Welcome to our newsletter which this month offers a glimpse into college life in March. Highlights have been the college production of 'What's the Story?', the 'Olymapthon' charity fundraiser and British Science Week. In this newsletter you will also find information on the recent CAP3 assessments, Easter College arrangements and Year 13 exam timetables for A level internal assessments (which begin the first week back). I would like to congratulate all the vocational students who very recently got the results of their January exams, the results were very strong - well done.

Opening Times:

📅 Week 1: Tuesday 2 - Friday 5 🕘 9am-4pm

📅 Week 2: Monday 8 - Wednesday 10 April 🕘 9am-4pm

Don't forget your ID card!

We will be running a series of revision sessions during the Easter break. These are an excellent opportunity for students to get some additional support and help with their revision and summer exam preparation. Please email the teacher for each session if you want to book on.

A list of the sessions can be found on our website by clicking here.

If you will be attending a session, please note the following:

• You must wear your ID badge at all times.
• Bring along your chromebook and any other resources you will need for your session

• If your session is in either the main building or Science Centre, you will be accessing college via the visitors reception in the main building, where your tutor will come to collect you. For sessions taking place in the DLB and Sports Hall, you can go straight there.
• The Restaurant will not be open, therefore you must bring food/drinks with you.

Morning sessions are 9.30am - 12.00pm

Afternoon sessions are 1.00pm - 3.30pm

If you have any questions or queries please contact Lorna Keating lkg@osfc.ac.uk.

Exam Contingency Days

We have been instructed by Ofqual to inform all candidates sitting exams this summer that they must keep the following contingency days available, in case exams have to be moved nationally:

• 6 June (pm)
• 13 June (pm)
• 26 June (am and pm)

Therefore, please do not book any holidays before the final contingency day of 26th June.

Ofqual Student Guide 2024

Ofqual has published its 2024 Student Guide which provides information about this year’s exams arrangements and explains what support is in place when taking exams and assessments.

Summer exam dates

Individual exams timetables are available on Cedar for all students.

Study Leave

Once the summer exam series begins, students will be given study leave in the morning on any days they have an afternoon exam. No study leave is given for morning exams.

Timetabled lessons and tutorials will only run until May half term for Year 13 and Level 2 students and so they will finish college on Friday 24th May, except to attend scheduled exams. However, as above, please note that students should remain available on the three exams contingency dates.

Many vocational students will, however, finish before the half-term break once their coursework is all completed and submitted.

Following the May break, Year 12 lessons will not restart until Monday 10th June due to INSET week running 3rd-7th June. Exams will continue as normal during INSET week.

Student exams site

This presentation on exam protocol has been previously shared with all students but we also wanted to share with all parent. Please do read this as it gives lots of useful information. A reminder to student also that the Exams google site has lots of resources.

We will be using a new process for students to notify absences on exam days - we will email about this in due course.

Supporting Exam Preparation Parent Event resources

We have a presentation on the new parent section of the website on how parents can support their son or daughter with exam preparation so they feel more confident, less stressed and give themselves the best chance of achieving their potential, including:

You can also access it by clicking here. The slides show the results of recent students surveys regarding mobile phone use, sleep and wellbeing and is an interesting read for parents.

We have also been focusing on how to manage in the lead up to exams in tutorial and run student stress management sessions. Plus, don't forget, our wellbeing site features lots of really helpful student resources.

Wellbeing Week

There is a whole week of focused activities to take care of students’ well-being taking place from 22nd April. This includes a visit from puppies, a smoothie bar, dance sessions and stress management activities. We hope everyone gets involved!

This is underpinned by the 5 ways to well-being, a set of principles we actively promote in College.

Kooth

Kooth.com is commissioned in Greater Manchester by the NHS to provide mental health support and counselling for children and young people from the age of 10 - 25.

There is a link below to a Kooth assembly, which details what Kooth is, what mental health support they offer and how students can sign up to the service, which continues to be available through all college holidays.
Kooth Assembly Recording

Qwell.io is the adult platform which provides mental health support and counselling to adults in Greater Manchester from the age of 18 and upwards.

In addition to the weekly bursary payment, students who are approved for a bursary also receive a daily £5 free college meal entitlement. It can be used at any of the eateries in the college buildings and is available daily to everybody on a bursary.

We encourage everyone to use it - as otherwise you lose it!

Easter holiday payment

Oldham Council want to ensure that those eligible for free meals receive a food payment to cover the Easter holiday at a rate of £20 per eligible child per week. This applies to all OSFC students who are in receipt of a free college meal / bursary. They will receive £40 to cover the 2 week holidays and the money will go into bursary students' bank accounts today, Thursday 28th March.

The next usual bursary payment will then be made on Wednesday 17th April.

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.

A reminder that CAP3 (College Assessment Point 3) results have recently been published on Cedar. We encourage all parents to check these by logging into Cedar. They can be found under 'Curriculum and Achievement' then 'College Assessment Points (CAPS)' and then select 'March 2024'. If you experience any problems logging in then please email Student Services on info@osfc.ac.uk.

For those who took mock exams in February, or external exams in January, the CAP3 grades are reflective of that performance .

The Sociology Department took 14 AS and A Level Sociology students to London from 12th-13th March. They had a jam-packed itinerary including The British Museum, sightseeing, West End theatre show - Matilda The Musical and the UCL Institute of Education A Level Sociology Conference to hear from Sociologists covered on the course, including Prof Louise Archer and Prof Stephen Ball. Staff accompanying students were Catherine Eariss (Course Leader of Sociology) and Sal Rahman (Tutor of Sociology).

The Sociology Department welcomed Prof Steve Tombs (Prof of Criminology, Open University) and Dr Katy Snell (Doctor of Criminology, University of Hull) to deliver talks to Year 13 Sociology students on Tuesday 5th March. Prof Steve Tombs, Open University, discussed his research on corporate crime, particularly his work on Grenfell tower. He shared his critical criminology research and shed light on the different ways in which victims were impacted by the fire. Dr Katy Snell, also an expert on corporate crime and has many years successfully teaching AQA A Level Sociology, discussed ways in which our students could develop their exam skills on this topic.

The annual Olympathon helps charity, but supports team building and bonding. It is a chance for students to interact with each other and staff in a way that traditional learning does not provide, it is a unique opportunity to build the foundation for skills that will continue on to later life.

Planned and supported by Year 13 students (with light support and guidance from college staff), the Olympathon is a gruelling 26.2 hour sporting event consisting of 26 sporting activities over a 26 hour period, inspired by classic Olympic events. Students are split into 6 teams and work nonstop, switching up their activities on the hour.

A very impressive £1685.10 was raised for Motor Neurone Disease Association. Through their dedication and determination, they were able to reach their targets and beyond. We are proud of all they have achieved.

Students at OSFC were able to sign up for a wide range of interactive workshops and talks across the week.

Dr Tim Craft, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering at The University of Manchester and admissions tutor for the Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering programmes met students who found out about the huge range of Engineering disciplines and the challenges Engineers face in the application of this discipline e.g. airflow around aircraft wings and wingtips, heating and cooling applications, gas turbine blade cooling problems and many more.

In celebration of Healthcare Science Week, 11-15 March - Mark Unstead (Lead Respiratory Physiologist), Sadie Dresman (Trainee Clinical Scientist in Cancer Genomics) and Kathryn Drew (Genetic Counsellor) explored the opportunities in the world of healthcare sciences. Students heard from these diverse healthcare scientists in the NHS, gain insight into their roles, and learn about entry routes into this particular field of healthcare work.

Dr Joanne Pledger, Senior Lecturer in Astrophysics spoke about what to expect when studying a Physics/Astrophysics degree and the fascinating range of careers this can lead you into.

Science students attended a 'Chemical Tales from Forensic Science' workshop, centred around poisonous elements & molecules. Topics such as chemical agents in warfare/crime & the mystery of 'spontaneous human combustion' were also discussed.

Ollie Walsh from Pitlane Development explained the route into professional motorsports, necessary skills to be successful as an engineer and the various different roles in the Motorsport Engineering world.

Science students attended an interactive workshop run by Manchester Cancer Research Centre. They met experts who work in the field of medical imaging research.

We were delighted to see the return of our Spanish Exchange trip, this academic year, with AS and A Level Spanish students spending a week in Torrelavega in January.

Torrelavega is a medium-sized town located in Cantabria in the north of Spain, half an hour from Santander. We are fortunate to partner with a similar institution, who share our views on the importance of maintaining strong exchange links. The ‘IES Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón’ is a 12-18 college with a similar number of students to OSFC.

The group traveled by plane from Manchester to Santander on 20th January, where on arrival the students were greeted by their host families. Students attended a range of lessons at the ‘instituto’, including Spanish and English. OSFC have established links with 2 nearby Spanish primary schools, CEIP Dobra and CEIP Los Torreones, which enabled the students to undertake a 2 day supervised work placement too. Throughout the trip students also had the opportunity to carry out effective research for their coursework projects.

The benefits of this type of visit to Cantabria cannot be overemphasised and our students undoubtedly find the experience very rewarding. From a linguistic point of view, the trip offers an excellent opportunity to practice their language skills and the students gain an invaluable insight into Spanish life and culture through daily close contact with a Spanish family.

We are proud of the relationship we have established with IES Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón and we had such an enjoyable time hosting the Spanish students in Oldham between 16-23 March! We hosted lunches, shared our culture, visited the mayor, Nandos and much more! Including a two day work placement at a primary school, teaching Spanish, multilingual interviews and a trip to Liverpool. A great experience for all!

On Thursday 7th March, we launched our OSFC Community Partner initiative with a breakfast networking event.

Our Futures team, Kevin Reece (Futures/Careers Manager) and Cindy Bramhall (Employer Engagement Officer) introduced the many ways in which local businesses can support OSFC and our students. The scheme aims to help increase the number of work placement opportunities, insights into the world of work via presentations and talks and curriculum work based projects that we are able to offer our students.

Kevin Reece was really pleased with the success of the launch event;

If you are interested in working with us and being a part of this initiative, please get in touch with us via email; employerlinks@osfc.ac.uk

Securing a place to study at either the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge is a phenomenal achievement. But to get to study at both is an experience that only very few people will ever have. That’s why it is so remarkable that 2 former Oldham Sixth Form College (OSFC) students are in this amazing position. Firstly, there is Jessica (Jess) Frater, who joined us from Hollingworth Academy in 2017, and excelled during her time at OSFC, achieving 2 A* grades, in Psychology and Chemistry, alongside an A in Maths in her A Levels. This performance allowed her to progress to Churchill College, Cambridge, where she made the most of all opportunities, including sport and music, leaving in 2022 with a 1st class BA degree in Psychological and Behavioural Sciences. Jess has now moved on to St Hilda’s College at the University of Oxford, where she is 6 months into her MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation & Management - which she is greatly enjoying.

And, secondly, there’s Vishal Gupta. Vishal came to OSFC from Waterhead Academy, having already achieved an A* in his Maths A Level which he took in Year 10. Like Jess, he thrived at sixth form, adding 3 more A*s, in Further Maths, Physics and Computer Science, during his time with us. It came as little surprise when he was offered a place to study Mathematics at St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he achieved a 1st class degree in 2023, and carried on to Part III Mathematics, which is seen as one of the hardest Maths courses in the world. We were delighted to hear, recently, that, in October, he will be moving to New College at Oxford University, where he once spent a summer school while at OSFC, to begin a PhD in the area of analytic number theory

Needless to say, everyone at OSFC is incredibly proud of Jess and Vishal, and all they have achieved and continue to achieve. We are greatly looking forward to following their academic journeys in the future and to welcoming them back to the college whenever their busy schedules allow them to visit us once more.

If you have not yet registered to vote in the local and national elections please do so by 16th April. Please click here

Ofsted’s Big Listen, is a wide-reaching survey that is open to professionals, providers, parents and children until 31 May. Ofsted wants to receive your feedback, accept your criticism and hear your views on reform.

Team Pinnacle is under starter's orders again! This year OSFC staff will be running the 6.2 miles in aid of the national charity the Motor Neurone Disease Association. We will be sharing our Just Giving page in future communications.

End of Spring term - Thursday 28th March

Easter holiday - Friday 29th March to Friday 12th April (Easter Revision sessions running)

College reopens for Summer term - Monday 15th April

Year 13 'Mock' exams - Monday 15th to Wednesday 17th April (timetables are on Cedar)

Higher Education Evening for Year 12 - Thursday 25th April

Bank Holiday (college closed) - Monday 6th May

Summer exam series begins - Thursday 9th May

Last day of half term / last day of lessons for Year 13 and Level 2 - Friday 24th May

Summer half term - Monday 27th to Friday 31st May

College reopens - Monday 3rd June

INSET week / Year 12 Study Leave - Monday 3rd to Friday 7th June (please note: exams will run as normal but there will be no timetabled lessons)

Year 12 classes restart - Monday 10th June

Exams contingency days - 6th (afternoon), 13th (afternoon) and 26th (full day) June (PLEASE KEEP THESE DATES FREE UNTIL ALL EXMS HAVE BEEN SAT)

Last day of exams - Tuesday 25th June

Futures Fair - Thursday 20th June

End of term / Celebration Day for Year 12 and Year 13 - Friday 5th July

A Level / Vocational Results Day - Thursday 15th August

Year 13 enrolment for current Year 12 students - Thursday 15th (online)

GCSE Results Day - Thursday 22nd August

Year 12 enrolment for current Level 2 students - Thursday 22nd August