It has been an extremely busy week here at Medtia and everyone has now fully settled back into college life after the Christmas break. This week we have had a number of sessions with Jo Turner from MIND, the mental health charity. MIND are offering our Group training around mental health education and support. On Monday evening, our staff attended a mental health workshop and today our young people have attended a mental health assembly. In the coming weeks, Jo will be working with a number of students around positive mental health and creating positive relationships/friendships with their peers.

It’s that time of year again when we start to think about what’s next. We have many annual reviews taking place at the moment and we have also started the recruitment process for Bridging the Gap and our Pre Internship pathway for 2018/2019. This afternoon I went to the Learning Centre with our team of job coaches to meet some of the students who might want to participate in an employability pathway next year. The students took part in a number of practical tasks..

It was wonderful to see how focused our young people are on moving into employment when they leave New Bridge. The demand for places on our pathways is greater than ever but we will continue to develop our offer to ensure that all of our young people have the opportunity to work with an external employer during their time at New Bridge. We know that this is invaluable in preparing our students for working life.

On that note, rather than ‘a day in the life of’ feature, this week we have an update from Alison and Amanda, our job coaches over at Royal Oldham Hospital on how our Bridging the Gap students are doing..

We have had a really positive start to the year with our students already attending their new placements full time. Kyra is working in Cleaning Services..

..Sufyaan with the hospital porters..

..Tara is in the Café Royal..

..Brittany is in the hospital shop..

..and Seb is working on the Pre-Op Ward..

They have all settled in really well and have made a great start in learning their new jobs.

Now to our ‘Worker of the Week’ which this week goes to Luka. Following on from his placement last term at the RSPCA, Luka is now working at The Premier Inn. He is really enjoying his new placement and has made a huge impression on staff. Well done, Luka!

Now a couple of dates for your diary..

• On Tuesday 30th January we will be having an open evening for parents and students interested in moving on to the Bridging the Gap scheme next year at Royal Oldham Hospital or Manchester Metropolitan University. Thus will be held at Medtia Square.
• Our application forms for Future Finders will be going out next week and students will be invited to an interview/assessment day on Friday 26th January from 1pm, again at Medtia Square.

Have a wonderful weekend,

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

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