2014

Pho

enix

AUTUMN

NEWSLETTER

2014

Message from the Head Teacher Miss Isherwood

Welcome to our December

newsletter. I hope you enjoy

reading about the fantastic

achievements of our students

this term.

This has been a really exciting

and busy time for the centre.

In September we opened six new

classrooms at our secondary site.

We welcomed several new

members of staff to strengthen

our teaching and teaching

assistant teams and Mrs Weigh

returned to KS2 following her

maternity leave. We also had

some Good yes – Miss Hughes

left KS2 to pursue a degree

course and Mrs Dacre will leave

on Friday for a leadership post at

a high school in Rochdale. We

wish them both well.

We return to school for the new

term on January 6th

when we will

be joined permanently by Miss

Arkwright to teach science, Mrs

Fletcher as a teaching assistant

at KS2 and Mrs Guthrie as our

school counsellor.

We have also been busy with the

final stages of our conversion to

an academy. I would like to

thank all of you who responded

to the consultation in person or

in writing. We will become

Three Towers, an alternative

provision academy on February

1st

2015. This has been a long

process that was started in early

2012 but we have taken our time

to ensure we get things right for

our students. We will also have

a new logo, which will be

revealed next term.

Finally, on behalf of all the staff I

would like to wish you a Merry

Christmas and a happy, healthy,

peaceful New Year.

Cen

tre

Residential visit to the Anderton Centre

Our first residential was a huge

success, although not as huge as

Megan s suitcase. At the end of

last half term we all trudged off

on a fantastic trip to the

Anderton Centre. The trip

included teachers and students

from all areas of the Centre. We

started with an afternoon of

crate stacking with the boys

winning the challenge but the

girls came a VERY close second.

I think Miss Jenkins was ever so-

slightly vexed that she did t take the crown!

Sam and I managed a personal best, although

Sam kicked all the crates as we plummeted to the

floor. Jack proved he was Pri e of the Trees

with the fastest tree climbing the Instructors had

ever seen; they even offered him a job for when

he s older.

After lunch we all tried our hands at being The

Hunger Ga e characters and attempted archery.

Some were good. Some were ok…a d one was

Mr Kindred. Shocking! Mr Ly h s team took all

the glory during that challenge. Chloe looked like

she d been painted with mud by the end of the

activity too. We had some very serious

competitors with Alex and Niall definitely wanted

to be the winners.

After our evening meal we completed the low

ropes activity in the dark! It allowed everyone to

show-off their extraordinary balancing talents.

Good job Miss Doughty as t with us this time!

We managed to navigate around the course and

rewarded ourselves with a massive game of Man

Hunt. We all loved it! Especially, 90% of us

falling over into muddy puddles! I think Charley

enjoyed shining the lights into e eryo e s eyes,

as every time we turned around we were almost

Residential visit to the Anderton Centre

blinded.

As a treat that night we all sat together in the TV room watching a DVD and eating sweets. Well,

there was a film on but I doubt any of us could tell you what it was about as there were far too many

conversations going on. Andrew was firmly wrapped up looking like Action Man, and Drew sat

contently in the corner drawing and taking in the experience.

The night was a whole other experience with Miss Cooke and I sitting on the corridor till the early

hours until everyone went to sleep. We came to the conclusion that there just is t enough strong

coffee in the world!

On our final day we spent the morning tidying up the dorms, which everyone got involved with. It

was a real team effort. Then it was on to abseiling, which I believe Ryan and Miss Cooke were

experts at. To round off the trip we joined in a human version of Robot Wars, with us having to

communicate using non-words or sounds to direct our blindfolded ro ots around a course. I e

never heard laughter like it!

It was an absolute pleasure being on this trip with the pupils. It gave them the chance to test their

mental strength and determination as many of the students pushed themselves to overcome their

fears. All the staff are immensely proud of them. They worked as an inclusive team and were always

on-hand to offer words of encouragement.

A question from Megan: Would you take us again Miss Kelly?

After laughing furiously…A solutely!

Art

Left: The Phoenix Centre held their first

external Art Exhibition in October.

Work from our GCSE and Entry Level

Certificate students (current and recent

leavers) was on show at the Grand

Arcade in Wigan. We received some

great comments from the public about

the very high standard of work our

students produce and it was featured in

the Wigan Reporter. Congratulations

and well done to everyone involved!

Right: Taking inspiration from the

stunning ceramic poppy display at

London Tower Bridge, KS3 students

created their own 3D clay poppies to

commemorate Remembrance Day.

Superman by

Sam W

Mosaic by

Chloe H

Clay tile by

Jack L

Wigan Art Exhibition

P.E.

Some more great pieces of art work. KS3 students completed a

project on the artist Hundertwasser creating clay tiles and

mosaics. KS4 students have been working on their independent

coursework projects.

Art

The new school year has seen a number of changes including

the introduction of full course GCSE for KS4 students. As part

of the course they have had the opportunity to visit the

national cycle centre in Manchester, where they took the

chance to ride round the indoor BMX track. The coach was so

impressed with the standard that she invited a student to

attend their BMX sessions at weekends!

We now have a 5-a-side school football team and are lining up

a number of different schools to play matches against.

Right: A photographic

triptych of oil, water and

paint by Lee were put up

as a key feature in the

art exhibition in the

Grand Arcade

Pop art inspired banana prints by

Martin T (Y10) Newspaper tea cup by

Chloe A (Y11)

Bee close up by

Reegan R (Y11)

Photos by

Lee L (Y11)

It has been a really enjoyable and exciting in PE with more in the pipe line for the upcoming terms. Keep

your eye on this space.

Food Technology

To coincide with the KS4 Jamie Oliver Level 1 Home

Cooking Skills & KS3 ASDAN courses some of our

students had the privilege of working with a

qualified Chef. Chef came in and taught our

students how to cook a variety of healthy dishes.

These dishes included: Chicken, Sausage and Butter

Bean Broth, Chicken in White Wine Sauce, Garlic &

Herb New Potatoes, Garlic Mushrooms and a

delicious Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable and

Cous Cous dish.

The students enjoyed this first visit and thoroughly

enjoyed working with him again producing

Christmas lunch for everyone in the centre, and

some of our neighbours. Chef was so impressed

with our students he has asked to come back to

cook lunch for them.

Over the past half term in Drama, students have been

looking at masks for different theatrical uses. They have

created some outstanding examples of masks from the

different genres including ones for tragedy, comedy, horror

and Greek Theatre. Chloe created the mask shown and it is

an amazing example of the artistic talents our students

possess.

Drama

Chef demonstrating how it’s done!

Everyone enjoying the days spoils. Yum, yum! The boys love it.

Curriculum trips

As part of their Jamie Oliver award, students visited

the Jamie Oliver restaurant in Liverpool for lunch.

They had the opportunity to try out food that they

would not normally choose which included black pasta

with seafood and a chocolate popcorn dessert. What

was the verdict on the food? It was delicious! We

look forward to going back again sometime.

Miss Parry took a group of KS4 students to the Liverpool

Tate Art Gallery. We had the opportunity to see an

amazing array of art work from their collection which

included video, photography, sculpture, installation art and

paintings. It was a fantastic day and another visit with

other students is being planned in the New Year!

Sam looking at some modern art

Students discussing a Jackson Pollock painting

Enjoying yummy food at Jamie Oliver’s!

Seafood pasta

Curriculum trips

Let s watch some movies!

As an extra-curricular activity at

the secondary site, every

Tuesday after school we watch

movies. Each month we have a

different theme such as Comic

Book Month and Underdog Hero

Month.

Reviews

Once we have watched a film we

write a review and give each film

a star rating!

Everyone is welcome!

Anyone can come and join us and

we always have plenty of

popcorn to go around so you

won t be going home hungry.

In the event of severe wintery

weather, we will try to contact

all students, parents/carers and

staff before 8.15 am to confirm

any unexpected closures. WISH

FM will also be informed.

During these conditions we all

have difficulty getting to our

place of work, school and

around the borough. We ask

everyone to be responsible and

plan more time for their

journey, wear suitable footwear

for having to walk further, wrap

up to keep warm etc. We also

ask everyone to use the gritted

entrance / paths rather than

walk across the snow and ice

when possible.

Bad Weather Information

Curriculum trips

As part of the history

curriculum, KS3 students went

the International Slavery

Museum. They took part in a

lesson where they were able

to look at artefacts relating to

the legacy of slavery and its

impact on modern life. They

then visited the exhibition

detailing transatlantic slavery

and its legacy.

Luke with a KKK outfit

Sam with a cultural outfit

Nathan looking at an artefact

KS2 Science Week

During the penultimate week at KS2 pupils

participated in Science Week, investigating

Diet, Digestion and Teeth. Over the course of

the week pupils took part in lots of exciting

activities, eating different foods and identifying

the food groups present to see if the meal was

balanced. Pupils used bags, tights and paper

cups to model the action of the digestive

system on food.

Pupils also spent time learning about teeth and

how they could look after them best. They

used disclosing tablets to show where plaque

was on teeth, to improve their brushing

techniques. Learning about the structure of

teeth, pupils designed rather scary teeth

creatures, they linked the type of teeth they

used to what their monsters ate and then

classified their monsters as herbivores,

omnivores or carnivores! It was a great week

and very productive!

Science models made by pupils

What an impressive display board!

Snow Hare

KS2 Arts Week

During our last week of term the art room has been a hive of activity with pupils taking part in Arts Week

which started off the New Year project of Arctic Animals. Pupils considered the different textures and

habitat of the animals they created for two large display areas. Fish were made with glass paints, polar

bears with white fluff and the Orca whale with sand and black tissue paper. They also looked at and

created animals such as the Snowy owl, Arctic hare and fox, seals and the walrus. Well done to all the

pupils who took part and helped produce the fantastic work created!

Everyone hard at work with

their paintings

Orca Whale

Arctic Display

KS2 Christmas Party

We played pass the

parcel and musical

statues and

our Christmas

party.

DJ Lockyer plays

all the best tu es

said Kyle.

KS2 Santa Flight

Some KS2 children were lucky enough to be

chosen to go on a Santa flight. The Santa flight

is funded by a charity called Childflight who

work alongside Thomson airways to give once

in a lifetime opportunities to a select number

of children.

The day was amazing and each child received

a sack of presents from Santa after the plane

had landed as well as meeting the pilot and

hearing Santa land on our plane!

All the children and staff were overwhelmed

by the experience and Tyler's comment

reflected all our feelings "Is this a dream

Miss? I must be dreaming!"

Pupils meeting the pilot after the flight

What a lot of presents, boys! Everyone had such a fun day

KS2 ECO

Here at KS2 we are working towards our Bronze

Award and having lots of fun along the way.

We had a visitor in from 'Kingfisher Education

Services' to do a workshop on 'water awareness'.

We learned about how water is very important to

life and how much we use in our daily routines.

Have you taken the five minute shower challenge

yet?

All our children got a 'water diary' to fill in so

they were able to calculate how much water they

actually used!

Can you come up with some ideas of how we can

save water at school or in your own home?

KS2 Celebration Assembly

KS2 welcomed parents for our Christmas assembly on Friday 12th

December. The children showed off

their Tamboo skills as well xylophone and signing and singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas . Children

also received awards for kindness, good attendance and progress in school.

It was fantastic to show all the parents how hard everyone has been working this term.

Pupils showing their parents how to play the Tamboo Pupils demonstrating their signing skills

KS2 Ice Skating Trip

On our reward trip we went ice skating in Manchester. Pupils

loved skating with the penguins and the seals. 'Mr Hughes

always organises the best trips' said Owen and Lee.

Don’t fall over!