This has been another busy week at New Bridge with different groups of our young people taking part in exciting learning opportunities both in and outside of school!
Our Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold group set off on Monday to brave the elements in North Wales on a gruelling four day expedition. Mr Taylor will be bringing us his full report next week but these first pictures may give you an idea of how hard they have worked to complete the challenge..
The Gold DofE Award is an incredible personal achievement and we are extremely proud of the resilience and perseverance the group have shown throughout their Award programme – hopefully everyone has now finally dried out after the expedition!
Back at New Bridge, our young people had fun preparing for the start of Wimbledon on Monday thanks to Mr Smith..
On Tuesday the New Bridge Year 7s and pupils from Hollinwood Academy went over to Leeds and visited the Royal Armouries. Mr Hanif and Mr Thompson organised the trip to reinforce the learning in History this year on Medieval Times. Mr Hanif is planning to tell us all about the visit next week but we sneaked a look at some of the pictures when they got back – they all had an amazing day out despite being stuck in traffic on the M62 on the way home!
Next week we begin the New Bridge ‘silly season’ with show rehearsals taking place in earnest ready for the performances of ‘Aladdin and Jasmine’ on Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th July. If you haven’t already booked your tickets, we still have a few left – please call Lucy Shannon on 0161 883 2401 to check availability. Over 65 young people from across the Group are involved in the production and we can’t wait to see it!
Our famous Sports Awards are taking place on Thursday 6th July at 7.00pm and we wonder who our guest speaker will be this year… The PE staff have been busy organising the evening and it is always a pleasure to be able to take part in this event and witness the celebration of our young people’s achievements. Watch out for news and pictures next week!
Transition visits are well underway in preparation for September and our young people have been spending time at the Learning Centre, Medtia Square, Horizons and various colleges getting to know their new placements and staff. We are grateful to parents and carers for working with us to ensure this process of transition is as successful as possible and we are continuing to work with our young people to reassure any who may be feeling anxious about moving on.
Our year 14 students and staff have been busy filming their celebration video which is looking amazing! There are some great cameo roles – we don’t want to give too much away but watch out for Mr Barker bustin’ some moves and a return performance from ‘Fleur East!’
The students in IB had a lovely trip to Blackpool last week. They were really lucky with the weather, although they did all end up a bit windswept! IBLC2 students started the day by doing a sweets and chocolate hunt. They used pictures to find a different sweets and chocolates in the shops and then bought some to bring back to the Learning Centre to use in their ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ topic. They then had a picnic on the sea front and everyone had lots of fun watching Mrs Ratcliffe try to hide from the seagulls!
After their picnic they all had a walk along the sea front experiencing all the different sights, sounds and smells. Finally, with the sea air making everyone feel hungry there was just enough time for a quick trip to McDonalds before heading back..
IBLC1 were visiting Blackpool as part of their ‘Stepping back in time’ theme to explore a traditional holiday destination. They had lots of fun on the pier and even had chance to play the traditional fairground game of hook-a-duck..
The students got to experience the sights and the smells of the seaside and take a ride on a trolley bus..
Our curriculum focus this week is on our Autism Base classes. AB1 have been doing lots of sensory work to encourage engagement and participation..
They have been counting and recognising numbers in Maths..
..and, as you might imagine, they really enjoyed the visit from the Fire Service..
..and the chance to use the hose..
AB2 had a wonderful Science lesson with Miss Taylor as you can see, picking flowers in the garden and then matching them up in class..
AB3’s theme for this term has been ‘holidays’ and the pupils have done some lovely display work. They have made a poster of their preferred holiday by looking through holiday brochures and they have been practising their writing by filling in their personal information on a passport form..
Friday’s Learning Centre assembly was the first of many assemblies to be held across all our sites on Mental Health Awareness by Mind. We welcomed a guest, Jo, (a parent of one of our Activ8 students) from Mind who spoke to everyone about the importance of looking after ourselves both physically and mentally. Amongst other things she told us was the importance of having a good sleep and what we can do to support ourselves to get this. There was also discussion about the importance of having someone to talk to if we need to, as well as who those people could be in our lives. The students responded very well to the talk and it gave us all food for thought. Thanks very much, Jo!
We are looking forward to welcoming new parents to the Learning Centre next week for our transition evening on Wednesday – we hope we can answer your questions and give you a feel of what life is like at the Learning Centre.
Just a reminder, all the New Bridge staff will be staying late to undertake training on Tuesday 4th July so there will be no After School Clubs.
We hope you have a lovely weekend,
Judith and Dawn
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