The month of May has started with lots of warm sunshine – you watch, when we get to half term it will be cold and wet! This term is always a busy time for us in the school calendar. Parents’ Evening for all the pupils at the school site (Years 7 – 11 and our Pathway pupils) is on Tuesday 10th from 4.15pm – 6.45pm. The Learning Centre Parents’ Evening will be taking place the following week, Tuesday 17th May.
Reports have gone home to families so Parents’ Evening is an excellent opportunity for you to come in and discuss your child’s progress with their teachers. Our personal care team will also be available for you to talk about any issues you might have or information you need to share. In addition, following on from the Single Conversation that most of you have completed, we will be sending out a questionnaire for your views. Your comments are always helpful and we look forward to reading them.
There are some weeks in particular when the young people remind us why we love this job! It is lovely to see them showing care and consideration to others, very often in quiet, unassuming ways. Supporting each other around the building and within lessons, encouraging others when they are upset and being friendly are just a few examples. We don’t know how we are going to cope at the Learning Centre next year without Ismah, our self-appointed extra staff member, ‘sorting everyone out’ (and that’s just Mr Quinn!). Caring for others was the focus of our Learning Centre assembly this week and we certainly had plenty to share on the subject!
Mr Hanif’s Year 10 group have been looking and acting the part for their employment lessons. The pupils have been learning about the different types of jobs and the equipment and uniform needed to carry these out.
This week they got to try on different uniforms and had to decide which was the appropriate equipment needed for each job..
We are not so sure about Josh’s bedside manner, it may need some work..
Our Living Skills curriculum encompasses a wide range of activities both on and off both sites. Miss Kindon wanted to share news of her Year 12 group’s work with you:
“On Thursday we took a group of Year 12 students into Oldham as part of their Living Skills travel module. The purpose of the visit was using public transport safely and correctly. The weeks before the visit we had done preparatory work on appropriate behaviour on the bus, where to catch the bus, bus numbers and routes, how to stop the bus etc. Thursday was our first visit into Oldham and the students remembered the knowledge they had learnt in the previous weeks. Their behaviour, manners and conduct whilst out were excellent, a credit to the Learning Centre. WELL DONE Sophie, Edward, Seb C., Hamza, Helal and Christopher!”
As you might have read in our Head Boy’s blog, Year 11 are looking forward to going to Hafan y Mor in Wales on a 5 day residential commencing 23rd May and a meeting was held on Thursday for families. Rehearsals for our summer show are now well under way – this year we are performing an adapted version of that well known ogre and fairytale musical Shrek over 2 nights, Tuesday 28th June and Wednesday 29th June. If you would like more information or still need to order tickets, please contact Wendy Warren on 0161 883 2401.
Display boards are being updated across the school and the Swimming Board where pupil achievements and rewards are displayed has been extended. The motto ‘every fish is different but we all swim together’ is the catchy title! Please look out for it when you come into school for Parents’ Evening or the summer show.
Our hard-working Hortus students Jack, Kevin, Ryan, Matthew and John, assisted by Kayleigh and Ryan T., deserve a special mention for their efforts on Friday – between them they washed and valeted 3 cars and dug trenches and planted 30 potatoes. Very well done, especially in such hot weather! Don’t forget that you can purchase a range of home grown fruit and vegetables at harvest time, please ring the Learning Centre on 0161 883 2402 for further details.
Keeping on the subject of food, now to our weekly cookery section, ‘Cooking with Earl!’. This week Dawn was treated to another fine feast, ‘creamy mushroom and ham farfalle’.
Well done, Mitchell, it looked and tasted lovely! If you would like to try this recipe at home courtesy of Mrs Gillett, please click here.
The exam season has started with moderation and marking now in full swing. This is also a ‘long term’ in terms of learning hours and lesson observations have been scheduled in over the next few weeks. This brings us to the last week of term and Super Learning Day which is on Wednesday July 13th when we are intending to celebrate the inclusivity of religion and the common themes of love, forgiveness and shared moral values that encompass all. We will also be holding a Sports Day on Thursday 14th July and more information will be sent out regarding the event shortly.
We hope you have a great weekend,
Judith and Dawn
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