A very warm welcome back and a Happy New Year to you all.

This week I came back to some wonderful news about Josie who as you all know managed to get herself a paid job with David Lloyd. During the holidays, Josie completed a couple of paid shifts and has settled into her Saturday job well.

Many of the students on the Pre Internship have had a move about and have started new placements – these have gone very well and the feedback after the first week has been fantastic.

The work experience offer continues to grow and more of the students on our pathways are getting involved and gaining valuable experience of life in a work place. Our job coach Tisha will be telling you more about this in this week’s blog.

Let’s start with a ‘Day in the Life of Nathan’ from our job coach Nicola on the Pre Internship pathway..

A day in the life of Nathan
The Atrium Cafe, First Choice Homes Oldham

I travel in the car with my dad and get to Medtia for about 8:40, then I go to my classroom for tutor time where I research the weather and help take the register.

I get to my placement at the Atrium at 9:20 and say hello to Sammy and Toni, then I put on a clean apron and wash my hands.

My first job is setting up the trolley for the milk, tea and coffee before I go around the building to the different kitchens and fill up the jars and check the dates on the milk. I like helping my friends, showing them what to do..

My next job is to clear out the rubbish and leaves from the back of the building because it is very dirty and we get food and stock delivered there. It is cold, messy and raining but I work with Liam and Kamran and we fill 2 rubbish bags up with litter and leaves..

After I my break I put away some of the delivery then do some cleaning..

Then it is time to count and sort the desserts out for Medtia before dinner time when I help with the lunch orders. I serve the customers their meals, take out their dinners, use the iPad to input customers orders and clear away the dirty plates. It is very busy but I like talking to the customers..

Then it is time for me to have my dinner and after I eat my delicious pizza I wrap the cutlery and do some employability work on my iPad..

I finish my placement at 14:45 and go back to Medtia where I have some free time on my iPad. I finish my day at Medtia at 15:10 – it was very busy but I was alright!

Our job coach Colin has news of our second Pre Interns group at the RSPCA..

We welcomed students back to placements this week. The RSPCA has seen some new students starting this term with Josie and Kian.

The students have been massively missed over the Christmas period and the RSPCA are very happy to have their help and support again this year!!

We have used this week as a settling in period and the students have spent most of their time getting to know the staff and spending quality nurture time with the cats.

Jobs over the next few weeks will become more intense with cleaning duties to RSPCA standards being learnt and lots of other general tasks to help the staff around the centre.

Here is what the students had to say about their first week:

“The RSPCA is good because I liked meeting the staff. I have been working with the cats, stroking them and entertaining them with cat toys and also filling in behaviour sheets. The RSPCA has been amazing. My favourite cats I have worked with are Tinsel, Oreo and Unicorn.”

“I didn’t think I would like working at the RSPCA but it’s been really good, there is always something to do and I have enjoyed doing nurture time with cats! I’m going to like working here.”

Keep an eye out on next week’s blog for some pictures of the students at their work placement.

Now our job coach Tisha has an update for us on the students at David Lloyd Club, Manchester North..

It’s been an interesting and eventful Christmas period for Josie….she has been continuing her paid part-time housekeeping job at David Lloyd with minimal support and observations from her job coach. I’m pleased to say she has now been signed off and is working independently. She has impressed us all with her professional attitude and confidence in her new job role as a housekeeper, as you can see! I am proud of you Josie, continue the good work and I am sure she is excited to be receiving her first pay check next week! Don’t forget the chocolate bar for Mr Wood!

Moving on to our new students who started their new placement at David Lloyd Club…Pre-Interns Joshua, Sarah and joining us from Springboard, Marcell. I am pleased to say they have all excelled and settled in so well.

On Marcell’s first day he thought the David Lloyd Club working environment was extremely busy for him but by the afternoon he settled and decided he preferred a quieter job role such as housekeeping or maintenance. He is currently shadowing Mike the general maintenance man on the site, but more than anything he has impressed me with his flexibility – he is also willing to support the housekeeping manager Clemence wherever needed and help maintain the cleanliness front of house..

Joshua is working front and back of house in the DLicious restaurant. He is learning to communicate with staff and build up his customer service skills, serving customers their meals and helping maintain the children’s area..

He also had a long chat with Helen the personal trainer about his new placement and his previous work experience at Oldham library..

Sarah is a favourite amongst the members and staff already! Sarah has been working front and back of house, proving to be a fast worker on the potwash and supporting the staff front of house by serving beverages and meals to customers. Sarah has improved a great deal and always uses her initiative during busier periods. Julie and Georgina have been impressed with her work ethic..

Activ8 have also started the year as they mean to go on, as Mr Lawrence explains..

A new year and a new opportunity for Activ8 to enjoy. This term we are all being trained by Goalball UK coaches to gain a qualification in delivering Goalball. We plan to use this qualification alongside our Sport Leaders qualification and deliver this sport to younger students. We will continue working at the fantastic David Lloyd gym but sadly we are into the final weeks of our kickboxing course at Isaan Gym with coach Steve. We have had a brilliant time on this course improving our fitness and learning lots of new techniques. We have really enjoyed the sparring sessions.

We hope to find a local boxing gym to continue our fitness work and progress the boxing skills we have learnt in previous years. We will be continuing working towards our relevant qualification levels in DofE. We will be working on our orientation skills, walking fitness, and campcraft skills in preparation for our upcoming expeditions. Our Year 13/14 will continue their work experience down at lower school, as well as some students accessing work experience opportunities with Future Finders. We will report on how things are going regularly throughout the term.

Lumenus have been equally busy with some ‘behind the scenes’ work experience! Miss Begum has all the details..

It’s the first week back after the Christmas break and Connor and Jacqueline have already been working very hard! They have been participating in the Behind The Scenes work experience week at the Royal Exchange Theatre. They both have been travelling into Manchester on the tram every day to meet with all the other young people from across Manchester.

This one-week course consisted of a series of workshops led by staff from across the Royal Exchange Theatre Company and has covered areas such as Sound, Lighting, Wardrobe, Stage Management, Front of House and much more.

On Thursday Connor and Jacqueline were ushers to the Royal Exchange spring production Gypsy! There were 2 performances, one during the daytime and one during the evening. During the daytime performance they both greeted and showed people to their seats in the theatre and in the evening they got the chance to watch the show themselves! It was a super long day!

Towards the end of week they have put into practice all the skills they have learnt from working behind the scenes to create a small production of their own.

It’s safe to say it has been a super busy week for Connor and Jacqueline but they have both enjoyed their time at the Royal Exchange. They have picked up many skills and have met many new young people. We hope you’ve all had a lovely break.

Congratulations to Jade who has been awarded this week’s ‘Worker of the Week’ – well done!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend,

Jaina
Head of Key Stage 5 Pathways

Click here for this week’s news from Graham

You can view our previous blog entries here

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