As I write my blog this week, I have just spent the day at Birtenshaw College in Bolton, where I have delivered an inset day to 15 of their staff around building an employability strategy for their college. It has been a fantastic day and a lovely opportunity for me to reflect on the journey that we have come on over the past 12 years, from our initial work in setting up Bridging the Gap 11 years ago to our most recent project, setting up our Pre Internship pathway at Medtia and our Employability pathways at the Learning Centre, which act as a stepping stone for our internship programmes. At the heart of everything we do is our ambition to ‘Create Meaningful Futures’, allowing each and every one of our students to achieve their potential when they leave our trust. I am excited at what is next for us and I look forward to updating you on a brand new project in next week’s blog!

Now over to our staff and students for this week’s updates, starting with Mr Handrick and our Digit4ll students..

Lucky Number 7! That’s right, 7 weeks of the term have gone by and the students in Digit4ll 1 have been working hard as always. As well as learning lots of new skills through the iPad project, with technology arguably becoming the main tool to be used in their daily life, some things don’t change – like getting this year’s business project up and running.

‘You’re Hired! – our DIGIT4LL Enterprise is like any business and the students need to apply for specific roles in the business. After their applications have been submitted, they get to pitch giving their reasons why they are the right candidate for the post. Here you can see the class writing their applications for the roles they would like to take in the business this year.

Ideas and Practice: we have a rule in the class, ‘No idea is a bad idea’ and ideas, no matter how bizarre or left field they appear, can turn into something magical. I’m not going to tell you what the business is going to be about this year but, like all good ideas, when putting into practice it needs to be tried and tested, something the students are in the process of doing this week..

Together is better: on a Wednesday afternoon this term we have been bringing the two Digti4ll groups together to work on our media, printing and design skills. It’s a great time where both groups can work together. The older students can help the newbies in showing them their skills as well as reminding themselves and picking up some new skills in the process..

‘Show me the money’! It’s that time already and the students from both groups have taken a trip to the bank. Students have downloaded their application forms to start up a bank account for their class business ventures this year.

Don’t forget we still make mugs, canvas prints, t-shirts, personalised tote bags as well as taking on filming jobs and we still have our famous Sea Clear bag for you to purchase, so if you are wanting some work done please get in touch: you can visit our website www.nbenterprise.co.uk, email us at nbenterprise@newbridgegroup.org or call in to Medtia to pay us a visit. We hope to hear from you soon!

This week we take a closer look at one of our students from Activ8..

A week in the life of Lewis
Key Stage 5 Activ8 Sports Pathway

Hi, my name is Lewis. I have been in Activ8 since Year 10. A typical couple of days in Activ8 for me starts with me travelling to Medtia independently. I arrive at college around 9am and have some social time with my mates and chat with staff. We usually have a group discussion about the previous day’s work and our plans for the day.

On Wednesdays we have a really busy day. We go to David Lloyd gym in Middleton where we have our basketball lessons. David Lloyd is a great facility where we have the opportunity to play a variety of sports and then link in our life skills using the health suite and shower facilities.

After a busy morning at David Lloyd we go back to Medtia for lunch before setting off again to meet up with KS4 Activ8 to play football in the afternoon. It’s really good seeing the younger students and as a sports leader and role model I am usually asked to support these students with their technique.

On Thursdays I have been given the fantastic opportunity to get some work experience down at school supporting younger students in the classroom and in PE lessons. I really enjoy doing this and it has made me think about what I would like to do the in the future. On Thursday afternoons we visit Isaan Gym where we have a hard but fun workout learning the basics of kickboxing.

At the end of each day we return to Medtia where we discuss positive and negatives of the day before going home and getting some well earned rest.

This week in Mrs Nelson’s girls group, the girls decorated some cupcakes for Halloween and sold them all at Medtia! The girls really enjoyed decorating the cakes and all worked well as a team.

The girls have chosen to donate presents to the children’s ward at the Royal Oldham Hospital Children’s Unit. We sold all the cakes within the morning and have already raised £16! If you would like to donate or have any donations, please speak to Nicola Nelson, it will be very much appreciated by our girls group.

We have 2 ‘Worker of the Week’ Awards this week! Congratulations to both Nathan and Dylan..

I would like to remind you that next week is our Digital Advantage Pop-Up week where students are off timetable all week to create their own digital marketing agency, working with some of the best professionals in the business! Keep an eye out on our social media platforms for updates throughout the week!

Have a great 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