amazing trips out over the summer term including a trip to High Mead Farm and Upton Country Park. The students planned the whole trip to Upton Country Park themselves and developed some valuable life skills as they planned the bus route and activities on the day. They thoroughly enjoyed exploring a range of habitats as part of our ‘Bee Happy' topic while they were there.  

The students also worked really well in small groups to create their own animal habitats; using a variety of tools and materials they were able to create some bird boxes and hedgehog houses. They created a plan, carefully measured the wood and used saws and drills to create their animal homes, then placed them in the woodland learning area. 

This half term our topic has been ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me.’ The students planned their own KS4 team building event; involving a variety of team building games for classes to play, they also devised the rules of each game. Manta delivered an excellent assembly to the whole of Key Stage 4 linked to the Olympic Values of Excellence, Respect, and Friendship; they researched each of the values and found examples of Olympic and Paralympic athletes who had demonstrated these values - they did a great job in presenting it! 

Manta class took part in an end of term Enterprise Project along with other KS4 classes to bake cakes and biscuits to sell on Sports Day to raise funds for their end of term Summer Party.  

We are extremely proud of all of our students, and we want to wish them all good luck next year. We wanted to especially mention our six Year 11 students who will be leaving us this year to go to either Kingston Maurward College or to Winchelsea Post 16. They should be really proud of their achievements, and we want to wish them all the best for the future. 

Have an Amazing Summer 

Best Wishes  

Miss Paula, Miss Sarah & Miss Ruth 

Some comments from our leavers: 

“I loved going out with my class to High Mead Farm and Upton Country Park. I loved seeing Miss Paula’s rabbit and playing games during social interaction time. I am looking forward to going to Kingston Maurward College and meeting new people.” MK

“I liked telling Miss Paula that Arsenal are better than Newcastle! I have loved being with my old friends. I liked holding a chicken at High Mead Farm. I am looking forward to cooking in Post 16.” LD

“I made new friends this year and I got support from them. I am looking forward to going to Post 16 and being more cheeky with the teachers!” BG

“I enjoyed cooking short-crust calzone pizzas and going to Ferny Croft. I’m looking forward to being in Post 16 for two years with my mates.” LL

“I enjoyed going on trips to High Mead Farm and Laser Quest! I am looking forward to Post 16.” SC

“I love Winchelsea because you get to hang out with friends, and you get to learn new things. I am looking forward to going to Post 16 as we get to go out more.” ICB

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Orca

As we wrap up the summer term, we would like to share some highlights and achievements from our students' learning journey. It has been a fun and eventful term, filled with engaging themes and exciting activities. 

Summer 1: BEE Happy 

This half-term, our theme was "BEE Happy." In English, we explored the gripping text "Brock," which tells the story of two brothers who rescue a badger and nurse it back to health. The narrative delves into their family dynamics, allowing our students to develop their inference and deduction skills as they explored the characters and their development throughout the story. 

In our "My World" subject, we learned about different habitats and the environments that suit various species of animals. This topic was fascinating for the students as they discovered the diverse ecosystems that exist around the world. 

Many of our students were also busy completing their accreditation qualifications across various subjects. Additionally, we spent some time learning about how to maintain better mental health, which is crucial for our students' overall well-being. 

Summer 2: You've Got a Friend in Me 

The theme for Summer 2 was "You've Got a Friend in Me," with a focus on the Olympics and the Olympic values. We enjoyed delving into ancient Greece and learning about some of the Greek gods. It was wonderful to see the students create and deliver their own presentations on this topic. 

In Maths, we studied Olympic records and calculated average speeds, even attempting to beat them ourselves, although we were quite far off! In English, we learned about famous athletes and how they have inspired others, culminating in the students organizing and writing their own biographies. 

One of the highlights of this term was the residential trip to Ferny Croft. The students enjoyed being away from home for three nights, participating in activities such as climbing, zip wire, and raft building. It was heartening to see them display teamwork and determination with many students overcoming their fears and trying new things. I know that it was a really enjoyable and valuable trip for all of those involved, making wonderful memories and cementing friendships. 

Our sports day was another event where students showed their sportsmanship and team spirit. We also had a fantastic trip to Butchers Coppice, where we enjoyed archery, crate stacking, and exploring the cave bus. 

As we bid farewell to our Year 11 students, we want to wish them the very best on their onward journey to college and post-16 education. We are incredibly proud of their achievements and the growth they have shown during their time here. We are confident they will continue to thrive and make us proud in their future endeavours. 

As we head into the summer break, we wish you a wonderful and restful holiday. 

Best wishes, 
Orca Team 

Post 16

What a busy Summer Term Post 16 have had! The students have worked so hard on their targets this academic year and have pushed themselves to achieve their very best. We have been impressed with their maturity and the flexible approaches they have developed and shown.

Our theme last half term was ‘Bee Happy’ the weather was getting warmer and it was the perfect time for us to look at the environment around us. We visited various locations to find different wildflowers growing and what insects we could see.

We chose to explore bees and honey in depth and as a group found some lovely recipes for our cooking lessons including; honey biscuits and flapjacks, all I can say is "Yum” they tasted so good! when I was allowed some! 

This half term our theme has been “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” where we focussed on our listening skills and positive interactions. We discussed how friends help each other out and how important just being there for each other is. We even discovered how animals can be helpful. We visited “Horserenity” looking at how horses can help with emotional and mental wellbeing.

We have been lucky enough to have had some amazing trips out for our Laser Unit Accreditation. We have been on a boat around Poole Harbour, numerous buses to help with our travel training and taken the train to Bournemouth. Pupils have loved developing their independence and knowledge of our surrounding area and exploring how we can navigate to different places.

We also wanted to give all our students a massive round of applause who have sat their Functional Skills Exams and completed their Laser Accreditation Units, what an achievement!  As a treat for working hard the students were lucky to have a day out at Laser Quest! They were amazing they really enjoyed it and had great team spirit.

We are extremely proud of all Post 16 and wish them well in the future. Good luck to all the leavers, and to the rest we will see you in the Autumn Term.

Have an Amazing Summer

Best Wishes
Miss Michelle & Miss Karen

“I will miss the Post 16 staff- it has been a great year.” - KB

“I have enjoyed the experiences I have had with Post 16” - EW

“I liked going to Kingcombe Meadow” - NF

“In my last year at Winchelsea I am glad to say it has been a good one” - AAH

“I have enjoyed going to Broadstone, work experience and problem solving” - EA

“I have enjoyed being in Post 16. My best part is going to Broadstone” - LR

Creative Arts

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice-cream!

Dolphin classes have wowed Miss Tash with their ice cream sundae making skills! This came at the end of a unit about pop artist Wayne Thiebaud. They spent a lovely lesson choosing their flavours, practising taking turns and using fine motor skills to sprinkle toppings.

Starfish Creative

Starfish class have been looking at the story book ‘The Rainbow Fish’ written and illustrated by Marcus Pfister and from this we have focused on the skills of cutting, sticking and mark making! All the children in Starfish class love to get stuck in and are not afraid of making a mess!

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Land and Sea

Lobsters class have WOWED me with their amazing landscape pictures. These pictures have been created over a few weeks and we have really focused on building up layers and detail. Watch this space as this art will be made into greetings cards in the near future!

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Scary Monsters in KS4

The Arts Award Group have been looking at films and television programmes which feature special effects and make up. We have made our own monsters from clay. I love the way each monster is so very different!

School’s OUT! For Summer

It has been a great year of making and creating and it has really whizzed by. As always it is a privilege and an honour to work with your talented young people. I wish all the best for our pupils who are moving on to their next adventures and I hope they get to continue their creative journeys. I wish you a wonderful summer and look forward to seeing everyone again in September!

Miss Tash

Forest School

We have enjoyed exploring the woodland and seeing how it has changed as we journey through summer. The combination of sun and rain has shifted growth up a gear and pupils are now surrounded by a stunning display of wild flowers and greenery as well as the odd muddy puddle to jump in. The woods are so full of wildlife and birds with their songs nearly making more noise than the pupils (but not quite!).

We have had some very welcomed improvements made to our onsite Forest School area which the students, and staff alike, have been very excited about. We have a new shelter in our sensory play area and a lovely new mindfulness shelter which we have been taking full advantage of.

This term we have been combining our theme with our love for the outdoors. The students have been building bug hotels, bee hides, bird boxes, shelters and bridges. They have been exploring different ecosystems and habitats. We have also been making the most of the beautiful sunshine and having fun with our shadows, water and ice play.

Have a fantastic summer break and we look forward to welcoming the students back to forest school in September.

PE

This term we have been busy in the PE department.

Our Discoverers pupils have been working on their Sports Day sports as well as learning how to throw, catch and bat for cricket.

Our Enquirers pupils have had a great term and experienced lots of different activities. They have also been developing their throwing and batting skills in cricket and rounders.

Our accreditation groups have been finishing off all their accreditation sports and have also looked at how to bowl in cricket and some of the more complex rules.

We also had a group of pupils attend the ‘Can Do Festival’ held at Poole Park Lake which included water sports, we had our very first win, a huge well done to all involved!

“I really liked it when I worked with my friends to paddle the big boom board” - Jacob

“My favourite part was everything, expect when we left and went back to school” - William

“I thought it was really awesome and I liked being with my friends” - Amelia

“I really enjoyed winning the kayak race. I also like jumping and bombing into Poole Park Lake” - Jay

Our D of E groups completed their expeditions this term and we had some very tired but very proud pupils. All groups blew us away on their practice and qualifying expeditions. Both groups conquered a mighty hike whilst navigating themselves around the forest. Later in the day they rustled up a delicious meal and set up their camp for the night (group 1 slept over). All teams then repeated it all over again on day two of their expedition. We are very proud of them all. Well done to each and every one of you!

As we have headed out into the summer term, we have finally managed to get some half decent weather and have been out on the field (one advantage of the unsettled weather is that the grass is in a great condition for sport). However, the weather was not great for our sports days this term but the parents and pupils were fantastic. Thank you to all that came. There has been a real focus on teamwork and as this is an Olympic year, we carefully considered the Olympic values of excellence, respect and friendship.

We also enjoyed some Quidditch over sports week. The PE team enjoyed it so much that we have ordered a set for the School!

Have a wonderful summer holiday.

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Friends of Winchelsea

Winchelsea School Summer Fair 2024

The summer fair arranged by the Friends of Winchelsea School was held on Saturday 6^th July and despite the variable weather, it turned out to be an enjoyable day. A wide range of stalls all offering some interesting items were available. Further funds were raised by a raffle for which the first and second prizes were sponsored by Rathbones with a wide range of additional prizes sourced by the diligent efforts of our committee members. Approximately £1,500 was raised which will be used to support the school. In the current year, £1,000 has already been made available to support the recent residential.

The Friends of Winchelsea School would very much like to increase its numbers. We would be more than happy to hear from any parent, relative and indeed anyone interested in supporting the children at this school. If you feel you can help, please send us an e-mail:  [email protected]