OSFC Parents' Newsletter

Hello, and a very warm welcome to our autumn newsletter. The first half term of the new academic year is always a busy one - and this is one is no exception; why would it be?

We began the year with what felt like a herculean task - loaning out Chromebook and laptops to all our students (well over 2300 of them). But it was a worthwhile challenge, and I am really proud to say all our students have access to the high quality IT that is so much a part of learning today.

As I always point out, we can only offer you a snapshot of some of the activities that have been taking place and here is a little taster of some of the visits and visitors this month: A.M Dassu (author), ‘Shakers’ at Oldham Coliseum( Drama and Theatre students), Ainsdale beach (Geography students) Alton Towers (Business and Travel), HOME and PwC in Manchester (Spanish and Computing students) . We have also had Maths, Psychology and Science trips , 1 visiting Professor (Patrick Gaydecki from The University of Manchester), 1 celebrity actor (Peter Ash aka Paul Foreman in Coronation Street), and 1 textile artist (Seleena Laverne Daye).

Much of our Xtras programme of enrichment activities is underway, and there are far too many to list - but at the last count there were over 40! From Competitive Sport to the College Musical and from Anatomy Club to First Aid, the Xtras programme seems to have it covered.

Year 13 have been finishing their UCAS personal statements and selecting their university choices for next year, an important task for them coming to completion. This term is also a settling in period and we are close to Year 12 students completing their first big assessments. With this in mind, we have information about forthcoming parents' evenings and a reminder of our student reports software, Cedar, and how you can access it.

Enjoy your scroll through of this newsletter and Happy Diwali to you.

Ellie Jennings, who was a student of North Chadderton School, currently playing Goal Attack for OFSCs netball team, has been successfully selected onto the Diploma of Sporting Excellence by the National Governing Body for Netball. This is an amazing achievement and represents a recognition of her high level of competitive skill.

The Diploma is a 2 year course and runs alongside her A level studies in English Language, Criminology, Law and, of course, PE. She will attend training camps and residentials at Loughborough College over the next two years.

PE teachers Kerry MacDonald, David Jackson and Adam Smith were thrilled for her and agree she is a very deserving and high achieving student who gets the best out of both her sport and her studies.

Ellie, who started playing netball in year 2, said, ‘It's a great opportunity and I am really surprised’, but she was recommended to apply - she is that good! Ellie said the most enjoyable part of playing netball was being part of a team, the competition and, of course, winning. The big takeaway for her in playing netball is “don’t doubt, work hard and don’t give up when it gets harder ''. Good advice indeed.

At the age of just 18, talented singer songwriter Seb Lowe has just made his debut at the Glastonbury Festival 2022. It's an incredible moment for the Oldham Sixth Form Alumnus. He caught the eye of record industry bosses as well as music star Billy Bragg who has now invited him to play on his curated stage at Glastonbury on Saturday.

Seb was 17 at the time of his discovery, studying for his A Levels in English, History and Economics. Seb did amazingly at A Level (A*A*AA) and has secured a place at Birmingham University, but is now on a gap year while he takes the opportunity to explore his music due to the incredible speed at which everything is now happening - he's already played gigs and festivals across the region.

Here is a link to an M.E.N. article covering Seb's current rise to fame and click here to read about Seb's recent collaboration with Oldham Council and local residents on a new song to address hate crime.

Luke Flynn (AAA), Aidan Hall (A*A*A*) and Seb Lowe (A*A*AA)

On Monday 17 October, A.M Dassu visited Oldham Sixth Form College to speak to students about her debut fiction novel ‘Boy, Everywhere’. Year 7 and Year 8 students from The Hathershaw College and The Oldham Academy North joined our Year 12 and Year 13 students to hear about her journey into writing about how she came to write about her chosen topics.

During the two sessions A.M Dassu discussed her publications in more depth looking closely into her more recent novels ‘Boy, Everywhere” and ‘Fight Back’ delving into the narrative behind her writing. She also discussed in detail her journey to becoming an author and why she changed to this career path following having her children. A reading of a section of ‘Boy,Everywhere’ was a surprise addition and the session ended with a Q&A. All students who attended were engaged, enthusiastic and a credit to themselves throughout.

Following the talks, some of our A Level English Language and AS English Literature students attended a workshop focusing on ‘How to Edit a Novel’ detailing the steps required to edit a piece of writing and the tricks and tips required to become a successful writer.

Year 13 English Language students said:

“A.M.Dassu had a kind energy and engaging personality. Her workshop was fun and I took away lots of useful information and definitely left feeling inspired.”

“I loved how enthusiastic she was about her work and talked about her struggles within the process of story writing. She discussed how editing was a big aspect and how it included different types of editing in order to bring the best out of her work. She truly gave an insight into what an author's job is like.”

The visit was an incredible success, being both educational and enjoyable for everyone involved. We hope to recreate the success of this visit with our next author, coming to college in 2023 - watch this space!

In November, we are launching our exciting new outreach initiative: the Varsity Academy. This unique project will involve us working with 200 of the most able students from our 10 Oldham partner schools for a year. The students will have the opportunity to extend their knowledge, and develop their academic skills, making them even better prepared for studying in Further Education, at college, and Higher Education, at university.

The students will visit OSFC once per term for 4 subject sessions in Science, English, Mathematics and the Humanities.

These will introduce them to concepts, topics and ideas that they will not have studied before, and force them to broaden their horizons and think in different ways, while working with equally able students from other schools/academies, as well as our highly-qualified specialist teachers.

During the half-terms when they are not visiting OSFC, we will be keeping in touch with them via email, and there will be online events, not to mention competitions - where they will be able to test themselves against the other students.

We are hosting a launch event on 22 November for the students and their parents/carers, and the programme will culminate in November 2023 with a Graduation Ceremony.

We can't wait to get started!

We loved meeting all our prospective new students, and their families, over the past two wonderful, packed Open Events!

We wanted to say thank you to all of our amazing student helpers who showcased why they study at OSFC. Their first hand experience and stories, coupled with their professional tours were exemplary.

All of our Student Ambassadors, Student Union Members and helpers are a credit to themselves, their families and the subjects in which they supported. Thank you.

On Wednesday 28 September, Coronation Street Actor, Peter Ash, visited college to speak with Drama and Performing Arts students. Peter has been acting since he left college at the age of 18. He has starred in many television programmes including, Footballer’s Wives and Casualty as well as starring in theatre productions, his most noticeable being the UK Tour of War Horse.

Peter took part in a Q&A session with students discussing his journey into acting, his experiences of working in the industry and the differences between stage and screen roles. He also offered helpful advice to our students looking to pursue an acting career in the future around topics such as auditioning and finding an agent.

Course Leader, Liz Ramsay said, "It's always really useful to have artists working in the industry come in to speak to our students and Peter's real world advice was hugely beneficial for those thinking of embarking on a career in the performance industry. It allowed our students to ask questions about things such as the importance of performance experience, securing an agent, auditioning for film and television and working on set, as well as the demands of touring theatre. They will have found Peter's guidance and suggestions invaluable."

Year 13 Drama and Theatre Arts student, Lisanne found the event really informative: "I found Peter's visit really interesting and inspiring. It has given me a real insight into what working in the industry is really like. Peter's advice around finding an agent and how to start out in an acting career was particularly useful to me."

The geography trip that took place on the 27th of September was an in depth scientific excursion which left the students with much to be discussed back in the lab. The rich qualitative data that was collected by the students was to support the theory that they are currently learning. Akram Belwassa, a student who attended the trip, explained it was an enriching experience where he learnt many things. Some of the activities they did included; taking soil, sand and plant samples to test how habitable the environment becomes depending on the distance from the sand dunes. Their results confirmed that the further they go from the ocean the more habitable the environment is, proven by the amount of vegetation that grows. This trip was organised because they are studying succession in the biodiversity and ecosystems module. Armana Hemmati, also a student who went on the trip, described the trip as useful as it gave her an insight into the real life of a geographer, which she said could potentially be her career path. The trip, in which many potential geographers participated and enjoyed, is typically an enthralling experience and is highly recommended by all those who attended.

Written by Elle Edmond, Year 13 student

Celebrating black history was a focus for October. The visibility of key black British figures was incorporated into class discussion and debate.

‘Black History Month is the time to acknowledge key black figures from our past and present. It's an opportunity to celebrate the achievements that famous black people have accomplished, despite the history of racism and oppression’. Marjana Sultana (student)

‘Black History Month could not be avoided around college. The talk by author A.M. Dassau in the Lecture Theatre in particular allowed me to understand the difficulties a writer faces when they are surrounded by white stories that don't speak to their identity. The Black History Month posters around college have certainly allowed students to be more exposed to otherwise ignored figures, a struggle we can always aim to press on further with’. Oliver McWalters (student)

14th October was Just 1 Tree Day when we, staff and students, were asked to contribute £1 to pay for the planting of a tree in a reforestation project. These projects are run by the charity Just One Tree and are found in Madagascar, Indonesia, Mozambique, Nepal, Kenya or Zambia.

Significantly, one tree extracts, on average, 22kg of carbon from the atmosphere - which contributes to offsetting our carbon footprint, which in turn moves us towards a commitment to net zero carbon.

If you would like to help, please donate via this QR code.

Pink day is a designated fundraising day for Breast Cancer which can help fund life-changing research and resources for Cancer patients. Within college we hold numerous fundraising and information activities such as bake sales and students are highly encouraged to wear pink. In ‘The Street’ students volunteered and helped sell confectionaries, cakes and chocolates and raise money for Pink Day - an amazing grand total of £513.29 was raised! (Xanthe Carrington, Student Journalist)

All our year 13 students have been reminded of the importance of attendance and the impact this has on their final achievement. This presentation, given to students a couple of weeks ago, explains how necessary strong attendance and punctuality is.

The college assessment and monitoring process has begun. As a key point in the academic year, the first common assessment point (CAP 1) for Year 12 and Foundation Year students reports on progress in individual subjects and focuses on effort only. Effort grades reflect the level of application including attendance, punctuality, engagement in lessons, homework (and working out of lessons) and the submission of work (for vocational subjects especially).

CAP1 grades have already been shared with parents of Year 12 and Foundation Year students via Cedar. If you need a reminder of your login details please contact college at info@osfc.ac.uk, or ring on 0161 287 8000.

To view the CAP 1 grades on Cedar, please select Curriculum and Achievement, then College Assessment Points (CAPS), then click on Oct 2022-23 CAP1.

For Year 13 students, their UCAS Predicted Grades have also been shared. Again, parents are able to view these via Cedar.

As a general reminder, Cedar is an excellent way to view your son or daughter’s timetable, attendance and progress reports online, as well as tutor comments. Cedar is an important form of communication between college and parents, therefore we would encourage you to please log on to the portal regularly.

Year 12 parents' evenings will take place next half term on Thursday 8th and Wednesday 14th December, following the publication of CAP 2 reports on Cedar on Tuesday 6th December. This is an online event - we use the SchoolCloud platform. More information will be sent nearer to the time.

Year 13 parents' evenings take place in the Spring Term in February.

These exams will be taking place on our return to college after the half term break. Exams will run between Monday 31st October and Monday 7th November. Students taking these exams will be able to access their exams timetable on Cedar by the end of this week.

It's really important that students spend time revising over the half term break so that they are as best prepared as possible.

If you haven't yet completed the Data Protection and Consent Form for Parents, please could you do so as soon as possible. It is a requirement that this form is completed by all parents. Many thanks.

We value feedback and invite parental views on a wide range of college activities. To this end we are inviting you to join the Parent 100 - a cross section of OSFC guardians who we ask to take part in some short consultation exercises. There are a few spaces left so if you feel able to contribute please let us know on this short form. Many thanks to all those parents who have already signed up!

As part of the community it is important that we respect the area around college. A small number of students are dropped off or picked up by family or friends. If you are dropping off or picking up please do not park on double yellow lines, across entrances to Halfords, the Car Park at the end of Connaught St or the Funeral Directors. We have asked Oldham Council and Greater Manchester Police to support us to ensure that everyone driving and parking near college are doing so legally.

We really appreciate your support with these matters.

Ofsted was in college before half term - an intense process for all staff and students involved. Of course the students were amazing! Their conversations with inspectors were thoughtful and confident, and the atmosphere they created around the college was incredibly welcoming and positive. This is a note of thanks to them because they are what makes OSFC feel special. Thank you!

I hope you found this edition an engaging and useful read. As ever, if you have any feedback on this newsletter, or any other aspect of college, please email me at parentfeedback@osfc.ac.uk.

Yours sincerely,

Suzannah Reeves

Associate Principal