A very warm welcome back to you all. It has been such a long time since I wrote a blog and I thought it would be nice for you all see how our first week in our new home has gone. I have been so impressed with all students who have adhered to the college rules, socially distancing themselves, cleaning hands etc. They have I think really enjoying having some ‘normality’ back in their lives, so have the staff teams, as you will be able to read now from the different pathways what they have been up to this week starting with Mr Thornton..

Welcome back, everyone! We start this year off by welcoming new faces to the Activ8 team, both students and staff. Miss Shirley has joined the staff team, alongside: Mr Lawrence, Mr Newton and myself.

Activ8 now has a new gym! Just one of the many positives of moving to our new college campus..

Students have settled back in nicely to college life, and although different, we are thrilled to be back. Full of eagerness and energy, Activ8 have rolled their sleeves up and jumped right in to lots of different activities. We’ve taken several trips to Alexandra Park, to get some fresh air, done lots of team bonding and introduced: ‘The Activ8 Fantasy Football League’.

The team have remained as active and competitive as ever, with some fantastic goals and of course, questionable tackles during our football sessions.

Well, that’s all from us this week, see you again soon. Stay safe! Keep active!

Our Lumenus students are also pleased to be back in college..

Well, it has been absolutely wonderful to be back. We have an enormous space on the top floor of our new college. A room with desks where students can easily socially distance and a huge area for practical work..

This week has been all about keeping safe and well being. Although everyone was excited to see each other, initially the students were nervous and anxious about coming to a new building and how they would keep safe being at college. They soon began to relax as they got used to our new routines and protocols.

This week we have discussed our feelings and how to manage our emotions during stressful situations. We have explored how the changes in our daily routines have impacted on our lives. The students enjoyed playing drama games, engaging in breathing, meditation techniques and creating characters. We even managed a trip to Alexandra Park where the students managed to get back on the stage – on the beautiful bandstand. Such a positive and productive week, well done to everyone.

Our Digit4ll are settling into their new college..

This week we have spent some time introducing ourselves and having daily discussions about the things we have got up to at home after our first few days back. We have also welcomed back our young adults into our fantastic new building. All students have embraced the new rules that have been put in place, and have shown great levels of maturity this week.

We have spent some time looking at how this past six months have effected us all I’m many different ways our young adults have got really stuck into the work that has been given. After lunch this week we have in our bubbles been out and had some fresh air and exercise. We are looking forward to getting back to some form of normality and ready to face any challenges that come our way.

Our new Pre Intern groups are getting to know each other..

A big welcome back to all students on the Pre-Internship pathway! Especially our new students Tayla, Kai, Saaim, Lewis, Kevin and Brandon. The Pre-Intern groups 1 and 2 have had a fantastic and positive start at New Bridge College. As a big group they have worked very well together, supporting each other.

On Wednesday they talked about how they were feeling about the impact Of COVID-19 and talked of keeping safe in school, Hands – Face – Space and Catch it, bin it, kill it. The students were very responsible and engaged well.

The Pre-Interns also completed new One Page Profiles and talked of building resilience, how to deal with stress, well being techniques and learnt skills on how to work as a team, building towers with jelly tots and cocktail sticks..

Here are some comments from the students after their first few days back..

A brilliant and fantastic first few days back at college and keep up the good work, you’ve done your teachers proud!

Mrs Nelson has been working hard to help all the students get used to our new college..

This week we have welcomed all our students back to our fabulous new college. Sophie has has been trying out the new items in the intervention room. We had a cup of tea and a chat and Sophie felt very at home on our new sofa..

As you can see, the students have really settled in well this week. All our students will have Maths, English and PSHE from next week and staff will be following COVID guidelines to ensure that social distancing is adhered to. For those students on the employability pathways, we are working alongside our placement providers to ensure that when it is safe, these placements can resume.

I wish you all a lovely weekend,

Jaina and the Team

Click here for this week’s news from Graham

You can view our previous blog entries here

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