Woodpecker

Teacher for 2025-26 – Sam Stevens

Teaching Assistants – Claire, Rabina, Ruth & Rosey

Personal Support Worker- Tina

Class Updates –

During PSHE Woodpeckers have been learning about healthy eating and lifestyle choices🥦🥕 During this session we looked at different types of food. We took in turns to look at the different symbols and images to identify and sort them into “healthy” and “unhealthy” food options. Great job Woodpeckers! 🌟

Article 12 – Every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them and to have their views considered and taken seriously.

Article 23 – a child with a disability has the right to live a full and decent life with dignity and, as far as possible, independence.

Jack is our “Super Star Swimmer” this term. Starting in September Jack was anxious to come into the pool area, he gradually built up his confidence and began to stand at the side dipping his toe in the water, then moving onto going down the steps and stand in the shallow end. Jack amazed us all this week when he entered the big pool and moved happily around the pool supported by his floating aids. This is a huge achievement for Jack, and Woodpecker class are very proud of him.

Woodpeckers are very lucky to visit Simply Cycling, Wythenshaw Park every week. We have great fun choosing a bike to ride around the track, some children ride independently, others share a bike with an adult. What a great way to enjoy exercise outdoors. Go Woodpeckers!

In Maths Woodpeckers have been learning about 3D shapes! We had some spheres, pyramids, cubes and cuboids out on the tables to explore and handle the different shapes, as well as some PODDMATs to help us identify them. Some of us had a go at stacking the shapes to make towers, whilst others sorted them to go with the correct symbols. Well done Woodpeckers! 🌟

During a RE session Woodpeckers looked at birthday celebrations 🎊 We had a look at what we would see at a birthday party (eg. balloons, presents) and tasted different foods that you could eat🎂🎈 Using PODDMATs and our communication devices we tried and tasted some cake and crisps, saying which ones we liked and disliked. Great work Woodpeckers!🌟

During sensory cooking Woodpeckers made their own banana and blueberry smoothies 🍌🍇We started with cutting up the bananas before adding them as well as some blueberries into a blender. We then poured in some milk and began to blend our smoothies! We took in turns with blending the smoothie, and at the end we got to pour some into a cup to taste! Well done Woodpeckers! 👩‍🍳🌟

Everything is very Christmassy in Woodpecker class🎄🎁 Last week we celebrated Christmas Jumper Day by coming in with our own Christmas jumpers ⛄❄️We put on some festive music and enjoyed some Christmas crafts! 🌟Everything is very Christmassy in Woodpecker class🎄🎁 Last week we celebrated Christmas Jumper Day by coming in with our own Christmas jumpers ⛄❄️We put on some festive music and enjoyed some Christmas crafts! 🌟

During Arts week we had some visitors from Manchester Museum!🎨 They put on a workshop where our Woodpeckers got to make some underwater animals out of plasticine.🐚⚓ We learned about fossils and different underwater creatures before we made some of our own! We had so much fun 🙂 Great job Woodpeckers!🌟

Woodpecker class spent some time on the field doing some painting for Arts Week! 🎨🍂 We chose what colours we wanted and then started to paint different materials such as wood and fabric. We also spent some time in the art room exploring different textures, paints and even made our own hats! Well done Woodpeckers 🌟

Woodpeckers made some toffee apples during sensory cooking. We took in turns putting the ingredients into a bowl and then dipped our apples in. They were so tasty!🍎🌟

Woodpecker class took a festive trip to Gulliver’s World🎢 We went on some rides, enjoyed a theatre show and some lunch and then took a magical train ride to meet Santa in his grotto!❄️🎅 We got a present each and some festive treats before heading back to school. We had so much fun!🌟🎁

This term Woodpeckers are making fact files in English, starting with a fact file about ourselves! We used PODDMATs and a mirror to look at and identify our facial features. We then drew a self-portrait using colouring pens in our books and wrote a few sentences about ourselves. Well done Woodpeckers!🌟

In maths Woodpeckers have been learning about money! This week we were looking at 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 and £2 coins. We have been sorting different coins by their colours and size with the use of PODDMATs and symbols. Good work Woodpeckers! 💰🌟

Last week in sensory cooking Woodpeckers made their own pitta pizzas! We each took in turns using a spoon to spread the sauce on our pittas. After that we sprinkled on some cheese and topped it off with some ham before putting them in the oven. Later in the day we enjoyed our pitta pizzas during our afternoon snack. Well done Woodpeckers! 🍕🌟

Woodpecker had lots of fun during their halloween “Art party”. They painted pumpkins’ made cats and pumpkin faces as well as painted a haunted house

Woodpecker class have done so well during our Splash sessions this term so far! We have been practicing our swimming skills with adult support and growing our confidence in the pool with independent activities and games. Well done Woodpeckers! 🌟

Woodpeckers have been exploring different cause-and-effect activities in ICT this term. Earlier this week during sensory cooking we made some tasty strawberry and banana smoothies that practiced our use of cutlery whilst cutting the fruit and pressing and holding the switch on the blender. Well done Woodpeckers!

During maths Woodpeckers have been enjoying doing some matching and counting activities using a range of resources such as pinecones and paint. We’ve also been working on our understanding of adding one more and taking one away.