We would like to offer a warm welcome back after the February half term break!
We have had great reports regarding the February half term Holiday Club, it seems the young people and staff really enjoyed themselves as you can see (although maybe not so much with the ‘New Bridge Bushtucker Trial’…)
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Believe it or not, Mrs Bingley is already planning the Easter activities now (hopefully these won’t involve creepy crawlies, edible or otherwise!) and letters have gone home to families today. If you would like to request a place on the Holiday Club, please return your forms next week so that you don’t miss out.
Many of our young people have a diagnosis of autism and we would like to draw your attention to the first ever Schools’ Autism Awareness Week running from 14th -18th March. The National Autistic Society’s website has lots of information and resources about it, please click here to see how you can get involved as well.
Our next coffee morning is on Wednesday 2nd March from 10am-11.30am and we hope you received your invitation in good time and will be able to join us. We hold a coffee morning every term, each with a bespoke theme, and this time we will be focusing on options and the transition into the next year. For our current Year 9 pupils who will be moving into Year 10 in September, videos will be shown in the theatre at school to help our pupils decide on the most appropriate offer for them. Tea, coffee, juice, biscuits and cake will be available, although with healthy eating in mind the young people will be closely monitored by staff to ensure not too much sugar is consumed (you will be relieved to know we will not be checking our guests!) Visitors to the Learning Centre will be able to enjoy refreshments provided by our Food Enterprise group – these always prove very popular so we’d advise you not to arrive too late to avoid being disappointed!
In our assembly at school this week we were lucky enough to have a Local Authority Officer join us to deliver a presentation all about the dangers of radicalisation and extremism. This turned out to be very ‘pupil-friendly’ and cleverly used the characters from Star Wars as examples of how people can be manipulated and become alienated. In particular, we learnt about the way Anakin Skywalker was turned to the dark side because he felt alone, isolated, he was afraid of losing the people close to him and had a lot of anger inside, whereas Luke Skywalker had a group to support him – family like Princess Leia, friends like Han Solo and mentors like Obi-Wan Kenobi. The comparison was a really interesting and engaging take on a complex subject. If any parents would like to find out more about radicalisation, extremism or any other issues around e-safety then please do get in touch, our E-Safety Co-ordinator will be happy to provide advice. We are also looking at dates for parent workshops to cover this area and we will let you know when these have been arranged.
Our Year 7 pupils have participated in some very exciting activities this week. Mr Smith took some of our pupils to this year’s Greater Manchester School Games Rowing Competition at the Robin Park Arena in Wigan and they had a fantastic day competing against other schools from across the county – you can share in the excitement here.
Activ8 had a great day at the Ability Leaders Day hosted by Oldham Sixth Form College, click here to see how hard they worked.
Mr Bloska arranged for some professional musicians to come into school and take our pupils on a musical journey further afield through the continents. The group from Live Music Now played a variety of instruments and our pupils joined in the fun, playing instruments and singing along. The children absolutely loved the experience and learned a lot about music from different countries..
We’re lucky that the group will be returning to deliver more sessions over the coming weeks – thanks very much, Mr B!
Mr Fieldhouse’s Karate group had their first grading last night and we are very proud of how hard our young people have been training, just look at this report!
Many of our students are starting to prepare for this summer’s examinations and assessments. Dawn is particularly looking forward to helping her talented Art and Design GCSE group begin preparation on Wednesday for their controlled test in May. We would like to thank all our parents and carers for their support in helping our students achieve success in all our accredited courses.
During the Learning Centre’s weekly assembly, our Year 13 students shared some of their experiences from the Calvert Residential which took place just before half term. A great time was had by all and we’re proud to say that our intrepid students ‘had a go’ at everything…even the scary night walks, high zip wires, river walking and canoeing (with only a few getting very wet!!). We are still sorting through the amazing photos and promise they will be ready to share with you next week 🙂 A big ‘thank you’ to the parents who came to collect their weary travellers after a slightly late return – we suspect they may have slept rather soundly that night!
Don’t forget to return your forms by next Friday’s deadline if you would like to book a place on our Easter Holiday Club. If you need another copy of the letter, please let us know.
We hope to see you at our coffee morning on Wednesday! Have a lovely weekend,
Judith and Dawn
(no news of ‘Hitch’ to report this week – we think he may have his eye on the coffee morning goodies….)
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