It’s been a busy first full week back after the Christmas festivities. We’ve had a new group of students based at the Learning Centre starting their work placements at the Atrium Café and we’re delighted at how well they’ve done. All of them have come back with a real sense of pride and we’ve had some positive feedback from our Job Coaches who are supporting them there. Well done to  Jermaine, Abdul, Josh and Matthew from Year 12, Jason, Rezaul, Fahad and Kieran from Year 13 and finally Will and Nathan from Year 14! We’re looking forward to sharing news and pictures of their progress with you over the coming weeks.

The young people in Activ8 have also started the year as they mean to go on..

After the Christmas break they are being put through their paces to try and shift those extra few pounds put on with all those chocolates and turkey sandwiches. Wednesday afternoon would normally see the lads take to the rugby pitch but the new year has seen a slight change in gear. In order to preserve the surface of the pitch at Hollinwood Cricket Club for the rugby club, our team have started a pre-season type fitness session using Alexandra Park. The boys were put to the test with some hill sprints..

..and races..

The boys’ work levels and energy were astounding, especially considering Key Stage 4 had spent the morning in the gym at Mahdlo and the Key Stage 5 boys at Oldham Leisure Centre’s gym. A fantastic effort from the lads who showed that they’ve not slowed down after the break – they even had the energy for a game of tig in the park before the bus came for them!

Activ8 aren’t the only ones making a healthy start to the new year, our young people have been keeping active across school and the Learning Centre as you can see, from more trampolining..

..to plenty of hard work at the gym..

On Wednesday we hosted another very successful Parent Group at the Learning Centre which was attended by 10 parents who were able to chat, offload and discuss a range of issues and topics. Don’t forget that families are also invited to a talk by Mrs Velti from Touch Solicitors on Wednesday 24th January from 2pm to 3pm at the Learning Centre. Mrs Velti will be passing on very relevant information about wills, trust funds and power of attorney together with other legal matters pertinent to our families.

We also had a nice visit on Friday afternoon from Daniel Wood and the staff from our Bridging the Gap team based at the Royal Oldham Hospital to start the discussions around potential candidates looking towards next year. The students showcased their skills with a variety of tasks..

There’s lots going on and one of the things that we have managed to set up with external agencies for this term is some work with Pure Innovations at the Learning Centre to get a number of students ‘travel trained’ this term. As well as mastering the home to Learning Centre route, there are some students who will be learning to access social clubs independently and bespoke routes to key places they like to visit. For those students who aren’t quite at this stage yet but have been highlighted by the pastoral team and Year Heads, Pure Innovations will be doing some group sessions with a view to working towards travel training in the future. If your child has been selected for this opportunity, you will already have been contacted by either Pure Innovations or the Pastoral staff. Please feel free to ring and speak to Luke, Sarah or Michelle if you haven’t been contacted but you would like to hear more details or discuss the possibility of travel training in the future.

We hope you have a lovely weekend,

Gavin and Dawn

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