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Over the last two weeks we have welcomed our new cohort of year 7s due to start in September. They have accessed a variety of lessons such as English, Maths and ICT and had the opportunity to meet new friends and teachers. Along with accessing lessons they were given a tour of the school and invited to our Summer Festival. There were lots of nerves, but we were very impressed by the confidence and self-belief they developed throughout their visits. A huge thank you for all the KS3 teachers who planned excellent sessions and to the primary school support staff who shared their excellent knowledge of the students.

Jack shared his experience with us “I have had a great morning and am very excited to start in September, I have met lots of new friends too”.

We can’t wait to welcome all the new pupils in September and look forward to meeting all the parents and carers on 7th July.

Behind the Scenes at Parklife

Melland High School have had a busy time further developing their Careers and Work Related Learning Programme this term!

10 lucky students from Melland Sixth Form had a once in a lifetime opportunity to see behind the scenes at Parklife. The visit was a workplace safari and provided our students with valuable insight into the many jobs involved in setting up and putting on a festival. The students heard from members of staff about health and safety in the workplace, design and construction of the many different stages, first aid and medical assistance, bartending, sound and light engineering and hospitality. Parklife creates over 4500 jobs, brings over 80,000 people together over the weekend and makes huge amounts of money to boost the local economy.

Students developed their Skills for life over the course of the day. Communication was a key skill, students listened carefully to all the different people speaking about their jobs and asked insightful relevant questions. There were many different media companies reporting on the tour. Several of our students showed fantastic self-belief when they were interviewed by Hits Radio, Capital FM and BBC News and one of our teachers was even interviewed for ITV news!

One of the highlights of the tour was getting to see inside 50 Cent’s dressing room, the students were impressed by how spacious the room was and how much of a home away from home it was. We heard how it is the job of the artist liaison to makes sure the dressing room has any home comforts requested (50 Cent likes Gatorade!) They must use self-management and organisation skills to book all the different artists and make sure they can all perform at the right time on the correct day.

Students were surprised by how much effort goes into running the bar at Parklife. The bar tenders need to be good at problem solving and it requires lots of forward planning to ensure they don’t run out of drinks over the weekend. We also found out how important it is to make sure you have ordered enough limes, 250,000 to be precise!

Our students showed exemplary behaviour and were excellent role models for the school. They found the workplace safari interesting, engaging and eye opening with many of our students now interested in summer jobs working at a festival.

Thank you to Sacha Lord for kindly organising the event, Diane Norburn for providing the opportunity to our school to attend and Debbie Mellows for helping to organise the trip.

This term we have also had an incredibly jam-packed timetable for Melland High School’s Annual Careers Week this year! We’ve had employer encounters from a wide range of different employers and work sectors such as Engie Construction, Winners Strength and Wellbeing studio, Aerozone, Barnardos, Kloodle, Education and Semi Professional Football Academy, HMP Styal, AFG Law, Human Resources, Network Rail, NHS, Greater Manchester Police & NCS.

We have also had a variety of other activities that our students have taken part in over the course of the week such as a magic show, Manchester Airport Jobs Fair, The Manchester College Taster Sessions in Construction and Hair & Beauty, 6th Form Café, Step Into Sport Youth Leadership Training, STEM workshops, Job Sector Carousel, Q&A panel with ex-students about life after Melland, Q&A with 6th form students about part time jobs and students have been supported by our Careers Advisers.

We had a very busy and buzzing Speed Networking Event where students across the school from KS3, 4 & 5 had the chance to meet with employers from NHS, Aldermore Banking, Carefoot Construction, Spike Retail Technology, Career Connect, The Manchester College, Zen Internet, Ernst and Young, Buzz Rocks Caribbean, HideOut, Rider Levett Bucknall, Unity Radio, Mozzington, Department for Work and Pensions and The Wig Up Podcast.

Pupils have gained valuable insight into different careers pathways and used a variety of employability skills in the many activities they have taken part in during the week. The pupils have been developing their Skills for Life and have demonstrated excellent communication skills this week by asking thoughtful and challenging questions during employer encounters. They have been pushed out of their comfort zones this week and have shown admirable self-belief by having the courage to ask questions to adults that they have just met. Pupils have proved they have self-management skills by having to follow a different timetable this week and being flexible in their routines. Pupils have taken part in multiple STEM workshop activities which have promoted teamwork and problem solving. All of the students have been a credit to the school and excellent role models and ambassadors, well done!

A huge thanks to all who have been involved in supporting the Careers Week, in particular Debbie Mellows who has been working tirelessly behind the scene, arranging employer encounters and ensuring things run smoothly on the day. We have also had a phenomenal amount of support from Sarah Driver, Enterprise Adviser and Diane Norburn, Enterprise Coordinator who provided many of the contacts for our fantastic Speed Networking Event.

G1 discover a ‘Commotion in the Ocean’

G1 are reading the story ‘Commotion in the Ocean’ this term. We have made the story sensory by exploring sea animal toys, water, sand, bubbles and listening to sea animal noises in the sensory room. We have also made some of our own sea animals in our art sessions and have fun exploring these whilst listening to the story.

G1 had fun helping to make decorations such as bunting and our class crown to celebrate the Jubilee. The class also had fun making careers week sensory – we had themed activities involving Cleaning, Catering, Health services and Construction. We dressed up in themed clothes such as a yellow hard hat and high visibility jacket for construction, oven mitts for catering and gloves/aprons for health services.

A2 Road Safety Lessons

As the summer holidays approach and we will be out and about more enjoying the nice weather, it is important for us to keep ourselves and our friends safe. When the A2 group discussed this in class, we felt that it would be good if we practiced using the Green Cross Code to cross the road safely.

We watched some videos about road safety and Mrs Morris told us that she joined The Tufty Club when she was at school. We found a Tufty video on you tube and enjoyed watching the squirrel and his friends learning how to cross the road. Mrs Morris said that she had a special club badge and certificate, which she was very proud of!

In the classroom we practiced ‘Stop, Look and Listen’ using a small set of traffic lights. We learnt how the lights for the pedestrians (that is us!) changed, from the red standing man to the green walking man, only when the lights for the cars were on red for ‘STOP’. We had fun operating the lights and watching the sequences repeating to make sure that the pedestrians got their turn to cross the road.

Outside, in our school carpark, we have some zebra crossings to allow people to cross over. They don’t have lights, but we know that sometimes we have to cross roads that have no lights or crossing places, so thinking about where it is safe to cross is also important. We took turns to cross the road but it was sometimes hard to remember to keep looking as we crossed, especially when our friends were already on the other side. This made us think about how careful we have to be, remembering to cross use the Green Cross Code so that we get to the other side to meet our friends.

We are going to keep practicing every time we go out and need to cross the road. All the class want to enjoy being out during the summer and to keep ourselves and our friends as safe as possible.

Do you use the Green Cross Code every time you cross a road?

MHS Careers Week 2022

We’ve had an incredibly jam-packed timetable for Melland High School’s Annual Careers Week this year! We’ve had employer encounters from a wide range of different employers and work sectors such as Engie Construction, Winners Strength and Wellbeing studio, Aerozone, Barnardos, Kloodle, Education and Semi Professional Football Academy, HMP Styal, AFG Law, Human Resources, Network Rail, NHS, Greater Manchester Police & NCS.

We have also had a variety of other activities that our students have taken part in over the course of the week such as a magic show, Manchester Airport Jobs Fair, The Manchester College Taster Sessions in Construction and Hair & Beauty, 6th Form Café, Step Into Sport Youth Leadership Training, STEM workshops, Job Sector Carousel, Q&A panel with ex-students about life after Melland, Q&A with 6th form students about part time jobs and students have been supported by our Careers Advisers.

We had a very busy and buzzing Speed Networking Event where students across the school from KS3, 4 & 5 had the chance to meet with employers from NHS, Aldermore Banking, Carefoot Construction, Spike Retail Technology, Career Connect, The Manchester College, Zen Internet, Ernst and Young, Buzz Rocks Caribbean, HideOut, Rider Levett Bucknall, Unity Radio, Mozzington, Department for Work and Pensions and The Wig Up Podcast.

Pupils have gained valuable insight into different careers pathways and used a variety of employability skills in the many activities they have taken part in during the week. The pupils have been developing their Skills for Life and have demonstrated excellent communication skills this week by asking thoughtful and challenging questions during employer encounters. They have been pushed out of their comfort zones this week and have shown admirable self-belief by having the courage to ask questions to adults that they have just met. Pupils have proved they have self-management skills by having to follow a different timetable this week and being flexible in their routines. Pupils have taken part in multiple STEM workshop activities which have promoted teamwork and problem solving. All of the students have been a credit to the school and excellent role models and ambassadors, well done!

A huge thanks to all who have been involved in supporting the Careers Week, in particular Debbie Mellows who has been working tirelessly behind the scene, arranging employer encounters and ensuring things run smoothly on the day. We have also had a phenomenal amount of support from Sarah Driver, Enterprise Adviser and Diane Norburn, Enterprise Coordinator who provided many of the contacts for our fantastic Speed Networking Event.

Melland Students Help Plan Whole School Eid Celebration

Mrs Jan-Ahmed and Muslim students at Melland like many others observed fasting in the month of Ramadan. The students demonstrated determination and resilience by not eating or drinking during the day and this was a big challenge, but they achieved it successfully. In order to celebrate this achievement, the students spent lunchtimes planning a whole school Eid celebration. 

We had a mendhi/henna workshop replicating the traditional Chaand Raat where henna is applied the day before Eid. Positive shout outs go to Sue Cunnigham, Mandy Schofield, and 6th form student Chloe for decorating staff and student’s hands with lovely henna patterns.

The Eid competition was to design a crescent moon using a range of media. There were many creative entries using collage, paint and colouring.  Lucky individual winners were Billy, Kais and Mohammed and the group winner was LG4 in 6th Form.

The whole school took part in the Eid celebration in the theatre where Nimra and Sahir spoke about what Ramadan means and how they celebrate Eid-Ul-Fitr. Many students and staff wore traditional outfits representing Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Somalia and the Middle East. We had a fashion parade and students and staff had great fun listening and dancing to Eid songs.

To end it all we had class parties and enjoyed eating traditional South Asian snacks.

Many thanks to Mrs Jan-Ahmed and to all the staff and students involved in the organising such a joyous event.

Improved Reading Outcomes Continues to be a Focus at Melland

Along with the continued development of accessible reading areas and displays across school, students working within the MHS Formal Curriculum Pathway have been learning about the author Roald Dahl and reading his wonderful books including Boy, James and the Giant Peach and The Enormous Crocodile. The 4B group have created amazing animal models representing some of the characters using papier-mache. Models have been made of Humpy-Rumpy – hippo, Roly Poly – bird, Muggle-Wump – monkey, Trunky – elephant, The Enormous Crocodile and The Not So Big Crocodile. Students from the 4C group can also recall all the character names in James and the Giant Peach. In Boy, Roald Dahl describes his life when he was a child. He describes the sweets named liquorice bootlaces as being made from rats’ blood! 4D tasted the liquorice bootlaces and described them as having a strong smell with no real taste! Students in 3C and 4C groups have created an interactive display about James and the Giant Peach and they created peaches using a variety of media. A wide range of staff have also been accessing further training to support students with phonics and strategies to improve reading.

The Enormous Crocodile

3B group have been studying Roald Dahl’s ‘The Enormous Crocodile’ this term in their English lessons. As part of the project lesson, they had the fantastic opportunity of accessing the Multimedia Studio. To support the learning and understanding of the themes and characters the students created a puppet show. They had to create all the sounds for the performance as well as work the puppets. They accessed a variety of instruments and recording technology and had the opportunity to use the specialist cameras and green screen for the first time.

They have recorded their performance and it will be available on the school YouTube channel ready for the Easter Break. They all worked incredibly hard and made lots of progress in their communication, teamwork and self-belief.

G2’s Explore Sensory Activities

This term the G2 group have been transitioning in and around school, every Thursday we have a sensory session in the hall.

We have a range of activities out for the pupils to choose from, these can range from bubble machines, basketball hoops and ball pits.

Some of our pupils have been practicing throwing and catching in different aspects tailored to everyone. 

Our pupils look forward to this session where they can use the space to express themselves and learn a new skill. 

we have also welcomed the G1 group to our sensory session in the hall, we look forward to carrying on the session in the summer term, Well Done G2!

Co-Operative College Charity Magazine

An honourable mention this week for Teaching and Learning Assistant Debbie Mellows. Debbie has worked alongside the Co-Operative College to coordinate and deliver an exciting 11 week enterprise programme with a lucky group of Sixth Form Students. Debbie’s commitment and hard work has meant that our students have been empowered with the skills and confidence they need to be able to make a difference to their local community.

During the programme students have spent time learning about the values of running a cooperative and being a successful democratic team before setting up their own cooperative all in aid of a local charity. The students have improved their teamwork and communication skills by working together to create a magazine called ‘MC magazine’ with the proceeds of sales going directly to a local charity of their choice. Through this process our Sixth Formers have also been able to showcase their own creativity and digital skills as they produced articles and adapted their work ready for print into a high-quality product.

The group have so far raised over £100 pounds for Centrepoint, a charity based in Manchester that supports young people at risk of homelessness. The students will hold a final fundraising count before delivering the proceeds to the charity in person.

Proud to part of the Bright Futures Education Trust
Melland High School
Gorton Education Village
50 Wembley Road, Gorton, Manchester, M18 7DT
Ofsted CEOP