I cannot believe we are now half way through the school year! We are now planning for September and the ‘big move’. Already this year we’ve been up to lots of things and the students have been incredibly active and working hard.

I am going to start with a Springboard update. On 5th February, Mr Quinn signed the final plans over to our contractors, Conlon Construction, and on Monday 22nd work began.

As you can see, the contractors, led by Kevin and Damien, have begun the process of ripping out all the internal fixtures and fittings. It is hard to believe that in 22 weeks, this building will be a college ready for our learners!

It’s been such an exciting journey and now it’s finally happening and we will begin the process of moving out of Dean Street (although this part makes me sad, as we regard Dean Street as a family, working together for the benefit of our young people).

This brings me nicely to the school/family celebrations we’ve been having at Dean Street. We love a good birthday event and our latest run began with Mrs Burrows celebrating ‘the BIG 30.’ We had a whole school assembly and presented gifts and balloons and it was lovely to see all of Key Stage 4 and 5 celebrate in true Dean Street fashion..

We also celebrated the birthday of Cameron with plenty of cake..

..and finally Mr Molloy, who hit ‘the BIG 50’..

At this time of the year we begin to look at the movement of young people. Being part of a Trust brings lots of opportunities for all our students. Chloe and Corey have 2 placements and are working well at both the Atrium and The Rainbow Café in Manchester. Ewan has begun his placement at Dr Kershaw’s charity shop in Royton and we are looking to further some more opportunities alongside Whitebridge College in Tameside.

In terms of work within the curriculum, we are developing living skills and Mrs Burrows’ class have built up the furniture for the working flat upstairs..

 

Mr Murray has been embedding Prince’s Trust into the Key Stage 4 curriculum and has been working with the Trust to develop further opportunities for all our young people.

Last week myself, Miss Rodgers, Mr Pidlyskyj and Mr Southerington sat down with Executive Team and governors as part of our termly Internal Management Boards based around the curriculum and the pastoral aspects of our school. It was brilliant to see how much progress the young people have made and, alongside this, how the staff have worked to create THE best outcomes for all our young people. At the end of the year – despite our family moving to different buildings – we will be celebrating the success and achievement of the students and staff’s hard work and commitment.

It’s been such a busy month and I am sure that as we move towards the last part of Spring term, it will get even busier.

As you may be aware, we are also experiencing a few technical problems and our communication systems were down on Friday. We’re very grateful for our parents and carers’ patience whilst our fantastic ICT teams work through these issues and we hope to have everything running smoothly as soon as possible.

Have a great week everyone (let’s hope the snow stays away!)

Mrs Tootill
Head of Springboard Project

You can find all our previous blog entries here

Click here to read this week’s news from Graham