Now that we’ve begun to settle down into the new school year, it’s time to turn our attention to electing a new School Council at the school site to act as the voice of our pupils in raising the issues that are important to them. Next week we will begin the process of choosing two representatives from each year group whose role will be to gather the views of their fellow pupils and raise these at School Council meetings every half term. These meetings are chaired by Mr Lyons and attended by members of our Local Governing Body and the views of the pupils shared in these meetings play an essential role in influencing the ongoing development and improvement of the school.

It’s also time to elect our Head Boy and Head Girl from our group of new Year 11 pupils. Our Head Boy and Head Girl play a very important role in representing the school at events whilst also serving as good role models for our pupils, and sharing pupils’ ideas with our school’s leadership. At the Learning Centre, preparations are also underway for the election of this year’s Student Council and we will be bringing you news of the run up to that shortly.

On the theme of pupil voice, Friday saw the formal launch of the new school tie, an action brought about by our pupils through the School Council. A letter was sent out on Friday explaining everything you need to know if you and your child want to take up the option of a blazer and tie as part of your child’s school uniform, including an image of the new tie..

..and the winning pupil design it was created from..

We can’t wait to see the finished ties! It’s been another busy week for our young people, settling into their new routines, forms and activities – well done to all our Year 12 students who seem to be taking it in their stride. It’s also been nice to meet and greet more new parents and carers and we are looking forward to working in partnership with you all to enable our young people to be the absolute best they can be.

This week Mr Barker and Miss Allison have been popping into a number of lessons to see what our students have been up, something they will be doing on a regular basis to capture the ‘Wow’ moments which they will be sharing within assemblies and via this blog. An important reminder for any students making cakes, Miss Allison is more than happy to provide quality control!

During this week’s Learning Centre assembly we presented a number of achievement awards, many of which were for the help and consideration shown by our young people to their fellow students. We’ve been delighted to observe at first hand some of the values our students have shown which also linked nicely into our assembly theme where we introduced the topic of ‘British Values’. Students talked about the values they can show such as kindness, care, support and respect. We then looked at the five themes of British Values which we will be revisiting throughout the academic year..

This week, our curriculum focus is on our Key Stage 4 Pathway Groups, Activ8, Digit4ll and Lumenus. Mr Lawrence has the latest on Activ8 for us..

A new academic year and a whole new team joining Activ8. This year Activ8 Key Stage 4 has grown and we now have 10 new recruits. We have our history makers Sophie, Alexandra and Sophie who are the first girls to join Activ8. We also have Charlie John, Dominic, Michael, Imran, Bradley, Corey and Brandon..

The past weeks have seen them thrown in at the deep end, undertaking sessions at Mahdlo gym..

..and playing basketball and rugby..

They have been getting to grips with the muscles in the body in theory sessions and they have been walking at Dovestones. The group also visited the Learning Centre for some team building activities..

..before tackling camp craft activities including setting up tents as part of their Duke of Edinburgh’s work..

The new players are being supported fantastically by the old guard from last year – Kieron, Morgan, Tyler, Saaim, Kieran and Jay. They are working well as a group and already beginning to show a good work and team ethic. As well as new pupils, we have new staff. Welcome to Activ8 Mr Hollinworth, Mr Oughton, Miss Ward and, completing a free transfer from Key Stage 5, Mr Holban! 

Our Digit4ll pathway got the term off to a great start too, as Mrs Dickson explains..

The Digit4ll Year 11 group have several new lessons this year. In ‘Learning for Life’ we focus on key targets from each individual’s EHC Plan. This week we have focused on emotions. In the first lesson we wrote a class poem, ‘Brave’..

Today I am going to be brave

Today I’m going to brave.
I’m going tell my English teacher
I would like help with my work.

Today I’m going be brave.
I’m going to do more fitness and
Play more footy.

Today I’m going to be brave.
I am going to ignore people who annoy me.
Today I am going to be brave.
I am going to ignore people who annoy me and
I am just going to smile and be happy.

Today I’m going to be brave.
I am going to help people.

Today I’m going be brave.
I’m going to get rid of my god complex
So people don’t think I’m arrogant.

Today I’m going to be brave.
I’m going to achieve as much as possible during the final school year
So I may receive the highest grades achievable.

Today I’m going to be brave.
I’m going to tell my teacher that
The scratch program is not great.

Today I’m going to be brave.
I’m going to be serious, furious, ferocious and a tiny bit happy.

Today I’m going to be brave.
Today I’m going to jump out of a plane and
I’m not going to think about it.

Today I’m going to be brave.
I think so, maybe?

In the second lesson we looked at being calm and recreated Monet’s Four Poplars using paint software. We also are working on social skills through playing co-operative games..

In our Pathway lessons the group are continuing working towards their qualifications. They are working on a range of creative i-media topics as part of the GCSE: web design; game design..

..digital graphics and pre-production.

We have been working in photo editing software on our posters for the BFI film festival project in digital graphics. These posters use a range of techniques..

In game design we have been working using Scratch coding to create games. William created sliders in his magic painting game to change the size and colours of the spray painter..

Ethan worked on the background to his lawn mower game..

Thomas debugged his sumo mower game as he was having trouble with one of his sprites..

These courses are supplemented by units from the Entry Level qualification covering spreadsheets and databases. In the ICT options we are using ICT creatively this half term – creating a range of animations and photo-montages..

Our Thursday afternoon project has been inspired by the ‘Albertini’ in Vienna. We looked at how social media can be manipulated by creating scenes where the class appeared to be in Vienna. We then focused on the work of Florentina Pakosta in creating crazy heads..

Our Lumenus pathway has also welcomed new members to Key Stage 4 and they would like to introduce themselves..

Adam ~ I’m looking forward to learning a lot of new things

Mariam ~ I’m interested in the costumes and props making tasks

Millie ~ I’m excited about performing to an audience again

Josh ~ I want to develop my acting skills

Shaun ~ I’m excited to go to the theatre to watch a professional performance

Ashanti ~ I want to develop my design ideas for costumes

Donna ~ I can’t wait to learn some dances

Ellie ~ I’m looking forward to working in different spaces

This term the group have started work towards their WJEC ‘Contribute to a group drama’ piece exploring Greek Theatre and they will be creating a performance inspired by the myth of Echo and Narcissus to be shared in the Christmas showcase.

On Thursday Mrs Chappell attended the SLiCE (Specialist Leaders in Cultural Education) ‘A Question of Leadership’ conference at Liverpool Hope University where she talked about the research she had conducted with Gallery Oldham in her presentation ‘How can a gallery and a school champion inclusion?’ to key North West educators and arts professionals.

The work undertaken with Gallery Oldham to improve their workshop provision has directly impacted on our young people, ensuring an inclusive approach to cultural education and experiences in the Oldham area. Some of our young people were lucky enough to participate in trial workshops and all New Bridge pupils accessed the Gallery provision during last term’s Culture Week, something that would not have happened before. Mrs Chappell is looking forward to working in partnership with the Gallery Oldham and the SLiCE programme from Curious Minds again on this year’s project focusing on well-being and would really like to hear from feeder primaries who would like to get involved in this exciting opportunity!

We would like to congratulate Thomas who has just won ‘Swimmer of the Year’ in the Matt Walker disability swim at the City of Manchester Aquatic Swim Team annual awards at the Hotel Football Old Trafford – a fantastic achievement, well done!! We’re looking forward to hearing news of how Thomas progresses and we’ll be sure to let you know!

We would like to thank you all for your patience as our new ParentPay system has come into operation. This is a much safer way of collecting money and enables you to view your account history and keep track of payments you have made. Letters with log in details have been sent home but if you have not received yours or you need any help activating your account, please speak to Becky, Izzy, Jean or Jill at reception and they will be happy to help.

Remember that our After School Clubs take place at both the school site and the Learning Centre from Monday to Thursday and all our young people are welcome. Please contact Karen Bingley on 0161 883 2401 if you would like further information.

Have a great weekend,

Gavin and Dawn

For news on our Key Stage 5 pathway groups at Medtia Square please click here

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