College Blog – 13.1.23

Activ8 Update

Activ8 is the place to be!

Based on a pending trip to the United Stated of America, Activ8 students are on cloud 9! Chicago sports teams are the talk of the town: Chicago Bulls, Bears, Cubs and Chicago’s FOOTBALL team: Chicago Fire!

This week, Activ8, have been polishing off their skills in the sports we’ll be introducing stateside, rounders, cricket, boccia and FOOTBALL.

P.E Theory has had brains ticking this week. Activ8 have completed their work on nutrition, last term, and now will be turning their full attention to the heart, it’s characteristics and functions.

After a short absence from the Activ8 timetable, Mr.Newton’s Activ8 two class were back on their bikes and cycling! Corey and Blake were buzzing!

We love to be out and about and cycling is the perfect way to start the day!

The team are well underway with their BTEC qualification and have completed the first unit: ‘Playing Sport’.

Now, over this half-term, we will be working specifically on our organisational skills. The unit focuses on assessing student’s organisational skills, a transferable skill, this is essential for future development and employment.

Prioritising tasks and time management is the task our students will be tackling this week, using digital resources and other means of information to better prioritise their day-to-day tasks.

To conclude the unit, the group will complete an assignment, towards the end of this half-term.

Mr. Lawrence’s Activ8 one gang have started their ‘FA Playmaker award’. The course is the first step on the coaching ladder and one we hope will inspire Activ8 to coach at local clubs, build confidence and acquire further coaching accreditation in the future.

The team will get their teeth stuck into: Making football fun, creating sessions and being inclusive, over the next few weeks, before diving deeper into the course. This week though, to kick it off, pardon the pun, Activ8 discussed what motivates them to coach in football, their aspirations, the coaching ladder and possible careers in football.

We’ve had a busy week this week! Have a lovely weekend, everyone.

The Activ8 team.

Lumenus Update

Happy new Year, Lumenus has hit the ground running. We have a fun packed term ahead of us with exciting activities to take part in such as meeting Leon Harrop from the ‘A Word’ and ‘Ralph and Katie.’

More details to follow next week.

This week we were back at Oldham Theatre Workshop on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday. This term we are looking at acting skills in preparation for our BTEC Unit – Acting in a Perfomance. The students have been studying and engaging in the methods of Konstantin Stanislavski also known as ‘the father of modern acting.’

They have worked with scripts employing Stanislavski’s tool kit: – magic, given circumstances, emotional memory, physical action and timeline. They produced some fantastic work creating believable characters. The use of the method gave each and every one of them more confidence when performing.

On Thursday morning, we prepared our questions for interviewing Leon next week. He is such an inspiration for our students. A student in Lumenus said, “I can’t believe he has received a Bafta Breakthough Award,” and their question for Leon is, “what advice can you give to someone with learning disabilities who wants to become a successful actor?” We can’t wait for our interview and workshop.

On Thursday afternoon we had a consultation meeting/workshop with Craig Harris from Oldham Theatre Workshop. It was a creative and productive workshop. Each student and staff member had 3 sheets of A3 paper and a felt tip pen. A series of questions were asked, and we wrote them down and from this each person created a skeleton idea for a Summer Show. The students are excited by the idea of writing their own show. It was a fun and interesting way to begin to devise a show.

Have a lovely weekend.

Girls Group Update

This afternoon the Girls Group have got together and continued with their ‘Be a Rainbow in someone else’s cloud’ theme, which has not only helped us to focus on being positive and being positive for other people but it has helped us to improve our fine motor skills and express our creative side!

Leah and Daisy spent time producing a smaller version of the theme. Sophie made us all a cup tea and we spent time chatting, noticing how the colours of the rainbow are the same of the colours from the LGBTQ+ flag.

We had relaxing music playing in the background, promoting a calmer environment, to help us to concentrate and focus on what we needed to get done.

Another very productive week for us all this week!

Just a reminder about our next Parent Group meeting 3/2/23 @ 10:00am – 11:30am.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone.

Nic, Anne-Marie and Shamima!