Newsletter March 2020

Reaching for the heights

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Key Change Students to get longer time with broader curriculum A three year Key Stage 3 will enable students to enjoy the breadth of subjects offered at school for an extra year, as changes are made in school this autumn. In recent months we have taken another look at how the school delivers the curriculum at The Radclyffe School. Students undertake a five year ’Learning Journey up to Year 11, and it is our priority to discover how we can best support them to achieve their full potential as they reach their examinations at the end of that time. Senior leaders, working with faculty and subject leaders and other staff have looked at national advice and guidance on best practice so we can provide the best education for your children. As a result, we have decided to extend the Key Stage 3 curriculum for an extra year, from two years to a three-year model. From September this year our students will follow the Key Stage 3 curriculum for Years 7 to 9. They will then follow Key Stage 4 (involving GCSE and other equivalent qualifications) through Year 10 and 11. The change will not affect current students in Key Stage 4. Our current Year 8 will gain an extra year in Key Stage 3, studying a broader range of subjects. All students study the three Core Subjects of English, Maths and Science throughout school. Nine ‘Foundation subjects make up the National Curriculum in Years 7 to 9; Art, Citizenship, Computing, Design & Technology, a foreign language, Geography, History, Music and PE. The change also means that Year 8 students will not need to choose their KS4 options this year - this will become part of the Spring term in Year 9. Headteacher Mr Cregg said, “We understand that this will be an unexpected change for them, but please be assured that we have reached this decision following very careful consideration, and the best interest of all our learners.”

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Students discover many ways to find their career Careers advice in School Whether our students will enter the world of work at 16, 18, 21 or beyond, it’s never too early to start to get an understanding of what is needed. Our students have been busy this term, across all year groups, discovering what they need to succeed, and developing the skills that will empower them to reach their potential.

Facebook HQ Jobs in the digital market will be a major area of growth for years to come. Who better to inspire our students than Facebook, a global business worth more than $250bn.

Students visited their UK headquarters in London to investigate the careers available and the skills and qualifications they would need.

Apprenticeships National Apprenticeships Week gave us the perfect opportunity for students to explore this exciting option for their future careers.

A visit to the UK Apprenticeship Fair enabled students to speak to apprenticeship providers alongside universities and colleges - showing the high quality of training on offer.

Listening to the speakers, events like this give students the information they need to make informed choices about their future.

Back at school, a lunchtime drop-in showed students the great range of

apprenticeship routes into careers in the National Health Service. Miss Parkinson said, “Many of our students have ambitions to work in medicine, and this session offered a strong focus on just how many different roles there are they could enter.”

Learn to Earn For 90 Year 9 students, Learn to Earn, organised by charity Young Enterprise, encouraged them to consider financial plans for the future. They also set goals and started to think about future study options.

The session offered a clearer understanding of the routes to jobs and careers that they will find engaging and rewarding.

Through hands on practical activities, the students explored personal skills and talents, career choices, recruitment, job interviews, tax and earnings, the cost of living, financial planning and budgeting.

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Inspired by great local employers Raising Aspirations Programme

Another opportunity to escape the classroom inspired students from Year 9 as they visited the National Logistics Centre and Ultimate Products, both based in Oldham.

Seeing how a real workplace operates is helping to develop the students’ awareness of health and safety, work development, team working and customer service.

Putting the wind in their sales! Company team programme It is one thing to learn in a classroom, but something totally different to get real-world experience in running a business.

This is exactly what’s on offer to students through the Company Team programme, organised by Young Enterprise. ‘Team Green’ is our entry this year.

The five students have worked with a local businessman, learning about marketing, customers and brand identity. The team researched, manufactured and launched their own product, reusable produce bags aimed at cutting down plastic use.

The students demonstrated their entrepreneurial talents, selling to the public at the Trafford Centre, and even gaining customer feedback to help them improve their product further.

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Year 10s to discover the world of work Work experience At the end of June many students in Year 10 will begin a week of work experience at companies across Oldham. The students themselves take responsibility for finding their placement, contacting local companies to make the necessary arrangements in a broad range of job sectors.

We would like to thank all parents and carers who attended the ‘Get to Know Work Experience’ evening, which sought to explain all that this involves in planning and preparing.

We are also grateful to local companies and organisations who make the commitment to provide the students with worthwhile placements.

Amongst the employers who have got involved already this year are Heathcote pre school, Tesco, Burnley Brow primary school, and Stonefield St surgery.

In previous years our students have gained from broad choice of work experiences. These have included farming, child care, hairdressing, roles with Oldham Council, estate agency, and hotel work.

Former students share their personal career paths Future First We had the pleasure of welcoming former students Denver Cooper and Leah Dunn into school, where they spoke to students about gaining key employability skills.

The opportunity to hear from young people who have been in the same situation as our students helped them to relate to what they were hearing.

If you are a past student of The Radclyffe School and would like to be a member of our alumni project, please sign up at:

https://futurefirst.org.uk

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Art & Photography Creative talent on show For some students, GCSE exams get underway as early as this term. Our art and photography students have been busy with their practical work, and soon after the half term holiday, drama will also perform their final exam pieces.

Much as we would love to show off our Year 11 students’ creativity, we have to let the work be marked first. We do of course have a great deal of talent throughout the school. So we would like to show off just some of the artwork that students have created.

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A lesson from Jesmin Better road safety needed on Broadway On the first day of the new school year in 2010 a student from The Radclyffe School was involved in a serious accident as she crossed Broadway. Thankfully Jesmin Begum, a Year 10 student at the time, recovered after spending 13 weeks in a coma. Sadly there are many current students who need to learn a lesson from this incident and make sure they cross roads safely.

Deputy Headteacher Mrs Wernick said, “We regularly receive complaints from drivers who note how students from the school are failing to cross the busy dual carriageway safely. As a result we are urging parents to speak to their children and remind them of the risks. There are safe crossing places at all of the major junctions around school, there really is no excuse to not cross these roads safely.”

By the time children reach secondary school they are likely to be becoming much more independent as road users and, as such, are exposed to increased road risks. This makes it all the more important to remind them of what they need to do to stay safe.

As Spring approaches we would encourage students to travel to school either on foot or by bicycle. We know there are lots of benefits for health, the environment and spending time with friends by doing so. At the same time we know there are barriers that sometimes prevent people from walking or cycling, and hazards that pedestrians and cyclists may be exposed to.

During year group assemblies students will be reminded of the risks on the roads. We would be very grateful if you as parents and carers can reinforce these messages too.

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Keeping students healthy in School Always carry your inhaler An important ingredient of success at school is to stay healthy. For many of our students this is helped by the use of inhalers to assist with asthma and other breathing conditions.

During school time we advise students to always carry their inhaler with them, but also to keep a spare in school if required. It is parents’ responsibility to ensure that this spare inhaler is in school - we do not provide them - and to ensure that the spare does not go beyond its expiry date.

For many of our students, it is the blue ‘reliever’ inhaler that they need to have in school. The brown ‘preventer’ is designed to be used at home in the morning and evening.

Injuries at home We have wonderful first aid and health support facilities in school but none of our team are health care professionals. We are experienced first aiders. We are able to administer first aid, consult parents and in emergencies call an ambulance. Parents should not send their child to school with a home injury requiring first aid treatment in school.

A changing situation Over time it is likely your child’s health care needs will change. Please remember to let school know and to discuss a new healthcare plan, even when it is an improving situation.

Each year some students miss out on school visits because their records state they have asthma but they do not carry an inhaler or keep a spare in school. When contacted, parents often tell us their child no longer has asthma. Updating health records can save time and disappointment. Similarly a change in treatment or medication requires a new consented health care plan. Please help us to keep our records up to date.

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Getting social Find medical forms you need on the school website

Downloadable forms are now live In the course of any school day, the medical room team will help up to a hundred students to stay healthy or to manage a variety of health conditions. As well as first aid for a variety of injuries, there are other students who will need to take medicines regularly, both in the short and long term.

We have many students who need to take medicines during the school day. These might be prescribed or over-the-counter, but before the school’s medical staff can administer any medicines, it is essential that the school has detailed permission.

We have just made it much easier for parents to give this permission. Simple clear forms are now available on the school website which parents can download, complete and return to school. You can do this either by email or print them off and send them into school.

We would like to remind parents that:

all over the counter (OTC) medicines must be in the original container.

a separate form is required for each medicine.

the school is unable to supervise your child's medication unless you complete and sign this form.

the school has a policy that only trained staff can administer medications

You can find the forms at:

https://theradclyffeschool.co.uk/medical-consent-forms/

Three new pieces of poetry and prose were chosen to be displayed as examples of outstanding work and are now on the wall in headteacher Mr Cregg’s office.

Two of the authors, Intia in Year 7 and Momtahina in Year 9 were congratulated by Mr Cregg on their high quality work.

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Mentors from global company KPMG came into school to show students what can be achieved with the very latest digital technology.

Through a day of interactive lessons, the students saw how well designed high-tech solutions have helped the NHS to improve the response time and treatment for stroke victims.

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Schools combine for vocal treat Oldham Vocal Concert Young people from seven schools, together with Oldham’s Music Service, came together to give an uplifting performance of new songs.

It was a busy day, as they prepared for the event with a singing workshop, before the audience arrived at a free event held in the evening at Newman College.

The Radclyffe School Vocal Group joined students from Crompton House, Blue Coat, Oldham Academy North, Oasis Leesbrook, Royton & Crompton and Newman College. More than 170 voices combined to produce a fantastic sound, as they performed the songs they had learned just hours earlier.

Safer Internet Day helps students to stay safe online, but did you know there is plenty of information for parents and carers so you can protect your children from dangers that might be waiting for them.

Find out more for yourself at the Safer Internet Day website.

https://bit.ly/2Sin5jG

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Through February we celebrated LGBT+ History Month. The theme was Poetry, Prose and Plays. highlighting all that the LGBT community contributes in society.

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News in brief

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Students ‘find their brave’ Children’s Mental Health Week 2020 A week to raise awareness of how students can care for their own, and each other’s mental health, Children’s Mental Health Week was a great opportunity for both serious and light-hearted activity in school.

The theme this year has been ‘Finding Your Brave’. You might think of that as something we expect children to do to show how well they are doing when faced by difficulties, showing off their resilience.

For some however it could mean just getting up every day. It might mean getting to school seemingly like everyone else, but having been up since the early hours caring for a parent or fending for themselves.

Finding your brave might mean dealing with thoughts and memories inside your head but still being overwhelmed by them. It might mean presenting a face to the world that hides everything that is going on inside.

In fact finding your brave is each and every thing that a child does every day, unseen and often unrecognised by others, and which often results in them still not ‘getting it right’.

So when we, as adults, come into contact with children we should spare a moment to recognise how much they might have had to do to present a brave face to the world, and what might be going on inside.

We should know that, for some children, finding their brave face might be their biggest challenge yet and might feel anything but brave.

This extract is taken from a blog by Dr Katie Hunt, British Psychological Society

Just a hashtag? We take it more seriously than that.

Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week was an chance to let students know that they can talk and there are people who will listen to them, however they are feeling.

To do this, the Peer Mentors team offered a drop-in venue so that throughout the week students could go along and talk to a friendly face.

The theme this year, Finding your Brave’ saw the Learning Mentors scouring the school with cameras to record students’ experiences of when they had needed to be brave.

What is #CMHAW

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Teacher Q&A

Assistant Headteacher Ms Bennett What subject do you teach?

One of the most beautiful and complex subjects in the world…. Mathematics

What is your teaching background and experience?

I’ve been teaching for 12 years. The Radclyffe School was the first school I taught in. I moved to Dubai in the summer of 2013 and taught in an International school for a year - which was an amazing experience. I then came back to teach at The Radclyffe School in 2014 and have been back here since.

What do you like most about your job?

I like that every day is different. I feel lucky to have the opportunity to work with so many different people; both adults and children.

What’s the funniest thing a student has said or done in class?

There are too many times to choose from! Something funny happens every day - that’s the beauty of interacting with so many people on a daily basis.

What achievement are you most proud of?

Being the first person in my family to go to University. I feel proud to have made them proud!

What is the best piece of advice you could give to students in Year 11?

Always try and see the positives. Some days can be tough, particularly with exam pressure, but you just have to keep going; you’ll be surprised by the inner strength you have. Learn from your experiences and use them to help you grow into a better person; every experience will shape you into the adult you’ll become. Be someone you are proud to be.

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Time to celebrate Nahian’s achievement Nahian Ahmed was our highest achieving student in the summer of 2019. He is an outstanding student who was conscientious in his learning. He served as a Senior Prefect and as Deputy Head Boy.

We were invited to nominate a student for the British Education Awards, and we had no hesitation in putting Nahian’s name forward. We were delighted to hear that he had been chosen to attend a prestigious awards ceremony in Manchester, where his exceptional achievements were recognised.

The following is an extract from Nahian’s nomination:

“Throughout his five years at The Radclyffe School, Nahian Ahmed was an exemplary student and an outstanding role model to his peers.

From the beginning he showed a great enthusiasm for extra-curricular activities, alongside demonstrating his academic prowess.

His enthusiasm and dedication continued as he entered Key Stage 4, the start of his GCSE studies. His ability in Science subjects was reflected in his involvement with the Go4Set Challenge, a competition aimed at building key skills in STEM subjects. Working with engineers from a national construction firm, Nahian and his team examined environmental issues, focusing on recycling of food waste. The team won the Best Overall Project award in the North West.

At no time did Nahian allow the pace of his progress and achievement to drop. In Year 10 he became an active member of the Student Council. Accompanying his study of Business, he was a keen member of our Young Enterprise team.”

Nahian perfectly combines the virtues of exceptional personal achievement with a commitment to teamwork and co-operation. His sporting ability was always evident, and in Year 10 bore fruit, as he was a member of the successful Boys’ football team that year, ending a successful season with victory in the Oldham Schools’ Cup. His eventual reward at GCSE, passing all subjects with the highest grade possible is testament to this exceptional young man.”

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Network brings a boost to Maths teaching We aim to deliver the highest quality education to our students and develop a love for the subjects they study. To do so, we must ensure we are at the forefront of educational developments and teaching practice, and providing students with the tools to succeed.

In Mathematics we have established Leaders Improving Mathematics Education (LIME). Funded by Oldham Council, it raises the quality of learning and teaching across the borough by exploring and sharing the best Maths teaching & resources from around the country.

Leaders in Maths education travel from around the country to the school to run events, supporting teachers in primary, secondary and further education with their professional development and teaching practice. We hope that through the collaboration of all key stages, children make the most of their educational journey with the same methods and consistent messages leading to consistent excellence.

We believe in ‘collaboration not competition’ to ensure that students across Oldham succeed in their maths studies, not just at our own school. Teacher feedback has been exceptional. Staff from outside Oldham travel just to attend these events at our school! The LIME network model has proved so successful that it now also runs in Salford and Blackburn!

Teachers who have attended the Oldham LIME events have said,

"It really gave us a new insight into new teaching methods and how to move forwards and help our students to progress in a much smoother and inclusive manner. Without your school hosting these events, none of this would be possible.“

“It's great to have these maths-specific inset sessions, several members of our department attend and they always provoke good discussions afterwards.”

“Great ideas offered and useful techniques for making an exciting experience for pupils.”

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Hunt Lane, Chadderton, Oldham, OL9 0LS Tel: 0161 622 3200 Fax: 0161 633 2183

www.theradclyffeschool.co.uk

Year 7s create their own Maths superhero Future Mathematicians What would a mathematical superhero look like? This was the fun question posed of students in Year 7, who were asked to put down their thoughts in artwork, as a way of helping them to learn more about Maths.

Together with some great drawings of their superheroes, the students suggested the kind of superpowers their hero might display. From solving any mathematical puzzle ‘just by looking’ to having symbols on their hands, helping to solve any equation.

The winning entry was ‘Algebraic Abby’ , a cape-wearing, masked character who imparts maths knowledge in an entertaining way. She is the creation of Charlotte Wood.

Head of Mathematics Ms Adenwala said, “The characters had important lessons to teach our students, which included the need to have all their equipment with them (whether on a superhero tool-belt or not) or to always check answers to ensure they are correct.”

Congratulations too for the runners up, Arash Noori, Sarrinah Chaudhry, Aryssa Khanam, Amanda Luste and Emily Austin.

Future Mathematicians is a group of very able students in Year 7 who take part in activities to strengthen their interest in the subject. They are also tacking the Alan Turing Cryptography Competition organised by the University of Manchester.