I was lucky enough to be able to spend some time at the Girls Group discussing this Topic.
Students were sharing their feelings and strategies to tackle bullying when it occurs and how to support and include each other.
A special mention to Max and Wajee (supported by Musa and Arron on a pre recorded video) who joined me at the NBC Invitational Meeting with Trustees and Governors this week
They shared information about their Enterprise Project: Winter Warmers, and impressed the governors with their ability to field questions and present their business plan.
English Update
“This week in English students have been receiving feedback from their mock reading and writing assessments. Each student was given personal and individualised targets, and also whole-class targets that will be the focuses of our lessons over the coming weeks. We spent time looking over the assessments, recognising strengths and identifying areas for development. I was extremely pleased with the effort put into these assessments, and many students have already achieved a pass in reading and writing.
I also want to give a special mention to some of our pre-intern students. A couple of weeks ago we did a lesson which focused on Breast Cancer Awareness month. I sadly lost my beautiful Mum to the horrible disease almost ten years ago. During her battle with cancer, she produced many poems about her journey with the illness. One of these was called ‘Justin’s Army’ and we analysed this poem as a class by moving around the room and annotating key lines from the poem. The poem had an extremely uplifting and positive message to keep fighting against cancer. At the end of the lesson, the students wrote messages of hope to Breast Cancer patients and survivors. I was so proud of how they responded to an extremely challenging and sensitive subject matter.”
“This week in PSHE we have been looking at common types of mental health conditions. We have explored conditions such as; depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, eating disorders, anxiety and OCD. All class groups have looked at the descriptions and symptoms of these conditions and have worked in groups to match them up. Additionally, we have looked at soaps that have featured mental health story lines. We looked at a clip from Eastenders where Stacey had bipolar. Also we have looked at celebrities who have mental health conditions, one of the celebrities was Prince Harry. The groups all watched video clips where celebrities spoke about their mental health and how they managed it.
Our next challenge is looking at early signs of poor mental health & completing activities to promote positive wellbeing. CAHMS will also be doing workshops with the groups on the 29th November. Here are some pictures from this weeks lessons. We look forward to catching up with you all soon. Mrs Sarwar.”
BTG Update
Bridging the Gap is as busy as ever! Here is an update from Hayley and our students at Royal Oldham Hospital…
“Since returning from a well-earned half term break all students at the Royal Oldham Hospital have slotted back into the work roles seamlessly.
Christian is doing an amazing job on placement within the Post Room and is getting some brilliant feedback from the members of staff he is working with. He is trusted to sort the post into correct pigeon holes with minimal support and has even completed one of the post routes on his own which is a great achievement. When asked about his placement Christian described it as “it’s fun, explorational and really good for my memory skills.”
Kai Lusty, whose placement is in the laundry department, has been learning new job tasks within the team. Kai is a valued member of the team and the staff all enjoy working with him. The feedback for Kai has been brilliant and staff tell me he is helpful and willing to learn and assist with any tasks he can to ease the work load.
Kai Lister who works within the café has made a fantastic impression on the team. Everyone at the café has lovely things to say about Kai and how mature and well-mannered he is with the customers. Kai has been given lots of extra responsibility by serving customers, making sure the fridges are replenished and also learning the tills this week. “I really enjoy working in the café and I have liked working on the tills and learning where everything is for the customer.”
Peter, who continues his placement within the kitchens, remains a valued member of the team completing set tasks independently. This is what Pete had to say about working in the kitchens…“I’m getting a lot out of it and I’m learning new skills. I’m learning how to portion food correctly. I really get along with the staff team I work with and I can rely on them to help me.”
Hayley Whitehead Job Coach – Royal Oldham Hospital
Now for the rest of the class who are down at Manchester Metropolitan University! Pedro is doing very well in facilities and is enjoying learning all he needs to move onto a paid position in his dream job! The staff who work with Pedro said “He’s great to work with…he knows what he’s doing and he just comes on shift and does it!”
Mr Joshua Hope is increasing his tasks to be more knowledgeable around Health and Safety standards and the reasons behind why things have to be done in a certain way. Darren, his supervisor, is very happy to have Josh back after so long and Josh is equally as happy to be working again in a familiar environment with people he knows. Josh has also had an interview which understandably he was very nervous for! But he did amazingly well and should be really proud of himself, it will all help towards confidence and your future!
And last but not least, Mr Morgan Hamm! This is Morgan’s first experience of work and he has done extremely well this term. Morgan independently makes his way to Manchester and back and has been undertaking independent tasks within his facilities team. His manager is happy with Morgan’s attitude and he is building on his confidence each and every day!
Bridging the Gap focus targets this term are……PUNCTUALITY AND FOCUS!
Keep it up guys, only four weeks to go until Christmas, you’ve got this!
Thank you to all the staff who support our students daily at the hospital and university, the work you do with our students is invaluable and means so much to our students and their futures.
Now, it’s nearing the end of the first term and our first placements are nearly over! Keep up the good work team!! We need those good references!
Well done all
Rebeckah and the NBC Team
