Donard School

CLASS 11

June 2024

And just like that we are at the end of another school year! It has been a brilliant year in Class 11, where we have enjoyed lots of sensory experiences together and challenged ourselves to embrace new experiences. This month we have enjoyed our Colour 'Fun' event and the Prize Giving. We've also had a visit from the Fire Service and the Anchor Ukes ukulele group. In class we have let our senses take us on a trip to the Portrush, enjoying a paddle in the sea, the bumping cars in Curry's and a chip, only to be taken by seagulls. Thank you for your continued support throughout the year - have a safe and fun summer, and we'll see you here in September.

May 2024

April 2024

We are in Spring already and the pupils of Class 11 have been exploring the theme of Spring through our sensory experiences, listening to the sounds of the animals, smelling flowers and feeling the grass. We have enjoyed our cookery sessions, feeling and tasting the ingredients. Music Therapy is a highlight in class as the pupils engage with our therapists. And we continue to participate in Attention Autism, where we have fun making a mess!!!

March 2024

March brought all things creative to Class 11. We were able to send home our Mother's Day daffodils, which we planted back in the Term 1 - though some had more success than others. We made some shamrocks for St Patrick's Day, linked to our Attention Autism. For Easter we created eggs using shaving foam and paints. We continued work on our shared art project with Class 10, which we are looking forward to revealing soon.

February 2024

Class 11 have enjoyed a really busy month, with Pancake Tuesday and St Valentine's Day celebrated. We also had our passports at the ready for our topic Up and Away, enjoying lots of sensory experiences around the world. 'Travelling' by steam train and boat, we have enjoyed coffee and croissants in Paris, Sicilian lemons, henna tattoos in India and tasting mangoes in Singapore. We have had fun trying to make some traditional dishes as well.

January 2024

We have enjoyed a really busy start to the new year. We have engaged with lots of sensory work around the season of winter and started our new topic of Up and Away, where we are looking at the story of Around the World in 80 Days. We have been busy exploring the sights, sounds and smells from around the world.

Class 11 - December 2023

We had a very busy December as we practised for our Christmas performance. We also had lots of fun with our Christmas crafts and activities. We kept up our sensory exploration through Sensory Topic and Sensology. The pupils also enjoyed a visit from Santa. Wishing all our families all the best for the New Year!

Class 11 - November 2023

Our Sensational Story this half term took us to Narnia. We loved exploring the different themes around The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, especially going on the steam train around the class during our Sensory Story. We enjoyed working on art linked to this, making glistening winter trees. We have been lucky to be able to engage with two different types of Music Therapy over the last few weeks - it has been lovely to see the interactions of the pupils with the therapists and the different instruments and technology that has been introduced. In between all of this we managed to fit in a trip to Solitude Park - it was so nice to get out and feel the elements. And, dare I say, we have been getting some bits and pieces ready for Christmas.

Class 11 - October 2023

The pupils have been busy engaging in lots of sensory activities linked to our topic of Sensational Stories. They have explored lots of different tactile resources linked to Plop the Owl. We have also had fun creating some seasonal art work, especially our leaf printing and our pumpkins. The girls have enjoyed some pampering sessions as part of our Golden Time on Fridays, even linking up with pupils from other classes. We have also taken some time to explore our ICT resources and need to extend a special thank you to the parents who have kindly donated resources to our class; these have really helped extend our learning experiences.

Class 11 - September 2023

We have been busy getting to know each other again in Class 11, with lots of sensory activities linked to 'All About Me!' We have also had fun with our new topic of Sensational Stories, where we have been learning about Plop - The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark. This has included Sensory Topic work, Sensory Stories and Sensology - all engaging the class in the different aspects of the story. The pupils have also taken part in a scarecrow building workshop and have enjoyed collecting leaves each day for our Morning Communication Group. We are all looking forward to a great year together.

June 2022

In June class 11 enjoyed some lovely walks and lots of cookery and wellbeing activities. Our Disney Sports Day was a great success and we really enjoyed joining Kim's class for PE and music sessions with Rebecca. We hope you enjoy all the wonderful photos.

The staff in class 11 would like to wish our pupils and their families a safe and happy summer break from school.

May 2022

Class 11 had lots of fun and some lovely new experiences in May. Our farm topic was a great success. I hope you enjoy the wonderful photos

April 2022

Spring has sprung in Class 11. We enjoyed lots of different Spring activities - smelling and feeling lots of different flowers and even meeting some baby chicks. We also enjoyed preparing for and attending the Great Outdoors Donard Bake off challenge.

March 2022

Class 11 really delved into the Superhero theme for World Book Day.

February 2022

February update. Class 11 have continued with their topic, 'Colour'. We have explored 'Noah's Ark', rainbows and Colours in Nature. We have been making use of our new basketball hoop in P.E.

January 2021

January Update.. Christmas is over and everyone is glad to be back for Term 2. We started with some lovely activities for Well Being week - blow painting with a hairdryer was a great hit! We are beginning our work on 'Colour' and 'Winter'.

December 2021

Class 11 have had a busy month preparing for Christmas. We took part in the Santa Run, did lots of Christmas art have had plenty of sensory Christmas experiences. Also we had someone do super well in The Banbridge Speech and Language Festival.

November update 2021

Class 11 have continued with our 'Celebrations' theme. We have celebrated Birthdays, Flower Festivals and a Kite Festival. Busy happy People!!!!!

October 2021update

Class 11 had a fun time at Halloween.

September 2021 update

September 21. Welcome back to Class 11 everyone. Looking forward to sharing many great experiences this year!.

CLASS 11 UPDATE - MAY 2021

CLASS 11 UPDATE - APRIL 2021

Class 11 have been very busy working on the topics which have been set in Term 3. We have been having lots of fun learning about new things and exploring different subjects. Some of our focuses for this term have been;