More Money Rolls In!

Yippeee!

One of our former LSA's, Angela Breen, turned up this week with another £60.00 for our Uganda fundraising week!

 This takes our Uganda total to £585.43 which is FAB !!!!

Simon Polley presented the cheque to David and the Berkshire Scouts on Tuesday evening at their Annual General Meeting. 

 The total rasied by Pathways students this year (for lots of different charities) is now:  £1,131.43p !

We're Right Behind you David!

Presentation Day Celebrations

Sheep Shearing

Four members of Entry 2 Foundation had a go at sheep shearing before half term. Nathan and Matthew got to do the shearing. Sophie and Sam helped round up the sheep. We all thoroughly enjoyed it apart from getting soaking wet when it rained. We would love to do it again!

Our trip to Basildon Park

The house from the front

On Thursday 05th May 2011, we went to Basildon Park to look around the house. When we got there, we got some maps and, in groups asked the room assistants lots of questions about the place. Inside the building, we saw the different rooms and we were told about its history. We liked seeing the amazing artwork inside the rooms. After that, we went to the restaurant to have a drink and talk to our friends. Simon took photographs of us on the balcony before we went back to BCA to catch our transport home. Alexander Roberts/Sarah Viney

The grand entrance hall

On Thursday 5th May Pathways Entry 3, groups went to Basildon Park to see how different it was back in the 1700 and 1800’s. Both groups got a little taste of what it was like to be a part of the house in Victorian times. So, in order for us all to do so, we walked around the house looking in the rooms and seeing how good the rooms looked.   We asked the members of staff who worked there some questions about the house so we could all get an idea of how people lived back then. The house was amazing for the owners to live in but it must have been hard to work as a servant there. The kitchen was outside and footmen had to walk a long way with the food to the dining room. Servants had to be quiet and not get in the way. They worked from 5.00 am until about 10.00 at night cooking, cleaning and looking after the family. Richard Creffield

The State Bed in the Crimson Room -
this is for a King or Queen!

      

Pathways Biggest Success Story!

Jason Palmer joined Pathways in September 2006 and stayed with us for two years. He then moved on to do the Introductory Diploma in Land and Environment (Horticulture and Countryside) which he completed in June 2009 with a distinction.

From shy teenager ....

... to confident team member!

He was always very good at practical work, and was offered a job on the Grounds Team when he finished his diploma. He worked as a Gardening Apprentice until May 2011 when he was made redundant in the recent cuts. However with all the valuable experience he has gained at BCA he was able to easily find another job in a landscaping business which he started the Monday after he left BCA. During the last year he also turned 21, passed his driving test and bought his first car!

Pastures New: Down at Dinton

Every Thursday the Level 1 Steps to Success students take part in an off site Work Experience placement at Dinton Pastures Country Park in Hurst.   This year we have been involved in a number of projects, the main one is working on a new garden which has been designed by an ex BCA Student.

Work on the garden has included:


Building a new fence  /  Sanding and staining the table and benches for the café  /  Maintaining the raised beds  /  General maintenance and tidying up activities after the builders had completed the patio for the café.

We have also worked around the park and tasks have included:


Maintaining and improving fisherman areas / Litter picking / Clearing the BMX area / Cutting back the areas around the lakes to enable visitors to see the lakes clearly.


The photo is of the team of students who go each week.  We have had excellent feedback from the Park Rangers who always comment on the high standard of work and also the general public who always ask us what we are doing and where we are from.

Steps to Success Students

Garden Party on the Horizon!

P-P-Partay Alert!

Horizons Garden Party Thursday 28 April 2011

On Thursday 28 April Entry 2 Foundation were invited by Horizons to their Garden Party to celebrate the Royal Wedding.  There were sandwiches, scones with jam and cream and lots of cakes. Nathan and Kezia particularly enjoyed the cakes!  Matthew provided musical entertainment from his iPod: Queen and the Beatles - good British bands! 

The sun shone the whole time but it was really windy. We had to chase serviettes a few times!  We really enjoyed socialising with Horizons and would like to do it more often.

The Horizons students worked hard to make all of the party treats, with their Union Jack cake taking pride of place. The atmosphere was great, Charlotte was very impressed with Matthew’s choice of music and couldn’t help but sing along!

Basildon Park 05.05.11

Basildon Park 05.05.11, a set on Flickr.

Here are a few pictures taken at Basildon Park on Thursday 05th May 2011. We went to the estate to see what it was like for those who lived and worked in a Victorian stately home.

Our trip to see Grease the musical in London!

A group of the E3's and STEPS students went up to London on 07th April 2011.  A great time was had by all of us.  We made sure we made loads of noise by joining in with the singing! Click on the photo for a link to our Flikr page to see more!  How many students can you get inside a red telephone box??!!!!

Going for Gold!

 



David at the Marathon!



Hi, I'm David Hopkins.  I did the Reading Half marathon. The marathon was 13 and half miles it took me 2 hours to do it. I trained a lot for it for a few weeks before the big day. I am doing the marathon to raise money because I am going to Uganda with the Scouts. We will be building things like a chicken house and building a kitchen for their school, and we are going to paint the school. I have made some money towards the cost of the trip. It will cost me £3000 to go. I have had 5 injections so far to protect me against diseases like Malaria. We are going to do some Foundation Studies fundraising after Easter so please support us.

I am looking forward to this trip because I saw Uganda on the TV on Red Nose Day. The people there were suffering and my Scouts were going to Uganda for a trip so I thought I would help them. On the trip I’ll get to climb Mount Elgon and camp out in the Uganda safari.   Written by David Hopkins (Pathways Entry 3).  Edited with SP.

New Flooring on Outdoor Arena is no Horse Play!

Due to a leaking pipe in the outdoor arena, BCA had to have builders come in and repair the pipe leak. They had to take up all of the layers and dig to reach the problem. Once it was repaired, the builders put down various layers like gravel, matting, sand and rubber so the horses don’t get hurt. The reason there are two arenas is so that if one group is using one arena, there is one spare. Sometimes there are some special events that take place in the indoor arena. In bad weathers such as rain, snow and even gales, the teachers and students can make use of the indoor arena.



Once the outdoor arena is finished the teachers and students can return to using it again and have as much fun as before. A spokesperson said; “if the outdoor arena develops a pipe leak or some sort of other problem again then BCA can and will make sure the problem is solved”. For all our sakes let’s hope that does not happen because it doesn’t just cost a lot of money, it makes it very hard for the teachers to teach the students in their lessons. It can put a lot of pressure on the teachers and students in that course to work around all the commotion.  By Richard Creffield

‘Steps R Us’ – Foundation Shop

Sprouts + Maths = FUN???

The aliens have landed! eeeeeeeeeeeeeekk

Putting the FUN into FUNdraising!! Whoop Whoop

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Go, Go, Go, Jo!

I am a member of two swimming clubs, which are the Thame Swimming Club and Bucks Disability Swimming Club.  I had a 2 weekend swimming gala calls Bucks County Championships. On the first day which was a Sunday I swam 50m backstroke and got Gold for my Bucks Disability Club. I had to stand on the podium as 1st place and had the Mayoress of Aylesbury put my gold medal around my neck.  On the second weekend which was a Saturday I swam 100m backstroke and got a silver medal and had to stand on the podium in 2nd place.  I have also been lucky to meet and swim with Simon Burnett recently. Simon was a Gold medallist from the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne (Silver and Bronze in 2010) and a Silver and Bronze medallist in the 2006 European Championships in Budapest. Written by Joanne Hewett  - Pathways Entry 3.

The Challengers: Completing the Six Book Challenge

The six book challenge is all about getting signed up to read six books. You then write down what you think about the book and let Deborah in the Learning Centre know all about it. Here are the students who have completed the challenge already. 

Get reading the rest of you!