Unlike French, we didn’t study Welsh at school but if our translator is working correctly, it was ‘amser gwyliau’ (holiday time) for our Year 11 pupils as they spent the week at Haven Holiday Park in Wales having a fantastic time along with other Year 11 pupils from across the Trust. As weeks go, they couldn’t have picked a better one for the weather and all made the most of the sunshine and the range of activities on offer. It was no surprise to see a tired but smiling group of pupils arrive back on Friday afternoon. We were kept up to date with all the sun-filled fun and excitement through our Facebook page, so if you haven’t seen the photos yet, you can find them here.
Meanwhile back in school, the rest of the team have been participating in our Culture Week. Led by our Creative Arts Curriculum Leader, Mrs Chappell, our pupils have been exploring different art forms including painting, photography, sculpture and textile printing and creating their own artwork inspired by the works of current and historic artists from Oldham through their visits to Gallery Oldham. There will be a Culture Week special in next week’s blog and we can promise you, you are in for a treat!
Our young people have coped really well trying to stay cool in a number of different waysthis week, though none probably quite as effective as our IB group at the Learning Centre, as Miss Evans explains..
This year the students of IBLCKES have been doing their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. As part of this, they have had to complete a volunteering element and they chose to arrange activities for the young people who access Horizons. Today they decided to take advantage of the wonderful weather and organise a water fight, IBLC v Horizons! A fantastic time was had by everyone, with all the young people thoroughly enjoying soaking each other. As you might imagine, they all particularly enjoyed soaking the staff too!
Year 9 had a slightly drier but no less enjoyable experience on their Outdoor Ed, lesson this week, as Mrs Cockcroft reports..
During our trip to Heaton Park as part of Outdoor Ed. we had a lovely impromptu encounter with lots of wild squirrels. Some of the pupils even managed to get the squirrels to eat out of their hands!
It was a lovely surprise to be up close to the animals as we were just passing through the area on our way to where we were going to be working!
Now that our Year 11s are back from Wales, we hope they will have had chance to read the Key Stage 5 options booklet that was sent home – please remember to return your choices as soon as possible and don’t forget that you can contact us at the Learning Centre on 0161 883 2402 if you have any questions. Our transition support group is proving to be very popular, giving our young people the chance to talk through any worries they may have about the changes in September and reassuring them that it is natural to feel a bit anxious. Remember that you can always contact your child’s pastoral manager if you have any questions or concerns.
As promised, we now have Mr Taylor’s report on our Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s group who successfully completed their qualifying expedition in North Wales – please click here to read just how well the young people worked together as a team and how well they coped with a gruelling 4 days. Next week our Bronze group will be undertaking their qualifying expedition, we’re looking forward to bringing you news of how that goes!
Finally, Mr Lyons was involved in a very exciting meeting this week, an extension design start-up meeting in fact! Essentially, a fancy title for beginning the process of building our new extension to the school site now that we have received final approval for it to go ahead. The meeting focused on the internal design and layout and was an opportunity to think about how best to create a space that will meet the needs of the pupils who will be using it. Everything from room size to natural lighting was discussed and future meetings will focus on firming up designs and planning the building process. Watch this space for further updates.
As you know, it’s been another hot week with more glorious weather still to come. Please remember to send in sun cream for your child, clearly marked with their name, and a hat so we can ensure they are kept safe if they are spending any time outside.
Until next week then, ‘hywl fawr!’
Gavin and Dawn
For news on our Key Stage 5 pathway groups at Medtia Square (this week Digit4ll met Prince William!!) please click here
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