Firstly, a very warm welcome back to our students and staff after the half-term break. I trust that you all had a good rest. This week I spent some time with two of our Lumenus students, Ananya and Megan, who have been chosen to be volunteers at the Manchester International Festival next month. Mrs Wilson and I took the girls into central Manchester, where they joined over 30 other volunteers in a volunteer training event. They did so well and we were very proud of them. They will be working front of house at a number of events over the festival to provide assistance to audience members. Well done to you both!

This week’s ‘Day In the Life’ feature comes from our IT pathway Digit4ll..

A day in the life of Matthew
Key Stage 5 Digit4ll Pathway

I have been with the Digit4ll pathway for many years and I am currently in my last term before I move on to work placements. I thought it would be a good idea to show you what I get up to on a day – not every day is pathway day, so I would like to show you all some of the other things that the pathway students do.

I arrive at the start of the day and, like always, I greet everyone with a thumbs up and smile.

It’s not long before I get straight into some practical work. I have the job this morning of attaching the canvas frames together..

In Music we never go far from computers! Today I am planning what music and sound effects will fit best with computer games..

The next step was to play some computer games, which might seem like fun and rather than work but I’m actually playing the computer games with no sound to work out what music and sound effects should go with the game..

To finish the day off, here I am working hard on some numeracy – pens, rulers and calculators at the ready!

I hope that you found it enjoyable to read what we get up to on a non-pathway day. Have a lovely weekend!

Now over to our job coach Tisha, for news on some of our work experience placements..

We have two students continuing the Hortus work experience placement at the Learning Centre working with tutor Mr Blackman every Thursday afternoon, Brandon from New Bridge School and Connor from Key Stage 5 Activ8 at Medtia.

Since the start of his placement on Thursday afternoons, Brandon has been washing cars the last few weeks due to his boot. He has really enjoyed this and has even washed a few using the pressure washer, as you can see..

..not forgetting Mr Blackman’s tractor which was covered in grass..

Brandon really likes using the pressure washer – he did such a good job that two more staff asked to have their cars washed the following week and Brandon also asked about washing the school minibus!! Brandon sees car washing as a future prospect!

Connor is glad to be back continuing his work experience placement with Hortus. He is a budding gardener and enjoys this activity with his family. He has expressed an interest in completing a gardening qualification. It’s great to have him back! (Green) thumbs up!!

[fvplayer src=”http://newbridgeschool.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Connor.mp4″]

During the last week before the half term break, Brandon and Connor helped Mr Blackman to plant and water tomato vines – here they are working as a team to get the job done! There were plenty of vines to place into grow bags and it was very warm in the greenhouse… Phew!!!

Here Brandon is filling up a watering can for the plants using water that has been collected during rainy days – it’s good enough to water the tomato vines..

A big thank you to Mr Blackman, he is excellent with the students and gets the best out of them. He is very engaging and the students are always wanting to come back and learn more.

Finally, we have a very exciting update from our Bridging the Gap job coach, Amanda, at the Royal Oldham Hospital..

This week has been an exciting week for Ellis – he had his induction on Monday for his paid job and then has had training in the evenings for the rest of the week. Samantha has been training him and he has been working on wards T3, T4 and T5. Ellis is picking up the different jobs and he is looking forward to being able to work on his own once all his training is complete. Here he is feeling happy and confident on his way to the induction on Monday morning..

Ellis has been learning more new jobs in cleaning services and is eager to get as much experience as possible before he starts working evenings with his paid job.

Dominic has had a busy weeek in the laundry working with Neil, Colin and Toby. He has spent more time working independently and is always keen to go to work. He is enjoying working with different staff and has impressed the managers with his skills and the ways he is progressing. Before half term he was awarded ‘Worker of the Week’ for all his hard work and progress..

Dominic also works in the post room with Jade and Lisa on a Tuesday afternoon. This week he has conquered the post round and Jade was impressed that he finally led the way. Jade is always supportive and keen to help teach Dominic new things.

Here they both are chilling out in the gardens having their dinner after a busy morning at work..

Ellis and Dominic are looking forward to the rest of the term, and are already talking about what they are wearing for the Prom and who they are inviting to our Celebration Day at the hospital.

We are currently in the process of co-ordinating our end of year trips. These reward trips have been chosen by students and details will be sent home soon if they haven’t been already.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Daniel
Head of Key Stage 5 Pathways

You can view our previous blog entries here

News from the Learning Centre and New Bridge School can be found here

Click here for this week’s news from Graham