I would firstly like to thank the school for giving me this weekly Head Boy’s blog. Welcome! I am very honoured to be one of the first Head Boys possibly in the borough to have their own personal blog on a school website. Since the launch of the Principal’s and Heads of Site’s blogs all the way back in September, I have been of the opinion that a student voice should be represented in the school blogs, and I am very excited to represent the school in one of the most innovative ways I can.

Representing New Bridge gives me a massive sense of pride and joy. I remember when I was in Year 9 and I competed in the Greater Manchester Disability Games in Leigh. Scoring my first goal for New Bridge (even though it was deliberate handball) gave me the feeling of achievement.

I have then since gone to many amazing places representing New Bridge, including my first official duty as the Head Boy where, alongside the Head Girl, we collected the Gold School Games Mark Award. I was very proud to receive the award alongside the Head Girl and it is testament to the hard work that we put in during our PE lessons.

This week has been a very engaging week inside school. I had a look at the exterior to the new addition to the New Bridge family, Medtia Square, during my Living Skills lesson on Wednesday. The building is an excellent facility and I am looking forward to hearing the plans for the building in the coming weeks. I also had the opportunity to visit the Oldham Sports Centre building. As the physical person I am, I was getting really excited about the new gym equipment, 25m national standard swimming pool and sports hall, not to mention that currently Future Finders are using the facilities as part of their work placements. Looking at the facilities, that is a potential opportunity that I as well as many other of the sporty people across the school should aspire to.

During our assembly on Friday, I had the opportunity to see the presentation by the ICT Pathway. Even though there can be a little bit of “pathway rivalry”, it is an outstanding pathway. ICT is a crucial part of the planet we live in today and the planet we will live in many years ahead.

Looking forward, the Activ8 football team will have another day of intense fixtures ahead when we compete in the next round of One City League fixtures on Tuesday. The league is an outstanding competition allowing the players to enjoy the freedom of playing football in a competitive manner without coaches putting pressure on young players which is unfortunately now the case at many clubs across the country.

Finally, Mr Quinn typically ends his blogs by giving our local sports teams the “kiss of death”. Although I support Manchester City, I was very pleased to find out about Bury’s 1-0 win over Oldham because it is never nice to see an unhappy Mr Quinn.

Have a good week,

Matthew