Welcome to Hastings Class

We are a formal Year 10 class made up of 12 amazing pupils.

The team:

Mrs Bidwell  - Form Tutor

Miss Patel - Teaching Assistant

Miss Keane - Teaching Assistant

Mrs Collier - Teaching Assistant

My name is Mrs Bidwell and I am the form tutor for Hastings. I joined Applebee Wood Community Specialist School in January 2025. My passion is English and I teach this subject to the Key Stage 4 students.

We are very lucky to have our three superb teaching assistants who work with our students each day. Miss Patel has been with our learners since Year 7 and keeps us all on track! Miss Keane has been working with Hastings class since Year 9 and she always has a huge smile on her face. Mrs Collier is fairly new to Applebee Wood having joined in 2024 and she is extremely supportive of all our learners.

In our English lessons, we have been reading a mysterious short story called The Viewer by Gary Crew and Shaun Tan. The story is about a young boy named Tristan who enjoys scavenging through discarded objects in the local junkyard. One evening, he comes across an intriguing box which contains an old Viewmaster toy. 

But all is not what it seems when Tristan looks into the Viewmaster...

After reading and enjoying the story, learners in Hastings have generated their own ideas for an innovated version of the story. We explored experimenting with a different character, a different setting and an alternative object. I have been blown away with the student's creativity and look forward to sharing our finished stories with you.