Welcome to Derwent Class. We are part of the Willow Department where we put great emphasis on nurture and sensory needs. Everyone has a wealth of experience to support the pupils varying needs in class.

We always start our day with a form of exercise to get us ready for some great learning throughout the day, this is often a dance routine or sensory circuit activity. Our classes are lively and interactive and full of discussion to help support language, communication and social interaction. We also use Lego Therapy in class to support speech & language, social skills and fine motor skills. We have a great outdoor learning programme, which covers gardening, exercise and Forest School activities during the year.

During 2023-2024 we will be covering a range of topics which support holistic, enriching and thought-provoking learning experiences, all linked to acquiring relevant knowledge and skills:

Autumn 1 – Dinosaur Planet (History Focus)

Autumn 2 – Winter Wonderland (Geography Focus)

Spring 1 –  Marvellous Machines (D&T Focus)

Spring 2 –  Towers, Tunnels and Turrets (History Focus)

Summer 1 – Ready Steady Grow (Science Focus)

Summer 2 – Animal Safari (Geography Focus)

Sitting alongside topic work and core subjects, we spend time outside of the classroom during our ‘Beyond Bennerley’ sessions. This term we will be visiting Bennerley Viaduct for a sensory walk. We will be going into the local community to visit shops, cafes and the library to support pupils to gain independent living skills outside of the home. Later in the year pupils will develop their life skills in the home by participating in activities such as how to wash clothes, use an iron and vacuum cleaner.

Important information: 

PE is on a Tuesday morning.

We will be doing Forest School in the summer term; we will let you know about kit for this separately.

We will send you updates about your child throughout the week using our class email. If you need to contact us, we check email before and after the school day. If you need to report anything urgent please use the main school email address or phone the office.

We visited Wollaton Park for the day with Shipley class as an end of year treat and with the leftover Enterprise money, bought a small treat from the cafe. We loved the playground and enjoyed the exhibitions inside the house. 

We have been having fun creating African inspired masks. 

On Monday we learnt what to do if we fall, bump our head, burn yourself or have a nose bleed. We then demonstrated on our clumsy teddy and penguin. 

On Thursday Derwent had two topics lessons. The first was Geography based and we learnt about how many countries make up the continent Africa. The second was about traditional African music and we enjoyed playing the African drums along to Toto - Africa. We had some super enthusiastic drummers in class. 
 

Derwent enjoyed their trip to Twycross Zoo and saw lots of different animals. 

On Tuesday we went outside to find the fruit Joanne lost. We then matched and sequenced them to the pages in the story Handa’s Surprise. We then used our phonics knowledge to practise spelling the names of the fruit. 

This half term our new topic is All About Africa and our first class text of the term is Handa’s Surprise! We listened to the story, explored the fruits (some of which we hadn’t seen before) and enjoyed acting out the story together. 

On Thursday Derwent had an RE day focussed on the bible stories, Jonah and the Whale and Daniel and the Lion. We learnt about the importance of telling the truth, apologising, forgiveness, bravery and being courageous. We listened to music, stories, had lots of fun role playing and made some beautiful courage jars.

Following on from our shopping trip at the beginning of the week, today Derwent class followed instructions to create a healthy snack. 

Today Derwent took the Ilkeston Flyer and visited Aldi. We practised road safety, talking to a bus driver, used a shopping list, looked at signs, calculated the best value products and asked for help from a shop assistant at the checkout. A fun trip out and full of learning opportunities. 

Derwent class had a lovely morning at The Lanes Garden Centre and Open Farm in Risley. We put our Maths / Beyond Bennerley lessons into practise by paying for animal feed and a treat from the cafe. It also linked to our topic learning about animals and what happens on a farm. 

This week Derwent have been enjoying learning about The Gigantic Turnip. On Tuesday we found our own gigantic turnip in the garden and later in the week we made predictions, created own our versions and acted out scenes from the story. 

Derwent and Shipley had a fun practical afternoon on Thursday learning about jobs on a farm. We learnt how you could milk a cow, churn butter and make cream. We then did a taste test with the butter and cream that we made and compared the semi skimmed milk and jersey cream. 

We learnt about the lifecycle of a sunflower in Science then headed outside to plant our seeds. We are looking forward to seeing how they grow. 

In Derwent we learnt about extraordinary people such as police officers, postal workers and dentists. We had then the fun opportunity to dress up and act as them. Everyone practised their turn taking and listening skills. 

On Wednesday Derwent enjoyed their first forest school session of the year. It was a rather messy but such good fun to explore the area. We found a frog, multiple newts, stirred the 'chocolate river' and played in the mud kitchen. We also made our first Enterprise project for the marketplace event which will be held in later this term. 

Derwent enjoyed their tunnel experience linked to the class text 'The Tunnel' by Anthony Browne. Everyone made a prediction what might be at the end of the tunnel and got a individual surprise. There were witches, goblins and fairies! 🧚 🧙 

On Thursday, Derwent learnt about all about catapults in science before making our own. Everyone worked really well as a team to work out, what to stick and where. We then tested it outside with scrunched up paper. 

On Monday, Derwent and Shipley walked along the canal to the Bennerley Viaduct. We had a talk from a local historian about the history of the viaduct and looked for other man made landmarks we could see. 

On Thursday we had a fun day full of STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) activities linked to our topic. In the morning we designed and built bridges then in the afternoon we constructed junk model castles. 

Derwent and Shipley had a great time exploring Bolsover Castle for their topic Towers, Tunnels and Turrets 🏰 

Derwent and all the students in Stage Two enjoyed a day out at the Aeropark and Aerozone near East Midlands Airport on Thursday. We got to experience what it is like at an airport and see a selection of aeroplanes. We were lucky enough to even go inside some of them.

On Wednesday we had Kate from the Bennerley Viaduct talking to us about bridges and judging our own that we built in small groups. 

In Derwent class, we listened and played along to Medieval music. We identified and sorted medieval and modern instruments. Then in the second part of the lesson, we tried some Medieval dancing in some costumes. Everyone loved it! 

Wow, what a start to the new term.  In Derwent our new topic is Towers, Tunnels and Turrets and yesterday everyone loved playing with the castle and figurines. In English we had great fun we listening and re-enacting the story of Rapunzel. 

Derwent enjoyed making catapults in their STEM workshop with Graeme from the Museum of Making. 

On Wednesday afternoon Derwent and Shipley went up to Christ church in Cotmanhay for a wedding! Reverend Dawn taught us all about them and we were able to reenact one.  We had a bride, groom, lots of page boys, a best man and someone to give the bride away. 

The following morning we continued RE day by first looking at Rachel’s own wedding photographs before learning about customs in both Christian and Jewish weddings, where they take place and who’s involved. 

In topic lessons we have been learning about The Wright Brothers and the history of flight. We learnt about the first hot air balloon, space shuttle and aeroplanes. We all enjoyed pretending to be aeroplanes!

We thoroughly enjoyed our outdoor learning session which linked to both Art and Science. We filled a  plastic cup with paint and pushed/ pulled it to create a unique piece of Art. 

On Wednesday, we all enjoyed taking part in a Kahoot quiz to test our knowledge on the class text, Mrs Armitage on Wheels. 

In Derwent class we really enjoy outdoor learning. On Friday Joanne ‘lost’ the pages from Mrs Armitage on Wheels so we all headed outside to find them. Together we put them back in order. 

Our topic is Marvellous Machines and we have been learning about cars through the years. As a group everyone was able to order the cars and later completed a worksheet about the differences between the first automobiles and modern day cars. 

In Science we are learning about forces. For our first lesson on the term we explored forces outside using scooters, trampolines, swings and other play equipment. 

We’ve had a lovely festive week in Derwent class filled with many fun activities. We have been enjoying opening our science themed advent calendar each day in December and on our last week of term Santa visited, we watched the staff pantomime and wore Christmas jumpers. 

During our topic lessons, we have been learning about the Arctic and Antarctic. This afternoon we completed a carousel of activities to learn about how Inuit people live, what animals live in the polar regions and even went on Google earth to look at Lapland. Everyone especially enjoyed exploring the fake snow! 

Enjoying your new class text - The Big Freeze by Pippa Curnick. 

We went to Derby to experience a live orchestra playing along with The Snowman. We were lucky enough to meet the Snowman too! 

This week we have been enjoying our new class text called Snow Bears 🐻❄️ 
First we listened to a sensory story and in Wednesday’s lesson, we collected pictures from our outdoor area then, as a class, put them in chronological order. 

In our half termly RE day we learnt about what can we learn from sacred books. We enjoyed a sensory story amongst other activities to recall the main events of Joseph’s story including his colourful coat, his dreams and his journey to Egypt. 
 

We’ve started off our new topic ‘Winter Wonderland’ by reading The Gruffalo’s Child and drawing our own winter wonderland settings. In today’s English lesson we were writing about our settings and as a starter, explored a range of interesting objects using our five senses. 

We love having a creative afternoon in Derwent class. Recently on a Thursday afternoon we have been sculpting dinosaurs and creating fossils using clay. Then the following week, we painted our creations and made dinosaur sock puppets. 

Derwent first visited the amazing adventure playground at Wollaton and practised their turn taking and play skills. Then we trekked up to the house and headed to the exhibitions. We saw at a giant skeleton of a dinosaur hanging from the ceiling and there were some fascinating artefacts, great interactive screens and puzzles to explore. 

We welcomed Rex the Tyrannosaurus Rex into Derwent class and had the opportunity to ask him questions as part of our Dinosaur Planet topic. 

Derwent class had the opportunity to meet a variety of reptiles including stick insects, snakes, lizards and a tortoise. We were able look, touch and even hold them. What an incredible experience for everyone. Thank you to CJPets4U for visiting!

In Derwent we completed five challenges across the week as Steve was running the five ultra marathons. Our challenges included a danceathon, bouncathon, sponserd walk along Bennerley viaduct, Sports Day and circuit training. We’ve had a great time!