Wow, what a roller coaster of a week in more ways than one, with sports, exams and residential visits. Our Year 11 pupils and staff are still buzzing about their week at Hafan y Mor and the pictures look amazing – you can view some of them here and read what our Head Boy thought of it in his blog here. We’ve got to say it is one of his best posts so far, we love his narrative and open writing (even if he does put our blog to shame).

Year 8 left for France early on Tuesday morning. By the time we got into work the school was eerily quiet with no evidence that they had left apart from the fact the meeting room was empty (on Monday it was stacked to the rafters with water, crisps and fruit). They made great time travelling down to Folkestone before being delayed getting onto the Euro Tunnel but luckily they made up the difference in France and reached their hotel as planned.

We have been able to track their progress on our Facebook page and see what a tremendous time they have had, spending two full days in the parks – you can view some more fantastic photos here. We’re pleased to say that a very tired but happy coachload of travellers arrived safely back at New Bridge last night and we can’t wait to hear all their news on Monday!

On Friday the Year 8 pupils in school had a ‘French’ breakfast of croissants with jam, pain au chocolat, ‘Freddo’ chocolate frogs’ legs and fruit. The accordion was playing some French music and staff had made some fabulous resources with French words and phrases to add to the theme.

There is a distinctly French and football theme at the moment with Euro 2016 starting at the weekend. Football fever will soon kick in with some of the Pathway classes holding non-profit making sweepstakes. English flags have been painted and display boards are looking very patriotic. Our IB3 class even held their own Euro 2016 afternoon as you can see..

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”65″ gal_title=”10th June IB3 Euro”]

We would like to wish all our young people the very best in their exams. We know it can be a very stressful time for them and is often the culmination of several years of hard work and studying. Our Bridging the Gap students at the Royal Oldham Hospital should feel very proud of themselves as they have all successfully completed their ASDAN Employability Awards and the moderator was very impressed with the standard of their work. We’re also thrilled to let you know that Robert had an interview on Thursday and has been offered a paid job with G4S Cleaning Services starting in the summer! All that hard work has really paid off – well done, Robert!!

As we promised in our last blog, here are some pictures of the GCSE Art Exhibition in the Gallery at the Learning Centre. We will be finalising the exhibits next week in readiness for the moderator’s visit and it will be then open to view. Our congratulations go to..

Kayleigh Heath

Angela Agustin

Jack Turner

Mohammed Zoheb Khalid

Humayun Ahmed

This week we were delighted to receive a letter from Alan Champ, the Church Secretary of the United Reform Church in Oldham where Learning Centre students have been working this year. They have really enjoyed their time out in the community and it is lovely to get such wonderful feedback:

“I am writing to express our thanks for the work that the young people from the New Bridge Learning Centre have done each Wednesday at our Church. We have been impressed by the enthusiasm and attention to detail that they have shown over the last year. Their smiles and enthusiasm have added greatly to our Wednesdays.”

We are also very proud of Edward who has been nominated for the ‘Disability Sports Achiever of the Year’ by Chadderton Park Football Club. Edward has been invited to attend a ceremony at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 1st July to receive his award and he said, ‘It makes me feel very honoured to be nominated and makes me feel very important.’ Quite right, Edward!

This term is full of sporting events – this week alone Activ8 have been at MCFC although they were disappointed to come second in the tournament as they told us only first will do. Maybe next year? The sight of the Capital One Cup might inspire them….can you believe that we were lucky enough to have it at New Bridge for a few hours? As you can imagine, there was no shortage of young people (and staff) queueing up to have their picture taken with the prized silverware – there is an album on our Facebook page but here are a few examples..

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”66″ gal_title=”10th June cup”]

We will be attending Leigh Sports Village later in the term where we will be competing with schools from across the North West. Our first ever New Bridge Sports Day has been set for the 13th and 14th July and you will have the opportunity to watch your children taking part in the activities they have chosen – more details soon!

Rehearsals are well underway for our production of Shrek at the end of the month and here is a sneak preview for you..

Tickets are still available by contacting Wendy Warren on 0161 883 2401 extension 1007 or by email to wwarren@newbridgegroup.org – don’t miss out!

It just leaves us to wish you all a lovely week end, take care.

Judith and Dawn

You can find our full blog here

Click here for this week’s news from Graham