Another week at Medtia has passed and our pathway groups are slowly getting used to the college environment presented here. Digit4ll’s IT Enterprise is growing at record levels as each day progresses and Lumenus are busy preparing for the Christmas Showcase which I am sure you will all be entertained with when it lands this week. Furthermore, the Activ8 boys are responding to a gruelling curriculum with real maturity and resilience, one of the main attributes the pathway promotes – all of this at a time when they has been a serious epidemic of “Man Flu”.

Activ8’s Rugby League programme has been improving every Wednesday as our general standard of play reaches record highs. The themes of the sessions over the last few weeks have generally been around the art of the kicker. I was unwell last Wednesday so I couldn’t take part, however I can safely say as Activ8’s best kicker, I may have a challenge to retain my title. This week sees the end-of-season Activ8 ‘Grand Final’ match to end our scheme of work for this season. I have a 2-0 unbeaten record in these finals and I am deadly certain it will be 3-0 by 3pm on Wednesday afternoon. Also, I hope to continue my Grand Final tradition by leading my team’s haka, although I may need to restrain myself this time and remember I don’t need to display my A* potential in French. While the teams have yet to be decided, how fitting would it be for Jack and I to continue our #BattleoftheBlogs and be team captains! Expect match highlights and a full match report on the school websites and social media pages over the coming days.

Our social media pages are a crucial way to catch up with my blog as well as hearing about all of the fantastic events taking place across the sites. Our Facebook page now has almost 1000 likes which fills me with immense pride. Representing our school has always given me such emotion! Facebook’s new feature to allow us to go “Live” could be an important feature in how we report events and achievement. It would be amazing to have the Activ8 Grand Final or the end-of-term Talent Show on Facebook Live! Obviously, there would be legal requirements to overcome, however the possibilities are endless…

Thursday morning saw Luke Ambler come in and talk to the pathways about tackling mental health. The #itsokaytotalk campaign encourages everyone to feel comfortable enough to talk to people about their feelings. The morning itself consisted of a presentation about how Andy’s Man Club came about before splitting us off with people we would normally not entertain having a conversation with for different reasons, before reporting back to our fellow peers. It was an exciting and educational morning – so good that I almost forgot my grudge with him just because he was an Halifax player, and I would welcome him back anytime. You can read more about it here.

Next week is the final academic week of 2016. What a year this has been! We have seen our first student represented blog, Brexit, Donald Trump, the move to Medtia, millions of school relationships and for all you rugby league fans, one thing has stayed the same……Warrington have still not won the league! So I am unleashing my opinionated side for next week’s special blog “Matthew’s Year In Review – 2016” and I want you, the reader, to come up with subjects to be discussed. To do this, just comment on the Facebook post that accompanies this blog with any subject you think may be entertaining enough to read a rant on.

Have a good week,

Matthew