Well, it’s been another busy week at Future Finders and we have also had a professional photographer in this week to capture some of the work that we do – but more about that later!

On Tuesday I had another ‘Wow!’ moment as one of our ex-students, Coral was in Medtia on work placement. Coral is currently studying Film and Media Studies at Salford University and is supporting in Lumenus for a few weeks as part of her course. It was fantastic to catch up with Coral and to hear how she lives in student accommodation and is absolutely LOVING student life. Not only do we appreciate Coral’s support in class, it is also amazing once again to have such a fantastic role model in our college. Coral has worked so hard to get to university and she really does show our students that anything is possible!

On Wednesday I spent the day with Sam Jones, a photographer who has spent the week capturing the young people in all the different organisations across the New Bridge Group. This was a great opportunity to spend a day visiting our students out on placement. I drove 50 miles on Wednesday! Our students are literally working all over Manchester and it was absolutely fantastic to see how well they are all doing.

Yesterday I had a meeting with First Choice Homes to discuss work placements and opportunities for our students to learn more about their business. They also said that they had arranged the meeting as they want to ‘poach’ one of our students. Colette has been working at The Atrium café since September and she has clearly made an impression on the staff as they have offered her a customer service role for three months from January. Well done Colette! We look forward to hearing how you get on in the new year.

From one success story to another – our job coach Colin has more details..

On Wednesday 5th December, Future Finders had a special visit from former student Liam who is currently working at The Royal Oldham Hospital Monday-Friday, working full time hours. I took the opportunity to ask him some questions..

How are you?
I am very well thank you and currently enjoying my job, I have come to Medtia to catch up with staff at Future Finders and also the Pre Internship staff. I have been to see my friends who are still here on the Activ8 pathway.

What are you doing at the moment?
I am working independently most of the time in the Portering Department at the Royal Oldham Hospital. I go around and clean wheelchairs and stretchers that are numbered and write down the numbers when completed. On Tuesdays and Fridays I work with another porter called John who is a Pharmacy Porter and we go around the hospital collecting and delivering various items for different patients and staff.

Are you enjoying it?
I am enjoying working at the Royal Oldham Hospital because I get to meet new people and help them with directions to the right departments.

How did Future Finders help you with finding employment?
When I was on Future Finders I did 3 different placements which helped me with my skills and confidence. The staff were very helpful and supportive to help me find employment in the sector I wanted to be in.

Would you recommend Future Finders to others?
I would recommend Future Finders to others because it helped me with my confidence. I was shy at first and the staff helped me find employment, they also helped me build and learn new skills.

It has been fantastic to see Liam coming into Medtia and talking about the positive impact working full time has had on Liam’s life. Liam has grown in confidence from when he first walked through the door to start his Future Finders journey. All the staff are very proud of what Liam has gone on to achieve.

Well done Liam!

We also have more details of a new employer who has come on board from our job coach, Maria..

This week we have formed another working partnership with Stoneswood Residential Home in Delph. We approached the manager with a view to having a student in on work placement and she agreed that it would be a great idea. Thank you, Val!

It is a fantastic place and the staff have been really helpful in welcoming our young person onto the team. After chatting and discussing what jobs would be suitable, have meaning and be of help to the residents and staff, we thought that we could put something together to represent the activities throughout the day. We now have a list of jobs and the day is planned out.

We start the day mid-morning by helping with coffee and biscuits and chatting in the lounge with the lovely residents and staff, then armchair physiotherapy for a short while.

We have also been learning how to set tables correctly ready for lunch and clean up afterwards, leaving everything tidy for more activities in the afternoon..

Thank you to all the staff and residents at Stoneswood!

Our new ‘Worker of the Week’ is Tara who was nominated for the award for settling in really quickly at the Naughty But Nice Café and working hard to learn all her new tasks. Well done Tara!

Have a wonderful weekend – I am off to Edinburgh to visit friends. Here’s hoping it isn’t as wet and rainy as Oldham! I will leave you with just some of the stunning photographs that Sam took of our students hard at work..

Daniel
Head of College

You can view our previous blog entries here

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