This week has seen the start of the Student Council election process. The Student Council has always been an integral part of Learning Centre life and student voice has been instrumental in many of the developments and decisions made over recent years. It is important that we find a way for this to continue, albeit in a new format.

It makes sense that during the current Covid climate the Student Council should reflect the structure of the Learning Centre, therefore we are suggesting that the council be made up of representatives from all 3 bubbles and we are looking for candidates from the main body bubble, the Entitlement Base and the Interactive Base.

Please can I ask that you talk to students about whether they would like to put themselves forward. Normally candidates would make a speech in front of their peers who then make their votes but under current Covid protocols this is not possible so students will be preparing a short video to be shared to respective classes next Thursday. Votes will be counted and we will be announcing this year’s successful Student Council members on Friday. I can assure everyone that meetings will be held virtually and there will be no bubble breaches. I can’t wait to see the speeches and I look forward to sharing some of these and the results within next week’s blog.

Now to our regular Year 12 update from Mrs Keane:

This week we have been continuing our work on the topic of flora and fauna. Mrs Robinson’s son kindly lent us his collection of bugs which have been preserved in plastic. Everyone got the chance to have a really close look at 20 different bugs from around the world, then fill in an information sheet with their findings. They had to count the number of legs and wings, note what colour the bug was and find the bug’s name on the collection box.

Philip wanted to learn more so he went on to the internet to find out further information about the Rhinoceros Beetle. Then we picked two of the class’ favourites to view and talk about as a group on the big screen.

As part of black history month we read a book about the life and work of Dr Martin Luther King. We also listened to his famous speech which he gave in 1963. We then wrote our own thoughts for the future starting with the words ‘I have a dream…’

Our Year 13 students have been really getting into accessing loads of virtual books and Mr George is really impressed with their dedication and enthusiasm..

13 AGE have been introduced to the delights of Epic for stories within class, students have taken to choosing their own stories to either read themselves or to have read to them.

Our group downloaded the Caterpillar recording sheet, enjoyed colouring in the background and were delighted to receive their first badges to go on the chart.

Melissa has taken to displaying them on the wall.

A great group effort to have gone through 50 titles in the last few weeks. Keep going Year 13!

Down in our Communication 2 group, students have been ‘busy bees’ as Mrs Brierley reports:

In our group we have focused our activities around the ‘Recovery Curriculum’. Students have been really busy creating a colourful environment within their classroom. We have been looking at the theme of friendships and this is reflected in our ‘Friendship Flower’ display.

The butterflies represent change and how high we can fly when we work together as a team.  Our ‘What Can I Bee’ display encourages the students to: – Bee kind, Bee a good friend, Bee amazing etc.

We have also started a WOW TEAM display which will be filled up over the year with amazing pictures of us working as a team and individual achievements.

We have called our room the ‘Rainbow Room’ to embrace the rainbows of lockdown and to show how beautiful nature is.  Outside we have put up bunting to make our entrance more welcoming to parents and students, we aim to do more when the weather is better.

Our current cross curricular theme this term is ‘Going to the Cinema’, and our display shows a theatre entrance and we will be role playing visiting the cinema, with hopefully a visit to the cinema when things return to normal….whenever that may be!?

The students are all settled and embracing the opportunity to be together as a group and working well together as a team. Well Done IBCommunication2!

We are lucky at the Learning Centre to have a number of outside areas which can be used. We are keen that students have the opportunity to spend time outdoors where possible (weather permitting). This has clear learning and wellbeing benefits but also has important benefits during the Covid outbreak as:

1. evidence indicates that the risk of infection is reduced outdoors
2. evidence suggests that the virus does not survive long for long periods in sunlight.
3. social distancing is easier to observe and maintain outside.

Each bubble has dedicated outdoor spaces and every class has timetabled sessions outside. The Employability pathway group have made the most of each dry day when it has been possible to go out.  Mrs Peacock would like to share a little of what the students have been up to.

The group’s favourite activity is ‘any type of ball game’. We started off playing cricket with tennis balls but they quickly disappeared into the brambles or up onto the roof. 

 Mrs Wilkinson bought us some new balls but they were meant for dogs. When we hit them, they split in half!

We then moved on to playing with a football. We either usually play football or curby. We’ve now started playing a mixture of football and curby, where we kick the ball to the curb instead of throwing it. Tricky but doable!

• show them how to do it Ellearna!

• spot the ball…

• we’re going on a ball hunt…

• calling for reinforcements!

• team work is dream work

•  carry on regardless!

• …and still the hunt goes on…

• new balls please…

• saved!

• fancy footwork

• goal!

Whilst in lockdown the Learning Centre students engaged in a number of different activities to provide variety and enrichment while they were at home. One such task was set by Mrs Joubert who shared seeds with her form and challenged them to grow their own ‘Bee Beautiful / Bee Kind’ flowers.

Josh has emailed Mrs Joubert a picture of the beautiful flowers he has grown..

I’m reminded of Josh’s sunflower success in the summer

Here is mine now…still no flowers!!!

Any advice Josh?

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Take care and stay safe,

Dawn

Click here for this week’s news from Graham

You can find Gavin’s blog for the school site here

For news on our Key Stage 5 pathway groups at Medtia Square please click here

You can find my previous blog posts here