Well, this week we certainly have a LOT to celebrate! I am so proud of our young people that I want to stand on the Medtia roof and shout from the roof tops because two, yes TWO of our young people have been offered PAID jobs this week!! Both on our Future Finders programme, Liam and Niamh have been the first of this year’s students to move into paid employment and they are our first ever students to get a job in their first term! Liam has been offered a post working 16 hours a week at The Royal Oldham Hospital as a porter..

..and Niamh has made such an impression at the nursery she has been on placement at that they have offered her a full time paid job starting in January!

Wow, wow, wow! This is why we work so hard to set up these programmes, to engage with employers and to do our very best for our students! I am so incredibly proud and I am also excited about another of our young people who is going to be offered a paid contract in the coming weeks….but more on that in future blogs! So again, well done Liam and Niamh, you are both superstars!! This is the perfect time to give you all an insight into ‘a day in the life of Niamh’ – over to you..

A day in the life of Niamh, Nursery Assistant

East Crompton St James Child Care Village, Shaw

I arrive at East Crompton St James Child Care Village after travelling with my job coach and greet everyone with a ‘Good morning!’

I speak to the staff to find out what jobs I am to do that shift..

It’s play time now, time to do some building using the stickle bricks..

..and blocks..

..before settling down for cuddles and getting ready for story time..

After all the excitement of playing with the children, painting, story time, circle time and outdoor play – just a few of the things I do – I have been called in to see the manager of the nursery who has some news for me. 

I have been offered a full time permanent contract with the nursery, starting in January!!!!!!! I will also be working towards my Level 2 Childcare qualification – I am so happy!!!!!!

My manager says, “Niamh is a lovely girl who has fitted in so well here with all the staff. She gets on so well with the children and it has been great to see her confidence grow over the last couple of months whilst she has been on placement with us and it is our pleasure that we are able to offer her a contract. We are so looking forward to her being here with us on a more permanent basis!”

Well, it’s been a busy but exciting day here! I’m off for my break where I will sit with Anne-Marie, my job coach, and the nursery manager to go through my diary for the week and set my weekly targets……

I am really enjoying my time here at East Crompton St James Child Care Village. The staff are lovely and I am looking forward to working with them as a permanent member of the team! See you all back at Medtia!!

Now, can you believe that we are already starting to think about next year? On Tuesday we held an open evening at Medtia Square for the young people who are interested in joining Future Finders and Horizons in September and it was lovely to meet their families. Today I delivered a presentation to students who may be interested in joining Bridging the Gap next year. We will also be holding a Bridging the Gap parents’ evening in the New Year for families to come and find out more about the project.

Yesterday I visited our Bridging the Gap team at the Royal Oldham Hospital and, as always, I was amazed by our wonderful students. Just into their second half term, they are mostly working independently on their placements and the feedback from their line managers and the hospital staff was incredibly positive. Here you can see the students hard at work at the hospital..

As a one off, we have decided to award our ‘Worker of the Week’ to all 5 students based at the hospital for settling in well, making a good impression and working so hard this term! Well done Kyra, Seb, Brittany, Tara and Sufyaan!!

Next week the students from our IT pathway, Digit4ll, will be bringing you exciting news of the launch of their new enterprise and we will also have a report from our sports pathway, Activ8, on their latest One City league games at the Etihad – watch this space!

Finally this week, an update on our application to set up an independent college from September. We have now been commissioned by Oldham Local Authority to deliver our Future Finders supported internship course next year as an independent college. The next stage for us is to go through the due diligence process with the Department for Education and find a new home! I will, of course, keep you posted as things progress.

That is it from me this week. I shall spend the weekend celebrating our successes with a vodka or two! Have a great weekend,

Daniel
Director of Employment & Co Head of Site at Medtia Square

You can view our previous blog entries here

Click here for this week’s news from Graham