Firstly, I would like to start by welcoming all our staff and students back to Medtia after the summer break. We started our week with a training day on Monday, which was largely spent preparing the building for our young people after the building works that have been completed over the summer. The building is looking fantastic and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Alan and Dan in the site management team, along with our team of builders and workmen who have worked so hard over the past few weeks to ensure that our building is fit for purpose.

This week, many students have joined us who are new to Medtia and they have settled in brilliantly. We have also had students start on our Bridging the Gap programmes at both Manchester Metropolitan University and the Royal Oldham Hospital.

Here are updates from all our pathway groups…

Digit4ll
It’s been a full-on start to the new year for Digit4ll Key Stage 5 as we have lots of new members that have joined our group. It has been a fun week with both staff and students getting to know each other, finding our way around the new building for some and just settling into the new surroundings. We have discussed all the things that the students will take part in now that they are a part of KS5 Digit4ll. We have worked on timetables and how the day to day routine works here at Medtia, as well as sorting out new folders for all of the work that will happen over the coming months.

We had a fun afternoon trying out the camera equipment that we use and also making some strange noises that we recorded with the audio equipment. When we watched and listened back to the footage, I think maybe some of the pupils might be better suited in Lumenus? (only joking!) When asked, it turns out the students are like Mr Handrick and prefer to be on the other side of the camera! Over the next few weeks I’m sure things will settle down and the class will call Medtia their new home but like anyone moving house, it’s a bit of a challenge. We look forward to sharing with you all what we do in the coming weeks so keep a look out for us. One last thing… don’t forget that we can take your orders for canvas, mug prints and also any filming that you may require so please do get in touch. We will have our new name and business logo coming out soon. Have a good weekend from Mr H. and the students of the Digit4ll pathway.

Lumenus
This week we have been settling into our new home at Medtia, helping our students who are new to the New Bridge Group feel welcome..

We have taken tours of our building and the cultural sector of Oldham which included the Art Gallery and Oldham Theatre Workshop (OTW), where we undertook a guided tour conducted by Craig Harris, the Applied Theatre Practitioner. We will be working with OTW this year and using their space on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. We are looking forward to a creative and productive year!

Activ8
This week we have started with a bang! We have been out for our first Rugby training session of the year and, along with the Key Stage 4 Activ8 group, we have been focusing on our fitness..

We also went along to OCL for our Gym Induction..

The students have done amazingly well this week in settling in and after 6 weeks off have also impressed me with their fitness levels! Well done everyone, Mr Greenway.

Pre-Internship
Our new Pre-Interns have had a good start to the new term this week. The students have been busy completing their one page profiles so we can get to know them..

Our students have also completed a range of induction activities such as ‘Coping with problems at work’, ‘What we appreciate about people’, ‘Making choices’ (as a boss, which of the 2 applicants would you choose?),  ‘Personality clash’ (How do we work out a way to get on with people at work?) and ‘Breaking bad news.’  For the last activity, students were asked how they would deliver the bad news to a colleague that their mother has been in an accident and is in hospital…responses ranged from, ‘I would tell her at the end of the day, she has to finish work first’ to ‘I’d take her to the hospital with balloons and tissues.’

As part of our ‘getting to know you’ activities we all did some role-play scenarios in the workplace and acted different roles out in ‘guess the job’..

No acting required for this one – here’s our cleaning star, Josie..

We have also filled out the volunteer application forms for the RSPCA and we are looking forward to starting our placements at the RSPCA and David Lloyd Gym next week. We are very pleased with our new uniforms! Here is Zanub proudly wearing her Pre-Internship uniform, looking every inch the smart model student..

Bridging the Gap at the Royal Oldham Hospital
This week our students have been getting used to being based at the hospital. They have settled in really well and have been taking part in a number of sessions of mandatory training, which have included: Health and Safety, Food Hygiene, Safeguarding, Infection Prevention, Hand Hygiene and Moving and Handling. Next week we have more training to do and we will also be starting to visit our placements.

Bridging the Gap at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)
We have three new students who have joined our Bridging The Gap project; Lewis and Reece from the Digit4ll Pathway and Jason who has joined us this year from Spring Brook. They are working in Manchester Metropolitan University and have successfully completed their first week!

All the students were shown where they would be based for their class work and they also completed an orienteering session where they went around the campus (which is very big!!) to locate all the buildings that they will be working with and to familiarise themselves with the university.

As they are now classified as university staff, official name badges have been made which they proudly wear with their university lanyard! They have been working on their introduction to working life and have completed their fire and Health and Safety training. It has been a big change for all three students as they are able to make their way independently on the tram into Manchester City Centre and the feedback from all three students has been excellent, so much so that they wished today that it was Monday so they can go back!!

In the coming weeks, we will be electing our Medtia Council, with representatives from each pathway! We will also be having a coffee morning on 27th September to give families an opportunity to come and see our newly refurbished building and to have a catch up with the staff that support your child – invitations will be sent home soon.

Have a great weekend,

Daniel
Director of Employment & Co Head of Site at Medtia Square

You can view our previous blog entries here

Click here for this week’s news from Graham