I don’t know how many people are ‘Strictly’ fans but my weekend viewing schedule is centred around the BBC Saturday evening show and the Sunday results. Last Sunday I settled down to watch the opening dance. Just moments into the show beginning, the professional dancers took to the dance floor for a special routine which moved me to tears.

Appearing on the dance floor was a collection of dancers performing a routine choreographed by ex-Strictly judge Arlene Phillips. The regular Strictly pros were joined by Candoco Dance Company who showcase a variety of disabled and non-disabled dancers..

What I found fabulous was that this was not announced as anything different or special, it was simply a group of dancers. As Kyle said about the Learning Centre football team, “I don’t like it when we do something and people say ‘Aww!’ We’re no different, some people just see my wheelchair or an angry young man, I want people to see we can do whatever we put our minds to.”

Speaking of football, our Learning Centre team has their first match coming up on Thursday. On Wednesday, 6 of our girls are taking part in the ‘City in the Community’ girls football tournament at Manchester City’s training facility. We wish them all the best of luck. Watch out in next week’s blog for a report on both events.

This week I’ve been into two of Mr Newport’s rather messy and explosive Science lessons and somehow managed to come out of both relatively unscathed. The first was the Options group, as Mr Newport explains..

This week, the Options Science group have been learning about microorganisms and finding that they can be both harmful and helpful. As such, we have learnt all about yeast and how it makes bread rise – even making our own bread to (ahem!) prove it!

Today was IB’s regular weekly Science lesson – Mr Newport has all the details..

As part of our work on ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ we made our own potion – exploring the Learning Centre to find items from the story in the correct places (e.g. shampoo in the bathroom, baking powder in the kitchen) and making choices regarding colour etc.

Our potions were rather fizzy though, and we went outside to let them spray!

It’s always a delight to see Science come alive for our students and watching them really engage in Science is wonderful. I may just bring my lab coat next week though!

We often talk about how helpful our students are. At the Learning Centre we continually look to provide opportunities for students to develop skills and knowledge around ‘Employability’. One such student is Imnann from Year 14, who every day is responsible for collecting all the waste paper for recycling. He takes this role very seriously and never misses a day. Imnann is also one of our most reliable buddies. Imnann said,

I like my job, collecting recycling from everywhere in the Learning Centre. I enjoy doing it because it’s good for me to get out a bit and work. I’d like to do a job when I leave maybe as a waiter. I’ve spoken to Chris from Positive Steps and she gave me some good advice.

Well done, Imnann!

I’d also like to say a special mention to Ryan who has independently chosen to start cleaning and organising the Hortus storage container whilst Mr Blackman is busy on Friday mornings with the New Bridge School pupils who access Hortus..

It’s looking so much better, now whether Mr Blackman and Mr Maycock will keep it tidy remains to be seen. Let me know, Ryan!

This week I’ve been treated to two tasty dishes from Mrs Gillett’s Food Industry groups – thanks Malcolm for another delicious Spicy Bean Burger..

I also sampled some very tasty Chicken Curry and Mr Barker would like to thank Jade for making sure he got some too..

I’d like to finish this week by sharing a message from Daniel Wood, head of the Future Finders Employability College and the Key Stage 5 Pathways at Medtia..

We would like to set up a parent employer network where parents and representatives from business meet termly to discuss how we can extend our range of work experience placements and employer encounters. This could be co-ordinating visits to your place of work or arranging work experience placements for students within our Group. We are looking for parents to join this forum who are employed in ANY sector. If you are interested, please contact our work placement co-ordinator Maria for further information. Her email is mstatham@newbridgegroup.org or you can call her on 0161 883 2403.

Please do contact Maria if you would be interested in finding out more about employer encounters or work experience placements.

I hope you have a lovely weekend,

Dawn

You can find Gavin’s blog for the school site here

For news on our Key Stage 5 pathway groups at Medtia Square please click here

Click here to read this week’s news from Graham

You can find my previous blog posts here