This week’s blog as usual contains lots of examples of teaching and learning with a big helping of fun thrown in. Sale Sharks have again been to school sharing their rugby expertise in PE and we are grateful to Mr Smith for organising this. On Tuesday our Table Cricket team went to Old Trafford for a training session ahead of their next competitive tournament in 2 weeks’ time..

On Wednesday Mr Smith and Mrs Soltyk took pupils to compete in the Greater Manchester Schools rowing competition, a big event involving schools from all over Manchester. The day started with the boys’ individual rowing where Alan, Callum, Terry and Jake were up against other pupils from all over Greater Manchester..

Alan worked extremely hard, using every last ounce of energy to finish in 1st place in Greater Manchester and receive a Gold medal!

Then it was time for the girls’ individual rowing and Summer, Grace, Morgan and Connie did a fantastic job representing New Bridge. Summer did especially well and finished in 3rd place in Greater Manchester, picking up a Bronze medal..

In the boys’ team rowing event they came in 1st place and all received Gold medals..

In the girls’ team rowing event they finished in 3rd place and received Bronze medals..

Well done to all our rowers, they did the New Bridge Group proud and as ever they showed fantastic sportsmanship – they could have rowed across the Channel, they were so committed!

Also on Wednesday, Mrs Taylor took a group to the Liverpool Maritime Museum as part of their literacy topic on ‘Pirates’ where they took part in some interactive games and activities. Raresh surprised us by jumping up and volunteering in an activity – wonderful! We were even lucky enough to catch sight of some Tall Ships leaving the docks and we will have some lovely pictures to share with you next week. Our thanks go to Mrs Whiteley who kindly drove the minibus.

Thursday was the national BBC School Report Day 2017 and Mr Bright took Key Stage 4 Digit4ll up to Medtia Square where they joined Key Stage 5 Digit4ll and other young people from across the Group in putting together a very professional news report..

Mr Bright was delighted by how all the pupils behaved exceptionally under really challenging circumstances whilst trying to meet a tight deadline and said it was a real success. You can read more about the day here and watch the finished report below..

Our Year 11 work experience placements at the Atrium Café have continued with Lewis and Jordan having a look around the building at the various jobs available at First Choice Homes Oldham and getting to know the work done in the café..

Sophie and William have also been doing really well, this week they came and got themselves ready for work with only a prompt at the start, independently wrapped the cutlery, then William cleaned the tables and Sophie stocked up all the snacks..

Our curriculum focus this week is on our Interactive Bases and IBLC1 have continued working on their Magic Carpet theme. In English they have focused on their sensory story, Aladdin, and explored their objects of reference linked to it. They have looked at the different characters and completed activities linked to them..

On Outdoor Ed. they visited Tandle Hill Park and made some lovely sounds on the bars..

.. and on their return began to make lovely bird boxes in Horticulture with Mr McDonald. We did some good choosing and exploring and will paint our boxes/feeders next week..

In Maths we have got on our Magic Carpet and moved on to Antarctica. We have explored different textures and temperatures linked to this and made some lovely polar bear paw print cupcakes. Khadiza especially had lots of fun with our icing sugar..

IBLC2 have been busy making some beautiful surprises for Mother’s Day..

As promised, we can now bring you news on our recent year 13 Calvert Trust residential trip..

Here are a just a few of the comments from students:

“The next few days were great I walked around the lake after feeding the ducks and swans. I thought the swans were giving me the evil eye while getting really close. We did horse riding I went on a carriage being pulled by Uncle Silas. I didn’t really enjoy the bikes because I kept getting stuck, I find them a bit awkward. My favourite was archery. It just felt great hitting the target.”
Kyra

“At Calvert Trust I enjoyed everything you could do. Some of the activities you could do are cycling, horse riding, archery, making fires and zip wiring. I also helped my fellow students out.”
Matthew

“The night walks was cool- muddy and pitch black, but we got provided with torches for a source of light. It was really cold for the walk round the lake and I was pretty chilled out and relaxed. The zip wire was pretty cool as well. Some people were scared but I am an adrenaline junkie. The bikes were awesome, it wasn’t what I was expecting not your typical bicycle. I liked riding dead fast.”
Brittany

“I enjoyed Calvert. I liked doing all of the different activities. We did cycling, archery, horse riding night walk, zip wire, swing and bush craft. I tried to blag my way out of the zip wire. I didn’t want to do it at first because just the thought of it was very scary. I felt really proud of myself when I’d done it.”
Edward

“The activities were brilliant, some of them were wet activity. I got wet. The rock climbing was brilliant. The high swing was fantastic.”
John

“I enjoyed the Ghyll scrambling climbing up through the waterfalls. We got soaked!!! I didn’t like rock climbing as I learned I was scared of heights – but only when I got to the top. On the last night we had a big party with everyone.”
Keiffer

“I liked the waterfalls we had to put on a helmet, it was cold and wet, it was fun. I liked the night walk with my head torch on, it was dark. I enjoyed the house games room, playing table tennis, pool and the disco. I liked the horse riding.”
William

“The Calvert Trust trip was fantastic. The bedroom was brilliant, I shared with Chris. The activities I enjoyed were the night walking, canoeing, cycling and swimming.”
Helal

“I did a night walk which was scary and dark but I liked it. The bedrooms were big, comfy and had a cool view from out of the windows. Calvert was a nice place with rooms to play games, pool, table football and table tennis. It had a chill room next to it. I had a choice of meals breakfast and the food at night, pie, spaghetti and pizza.”
Kayleigh

The pictures from Calvert are amazing and go some way to showing the variety of activities our students took part in – and the immense fun they had doing so!! We managed to film some of the students on the zip wire..

One of the instructors commented after Jayden had his turn, “That’s the best reaction we’ve ever had!”..

Here’s a report from our on the ground reporter, Miss Morris.

“Our Year 13 students thoroughly enjoyed their residential to Calvert this year. They overcame their fears and tried various activities, some of which they found quite daunting. As you can see from the photographs they participated in activities which included rock climbing and abseiling, horse riding, cycling, ghyll scrambling, bushcraft, canoeing, zipwire and night walks. It was a privilege to observe them being brave and attempting new things whilst having fun.
The students really enjoyed the experience of being away from home with their friends and the staff. They interacted well and got on with each other in a new setting and a new experience. They looked out for each other and encouraged each other during the activities and mixed well during social times, relaxing and chatting together, playing snooker and going to the disco on the last evening.
It was, as always, a great pleasure to take them. Everyone enjoyed the residential and came back exhausted but having had a fantastic time.”

A reminder that a range of Mother’s Day gifts are available from our Enterprise group at the Learning Centre. There will be a stall on Thursday so remember your money if you would like to buy one of these beautiful presents..

Next week it’s Red Nose Day and New Bridge will be joining in the fun to raise funds for Comic Relief. At the school site the children can bring in a small donation and wear their own clothes – fancy dress is welcome but no football shirts, please. As you will remember from last week’s blog, the Learning Centre students have some imaginative fundraising ideas lined up, including one involving wet sponges being thrown at staff….we will let you know how that turns out!

Talking of fundraising, we’re delighted to announce that the New Bridge Group lottery has just been launched – a weekly £1 ticket will give you the chance to directly support our young people and be in with the chance of winning a cash prize too. Please click here for details if you would like to join us and feel free to tell your family and friends.

Our thoughts are with a young girl in Year 9 who is currently in Manchester Children’s Hospital; we wish her a smooth recovery. She is a very determined young lady and we hope she will be back with us soon.

Finally, a reminder that Friday 31st March is coffee morning on all our sites. This is a great chance to chat informally with your child’s pastoral staff and check on their general progress and wellbeing – we are looking forward to seeing you there!

Have a lovely weekend,

Judith and Dawn

You can find our full blog here

The New Bridge Horizons blog is available here for updates on our Key Stage 5 Pathway students in Lumenus, Digit4ll and Activ8 together with Future Finders students and the young people at Horizons

Click here to read this week’s blog from Graham