With only two days to go until our Salou trip, the students have been VERY excited about this week and, alongside work, we have been talking a lot about our holiday and the exciting plans that we have! Just a reminder to all of our students that we are meeting at 4.45am on Sunday morning and the minibus to the airport will be leaving at 4.50am so don’t be late!

Now over to Anne-Marie for an update on our week..

The first day of our week is always classroom based. We start off the day catching up on the weekend’s events and then watch the news, discussing and sometimes debating the world events. This week has had a real focus on mental health awareness and it’s been good to look at our mental health, what can cause mental health issues, what signs and symptoms there might be and what types of things we do to help our mental health. These are just a few of the strategies that we talked about and use..

• Sleep
• Exercise
• Laughter
• Hugs
• Family
• Speaking to someone
• Talking

In Maths we worked with Mr Holland and we looked at rounding up or down to the nearest set number.

This week we have focused on our up and coming residential to Salou!! We had lots of questions about pick up times, rides we can go on, suitcases, clothing, what will happen at the airport like security, shopping, food and hotels! We feel that this trip will definitely help us with our mental health……relaxing by the pool, spending time with our friends, rides at the theme park and building sandcastles on the beach. Now we feel we are all set for our trip, we still have the rest of the week on placements, so we best get back to it. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday continue to be our placement days and we have been hard at work..

• Brittany had her second week at Scope. We caught up with Brittany last week in our ‘Day in the Life’. She continues to work well at Scope and is enjoying spending time on the shop floor interacting with the customers.
• Sufyaan has had a couple of days at Scope this week as well. He has settled in well and has worked hard trying to make sure that he has picked up the routines that he needs to follow.
• Chloe has been helping out at The Atrium Café this week. She has done a great job and says, “I love it over here! The staff are great and really look after me.”
• Edward has also been working at the café. He has been busy with restocking the shelves, stock rotation, food preparation and ensuring the café stays clean and tidy.
• Sebastian has been working hard at Age UK. We have had a chat with Sebastian and Age UK and after half term Sebastian will be working there completely independently: “I am really excited! I’m a little sad because you won’t come to see me but I am so excited that I will be here on my own!” Well done Sebastian! Keep up the good work!
  
• Afsana continues her work at the nursery. Here she is in her new work uniform. “I like having a uniform, it makes me feel like a part of the team”
  
• Colette has had a good week at the Dr Kershaw’s café. After her success last week and birthday celebrations she continues to impress, working on her professionalism and her customer service skills – “She’s an absolute star”
  
  
• Helal has done well at Premier Inn and The Atrium Café, as you will see below.

So we are all off to pack for Salou! Here’s hoping the sun follows us over there!! See you all when we get back!

Here is Helal to tell us more about his new placement..

A week in the life of Helal at the Premier Inn

I arrive at the Premier Inn at 10am ready to start my work placement.

I support the staff with collecting dirty linen that has been removed from the rooms and storing it in cages ready to be picked up and taken away.

My next job is to take fresh linen to the store rooms across the hotel ready to be used by the housekeepers.

Cleaning the communal areas of the hotel is an important job, as first impressions are key. I dust and hoover these daily and they are then inspected by the head housekeeper. This is a job I usually complete on arrival and before leaving at the end of the day.

Once these jobs are done, I buddy up with a member of the housekeeping staff and support them with different general cleaning jobs such as hoovering, dusting and window cleaning.

I have also started to learn how to strip and make the beds with support.

Helal continues to complete these tasks throughout the day. He has shown huge improvements with his confidence and motivation when at placement, as well as building positive working relationships with staff.

Employer feedback – “Helal has been at the Premier Inn for 3 weeks and he has worked well with other team members, supporting housekeepers when completing jobs in the rooms. Helal is working up to his ‘Gold Route’ and understanding the importance of following this so he can meet Premier Inn standards. Helal is very friendly and is always positive when giving all tasks a try.”

I’ll see all our Future Finders on Sunday morning, bright and early. Don’t forget to keep up to date with our trip via our Facebook and Twitter pages!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Daniel
Head of College

You can view our previous blog entries here

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