Well, it has been another busy week at Medtia Square with our pre-interns starting new placements at both the Atrium Café and with our new host, the RSPCA Shelter. The students have really enjoyed their work at the RSPCA and it is definitely going to be a popular work placement across the Group.

Over at the Royal Oldham Hospital, our students on Bridging the Gap have also settled in really well and have now all started their placements. They spent a number of days in training last week, learning about many things including CPR, hand washing and data protection. They particularly enjoyed their Fire Safety training, where they were allowed to use the fire extinguishers – ready, aim, fire! Seb is on placement at the hospital shop, Sufyaan is working in the café, Kyra is working on the Pre-Op ward and at Christie’s Café, Brittany is working with the porters and Tara is working in G4S cleaning services. It was lovely to visit them this week and to see them all in their uniforms talking so enthusiastically about their jobs. Here are some pictures that our job coaches on site, Alison and Anne, took of the training sessions..

Now to start with a new feature of my blog, ‘A day in the life of…..’, this week starring Liam who is on full time placement for 4 days a week at The Premier Inn hotel as part of our Future Finders programme. Liam has settled in really well and is well liked by his colleagues. So, over to Liam..

A day in the life of Liam

The Premier Inn, Broadway

9.45am: arrive, sign in and go to find Rachel who I am working with throughout the day..

I help to strip the rooms ready to be made up for the next guests..

..and remove the used towels, bedding, glasses and crockery..

..before collecting fresh linen, crockery and consumables..

I then make the bed..

..clean the bathroom..

..hoover the floor..

..and finally empty the bin..

Throughout the day I work with the housekeeping team and cover around 20 rooms. I am working up to following the 5 different routes that need to be completed to prepare a room to the standard of the Premier Inn..

All in a day’s work!

Our Worker of the Week this week is Tony from our new Pre-Internship pathway. Tony has participated in placements this week at The Atrium Café and at the polytunnel at Café Mandels in Shaw. Tony has a fantastic attitude to work and has been extremely positive all week, acting as a motivator to his classmates both on placement and in class. Well done, Tony!

I would like to wish Abu the best of luck for his second interview of the week this afternoon for a paid job. I would also like to wish our Future Finders students Daniel, Faisal and Mubaarak the best of luck with their first week of work down at Manchester Metropolitan University next week.

It’s also been a busy week for the Digit4ll Key Stage 5 students and everyone is now back into the full swing of things. Amongst the many things that they have been doing, here you can see Luke and Mitchell leading the class on a current affairs session. All the students really enjoy current affairs and will happily debate with each other. It’s fantastic to see the guys go and research the current headlines then present them to the class afterwards. Luke concentrated on the latest Ryanair issues..

..and Mitchell told the class about the debris that space missions leave behind..

On Wednesday Activ8 travelled to the spectacular training ground of Manchester City to take part in the first round of the ‘OneCity’ disability football league..

Going into the new season as reigning champions meant confidence was high and this was helped with a big win in our first match. Results became harder to come by after this, however, as the games intensified. As the champions we were the team to beat and a few teams came into the matches with a counter attack mentality. Finding the opposition difficult to break down despite some fantastic teamwork and skill on the ball, the goals weren’t coming and having conceded a few fortuitous goals, Mr Hickie’s young side were disappointed but far from beaten..

Our other side in the league were enjoying a different day, with the goals coming from all angles. Daniel, Charlie and Jay looking particularly clinical. They remained unbeaten on the day and played some great stuff under the stewardship of Mr Oughton and Mr Holban..

The team spirit and camaraderie on show was fantastic to see from both teams, with both celebrations and a caring arm being put round shoulders in times of nee – all this from a team who have only been together for a few weeks. Clearly the Activ8 spirit is infectious!

Don’t forget our Macmillan Coffee Morning on Friday, we hope you can join us at Medtia Square for a chat….and some delicious home made cakes! I’ll be back with more news from our Medtia next week. Have a wonderful weekend,

Daniel
Director of Employment & Co Head of Site at Medtia Square

You can view our previous blog entries here

Click here for this week’s news from Graham