The end of the winter is in sight and, with Valentine's Day close by, there is always chocolate as a treat! The biggest treat however has to be a night at the theatre and the college production was, as ever, a fantastic event. A huge thank you to all the students and staff involved, well done!.

You may have attended a parents' evening recently and I hope it was a supportive and helpful experience. Since switching to School Cloud and online appointments we have found that more parents are able to attend. We always welcome feedback so please use the contacts at the bottom of the newsletter to share your thoughts.

January proved to be a very busy exam period. Vocational students sat written papers for core modules and GCSE students in Maths and English received their November resit results. In the next half term both year 12 and year 13 students will have their mock exams. These are very important preparations for the summer exams and we expect students to take a serious approach to them. Advice and guidance on how to revise has been made available and we share some of those resources below. Following mock exams we will have common assessment point 3 (CAP 3) - Cedar is the place to find out the latest information.

Current year 11 students are looking to join us in September so we are in the middle of interview season, so far we have met some fantastic young people who really deserve to do well in their GCSEs. Good luck to you all and we are looking forward to seeing you in the new academic year very much. On a similar theme, our current year 13 have completed their university applications. This is a significant moment in their college careers and you can find more information below.

Enjoy your scroll through this selection of news and events that have taken place this half term.

Opening Times: 📅 Monday 13 - Friday 17 February 🕘 9am-4pm Don't forget your ID card!

📅 Monday 13th & Thursday 16th Feb 🕘 10am to 2pm

If you haven't yet applied for the bursary, it's not too late. Students can apply from the Student Portal - it's quick and easy to do and a decision is made quickly. If approved, a payment is made at the start of each half term to the value of £15 per week, and free food to the value of £3.50 is provided per day in the college's many eateries, paid via the student ID card. We want to remind our bursary students to use this entitlement to daily free food and not lose it!

Oldham Council want to ensure that those eligible for free meals receive a food payment to cover the half term holiday at a rate of £15 per eligible child. This applies to all OSFC students who are in receipt of a free college meal / bursary. They will receive £15 to cover the holidays, and an additional £3.50 for each of the four recent and planned strike action days. Therefore, a total payment of £29 will be made on Monday 13th February. The next usual bursary payment will then be made on Friday 23rd February.

For any families that are struggling for food and provisions, please visit the Oldham Council website www.oldham.gov.uk/wecanhelp which lists financial support and benefits that are available for residents.

Xtra Shorts are short enrichment courses that will be perfect for personal statements, university applications, CVs and looking after yourself and general wellbeing. Some of the courses added this year include:

• Carbon Literacy Project
• Wild Ed Project
• Singing Enrichment
• Film Club

Progress Tutors will inform all students about these opportunities in tutorial.

The spring term is the time of year we recruit our new student ambassadors - motivated and enthusiastic Year 12 students! They perform a very important role in supporting the many college events that take place over an academic year. You will no doubt have been given directions by them during an open event or greeted by them on a new student interview evening.

Applications are now live - students can click here to apply. The deadline for applications is Sunday 19th February. Late applications will not be considered.

Students are also applying for places in the Student Union - a group responsible for lots of fundraising, representing the interests of all students and playing an important role on the college governing board. Oliver McWalters, SU leader and Student Governor says: Being involved in the SU has, more than anything, made me feel involved in the college system and community. When I first joined, I did so because I wanted to feel as though I was making a difference to OSFC whilst I was here, and I certainly have that feeling now. What I didn't expect was how supportive and welcoming every person involved would be, especially in my work as a Student Governor.

The deadline for applications is Sunday 19th February. Late applications will not be considered.

The college recently renewed its relationship with Inner Drive. The team of consultants have backgrounds in education, business and sports, and they specialise in getting the very best out of students by applying psychology research. A session on 'understanding the teenage brain’ reminded staff of why students behave the way they do (often in surprising ways) and what our professional practice can do to make the most of this. This was particularly useful as we head towards the 'business' end of the year preparing for mocks, summer exams and final assessments. This link identifies some of the most effective revision strategies students can use in the lead up to exams and is intended to stop students using ineffective strategies which focus only on rereading and rewriting notes. All students have received guidance on how to use this document but a reminder from parents won't do any harm to ensure that students are using strategies which are most effective for them. They don't need to do all of these techniques but selecting a couple from each of the three categories of Content, Skills and Feedback should be encouraged.

And just like that… it’s all over for another year! Gen X wrapped up it's final performance this week, following months of hard work, prep and rehearsals. Our students (and the staff that supported them) put on three absolutely amazing shows for hundreds of watchers. They were incredibly brave and professional, especially to say this was the first time many of them performed. We look forward to sharing highlights and behind the scenes photos and videos with you very soon!

🎡🕺🏽🌌🎸🧬🌈📀⚡🥁🕺🏽🎶✨🎡🕺🏽🌌🎸🧬🌈📀⚡🥁🕺🏽

Year 12 students from English Language and English Language and Literature attended an Insight Day for English and Related courses at Manchester University on January 27th. They attended short overview lectures about the English Literature, English Language and Linguistics Programmes and participated in workshops on a range of areas including Film, Art History, Liberal Arts, Ecocriticism of Literature and Forensic Linguistics.

We were looked after very well by the student ambassadors who were able to give our students advice and information about their academic study and the experience of University. We were able to ask questions to both students and staff all day. A very worthwhile experience all round.

By the university (UCAS) application deadline of 25 January, 851 Year 13s had submitted their choices of universities and courses. This is testament to their hard work and the fantastic support of their Progress Tutors and our Futures Team. Pleasingly, well over half of applicants have already received some university offers and 100 students have already accepted places. This process will continue up until June, as students decide on their destinations and routes. Those Year 13s who are considering apprenticeships, instead of Higher Education, are being fully supported by our Futures Team who are keeping this cohort aware of all relevant opportunities and information. And our Year 12 students are embarking on their ‘progression journeys’, as they begin to research their future options in their tutorial sessions, using Unifrog software.

We are delighted to report that 6 OSFC students have received offers from either Cambridge or Oxford University. This is the end point of a long road for these students who first expressed an interest in Oxbridge over 12 months ago. Over that period, they have attended support sessions run by our Oxbridge Group and lectures by visiting Oxbridge academics, engaged in an extensive array of super-curricular activities, had an overnight stay in Oxford, and endured mock and real entrance exams, alongside mock and real interviews. The 6 students include 3 who previously attended Saddleworth School: Joshua Bruton who has an offer to study Maths at Oxford, Jack Lewis (History, Cambridge) and Lila Robinson (English, Oxford). 2 former students of The Radclyffe School also have offers: Ihsan Ahmad (Maths, Cambridge) and Shipa Begum (Archaeology, Cambridge). Finally, Fazan Ijaz (ex-Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar School) has the opportunity to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Oxford. Huge congratulations to all 6 students!

In preparing our future students for the demands of sixth-form and university study, the college hosted the second pair of Varsity Academy days on 26th and 27th January. These two days saw close to 200 Year 10 students, drawn from all 10 of our Oldham partner schools, attend OSFC for the day and engage wholeheartedly in ‘stretch and challenge’ activities in Maths, Science, English and the Humanities. The days ran very smoothly and, as one school coordinator said: ‘It was fantastic to see the pupils engaging with students from other schools. The topics chosen were interesting and stretched pupils beyond their current knowledge and understanding.’ We are already looking forward to the third pair of sessions in April.

44 of our Media, Film, Graphics, Photography and Fine Art students visited MMU's new School of Digital Arts (SoDA). SoDA offers courses that span film, animation, UX, design, photography, sound design, gaming, Al and more. Students went on a tour of SoDA and MMU campus as well as having a workshop on HE. The close links we enjoy with the MMU, and with SoDA in particular is of clear benefit to our students, especially those who are preparing to study one of our specialist combined pathways in Live and Recorded Arts, i-Media, or e-Sports.

Travel and Tourism alumnus, Oliver Walker, recently returned to OSFC to speak with current Extended Diploma T&T students about his journey after college and working for the global hospitality company, Hilton. Oliver has worked for the company for over three years now, gaining this opportunity off the back of his second year work experience as part of his course. He has advanced from apprenticeship level to recently being promoted to a Supervisor position.

Oliver gave the students a valuable insight into the hospitality sector, drawing on his day to day experiences working for Hilton. Oliver stated that “Working for Hilton is a very interesting and exciting experience - working for one of the biggest hotel chains in the world, there is never a quiet moment! I find working in the Conference and Events team is very diverse, you never know what each event can bring from one day to the next.”

Full story, here.

Law Residential trip to London

Manchester Metropolitan University Essay Writing Trip for Modern Languages

Duke of Edinburgh Framework Training Weekend

Music Spirit Studios trip

Young Enterprise trip to the Trafford Centre

AS Geography trip to Oldham Town Centre

Business Studies trip to Trafford Centre

This term we have continued to work on becoming a Trauma informed College. Our additional support team and progress tutor team are all fully trained in emotion coaching and our senior leadership team received full training on embedding trauma-informed approaches into College culture. All staff have been trained in how to recognise the effects on student behaviour and demeaner of a traumatic experience. This basically means that we are putting care of our young people and empathy towards them at the forefront of every exchange we have with them.

Our counselling provision at College continues to develop. We have a full-time wellbeing counsellor, as well as other bespoke counselling provision and we offer this provision alongside mentoring sessions and study support , which focus on helping individual students to manage the demands of their workload.

We are also training a group of student well-being ambassadors to support their peers across college with prioritising their mental health. Our well-being week, which takes place in April, will allow these ambassadors a role in promoting a huge variety of activities for students to engage in, varying from physical exercise to stress management sessions and interaction with puppies on site.

Our Wellbeing work across College continues with the staff steering group. They have fed into work on: using our wellbeing ambassadors effectively, easing transition for students, surveying student wellbeing and reviewing our input into tutorials on mental health, personal and online safety and consent.

Look out for the new parents section of the website, which will include resources on how to support your sons and daughters with their mental health.

Following on from their successes last year, Team OSFC will be running, walking, jogging and wheeling their way around the Manchester 10K on Sunday 21st May.

This year we are collecting for Oldham Foodbank and we are confident we will surpass last year’s total of £2400. Look out for our just giving page in future newsletters!

Involving yourself in your child’s education is an exciting challenge, with excellent benefits for your child, for you, for the college and for the local community.

Research shows that the active involvement of parents and carers in their son’s or daughter’s education is highly correlated with academic achievement, even in sixth form.

We are using the Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA), which we have recently emailed parents about, to help strengthen our college’s partnership with parents. LPPA is a national award that will provide us with a valuable college improvement tool and also give us recognition for our commitment to working with parents.

The LPPA will help us achieve these long-term benefits:

• contribute to improved student attendance, punctuality, behaviour and progress

• increase parent participation and involvement

• enhance parents’ support in their children’s learning

• improve communication between home and college

We would be grateful if you could complete this quick questionnaire to help us understand what we are doing well and ways we can improve our partnership with parents.

If you would like to become more involved, please do join the Parent 100, a cross section of OSFC parents and carers, who we ask to take part in some short consultation exercises, usually via online surveys. If you feel able to contribute please let us know using this short form.

From the 6th March students will be prompted for an extra method of authentication when accessing Cedar or other college systems when not on the college network. Registration for MFA has to take place on-site and has been happening in tutorial in preparation for this.

Last day of half term - Friday 10th February

Half term holiday - Monday 13th to Friday 17th February

College reopens - Monday 20th February

'Mock' exams - Monday 27th February to Friday 3rd March (timetables are on Cedar)

Vocational exams results day - Thursday 23rd March

Last day of Spring Term - Friday 31st March

Easter holiday - Monday 3rd to Friday 14th April

College reopens - Monday 17th April

Year 13 April 'mocks' - Monday 17th to Wednesday 19th April

Are you looking at all your work and wishing there was an easy way to revise for your exams? Wish you could just plug a memory stick into your head and download your textbooks? Whilst we can't offer this, we can give you some advice on the best way to revise at home for your upcoming exams. Created by teaching staff at OSFC, the below guide will show you the ineffective (but often popular) ways of revising vs. what you should actually be doing, to make the most of your time.