Well firstly, a big welcome back to all of our staff and students. I trust that you all had an enjoyable half term. We started our week with a staff training day where we launched the iPad project for our site. Staff were all given a new iPad and started their training on how to use their iPads to enhance their classroom practice. We are also all taking part in the Apple Teacher training in line with the other schools within our Trust, a program designed by Apple which gives us an overview of how to use various applications on the iPads.
Later in the year, we will be holding a parents’ evening to explain our project and our vision for the iPads and, by the summer, we are hoping that every student on our campus will have an iPad to use in class. It is a VERY exciting time for us all and the staff are already embracing their new devices and using them on a day to day basis.
This week we have also been preparing for Bridging the Gap next year. On Wednesday we held a parents’ evening to give more information and today we invited a number of students to an assessment day to find the most suitable candidates for the project. Bridging the Gap continues to be as popular as ever and we will be in touch with families next week to inform you of the outcomes of the assessments.
Now we have an update from Mr Hollinworth and the Activ8 lads…
After a well rested break the Activ8 pathway students returned raring to go. This week they have continued to work on their gym programmes. These programmes have been developed by the students to focus on working towards their individualised personal goals. These personal goals have been set by Activ8 within the theory sessions, allowing the students to tailor their training to their own needs.
This week they have also been continuing to develop their sports leaders award skills, focusing on developing their communication, self management and teamwork. The have enjoyed taking part in the fun sessions that they led within the group whilst continuing to develop their leadership and teamwork skills.
Continuing on from the good work on Tuesday in the sports leaders session, the students used their weekly session with Activ8 Key Stage 4 to experiment and consolidate their teamwork and leadership whilst playing rounders (although sadly they were pipped to the post, with Key Stage 4 winning by one rounder)..
On Thursday Activ8 visited Eccles College to play in the Manchester Football Association disability league. Fielding two strong teams, the boys were undefeated going in to the last game against each other. The game was very closely contested with the B team eventually running out winners 2-0. The boys were a credit to themselves and displayed exceptional sportsmanship towards the other teams taking part, well done!
And now over to Poppy in Lumenus for ‘A Day In The Life’..
A day in the life of Poppy
Key Stage 5 Lumenus PathwayI come to Medtia every day all the way from Halifax! Yes, sometimes the journeys do feel long especially when there’s traffic but I enjoy coming to Medtia and being in Lumenus.
It’s Thursday so I start the morning with registration – being in Lumenus, there’s no such thing as a quiet registration as we all enjoy singing in the mornings!
After registration I have double Maths with Mrs Hartley. Today we learnt about graphs and our task was to draw a graph based on people’s favourite numbers. I liked learning all about different types of graphs.
After Maths we have a 15 minute break then it’s time for Pathway lessons for the rest of the day. On Thursdays Lumenus go to Oldham Theatre Workshop for their pathway lessons..
As you probably already know, the school show this year is ‘The Greatest Show!’ As it is a big production, we will have help from students from all sites! Today our task was to create a workshop around The Strong Man and Acrobats, to deliver to Spring Brook Lower and Hawthorns School. We brainstormed lots of different ideas to teach the children..
..and then we practised lots of different movements..
Some of the movements didn’t go to plan but it was lots of fun! My favourite movement was the counter balance..
In the afternoon we finished off with meditation. Everyone in Lumenus including myself enjoys meditation, it makes me feel very relaxed, calm and peaceful..
We returned back to Medtia ready for home time and that was the end of a typical in the life of Poppy!
Now Mrs Hartley-Pardoe has an update for us on the work the students have been doing in Functional Skills..
In English we have completed the Speaking and Listening assessments for our qualification and have done extremely well discussing the items which we would like to banish to Room 101. The students have worked extremely hard and have done a fantastic job! This half term we are revising our reading and writing skills in preparation for the upcoming exams. The students have been improving their writing skills this week with creative tasks; writing a letter of complaint about a Haunted Hotel (well, who wouldn’t complain about that?). We had a great time working on these.
We have also been working on improving our reading comprehension skills using Reciprocal Reading. One group is enjoying Anthony Horowitz’ Stormbreaker, questioning, predicting, clarifying, summarising and defining the novel as we go through it..
Another group is enjoying the wonderful writing of George Orwell, learning about the revolution that went wrong in Animal Farm and analysing Orwell’s language features and inference.
In Maths we have been conducting experiments and looking at how to record, display and analyse data. The students have made amazing progress and have created some wonderful work, from tally charts and frequency tables to pie charts and scatter graphs. This term we are moving on to look at measurements, looking at the functionalities of measurements; area, perimeter, volume, weight and height.
The students are going to design houses using this knowledge, not only using their skills for academic purposes but also to transfer them in real life situations.
All of the students are working extremely hard and we are all very proud of the progress they are making in all aspects of Functional Skills – well done!
Finally, today we say goodbye to our caretaker Eddie who has been with New Bridge for 7 and a half years and leaves us today to enjoy his retirement. Before joining us at New Bridge, Eddie worked for the Royal Mail for 33 years. Eddie has been a huge asset to our site, not only within his role as caretaker but in the support he has continuously offered to staff and students, often being found on reception or in classes! He is thought very highly of by us all and will be greatly missed. Today we gave him the send off he deserves with a presentation from students and staff.
Eddie’s wife, who also works at New Bridge, retires on Wednesday and I believe they are planning to go straight to the travel agents on Thursday to book their first retirement trip! On behalf of us all, we would like to wish Eddie a wonderful retirement. Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication – enjoy that holiday!
Have a wonderful weekend,
Daniel
Head of Key Stage 5 Pathways
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