Can I start by wishing a very Happy New Year to everyone! I find this is the time of year when we reflect on everything we may want to achieve over the coming year (however, I won’t be joining a gym any time soon!) I find it’s also a time we look forward to what our students are going to achieve this year and in turn look back on how far they have already come.

Many have come back after the Christmas break with thoughts of their next steps. Some are excited, others anxious and some are not quite sure how they feel. We are encouraging students to talk through their anxieties both with staff and each other and next week we are starting our ‘student transition group’. We are hoping that students will be honest about how they are feeling and hopefully it will feel like a safe forum within which they can open up and help each other feel that it’s ok to be worried and that they are not the only ones! We will be inviting some older students to come in to speak to the group and hopefully allay some fears. If you would like any further information, please contact Michelle Lane, one of the Learning Centre pastoral leads.

During our assembly we continued with the theme of New Year’s resolutions and agreed that we often break them, however we did look at some examples..

We also agreed that we can make the difference to what happens this year and we will make our own ‘Wow Moments’. We resolved to be there for each other and next week we’re going to show random acts of kindness each day to those around us. Now that’s what I call a New Year’s resolution!!

Our Hortus programme continues to develop at the Learning Centre. We now have students from New Bridge School, Medtia and Spring Brook Upper all successfully accessing part time placements. One of the benefits of being part of a Trust is that students from different sites can make the most of facilities across it, such as the Learning Centre Horticulture area. I look forward to reporting more about their successes in the near future, the first of which I believe is laying some outdoor flagging.

We welcome a new staff member to our Learning Centre staff team. Colette Robinson is our new Medication Support and she is already settling in and getting to know our students who she said are ‘amazing’ – I couldn’t agree more!

Letters have gone home with details of our February Holiday Club, so please remember to return the forms by Friday 18th January if you would like to book a place for your child. If you need another copy of the letter or have any questions, please let us know.

See you all next week.

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