Well, we have had a very busy week at Medtia – that summer holiday seems like a lifetime ago!

Our students have been settling in well and many of them have started placements or begun accessing the community within their pathway sessions! So we’ll go straight to our staff from each of the Pathways for an update on our first two weeks, starting with Mr Handrick and Digit4ll..

Shorts, flip flops and the factor 50 (not that we needed much of it with all that rain) have been put away again for another year and the summer break has become a memory to reflect on in the future.

DIGIT4LL R BAC! (I am just getting back into text talk with the students).

Yes, we are back and with an extra class as part of our Key Stage 5 ICT pathway which shows the great opportunities that we offer here at Medtia. It has been great to see the old students help the new starters around the site, showing them the ropes and how to use the different pieces of equipment..

We have been discussing the Enterprise scheme and starting to think about this year’s new ventures..

In class time we have been doing little workshops using all the different multimedia tools we have here and learning the basics, as well as reminding some students of the skills they already have.

We have the iPad scheme being pushed out and again it’s another great opportunity, not just for staff to show the students the great things we can do with iPads but also for the students to show their skills to staff of little short cuts, tricks and apps that I am sure will get put to good use.

We had a few names put forward to be class leads on the Student Council and we are happy to announce that Danielle will represent Digit4ll 1..

..while Joe will be the class representative for Digit4ll 2..

I am sure they will do a great job for both classes and the Pathway.

Over the next few weeks we will be getting on to some of the qualification work and we have already started to discuss this year’s business ideas. Don’t worry, we will be still be taking on filming jobs and making personalised mugs, canvas prints and t-shirts, as well as our famous Sea Clear bags which are still there for you to purchase, so if you are wanting some work done please get in touch – you can either email nbenterprise@newbridgegroup.org or call in to Medtia to pay us a visit.

Now over to our job coach Hayley for news of our new Bridging the Gap students at the Royal Oldham Hospital..

We have had a brilliant first week settling in to the new term at the Royal Oldham Hospital. This is our new Bridging the Gap team for this year; we have Patrick and Dylan who have both progressed from our Medtia site from Activ8 and the Pre-Internship, and we also have Cherrie and Nathan who have joined us from The Learning Centre..

We have all had a brilliant few days getting to know each other and attending our mandatory training before the students can start their placements. So far we have attended the following courses: Welcome and Values, Fire Safety, Counter Fraud, Health and Safety and Infection Prevention..

 

Nathan has this to say on his experience so far, “My first week at BtG has been really good, even though I didn’t know what to expect at first. I have enjoyed every day so far. My favourite part has been learning about counter fraud.”

It hasn’t all been hard work though, we have just about managed to squeeze in a game of boules!!!!

Over at Manchester Metropolitan University our job coach Genna has more news of our students..

So this year we have Josh on Bridging the Gap and Luka and Dominic from Future Finders joining us at the university! (I said Luka wasn’t getting rid of me that easily after completing a term last year!)

All the students met me at Medtia on the first week to get used to the travel (which they had been training on through the summer holidays). Congratulations to Josh and Dominic for now being independent travellers in their first two weeks which means they now catch a tram from Medtia to St Peter’s Square and walk up Oxford Road to the university each morning – great work lads!

This week has been getting used to the journey, the classroom and the campus, which is very large! They have been orienteering around campus looking for set places and using their new iPads to take photos!

They have also met the students from the other school Manor High and they are all working together as one Bridging the Gap team. They have now completed their Manual Handling training and are ready to work! You will find out next time where they will be working!

Now Colin has news of the first of our Pre Interns groups..

This week has seen the new Pre Intern group settle into the routines at Medtia. During the employability lesson we have started to complete our Open Awards qualification and we are currently focusing on ‘strengths and weaknesses’ and how these have an impact while at Medtia and on placement. We also looked at what skills and qualities the students feel they are strong at and linked these into careers.

The students also had the opportunity to go into the town centre and explore what jobs are out there and what would interest them, as well as what skills would be needed in different sectors.

This year we have gained a new placement in David Lloyd Cheadle. The students have had the opportunity to have a look around with Beth, one of our job coaches, and they can’t wait for the opportunity to start once they have completed the Health and Safety training next week. More to follow on this placement in the coming weeks!

The students have now started the RSPCA placement where they have the chance to work and gain an understanding within animal care, offer nurture time to animals and support staff with jobs around the shelter. The students have had a brilliant week, here are some of their comments:

‘”It’s been good at the RSPCA this week, I like working with the animals and I’m looking forward to carrying on this placement.’’

‘”I have enjoyed my first week at the RSPCA, my two favourite cats I have worked with are Pizza and Cole who are both kittens.’’

Here are some pictures of this week..

Nicola has news of our second Pre Interns group..

Our pre-interns group 2 have had a busy few weeks starting their new placements and getting used to their new timetables. In Learning for Life the students have been thinking about their hopes and dreams for their futures.

Alan and Kieran did something nice and made some bird feeders for the birds in winter..

In employability the students have started their first unit, Introduction to Essential Work Skills, and have been learning about the importance of appropriate behaviour and the skills needed for the working environment.

In work placements, Jade, Nathan, Caitlyn and Sarah have started working in the Atrium where they have learnt about safe evacuation procedures and where the fire assembly point is. They have had a go at replenishing the tea, coffee and milk, filled up the condiments and sauces, wrapped cutlery and have been developing their money skills by learning some of the prices of the items sold in the cafe..

Our Lumenus students have been equally busy..

Welcome back everyone! We have had a really good couple of weeks back. We have settled in to our new classroom at Medtia and we have welcomed a couple of new students who have joined us.

Our pathway days are on Wednesdays and Thursdays and we are using space at Oldham Theatre Workshop on these days.

On Wednesday we were joined by Key Stage 4 Lumenus and there were 23 students in total, a big group this year. We will be working with Chrysalis and learning new skills in the morning and working on a devised piece in the afternoon. This week we discussed and presented ideas for our next summer production..

On Mondays we have a double period of music lessons using garage bands on our iPads – we’re really enjoying this!

We are looking forward to a new academic year with lots of exciting new projects and shows to come.

A letter has been sent home (click here to view it) with details of Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission’s upcoming return visit following the Oldham Local Area SEND inspection. As part of the re-visit, they would very much like to have your views which you can give through the online survey available here until 12 noon on Friday 20th September or at an open meeting on Monday 23rd September. You can find more details on the POINT (Oldham’s Parent Carer Forum) website here.

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoy your weekend,

Daniel
Head of Key Stage 5 Pathways

You can view our previous blog entries here

News from the Learning Centre and New Bridge School can be found here

Click here for this week’s news from Graham