Learning Centre, Loving Life

So good to see our students fully engaged in their learning and activities, well done, all!

This time of year, we turn our attention to beginning the process of electing representatives to the Learning Centre Student council.

Student voice is an integral part of College Life and over the years the student council has been responsible for implementing several actions and important developments at the Learning Centre.

Next week I will be sending out information to all students and asking them to consider whether they would like to put themselves forward as student council candidates. The electoral process for the Learning Centre Student council elections will start the following week and I look forward to sharing the outcome.

Students will be required to prepare a speech which will then be shared with their peers in the most appropriate format for their needs.

It is important that the process is fully inclusive and truly representative of all our cohort.

Please could I ask that families speak to students about the process and encourage them to put themselves forward. They really can make a real difference to the life of their peers.

A few years ago, we set up half-termly ‘Parents Group’ meetings at the Learning Centre to enable parents to have a forum within which they could come and chat to other families. As this evolved it became clear that there were common worries, questions and concerns shared by families.

To give families more information and to answer their questions we invited a number of professionals to come in and talk to the group about pertinent issues. These have run alongside parent/carer group meetings.

These have included-

Trusha Velji (Touch solicitors) re wills, trust funds, lasting power of attorney

Katie Morgan (Miocare) re respite care and support for young adults

POINT (Parents of Oldham In Touch) /SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs Advice Support Service)

Adult Social Services re support for families and young people.

Michelle Lane- re social care issues and transitions.

Toyoba Khanam (Senior Social Worker with the Children with Additional and Complex Needs Team) re assessments and short breaks.

I’m delighted to announce that we will be reintroducing the parents group this term. Unfortunately, this could not take place effectively last year because of covid restrictions, however we feel this can now be done safely.

Shamin Akhtar, our bilingual family liaison officer will attend the meetings to help with any translating that may be required.

Meetings will be held on Monday afternoons and we will be gauging interest as to which families would like to be involved.

Here is some previous feedback from families about the group.

“The parent’s group is very important to support parents at this transition time in young people’s lives.” Year 13 parent

“It was a great experience to meet parents and share our experiences and services to support our children.” Year 12 parent

“Ability to discuss similar issues and discuss other parents’ experiences.” Year 12 parent

“Brilliant group, thank you for organising.” Year 13 parent.

“So lovely to get together with other parents/professionals to brainstorm etc.” Year 13 parent

If you are interested in attending our Parents Group or would like further information, please could you email Mr Barker at: jkbarker@newbridgegroup.org

Alternatively, you can contact the Learning Centre directly or speak to your child’s Tutor directly.

We hope as many of our families as possible will be able to join us.

Have a lovely weekend and don’t forget to take a look at what we’ve been up to this last week in the updates below!

Dawn

Updates from around The Learning Centre 

Nurture Group

This week the Nurture Group have been out and about in the local community. They have been practising their road safety awareness whilst they walked to a local cafe. They used their literacy skills to read the menus and numeracy skills to pay for their drinks and food. The group demonstrated great communication skills and good manners.

Friday Morning Intensive Interactive

CAAKE Update

An update from Mr Blackman…

Here we have the students from VPKs class learning to drive the ride on mower through a course set by Mr Blackman. The course was full of sharp turns and tiny gaps to fit the tractor through. They also had to reverse it at times to get it into position to carry on. The students did fantastically well and really enjoyed the competition we had on who would not hit any of the obstacles on the course. Umer came out on top with a clear round.