Learners at Hinckley went on a special visit to a Hindu temple as part of their work on Hinduism.
The learners visited the Shri Swaminarayan Hindu temple in Leicester where they listened to a guide explaining the Hindu faith and facts about the temple.
Claire Nulty, Teaching Assistant said: “The visit allowed our pupils to reflect on the importance of the temple in the Hindu community and why places of worship, in general, play a vital role in bringing communities together. It highlighted the significance of understanding and reflecting the beliefs and traditions of others.
“The children were curious and inquisitive and the guide patiently answered their questions, further enhancing their understanding of Hinduism and temple practices.”
Since then, fantastic displays on Hinduism and Christianity have been created at Hinckley to further share more religious insights.
This term at R.E.A.L., Key Stage 3 and 4 learners are delving into the theme of ‘Urban Living, Town Building Blocks’ which is being explored through a diverse range of activities and lessons – including box theatres, city planning games and pop-up books!
A learner at R.E.A.L’s City Hub created a box theatre as part of this by using a cardboard box and a torch. Maria Poyser, Site Lead Teacher said: “The learners really enjoyed this! Just this simple technique demonstrates spotlighting and how it can be used to good effect to highlight characters coming in from different points in the set.
“We’re hoping to build our own box theatre with curtains, characters and props out of cardboard, but that will hopefully be the grand finale at the end of this term’s topic.”
Learners have also been exploring the new theme by reading pop-up books of cities, which have had an incredible amount of detail. Maria said: “The pop-up books were a great way of showing how sets can be built and even some of our older learners have enjoyed the level of detail and work involved in creating the pop-up books of the city.”
Learners were also introduced to a city planning game called ‘My City’ where they’re encouraged to think strategically and use great maths skills around space, shape and measure.
Maria said: “I’ve really enjoyed the mixture of English, Design and Technology and arts and crafts in this term’s topic, as it appeals to both our academic and kinesthetic learners.”
National STEM Day is a day dedicated to celebrating science, technology, engineering and maths and we have some brilliant work to share in honour of the day that took place on 8 November.
Learners at R.E.A.L. often use LEGO Education’s resources as it integrates STEM concepts into its models and kits. One learner who works from home recently made LEGO’s ‘High-Tech Seesaw’ on National STEM Day.
Duncan Allen, STEM Co-ordinator at R.E.A.L. said: “The purpose of the session was to build a motorised seesaw, and the learner had to create a code so that the tilt sensors built into it could make it move up and down.
“The learner has worked through several years worth of curriculum now and next we’ll be moving onto a much more complicated code for a robot that can stand on two wheels. The robot also uses tilt sensors like the seesaw but it needs fast calculations to remain upright.
“If you’re intrigued by STEM, I’d recommend looking at Google’s ‘family, fun science’ page.”
Click here to visit the page, for lots of facts, mythbusters and out of this world photos.
Learners at RIS Ilkeston have been exploring geometric and organic shapes, texture and 3D modelling this term, all with the aim to develop an abstract landscape.
Over the span of six weeks, learners created their artwork which resulted in a fantastic final piece of hedgehogs in an autumnal setting.
The final hedgehogs were made out of plasticine so the learners could manipulate and change the shape of the figures as they were being made.
Gail Smyth, Tutor at R.E.A.L. said: “The learners thoroughly enjoyed the autumn theme and felt proud of what they had produced.
“This half-term we’ll be learning about different artists and will be linking our final piece to a winter theme this time.”
Key stage 3 learners across R.E.A.L. have enjoyed reading the novel ‘Gamer’, the latest chosen book of this term exploring digital and dystopian themes.
Learners have produced some brilliant work after reading ‘Gamer’ which is now on display at the City Hub, Sneinton.
Maria Poyser, Lead Teacher at R.E.A.L. said: “The learners really enjoyed reading this book. We had a dystopian film theme running last term over lunchtimes, so I think this helped to cement the learning and get discussions rolling when starting to read Gamer. Especially with the whole debate around artificial intelligence that’s been in the news too.”
Learners compared the similarities to ‘The Hunger Games’ series and the novel ‘Trash’ from the first half-term.
Maria said: “There’s been a lot of really powerful themes in the Key Stage 3 book choices since the start of this school year, which have been cross curricular too which is amazing. For example, a character in Gamer pulls out a blade during a fight, so this naturally led on to a discussion about knife crime and how if you carry a knife for ‘protection’ you’re more likely to use it. There’s been a lot to discuss and think about, and this could have easily filled a second term.”
You might remember last month we told you about the cupcake sale RIS Hinckley did as a way to raise money for World Mental Health Day.
They raised a lovely sum of £50 and donated this to a local Mind charity shop, and now Mind has sent a letter to say thank you. The letter said: “On behalf of Mind, I want to thank you most warmly for your generous donation, we are very appreciative of your kind gift. This will enable us to keep on fighting for change so that people with mental health problems continue to get a better deal in society.”
Dawn Besa, Receptionist at R.E.A.L. said: “All the staff at Hinckley were very pleased and proud to receive the acknowledgement from Mind. We are so happy to be able to help such a fantastic cause.”
Staff and learners across R.E.A.L. took time to reflect and pay their respects for Remembrance Day in November.
Learners at RIS Blidworth watched the Royal British Legion’s assembly, joined by dog Poppy. Poppy, was wearing a purple poppy to remember the animals that have also lost their lives while serving for their country.
R.E.A.L. Underwood learners visited Eastwood cenotaph and laid handmade wreaths at the Underwood church, while RIS Hinckley also visited a memorial and left poppies made from old pencils to remember the fallen.
Many sites across R.E.A.L. took part in events to celebrate World Mental Health Day this month, from getting creative at Sandhills by making a tree of positivity board to RIS Hinckley raising £50 for the charity, Mind, by selling homemade cupcakes.
The team at Square One, R.E.A.L.’s Referral and Intervention team, hosted a ‘Chips and Chat’ event to give learners a chance to talk about their mental health and see how we can support them.
Sarah D’sa, Hub Manager at Square One said: “This was a lovely, low pressure occasion for our learners to chat to us and see we are all supportive and aware of mental health. We spoke about the different ways we all deal with our anxieties. Plus, it was a brilliant reason for chip butties!”
There are five members of the Referral and Intervention team at Square One, not forgetting their on-site dog Weechi.
Sarah said: “Square One prides itself on being a welcoming and supportive environment for those new learners who are just beginning their academic journey with R.E.A.L.
“The team complete a range of assessments to collate the learners’ baseline data when they join R.E.A.L., so that the Learning Manager can ensure learners are on the correct pathway. It also gives learners a bespoke timetable that includes vocational subjects they may have expressed an interest in.”
As well as 1-2-1 provision, Square One also offers a wide range of group teaching including BTEC Business Studies, AIM Awards including Horticulture, Independent Living and Food Skills. To find out more, please email enquiries@real-education.org or call 01158 220400.
It’s been just over a year now since we made the change from R.E.A.L. Music to R.E.A.L. Creative Arts after expanding the qualifications on the course.
James Mills, Creative Arts Provision Manager at R.E.A.L. said: “It’s also been two years since we started using the historic Old Library studios in Mansfield as our base, and since then we’ve seen huge developments to the quality of the courses and facilities we now offer.”
What was once just a music provision, is now a much wider offer of Art, Drama and Music and learners can gain GCSEs or RSL qualifications.
James said: “We provide learners with a peaceful and nurturing environment that allows them to feel comfortable so they can grow in their personal creative expressions and identity.”
There are numerous qualifications learners can work towards, to find out more and watch a video about the course, click here.
We’re always looking at ways to build on the services we offer at R.E.A.L., so we’re pleased to reveal we’ll shortly be moving our construction venue to a new site in early 2024.
Martin Thorne, Tutor at R.E.A.L. said: “It’s been a long time coming and after much searching for a suitable place, we are now going to be moving from the current site in Bolsover to a unit adjacent to R.E.A.L.’s Head Office in Mansfield.
“We’ve had to make some changes inside to make the site more fit for purpose but we’re coming towards the end of the work now. We can’t wait for our learners to see it and we’re excited to see it in use.”
The aim is to gradually start moving everything over from the current site in Bolsover to its new home in the coming months with a hopeful ‘move in’ date during January.
If you’d like more information on our Construction provision, please click here.
