During the final week of December we had an incredibly exciting maths enterprise week here at William Barcroft Junior School!

The pupils were tasked with the job of creating items to sell, making games or offering a service to their parents and wider community under a strict budget per class, with all the proceeds being donated to a charity of the pupil’s choice after some careful research.

The week was led heavily by the pupils with a little bit of careful guidance from their teachers! Maths was involved at every stage, from calculating the greatest potential profits when deciding on their project to mapping out their spends and prices. Children enjoyed creating their items (lots of careful measuring involved here too) but also understood and appreciated the fact that they had to work within a tight budget- there were lots of mathematical debates and on the spot thinking going on in the middle of their Tesco visits! The pupils began to develop a sense of value for money and understanding of how much things cost.

There were a host of different things on offer for parents to buy, from pots of slime, Christmas games, marshmallow snowmen and much more! All stalls were held on the final day of term and the pupils were busy making sure that they gave the correct amounts of change for items sold. It was a great end to the Autumn term with lots of positive feedback from teachers, pupils and parents.

The total profit for each class was as follows:

The grand total raised was £1204.82!!

Prince’s Trust Qualification Achieved by three Year 11 students at Harbour Learning Trust.

Three students in year 11 have just received their completion certificates for taking part in the Prince’s Trust programme. The Prince’s Trust initiatives partner with centres nationally and opportunities to allow students to nurture their talents through bespoke training. Young people have the opportunity to work in small reflection groups, with a strong emphasis on building confidence as well as skills, in order to broaden horizons and foster ambition, exposing students to a wide range of different activities and experiences. The ‘Achieve’ education programme has enabled Jayden, Jed and Jake to develop their employability skills. The boys will be leaving school with an extra qualification and an abundance of confidence and employability.

Mr Wakefield (Assistant Principal) stated, “We are incredibly proud of the students’ achievements. They have embraced all aspects of the achieve programme and shown so much dedication and endeavour. Our thanks are extended to the Learning Support team for their ongoing efforts to ensure we provide success and happiness for every child.”

Thoughtful students in KS3 have been collecting groceries and supplies for donation to the Rock Foundation.

The Rock Foundation is based in Grimsby and is a charitable organisation that creates provision for adults with learning disabilities, or who are in need. The aim of the foundation is to improve life skills, employability and quality of life. As part of their wider curriculum and pastoral care, students had been learning about best to ensure everyone in our community has equal life chances and experiences.

Associate Assistant Principal, Mr Blockley commented, “we are so pleased and overwhelmed that our students have considered others and been so supportive with the collection of the produce. I know the Rock Foundation will gratefully receive it and everyone within the family of schools at Harbour Learning Trust will be proud of them.”

The Year 11 Boys Football team are crowned regional champions.

The Healing Academy PE celebrated another victory for one of their sports teams, following the Year 11 Boys becoming Grimsby and District champions. The road to the final came following back to back wins, over several weeks against a high level of local opposition within the Humberside area. In the final match of the competition, they were victorious against our fiercest rival, winning the game 2-1.

Mr Norman (Head of PE Faculty) said, “We are so thrilled for every single member of the team who has shown an unrelenting level of passion and commitment to the team throughout the term. Over the course of the competition every student has played their part, giving their all to their team and shown great character. My thanks are extended to all members of the department for providing such fantastic opportunities to our students.”

The Cross Country squad dominate the local competition and progress to the next round.

We were delighted to congratulate all our members of the cross country teams for their recent performance at the Grimsby and District annual competition. There were a host of fantastic individual performances, but the overall team performance was simply brilliant due to all students showing 100% grit, will and determination to secure the best possible results and performances for themselves and the Academy. Team Healing came in the top 3 schools for all 6 categories. The Academy placed 1st in Yr7 boys, 3rd in Year 7 girls, 1st in Year 8/9 boys, 1st in Year 8/9 girls, 3rd in Year 10/11 boys and 1st in Year 10/11 girls categories. These impeccable results ensure qualification and safe passage to the next round of competition (Humberside Cross Country Championships).

Mrs Dickinson (PE Teacher) commented, “Words cannot describe how proud we are of all the students that represented the Academy. In very difficult conditions, students kept composure, running discipline and stayed motivated to the very end. I’m looking forward to seeing what they achieve next round.”

At Healing Primary Academy, we pride ourselves on being inclusive, empathetic and respectful.  As such, we celebrated World Braille Day on 4^th January by learning to read and write Braille.  This was supported by one of our pupils who works in Braille; he delivered a wonderful virtual assembly to the whole school about Braille, and taught our pupils lots about life as a blind member of the community.  We are incredibly proud of him and think he’s a credit to our school and community.

We are also incredibly proud of one of our Teaching Assistants, Mrs Wright.  Mrs Wright has voluntarily spent over 200 hours of her own time learning to read and type Braille, in order to support the pupil she works with.  She is now successfully qualified to Level 1 in Number Braille and Level Two in English Braille, which is an outstanding achievement.

This training is proving invaluable in supporting our pupil in all areas.  It’s thanks to Mrs Wright’s dedication, determination and hard work that he is making accelerated progress towards all of his targets – academic and social.  Mrs Wright is a credit to Harbour Learning Trust and a valued member of Team Healing Primary.  Well done, Mrs Wright!

St Giles Academy organised and delivered a Christmas Holiday Activity and Food club, funded by Lincolnshire County Council. For four days of the Christmas holidays, 60 children attended the 4 hour sessions, had new experiences, learnt new skills, had a hot meal and had lots of fun! On Monday Fudge and Co from Nottingham brought some exotic animals for the children to handle and learn about such as a skunk, a skink, a python, a tarantula and many more. On Tuesday, a dance group taught the children new dance moves. On Wednesday, a coach took the children to Priory Witham Academy where they had a fun swimming session and had a go at ice-skating! All the children had a great time! On Thursday, the Lincoln fun bus parked up on the playground and the children enjoyed a session of soft play!

In addition the children learnt how to make puff pastry Christmas trees with a yummy chocolate filling, potato salad, twice baked jacket potatoes and a  rainbow fruit kebab!

Each day the children had a hot  meal provided by Good Lookin’ Cookin’. They also did some crafty activities like making baubles, handprint wreaths and cotton wool snowmen.

The funding for HAF has been secured for the next three years so we will soon be planning our Easter HAF!

A huge thank you to all the staff who gave up some of their Christmas holidays and helped make the Christmas HAF a huge success!!

Just before we broke up last term for the summer break, Year 10 pupils took part in the North East Lincolnshire virtual skills fair.

Pupils were presented with 4 main areas to explore: An ‘Exhibition room’, where pupils had direct access to speak with representatives of local and national businesses, colleges, universities and apprenticeship and training providers. On the ‘Main Stage’ a live video of information was streamed, while the other 2 areas promoted live apprenticeship vacancies and highlighted support available to young people, such as Kooth and Compass Go.

Employers exhibiting included: Orsted, Phillips 66, Engie, Navigo, Wilkin and Chapman, the NHS, Humberside police and representatives from the Army, RAF, Navy and Royal Marines. The event was hugely well received, with pupils engaging with providers and making the most of all the opportunities presented to them.

There were also 2 activities for pupils to take part in. One of them was a virtual ‘scavenger hunt.’ We recently learned that Healing Year 11 pupil, Isabelle, was the winner of the hunt and received £30 worth of Love to Shop vouchers for her efforts!

Isabelle was presented with her vouchers by Karen Linton, Strategic lead for Skills and Employability at North East Lincolnshire Council.

Isabelle said “I am so happy I won the vouchers. I’m glad I took part in the virtual skills fair and I am looking forward to spending my vouchers over the half term break.

The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition is the world’s oldest international writing competition for schools, established in 1883.

With thousands of young people taking part every year, it is an important way to recognise achievement, elevate youth voices and develop key skills through creative writing.

The global spread of COVID-19, saw the lives of many Commonwealth citizens affected. However, through adversity, societies came together and stories of growth, community and hope continue to emerge. This experience formed the basis of the competition’s theme ‘community in the common wealth’.

Lola and Liliah have a passion for writing and submitted their essays to the Royal Common Wealth Society. They, and the Academy were delighted to hear that both students were awarded a very prestigious bronze award, testament to their talent and endeavour.

When discussing the students’ work, Mrs Dewland (Principal) commented, “I’m thrilled to hear that the students’ work has received such accolade. I’m looking forward to reading more of their work in the future”

On Remembrance Day, the Great Coates Primary School choir visited Chatteris House, the local sheltered housing complex. They had been practicing for weeks and were excited and nervous to be performing to an audience outside of the school. We were warmly welcomed by the residents and staff at the home, with a gazebo and drinks during the interval. The audience were treated to a range of songs from the first half of the twentieth century with traditional Remembrance Day songs of ‘We’ll Meet Again’ and ‘Pack Up Your Troubles’ and other well-known favourites like ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ and ‘Swinging on a Star’. We were thrilled at the end of the performance when we were given book marks and chocolates for our efforts. The feedback from the staff at the home is that the residents loved the singing and we are really looking forward to visiting again at Christmas to sing carols.