News

Two groups of Year 3 pupils and staff from Meanwood Primary School spent a day each at Rochdale City Learning Centre this week. The children were making use of the CLC's specialist Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAD-CAM) equipment which was being used to complete the Y3 QCA unit 'design and make picture frames'.

Students from Cardinal Langley, Springhill and Balderstone spent three days at Middleton CLC during the October half term holidays continuing their Digital Cre8or course. The three days was a follow-up to the four units the students had completed as part of the CLCs two-week Summer School provision. Eventually students will complete eight units and earn a GCSE Grade B equivalent.

Y5 pupils from Our Lady and St. Paul's Primary School have been studying 'natural disasters' this term which culminated in the class investigating the way such news is reported. In a follow-up to the school-based project the pupils created volcano models and scenery including a range of backgrounds along with scripts and storyboards in preparation for their two 'animation' days at Middleton City Learning Centre.

The start of the 2008 Autumn term has seen Year 7 students across a number of Rochdale secondary schools take part in a 'Podcasting' project.

Giften and Talented pupils from Elm Wood and St. Gabriel's Primary Schools in Middleton are currently taking part in a series of after school clubs at Middleton City Learning Centre as part of the CLCs 2008-09 Extended Schools and G&T Programme

The 20 pupils and school staff will cover a range of media related topics throughout the year - working collaboratively in groups containing pupils from both schools.

Children from Year 5 at Whittaker Moss Primary School visited Middleton City Learning Centre to take part in a Podcasting day. Pupils had prepared scripts in school which looked at a number of current school news stories. These included the school council, interviews with support staff, why pupils liked Whittaker Moss, etc.

Middleton City Learning Centre is currently delivering additional and specialist learning (ASL) to a small group of Year 10 IT Diploma students. The Additional and Specialist Learning (ASL) component of the Diploma complements the learner’s Principal Learning. ASL gives learners the chance to deepen or broaden their studies by allowing them to choose qualifications they are interested in.

Not all questions demand a black and white answer. In fact, many demand more than just a simple yes or no. It's the reason why Promethean created Activexpression. A unique learner response system with the ability to text complete sentences and numerical responses.

Middleton and Rochdale City Learning Centres publish a regular newsletter which reports on our work with schools and LA partners and previews forthcoming events and activities. Printed copies of our current newsletter are available at both CLC receptions. Schools requiring printed copies should contact John McKiernan on 0161 653 9123.

The latest 'Digital' CLC Newsletter (September 2008) is available at CLC Newsletter

More than 150 Year 8 students from Wardle High School have spent this week (6-10 October 2008) at Middleton City Learning Centre planning, filming and editing a range of stop-motion animations on the theme of 'Britain's Got Talent'.

Stop motion animation is a process whereby images of a model, usually made from clay, plasticine, wire, or even Lego, are played back at such a speed that the human brain interprets the series of static images as one continuous stream of action.