 Sherwood Foundation School
Weekly Newsletter
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Dear Families,
As we reach the end of this half term, I would like to say how incredibly proud I am of all our students. It has been wonderful to see how well they have settled into the new school year, embraced new experiences and celebrated so many achievements already.
Thank you everyone for your continued support. I hope all our students and families have a restful break, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back for the next half-term.
David Murden
Executive Headteacher
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Sad news for our school community
You will have received a letter from me sharing the very sad news of the passing of Z’rae, one of our Post 16 students at the Park Campus, who sadly passed away in hospital last weekend. This has been a difficult time for our school community, and our thoughts remain with Z’rae’s family, friends and everyone who knew and cared about her.
The loss of a young person is uniquely difficult to process, and Z’rae was such a vital part of our school community. Our students may experience a range of emotions, and everyone will respond in their own way. Our staff are fully committed to supporting our students, and we are here to provide whatever care and guidance we can.
Please also consider donating to a fundraiser to support with the costs of Z’rae’s funeral:
Fundraising for Z'rae's funeral
Please note that the donation button may not be available over the weekend, so we kindly ask you to check back on Monday if you are unable to access it.
David Murden
Executive Headteacher
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Reminder start dates after half term:
Hill & Park Campuses return to school on Thursday 5th November
Manor Campus return to school on Tuesday 3rd November
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News from Leadership Team
This week, students continued to celebrate Black History Month by listening to a variety of music by Black artists and genres, including Afrobeats. They also explored other aspects of Black culture, including foods from around the world and traditional clothing.
We have a few reminders this week for upcoming dates. Parents evening is the second week back on Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th November - if you haven’t already booked please reach out to your teacher. On Tuesday 10th November we are holding a Careers Fair to highlight potential post school destinations and work experience. Please do join us to look around if you can.
We hope everyone has a lovely half-term and look forward to seeing the students back on the 5th November.
Sherwood Hill Autumn Term Events
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Lower School News
 Mint Class have enjoyed learning about autumn this week, exploring the colour orange through pumpkin activities. Students searched for objects hidden among crunchy leaves and explored tasting spinach and lettuce on their edible sensory farm. In Numeracy, the focus was on number 4, with students having fun searching for hidden numbers in sensory trays. In Literacy, they made their own buses with wheels as part of their work on the nursery rhyme ‘The Wheels on the Bus’.
Olive Class have had a wonderful week exploring pumpkins, scooping out the seeds and using all their senses during a sensory session. Students have also enjoyed celebrating Black History Month by dancing to a range of African music and exploring colourful African patterns. They then created their own patterns using a variety of shapes.
Lime Class have had a lovely week! Students enjoyed a music session exploring sounds, rhythm and music together. In Early Numeracy, the focus was on number 4, explored through a variety of engaging activities. In PE, students worked on developing their jumping skills, practising how to jump and land safely.
Teal Class have had a wonderful week! In Healthy Eating, students explored a watermelon, enjoying scooping out the fruit with spoons and investigating its texture. On Thursday, the class enjoyed a trip to the park, with everyone doing really well when transitioning to and from a new location. It has been a lovely first half-term together, and the class has so much to be proud of!
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Middle School News
 Capri Class have had another busy week! In Numeracy, students practised recognising numbers up to 10 and matching numerals to corresponding picture cards. During our sensory story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, students created their own scenes and made their very own caterpillars. In RSE, the focus was on the concepts of ‘stop’ and ‘go’, using communication core boards. Students practised indicating ‘go’ to start a song, using the ‘stop’ sign when the music paused and requesting ‘more’ to keep the activity going.
Iris Class have enjoyed a fun-filled week before the half-term break! Students have loved our book Superworm, listening to the story together before enjoying some (worm-like) spaghetti play! During Outdoor School, the class collected autumnal items and used them to create their own woodland animals. In RSE, students took part in cleaning activities and began exploring the concepts of ‘public’ and ‘private’ places. To celebrate Black History Month, the class explored music by Black artists and learnt about artist Alma Thomas, creating their own artwork inspired by her style.
Sapphire Class have had a busy week with a focus on health and wellbeing! Students enjoyed plenty of opportunities to get moving through swimming, running, swinging and climbing. A new favourite activity has also emerged: balloon tennis! Alongside the fun, these activities provide valuable opportunities to explore their surroundings, spend time and communicate with others. Being active also supports students’ regulation and emotional wellbeing, helping them feel comfortable, happy and ready to learn.
Indigo Class celebrated Black History Month through music this week, exploring ‘call and response’ by clapping and playing musical instruments. Students also explored different genres, including jazz and hip hop, and enjoyed listening to What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong as their song of the week.
Ocean Class celebrated Black History Month by exploring the life and legacy of Rosa Parks. Students also enjoyed tasting a delicious plantain-based dish as part of their learning about Black history and culture.
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Upper School News
 Lilac Class have been learning about Black History Month and exploring the world of music this week. Students enjoyed a variety of activities that encouraged creativity, exploration and participation. The class also had lots of fun making Halloween decorations, adding a little spooky magic to the classroom!
Lavender Class have had a very busy week! In Science, students explored Arctic animals and their habitats. During Literacy, they enjoyed listening to the story Room on the Broom and worked on sequencing by placing the main characters on the broom in the order they appeared in the story. The class also got into the Halloween spirit by decorating the classroom with their own arts and crafts.
Violet Class have had a busy and enjoyable week, with a wide range of learning taking place in the classroom, playground and local community. Students have been identifying and creating shapes, exploring colours in their artwork and making collages using a variety of shapes. To celebrate Black History Month, the class explored how art can reflect different cultures before creating their own pieces inspired by their learning. The week ended with lots of Halloween fun, including decorating the classroom to make it as spooky as possible!
Thistle Class have completed their first enterprise project this week by selling their handmade Halloween wreaths. All students played a part in the sales and did a fantastic job! The class also enjoyed a cooking session, making Halloween biscuits and using their creativity to decorate them. Of course, tasting their delicious creations was a highlight!
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*Stars of the Week*
Mint: Freddie for enjoying walks in the local community, joining in with class lessons and showing enthusiasm for Attention Autism Bucket and Literacy activities about nursery rhymes.
Olive: All students for settling into new routines and embracing a range of learning experiences with their new classmates and staff.
Teal: Isabela for spending more time in class and showing a growing interest in her core board.
Lime: Deniz for demonstrating a wonderful understanding of classroom routines and reminding staff when it is time to move on to the next activity.
Indigo: Kishan for his fantastic effort in Numeracy, building towers up to five and using his core board during Circle Time.
Iris: Fabi for engaging brilliantly with his learning and enjoying reading Superworm with familiar staff.
Sapphire: Ethan for making excellent progress with his play skills by participating in new partner games and activities for longer periods.
Capri: Maa for engaging wonderfully in lessons and confidently using her core board to communicate her feelings and choices.
Ocean: Elijus for stepping outside his comfort zone, embracing new challenges and pushing his boundaries.
Thistle: George for making a fantastic contribution to the class enterprise project, helping to create and sell Halloween wreaths.
Violet: Declan for continuing to work on his transitions and self-regulation, as well as making great progress during visits to local shops and parks.
Lilac: Khushi for working hard on her regulation and showing great progress in her engagement throughout the week.
Lavender: Saahil for his brilliant engagement in Literacy lessons.
Wellbeing: Skylar for making great progress with self-regulation, adapting to her classroom and beginning to share space and lunchtimes with her class mates.
Therapy: Khushi for demonstrating fantastic literacy skills during her SaLT session, completing an animal word search and showing flexibility in her thinking while listening to guidance.
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News from the Leadership Team
As we reach the end of a busy half-term, I would like to thank all of our staff for their continued hard work and commitment, and our families for their ongoing support. I hope everyone has a lovely, restful half-term break and enjoys some time together.
A reminder that the Park Campus reopens to students on Thursday 5th November.
We are also trying a slightly different approach to arranging appointments for our upcoming Parents' Evening. We will be sending out a Google Form for families to complete, allowing you to indicate your appointment preferences. We hope this will make the process simpler and more convenient for everyone. As this is a new approach, we would really welcome feedback from families about how well it works from your perspective and whether there is anything we could improve. Thank you again for your support, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back in November!
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Lower School News
 Our last week before half-term has been a busy one. This week, students did lots of cooking, which sounded delicious: Hebe class baked cheese straws, Sunflower Class made carrot cake, and Bluebell Class cooked pumpkin soup.
Students all engaged in a variety of lessons; those that stand out are firework-themed science in Bluebell Class, and the true story of Jack-O'-Lantern in Sunflower, which included pumpkin carving. Orchid Class, this week, has started with a new topic for literacy: the Shrek topic, in keeping with our castles and knights theme. The students made Shrek masks in Art for their Literacy board.
Orchid class had a great gross motor session in soft play and lots of fun in music therapy; Hebe Class went out to the park and explored swings; and Sunflower and Bluebell Classed joined football and swimming.
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Middle School News
 This week in Daffodil Class, students have been exploring functional numeracy concepts through sensory exploration. Poppy Class have had a very busy week, they have enjoyed creating their own stories using pictures after reading favourite books. In Maths, they enjoyed exploring how to create patterns using a variety of objects and in cooking they developed their independence by following a recipe to make gingerbread biscuits.
Tulip Class continued reading our story ‘Traction Man’. Students have been enjoying reading about Traction Man adventures and this week they made a life-sized model of traction man.
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Upper School News
 Daisy Class have had a very busy week! In History, students have been finishing their topic on transport in the past and discovered that many would love to travel by steam train or horse and cart. In Geography, the focus has been on weather, with students having great fun trying on different clothes for different conditions. The oversized sunglasses were a particular favourite and brought plenty of smiles! During Cooking, the class made a delicious fruit crumble, which many thoroughly enjoyed.
Marigold Class have been winding down their topics and lessons following a very busy half-term. Students have enjoyed hand and foot massages alongside listening to their chosen sensory music, with a focus on wellbeing and regulation. The class has also taken part in some lovely art activities and explored sensory stories using autumn leaves to celebrate the season.
Peony Class have had a lovely and creative week, painting peony flowers to decorate the classroom and making their own pizzas in cooking. Students did a fantastic job making the dough and pizza sauce from scratch before choosing their favourite toppings. The finished pizzas were delicious! In Maths, the class have been learning about the value of coins and practising selecting the correct coins to pay for items in a shop. During Work Experience, students helped clean and tidy the library while developing other practical skills, including folding clothes and cleaning windows.
This week Dahlia Class had several trips into the local community during the mornings. The afternoons have provided opportunities for music, reflection and working on individual physiotherapy programmes.
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*Stars of the Week*
Orchid: Emmanuel for his positive outlook and the determination to continue engaging in all aspects of his learning.
Hebe: Zain and Chloe for settling fantastically into their first term at school. Well done to both!
Bluebell: Frida for showing fantastic engagement during sensory music, exploring the keyboard with focus and joy, and taking turns with her classmates. Daisy for participating brilliantly in football as a goalkeeper and reaching the wonderful milestone of drinking from her cup and transitioning away from a bottle.
Lily: Tuesson for showing great resilience in his learning, particularly in Literacy, using his eye gaze device and PODD book to demonstrate his phonics knowledge.
Sunflower: Aurora for settling quickly into her new class, independently finding her classroom, becoming familiar with routines and classmates, and engaging brilliantly in Maths by building towers and exploring colours.
Marigold: Younes for bringing happiness to the classroom, dancing along to his favourite songs with a smile and working hard with staff to develop his communication using his PODD book.
Tulip: Thadsaken for settling well into Tulip Class, becoming familiar with classroom routines, engaging positively with his learning and transitioning around school.
Daffodil: Jack for showing great resilience throughout the week and continuing to practise co-regulation.
Poppy: Alex for engaging in a range of learning activities, including matching pictures to initial sounds and building a house with bricks in History. He also showed great initiative by offering to help staff construct a roof using angled bricks.
Daisy: Jack for working hard on his independent living skills and exploring regulation tools to support his wellbeing.
Peony: Kaelen for engaging in class activities and doing a fantastic job in Maths, selecting the correct amount of pound coins to pay for items.
Dahlia: Everyone for supporting and looking after one another this week.
Therapy: Gandom for a fantastic SaLT session in the Sam Space, completing the whole session and transitioning back to class. She also explored high-tech AAC, independently navigating towards favourite buttons such as caterpillar and popcorn with less support.
Wellbeing: Albert for an amazing session with the Wellbeing OVTI teacher in the dark room, demonstrating fantastic skills and self-regulation throughout.
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News from the Leadership Team
 What a wonderful half-term we have had at Sherwood Manor. Our five new classes, students and staff have settled in and are well and truly part of the school. It is so wonderful to see the progress that all the students have made. Progress looks different for every student. Some of our students had not been regularly attending school and are now in school every day. Some students did not have a peer group and now have friends and social interactions that they had not enjoyed previously. All our students are learning and making progress across the curriculum, and in their regulation and communication. It is a joy to see them settled and starting to thrive.
Last Friday we celebrated our Autumn Festival. Parents and carers joined our assembly for the first time and the hall was packed! It was a delight to share our Manor poem, have a dance and celebrate all those who received certificates. We also collected produce for the local food bank. Thank you for your donations.
The learning over the week has continued the focus on Planet Earth and protecting our environment. We celebrated Black History Month by learning about the inspirational scientist Wangari Maathai. She worked to protect the environment and plant trees.
Food Tech continues to be a favourite lesson and there have been a number of Halloween / Autumn-themed recipes. We’ve seen chocolate-covered apples and rice crispy ghost cakes.
A little reminder, we have Parents Evening on 10th and 11th November, please check email for more information on how to book. We look forward to welcoming students back to the Manor Campus on Tuesday 3rd November.
Sherwood Manor SLT wants to wish you a restful half-term.
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*Stars of the Week*
Albatross: Lola for engaging positively in learning with her class and accepting support to help regulate her emotions.
Robin: Levi for his excellent engagement in PE, joining in enthusiastically with his classmates during an outdoor cricket session.
Cardinal: Ellie for her wonderful engagement in Literacy, answering ‘who’ and ‘where’ questions during story time.
Kingfisher: The whole class for demonstrating fantastic teamwork and excellent engagement in their learning.
Kite: Atharv for his fantastic engagement throughout music therapy with the whole class, particularly enjoying playing the drums.
Hawk: Oscar for his excellent teamwork and enthusiasm during Physics, encouraging his classmates as they sorted items according to the materials they were made from.
Kestrel: Lucas for his fantastic engagement and persistence in his learning.
Falcon: Rehan for his excellent engagement and positive participation in learning activities.
Goshawk: Connor for his increased focus and engagement in his learning this week.
Therapy: Emmy for her fantastic engagement in the fine motor group, practising tying knots during a craft project and showing kindness by helping a friend.
Wellbeing: Saatvik for making incredible progress, particularly with transitions around school and exploring new places. His growing confidence, positive engagement in lessons and happy, fun-loving personality have been wonderful to see.
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Sherwood Foundation Charity | |
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SWLSTG Education Wellbeing Service
The Education Wellbeing Service is offering lunchtime and evening webinars throughout the year to support parents and carers with their child’s wellbeing and mental health. Details of the webinars, including dates and topics, can be found on the links below:
Early Years Webinar schedule 26/27
Primary Webinar schedule 26/27
Secondary Webinar schedule 26/27
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Preparing for Adulthood Hub
More information and bookings can be found Events & Bookings | Sutton Libraries and searching ‘Preparation for Adulthood’.
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