Our Learning

Moorland Home Residential

June 2026

Mountain Ash had a brilliant opportunity of a residential for their end of term trip. The children all arrived to school on Wednesday 17th fully packed ready for the days ahead. We began our trip by travelling to Moorland Home where we would be staying for two nights. When we arrived the children had the opportunity to explore the great outdoors and play on the outdoor equipment before lunch. In the afternoon, we visited Hollingworth Lake for a nice walk, a visit to the sensory garden and a play on the park before returning to Moorland for our dinner. After a very successful first night, on the Thursday we went on a day trip to Heaton Park. We enjoyed a play on the park, a picnic lunch, a visit to the animals and a big walk! After a very busy day we returned to Moorland home for dinner. On Thursday evening the children had lots of fun washing the school minibus which turned into an impromptu water fight! We then showered, got into our pyjamas and had a movie night with popcorn and hot chocolate. On our final day we packed up and headed to Wythenshawe Park where we went to Simply Cycling. The children had lots of fun trying out the different bikes with their friends and most definitely worked up an appetite for a picnic lunch and a small play on the park before returning to school. The children had a fantastic time away and there were many firsts for our children! They were a real credit to their families and we are so proud of how amazing they all were. 

PE

May 2026

In PE this half term, we have been practicing and developing our different skills in readiness to showcase at the celebration event. We have been practicing our balancing and mobility in different obstacle courses. We enjoy challenging ourselves and have been working on our independence with balancing. We have had been working really hard on our hand and eye coordination with a beanbag toss, darts, and a basketball shoot out.

We have also been developing our confidence and ability to use different equipment safely in our weekly visits to the park!

We can’t wait to share our skills with you!

Maths

March 2026

Mountain Ash have been focussing on repeated patterns in Maths. We have looked at continuing, describing and finding the missing elements of repeating patterns. The children have enjoyed using different manipulatives to complete different pattern activities and identifying the missing elements.

We have also looked at time. We started by looking at ordering the day and events that take place each day. We have then looked at ordering the days of the week and timed ourselves to complete different activities to understand the length of time. The children loved challenging themselves to complete the activity with the timer in front of them. There were some great celebrations when the activity was completed before the timer ran out. 

Science

January 2026

Mountain Ash have been focussing on ‘Space and The Solar System’ in Science. We have explored the different planets, the characteristics and the order. We have looked how the planets move around the sun and how the moon moves and shows its 8 different phases. The children have really enjoyed listening to the different songs and exploring the different planets.

As part of our science this half term we have also visited the Museum of Science and Industry. We have loved exploring the different science exhibits and using our curiosity to complete the different experiments. 

Autumn Term

November 2025

We have been super busy and working hard in Mountain Ash. In History we have started the topic 'Ancient Egyptians' we have had great fun dressing up as Pharaohs and having a go at building our own pyramids. We even got to make our own Pharaoh crowns. 

Every week we work together as a team to follow a recipe of a food linked to a celebration. So far we have made: sparkler sticks for bonfire night, poppy biscuits for remembrance day and bhindi masala for diwali. We get the chance to explore new foods and practice different cooking skills such as cutting, mixing and measuring different ingredients. 

In Science this half term we have been focussing on 'Sound' we have explored different instruments and looked at how they make sound. We have looked at how sound is created with vibrations by completing the cup experiment and the rice drum experiment. 

Every week we look forward to our forest school session, we love being outdoors and exploring the different areas of the forest. We have been exploring colour, light and sound so far this half term!

Settling In

October 2025

Mountain Ash have had a great start to the year! We have settled really well into our routine and have established and maintained some good friendships. We have been super busy learning lots and having fun as you can see.

In English we have been focussing on fables and have spent a lot of time dramatizing and sequencing. For ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’ we created character profiles of what they are like and how the Hare is fast and the tortoise is slow. We learnt that ‘Slow and steady wins the race’. We have now started to explore ‘The Ant and the Grasshopper’ and have already been able to recall some of the key themes of the story.

In Maths we have completed lots of work around repeating patterns with shapes, colours and sounds. We have also explored 2D and 3D shapes. We looked at identifying and naming these and also looked at vertices and sides for 2D shapes.

Every week we look forward to our PE session with Eduardo from City in the community. We have been working really hard on different obstacle courses and have even completed timed races. We also look forward to our weekly Forest school session where we have lots of fun exploring different activities. This half term we have already completed minibeast hunts and looked at making dens.