According to the meteorological season, autumn starts on September 1 and ends on November 30 – so we are now well on our way into the Autumn Season and we will start to see the leaves turning into a riot of browns/reds and golden yellows. So what have we been up to at Pushforward this week?

We have been doing lots of cooking this week. Rocky Road, Honeycomb, Hot Chocolate & Berries Smoothies, Pizza (chosen from country Italy for his around the world recipes). Fresh pasta, meatballs and fresh Bolognese and amazing waffles.

But not only have these young people cooked (and of course eaten their handy-work), they have also learned how to search out ingredients at the shop, pay for them, read a recipe, measure out the ingredients, cooked/baked their food – this has also involved maths, English, food tech, hygiene.

What an amazing amount of life skills that have been learned this week!

Some awesome team work to complete grammar challenges on BBC Bitesize.

Over in Newmarket 2 we have been working on a project of a round table using resin. We have also created a Mars resin clock. Cant’ wait to see the finished articles.

Also some amazing carpentry skills with wooden chopping boards (as part of our enterprise project for selling handmade wooden products) and some wooden toy cars.

Over in Lowestoft they have also been getting handy using the Forge.

Some brilliant writing, computer work here:

• List of computer parts to build a laptop
• Working on database structure using Structured Query Language
• Researching sweet prices to make and sell Halloween Cones
• Properties of 2D shapes and creating a game – what shape am I?
• Creating posters
• War Horse reading and vocabulary building
• Zones of Regulation on the Whiteboard
• Designing own planet
• Researching in the library for community project gathering cost information
• Division work using strawberry laces and skittles
• Counting up to 10

Often our young people can not engage with the standard academic system. The thought of sitting in a classroom with 29+ other people, writing or working on the computer….just won’t happen – this awesome work, shows how when you engage the interest of a young person, in the right environment, with the right encouragement and support and they do find their spark!

Some offsite education now.

• With a visit to the sea front – can you tell where they are?
• We have some Shelter building, a visit to Ely Cathedral and Museum.
• A round crazy golf
• Scot Polar Research Institute – in front of the boat named ‘Sir Ernest Shakleton’ who was an Anglo-Irish explorer who led three British expedition to the Antarctic

An important life skill here – how to top up the washer bottle of your car and whilst we are on looking after cars, why not give them a hoover too!

Some arts & crafts now. Spray painting our own designs onto a controller, creating pictures – oh and after we had to enjoy standing in the rain!

Each of the senses can be stimulated when outdoors. Furthermore, as children listen to the pitter patter of the rain hitting the ground, it can make them feel more relaxed and calmer, while the smell of the rain can make them feel refreshed and energised.

Deciding on your career choice can be a scary place for young people. So we have supported this young man in his research and after a busy day at the Ipswich Jobs & Careers Fair we had some downtime at the bowling alley.

A little bit of light relief from working hard with some nifty dance moves!

Some measuring and building of a wooden platform for our cooker at Haughley.

And some work on pulling up the old floor at Lowestoft

Over in Newmarket 1 we have 3 projects now; MX5, the cruiser pit bike and now the new Banger Car project to work on:

We finish the week off with some learning about the planets, some great questions being asked and using a reference book to find the answers.

Our Ethos

No one can begin to affect the world around them until they are CONFIDENT , COMFORTABLE, happy in their own skin and have found their SPARK! We take the time to understand and develop programmes from where the learner is in the world not where we think they should be.