Welcome to another blog reporting on the events from our New Bridge Pathways HQ. Firstly, I am going to write about a recent ‘lightbulb moment’ about the lack of public awareness of our new surroundings at Medtia Square which I believe is a facility with potential. There are up to 100,000 people who shop in Oldham Town Centre who could be potential new customers for our IT Enterprise business, just as there are many schools and sports clubs who attend the amazing facilities at OCL who could be requiring sports coaches to do a weekly sports session. Let’s not forget Lumenus who could attract a whole new audience for their summer shows across Greater Manchester.
Furthermore, we need to promote the fantastic work that our members of staff do every day to make sure our disadvantaged young people are as independent as possible. A solid fundraising campaign could potentially consist of benefit nights, sporting events etc. Proceeds from this would allow us to improve our facilities; one of the main priorities would be the proper separation of the first floor to provide more focus during learning due to the reduction in background noise. I would certainly be happy to wear my New Bridge colours and go on a bucket collection tour to launch the programme around Oldham to generate publicity and promote integration with our friends across the borough. I cannot do this alone, however – we need as many students, parents, teachers, governors and members of the wider community as possible to get together to make Medtia an outstanding facility that enhances the lives of us as young people. Expect an announcement on how you can get involved in the coming weeks.
It is my civic duty to warmly congratulate our new Head Boy, Jack, and welcome him to the blogging scene. He is a fine individual. I wish him the best for the year ahead and I hope he enjoys the honour of the role that has been given to him (I thoroughly enjoyed reading his first blog). I would also like to point out that three Head Boys in the last four years have been members of Activ8. This is down to the incredible teaching and pastoral support by our wonderful staff team. Yet given the wide potential of leaders we have coming through, I say we have a strong chance of making it four out of five next September.
BBC Children in Need Day saw some interesting ideas for our fundraising attempts, all of which were put forward to Medtia’s legislative body, the Student Council, at the start of the week. Mr Monaghan had promised to get his speaker’s robe on to chair the proceedings. Medtia’s Student Council is a crucial way for people to put forward positive suggestions for the Council to act on. While the snow tried to disrupt our fundraising, we saw a cake sale as well as a non-uniform day where Connor certainly stood out from the crowd in his bright yellow Pudsey onesie. Unfortunately, there is a child in need of all of our prayers at this moment after the horrifying crash in Oldham on Friday which brought the roads to a standstill. We are now heading into periods of cold weather and while this incident could not have been prevented, you can certainly do your best to prevent another from taking place by making sure your car is equipped for any of the extreme weathers we face in this country, as well as driving carefully.
Have a good week,
Matthew
