Newsletter 23.10.2026

Dear Parents & Carers,

Good morning, I hope this letter finds you all well and that you have all had a good week.

As we arrive at the end of one of the longest half terms that I can remember ever doing across my 27 years in teaching, I wanted to celebrate all the great things that have been going on in and out of school.

GROWTH Lessons

This term we have seen our students start their GROWTH lessons which look to address the individual EHCP outcomes through various activities. An example of this was taken from AGS1 where students worked together on their communication skills to design and build a class train. They all had a role to play, Luke Davies was the design manager, James Barker was the designer, Aria Hunter was the colour coordinator, Dottie Royston and Frankie Johnson oversaw resources, and Anthony Mann was the foreman of the project. The group worked well together to discuss, plan and implement the design whilst in class with the resulting train looking very impressive!

Outdoor Education

As always, our Outdoor Education lessons this half term have taken students out of school to various places of interest across our locality. This term so far, the students have worked on teamwork, collaboration and communication skills and have visited places such as Bramhope scout camp where they have taken part in various activities as well as Otley Shevin where they have been able to do some adventure walks.

Sponsored walk/run for Great Ormond Street

Earlier this half term, Lorraine Parker our GROWTH lead, organised a sponsored walk/run in the local park in support of the Great Ormond Street Children’s Charity. Every student across the school was able to participate in the day which saw students run or walk either 1km or 2km. The day was a huge success with the school raising well over £700 for the charity. A special thank you must go to all our wonderful students for taking part, our staff and especially Lorriane for organising and finally to all the parents that kindly donated to the cause, it is very much appreciated.

Car Cleaning

During the past 7 weeks, some of our students have been taking part in some car cleaning as part of their JAS award and GROWTH lessons. Staff have lined up for a car clean, and our students have not disappointed with the service they have provided. All in all, during their Friday afternoon session, they have cleaned a total of 15 cars with the contributions going toward a class trip.

Japanese Club

Our wonderful Teaching Assistant, Melissa Heiman has run a Japanese club this half term for our students. In the Japanese club, students have been doing an assortment of activities including trying new foods, listening and dancing to music, playing traditional Japanese games, and making crafts. In the latest Japanese club session, they tried a Japanese snack and then created omamori, or traditional lucky charms. Students learned about how omamori have special papers inside which have a religious poem or prayer. Instead, the class wrote a wish or something they wanted and hid this paper inside their origami (folded paper) lucky charms. They enjoyed creating their omamori and showed them off by tying them onto their bags. In other sessions, students have particularly had fun playing a traditional music game and trying new snacks such as baumkuchen and toppo. All students who have joined have interacted kindly with each other and have done an excellent job building skills such as creativity, cultural awareness and communication.

October Half Term Activities

I have once again included the flyers for all the activities available during the half term holidays for Leeds and West Yorkshire as well as more activities further afield in North Yorkshire, East Yorkshire and the coastal regions.

We wish all our families a restful half term holiday and we look forward to welcoming all our students back into school on Monday the 2^nd of November.

Best wishes,

James