I thought that I would get in touch as I have not written to you since we have closed and during this difficult time.

I firstly wanted to thank you all for your continued support with keeping your child safe at home and well. The Medtia staff have worked extremely hard to ensure that your child has the necessary work they need to keep them on track with all their learning. I know that staff have been making calls and our pastoral teams are working tirelessly and they are there on the end of the phone whenever you need them.

Even though things are different, I thought it would be nice to show off some of the home learning taking place. Our Bridging the Gap students have been working with our job coaches Amanda and Hayley over the phone and through emails, they have talked about what is happening and sharing their views and concerns – this has led them into writing some poems on the subject..

Our other Bridging the Gap student, Josh, has been nominated for the Worker of the Week by our job coach Genna:

‘Josh has worked at the co-op for the last couple of years and as a key worker, when all the shops were getting emptied, Josh was working overtime to ensure that the shelves were stocked and ready for the next day.’ Thank you Josh for working through this difficult time, I am very proud of you, as is everyone at New Bridge.’

Josh is also looking forward to his 18th birthday this month!

Our Pre Interns are still busy working on their employability qualifications and Nicola has sent over some fantastic work that they have done. Well done to Jade..

..Summer..

..and Sarah..

Nicola has nominated all 3 as Workers of the Week – well done girls!

Mr Holland has also been in touch to say that he is very pleased with Tom, Patrick and Cherrie: “They have all completed exam papers and then gone through their other work, with me, over the telephone, for correction purposes – not that much needed correcting!” Fantastic Tom, Patrick and Cherrie.

Mr Lawrence tells me that the Activ8 boys have been creating work out videos and I am pleased to say that Saaim has let us share one with you all..

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The Activ8 boys have also had a go at the toilet roll challenge..

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As Saaim says at the end of the video, who can better him? Send your videos in!

Mrs Hartley has been busy with her English lessons..

Writing the Days Away!

Our GCSE students have worked extremely hard in improving their text analysis skills working on section a of paper one. They have done an incredible job at improving their close reading and inference skills whilst building their confidence with reading a wide range of literature.

We have, this week moved on to explore creative writing skills, getting the students to use a wide range of stimuli to inspire their writing; using a range of language features and devices in their own work to enhance their writing to be more effective.

This week the students have been working on the horror genre; improving their suspense writing and considering how much of an impact language can have on a reader. The students are working hard and are making excellent progress in all aspects of their writing..

Other students have been focusing their skills on writing for a purpose. They have been working on creating a new product which we will begin to work on marketing their product and producing marketing material to sell their products. These students have worked hard at improving their creativity and their persuasive writing techniques. We are on track to create our own website for our products.

Despite all of the uncertainty in the world at the moment, our students are making fantastic progress with their English work and as a department, we are all extremely proud. Best wishes, Mrs. C. Hartley, KS5 English Curriculum Lead.

Mrs Hartley has also done some video lessons to help to support her English group, here is a little taste..

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You may have spotted Mrs Nelson and Poppy’s ‘Bake Off’ last week on our Facebook pages. Well, it seems the competition is gathering strength as Mrs Nelson explains..

This week, unknown to me, Poppy has been baking and sent me a picture today of her Banana bread with Biscotti spread..

Something strange is going on, as yesterday I made banana and chocolate chip cake but no one was aware that this had been made, not even mentioned to Poppy. I think Poppy has developed telepathic skills over the last couple of weeks! I am glad students are putting their time to good use and learning new skills. Well done Poppy! If you would also like to join in with the Medtia Bake Off, please send in your photos! Here is Mrs Nelson’s Banana Cake with Chocolate chip..

I know that sat at home are some more keen bakers, so I wonder if over the Easter anything you bake/create we could share with everyone. A little Medtia Bake off – I know Mrs Nelson will join in!

 

On my final note, Mrs Preston wanted to share what the Lumenus KS5 students have been doing. They have been practising a variety of relaxing, stress busting techniques. Here is one of Beth’s yoga poses..

Mrs Preston wanted to share one particular technique with everyone and Ashanti has sent a clip of her teaching the technique. During this difficult time it is important that we try and destress and using Ashanti’s video may help us all..

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You have been sent a copy of our new Remote Learning guide which is a one-stop list of all the resources we use in college – if you need a reminder of your login details for any of the apps, please let us know. These next two weeks are what would normally have been our Easter break and although we are all keeping safe by staying at home, I think it would be great if you could share any virtual visits you may decide to take. There are links to a number of virtual tours in our Remote Learning guide and I am adding a few more here:

• if you fancy a trip to the British Museum or to the Great Wall of China: https://freedomhomeschooling.com/virtual-field-trips/
• Harry Potter fans will like this one: https://www.wizardingworld.com/collections/harry-potter-at-home
• London Zoo: https://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/zsl-london-zoo-online-resources
• Museum of London: https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/families/fun-home
• Guggenheim: https://www.guggenheim.org/collection-online
• National Gallery of Art: https://www.nga.gov/
• Dali Museums: https://www.salvador-dali.org/en/museums/dali-theatre-museum-in-figueres/visita-virtual/
• Google Arts project: https://artsandculture.google.com/

Our Admin teams have been working hard to distribute the Free School Meal vouchers.  We are now registered for electronic food vouchers. Families who qualify will receive vouchers covering the 4 week period from Monday 6th April (which includes the Easter holidays) and these can be used in a number of supermarkets. These will be distributed to you via ParentPay so please check your account.

Stay safe everyone.

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