This week the school focus in tutorial time has been to contribute towards Anti Bullying Week, a national agenda item. There has been a ‘word cloud’ competition (winners to be announced….), some classes have made posters using word wall software, others have held interesting discussions and I’m sorry to say that some of the ICT classes in Year 8 have been experimenting with software and photographic images with the frightening results you can see here…

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”12″ gal_title=”Y8 ICT”]

Our young people continue to work on their e-Safety, learning how to use electronic devices safely and respectfully in school. We’re pleased to say that three more students at the Learning Centre have completed their e-Safe Award this week and have been presented with their e-Safety cards in assembly, meaning that they can now bring their own devices in to use at New Bridge.

When the School Council met for the first time at the school site with Governors and Judith, the items on the agenda included Anti Bullying week, our school focus for the year, Christmas week activities and the school premises. Each year group was represented and the pupils answered the Governors’ questions politely and thoughtfully. In addition, Mrs Bingley has been training and appointing our new intake of school buddies and they are eager to take on their new responsibilities (and wear their badges!).

Students in Hortus attended a Britain in Bloom Presentation for the North West along with the Mayor of Oldham where they received the highest possible ‘Outstanding Award’. Well done to all the students and staff who have worked so hard to achieve this award – thanks to them the reputation of Hortus continues to grow (and yes, the pun was intentional!) You can read more about their achievements in the Oldham Evening Chronicle’s article here.

The final amount raised for Children in Need at the Learning Centre was £98.36 and we are still counting the donations down at school. Well done to everyone involved in the fundraising.

We are now racing towards Christmas with just three weeks to go. The last two weeks of term will be populated with rehearsals for the Winter Showcase, a lovely opportunity for you to share some of the amazing work that has been done across the Performing Arts department during the Autumn term. There is an evening performance on Tuesday 8th December from 6.30pm until 8.30pm and a morning show on Thursday 10th December at 9.30am. Letters have been sent home to parents of the children taking part and tickets are available from Wendy Warren. We are sure you will enjoy the show!

Next Thursday 3rd December the Gallery at the Learning Centre is being used as a Polling Station but we will remain open as usual for students.

We hope you have a lovely weekend,

Judith and Roger

Click here to catch up with the exciting news in Graham’s blog