The OSFC Newsletter

Welcome to February’s newsletter, which offers you a mid term snapshot of college life.

The teaching team at the college have been pushing forward their effective use of technology using IRIS video recordings to reflect on their everyday teaching practice. All staff have contributed to our bank of some 370 plus reflections, recording themselves in the classroom at least once and then sharing this with a colleague from a different teaching department. Those colleagues then meet and discuss what they see. Staff have found this process much more valuable than the cycle of high stakes annual lesson observations which are typically found in most schools and colleges, and which have been subsequently removed from our quality assurance processes. Chris Arnold who developed the use of the technology in college said “staff are finding IRIS a much more reliable and useful evidence base to modify lessons to ensure the best learning experiences for students take place” and went on to say “the quality of the feedback has been impressive, celebrating the strength of teaching at the college”. Video evidence is a powerful tool in maintaining high standards in the classroom, encouraging professional self awareness and disseminating high quality student experiences across the college. So far 1664 collaborative teacher comments about the quality of their classroom practice have been recorded onto the platform. The conversations will continue.

Students here at the college are working with Oldham based arts organisation: Peshkar. They are one of the country’s leading participatory arts organisations targeting young people from areas that might be considered, by others, to be disadvantaged. The students have formed themselves as the festival’s social media steering group, developing an online marketing presence with Project Coordinator and visual artist Kate Partington, pictured with Ryan and Abdullah, below..

The Young Digitals Festival is a community festival in collaboration with Oldham library and Oldham council. Kate explained what the festival sets out to do: “The theme for YDF24 is ‘Suspended in digital space’ – this theme investigates how we are living in both the real tangible analogue world and equally living in the digital non-tangible world. This experience of having one foot in the ‘real-world’ (so to speak) and one foot in the digital world has left many feeling as though they are stuck in-between or ‘suspended in digital space’. This theme has a particular focus on young people as the way in which they have explored and interacted with the world has been digital for the majority of their lives, the spaces in which they occupy socially are often digital.”

The festival concludes on Saturday 16th March at Oldham library. You can find out more here

#WorldWithoutNature: Can you imagine a world without nature? On 3 March brands, sports teams, charities, schools and more are uniting to remove nature from our logos and raise awareness of the nature crisis. Sign up to a global campaign here

In 2024, governments will be negotiating a Global Plastics Treaty that could finally phase out plastic production for good. And so, we’re doing The Big Plastic Count again - this time we’ll be using the results to convince UK ministers to lead the way at these talks and push for a really strong treaty. Sign up here. Have you every tried living without plastic for one week? Its not easy but have a go!

The theme this year's campaign is 'Choose what you'll use' and is a week of action which brings the nation together to save time and money by making the food we already have go further.

4.7 million tonnes of edible food is thrown away each year by UK households. Shockingly, 25% of this wasted food is as a result of people cooking, preparing or serving too much - this costs UK households £4.9 billion each year.

You can use a food waste carbon calculator here to see how much carbon you are wasting by throwing food out.

Join Katie Smith, our Student Sustainability Champion on Fridays and help bring about sustainable environmental change at OSFC 👇

Opening Times: 📅 Monday 19 - Friday 23 February 🕘 9am-4pm Don't forget your ID card!

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 promptly. If approved, a weekly payment of £15 is made and free food to the value of £5.00 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!

For those currently on a bursary, please note there will not be a half term payment from Oldham Council this February. The next payment, using attendance data from this week, will be Wednesday 28th 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.

Seven of our English students have had their short stories selected for publication later this year. Hassam Ali, Matthew Wilkes, Usman Muhammad, Shek Rejaul, Hamed Hajra, Aleesha Khan and Ethan Reading entered their work in ‘The Glitch’ - a competition for young writers. Gail Ashurst, course leader for GCSE English, said “I am delighted by the success of these talented young people, and we may have more winners yet to come”.

'The Glitch' anthology will be published in April

Common Assessment Point 3 (CAP 3) which includes results of the recent mock exams will be available on Cedar from Monday, 11th March. CAP 3 will provide an effort grade, a mock exam grade and a teacher expected grade to indicate both current and expected progress. Students may receive some feedback on their mock exams and start to have conversations with their teachers as early as Monday 4th March, but for most subjects this is more likely to occur in the subsequent weeks.

This original, jukebox musical is a coming of age story set in the 1990s. It follows a group of teenagers trying to sneak in to see Oasis at their legendary Knebworth gig in 1996.

There are tangled love stories, clashing friendships and of course teenage hormones. We glimpse, briefly, the darker side of 90s rock culture, but it's the killer tunes from the heady heights of Britpop that will get you singing along.

Miranda Lowe who plays Nicole said ‘It's very funny, but with some emotional counterpoints," and Katie Patten, playing the ambitious Kelly said "The rehearsals are really intensive but now we can see it all coming together it's fantastic, and my favourite line in the show is: 'I think it's time you grew up - I think it's time we all did' "

How true!

The performances are 27th and 28th February, and

tickets are available through this link

🎡🕺🏽🌌🎸🧬🌈📀⚡🥁🕺🏽🎶✨🎡🕺🏽🌌🎸🧬🌈📀⚡🥁🕺🏽

The Pinnacle Learning Trust (PLT) is delighted that both Kevin Sinfield and Jayne Clarke were included in this year’s New Year’s Honours list. Kevin, who is a trust member, received a CBE for his charity work, raising over £15 million for Motor Neurone Disease. Jayne who was previously Executive Principal of the Sixth Form College and now Chief Executive Officer of the PLT received an OBE in recognition for services to Further Education. As a founding academy of the trust, the Sixth Form College is incredibly proud of Jayne’s achievements.

Andrew Kilburn, chair of the PLT said: “Jayne Clarke has been the driving force behind PLT…. Through her vision, the college was the first Sixth Form College to be a designated Research School in the country and she has ensured that the highest standards of teaching and learning are at the heart of everything we do as a trust.”.

Jayne Clarke said: “It is a privilege to work with fantastic colleagues and students across The Pinnacle Learning Trust and, of course, at Oldham Sixth Form College, where I’ve been for the last 21 years".

We held our first Parents' Conference on February 10th when current applicants and their parents could spend a morning in college. Our future Sixth Form College students sampled lessons in the subjects they are thinking of studying while their parents got to know the college better in a conference setting hosted by the senior leadership team.

We are proud of our current and former students embarking on careers in Science!

To support this year's LGBT+ History month theme, "Under The Scope", OSFC's LGBTQ+ Group have recommended some relevant media/entertainment for students to read/watch over the half term break.

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.

In preparing our future students for the demands of sixth form and university study, the college has started its second year of Varsity Academy. Close to 200 Year 10 students, drawn from all 10 of our Oldham partner schools, attend OSFC for a number of sessions, to engage wholeheartedly in ‘stretch and challenge’ activities in Maths, Science, English and the Humanities.

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 our next sessions in April.

David Gilison - The Senior Vice President of Focus Features will be giving a live presentation from Hollywood to Film students on the 7th of March. Focus Features is an American independent film production and distribution company. This worldwide studio makes original and daring films that challenge the mainstream.

David Gilison is head of research and strategy for Focus Features, his work involves representing audience and market insights within the studio across the lifespan of a movie, starting at the greenlight phase and continuing to production screenings to marketing materials, screen tests to competitive distribution analysis and through to opening weekend forecasting.

The presentation will be followed with a Q and A session where students will have the opportunity to speak directly with a Hollywood insider.

OSFC are delighted to announce that a record number of 7 students have received offers from either Cambridge or Oxford University. As part of our Oxbridge Group, these students have attended support sessions 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. All of these activities have taken place over the last 12 months.

Mykhailo Tolstikhin, has received an offer from Churchill College, Cambridge to study Engineering. Mykailo has been on an unbelievable journey over the last 2 years, arriving in the UK in 2022, fleeing war-torn Ukraine with his mother. Arriving with limited vocabulary, Mykailo has worked hard at improving his English, taking his GCSE English in his first year at OSFC. Joining Mykhailo with an offer at Churchill College, Cambridge, also to study Engineering, is former West Hill School pupil Joshua Tindall. Two students gaining an offer for the same course at the same college is a first in the college's 30 year history.

Royton and Crompton Academy alumnus Harrison Scoltock has been offered a place to study Medicine at Jesus College, Oxford, and will be following in his elder sister's footsteps by studying at the same university. Also, an OSFC alumna, Harrison's sister, Megan, is currently in her second year at Corpus Christi College studying Law. We are proud for the second year running to be celebrating having alumni siblings celebrating Oxbridge offers.

Zarah Pauley, mother of Harrison and Megan said:

The 7 students include 2 who previously attended Newman RC College with offers for Oxford: Jennah Amin (Medicine, Queen’s College) and Robyn Jackson (History, Worcester College). Alisha Maybury, formerly of The Oldham Academy North, is also celebrating an offer to study Psychology at Christ’s College, Cambridge.

Finally, Sadia Akhter (not pictured), formerly of The Radclyffe School, has been offered a place to study Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies at Girton College, Cambridge. We also have one student still waiting for news on an offer for a foundation degree at Oxford - fingers crossed for April!

Congratulations everyone!

L-R Mykhailo Tolstikhin, Robyn Jackson, Joshua Tindall, Jennah Amin, Harrison Scoltock, Alisha Maybury

OSFC Alumnus, Matthew Jamshed returned to college on Thursday 16th November to speak to Year 12 Oxbridge Group students who are now beginning to look into their future options, as well as Year 13 students who had submitted their applications to Oxford or Cambridge. Matthew attended OSFC from 2011 to 2013, studying A Levels in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths, leaving with fantastic A*A*AA results. Matthew went on to study at Keble College, Oxford University, for 4 years, graduating with a Masters in Chemistry. After Oxford, Matthew joined BP’s graduate scheme in London, rotating through a number of operational and commercial roles in BP’s trading division. In 2021, Matthew moved to a commercial and business development role in BP Pulse, the BP business unit responsible for the rollout of BP’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the globe.

Matthew remembers his time at OSFC fondly;

During his visit, Matthew shared with the Oxbridge students his experiences of applying to universities and offered advice on the interview process. He also spoke to them about his time at Oxford, giving them an insight into student life and what it is like to study at one of the country's most competitive universities. He also encouraged all students to make the most of their time at OSFC:

We always appreciate our former students offering their time to help our current students - thanks again to Matthew!

On the 6th 17:00 - 19:00 ( In person) & 7th March (Online) 12:30 - 13:30 the Royal Exchange Theatre is running 2 events: 1 in person and 1 online for National Careers Week. After all the work we do with young people we know that parents sometimes have questions and queries about their child or student wanting a career in the arts. We are aware that it can sometimes be difficult to support a young person wanting a career in the arts as you may not have the full knowledge or understanding of how to help or support with that journey.

Hopefully this is where the Royal Exchange can help, they want to show parents many of the 150 jobs a person wanting a career in the arts can have. This can range from acting, directing and writing to maybe the lesser known roles like marketing, finance and technical roles.

In this evening the Royal Exchange want to do practical activities to give you as much knowledge and techniques of how to support a young person wanting a career in the arts. They will also provide FREE food and drink too.

Below is an information pack and a form to register your interest in attending.

https://forms.office.com/e/dg14qV4Ad0

All services operated by First Manchester from Oldham into Greater Manchester will become part of the Bee Network from 24 March.

The depot on Wallshaw Street, Oldham will transfer to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) with Bee Network services operated by Stagecoach.

Updates and helpful information about this change to Oldham bus services, will be provided so please visit this page regularly in the coming weeks.

Until Sunday 24 March, please continue to visit the main First Manchester website for all the information you need to travel on our services in Oldham and the Greater Manchester area.

Tickets and Refunds

To support customers with future travel planning and avoid any confusion in the lead up to the change on Sunday 24 March, we will be removing certain First Manchester tickets from sale on the following dates:

Yearly tickets – removed

Monthly tickets – remove from sale on 23 February

All other tickets - remove from sale 17 March

Healthwatch in Greater Manchester (survey led by Healthwatch Trafford) are interested in hearing from young people and their parents/carers about their experiences of the pathway to accessing (or trying to access) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in the Oldham Borough. We would like to hear from young people aged 13+ and also their parents/carers who have accessed this service for all conditions, including the Autism/ADHD diagnostic pathways.

One survey is open to children and young people aged 13 to 18, who started looking for support within the last 2 years, and the information collected will be anonymised:

https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/5AOYF6/

Young people’s voices matter, their experiences can help to drive change across Greater Manchester.

The other survey is open for parent or carers to take part in:

https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/04XCJG/

As part of the 10 GM we want to help identify within the Oldham Borough if current CAMHS pathways are effective and to identify if children, young people and their care givers can access support in a timely way and with positive outcomes; additionally we are also looking at other local help they have received or been offered for example #Thrive, as part of this pathway.

Following on from their successes last year, OSFC staff will be running, walking, jogging and wheeling their way around the Manchester 10K on Sunday 26th May.

As part of Team Pinnacle we will be fundraising for charity again - look out for our just giving page in future newsletters!

Last day of half term - Friday 16th February

Half term holiday - Monday 19th to Friday 23rd February

College reopens - Monday 26th February

College Production - What's the Story...? - Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th February

'Mock' exams results - Monday 11th March

Vocational exams results day - Thursday 14th (OCR - Camtech) and 21st (Pearson - Btech) March

Year 12 Parents' Evening - Wednesday 27th March

Last day of Spring Term - Thursday 28th March

Easter holiday - Friday 29th to Friday 12th April

College reopens - Monday 15th April

Year 13 April 'mocks' - Monday 15th to Wednesday 17th April

May Day bank holiday - Monday 6th May

Year 13 and Level 2 students' last day of college - Friday 24th May

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

INSET week - Monday 3rd to Friday 7th June (students on study leave and attending exams)

Year 12 classes restart - Monday 10th June

Futures Fair - Thursday 20th June

Celebration Day (all students) and last day of term (Year 12) - Friday 5th July

Next year's term dates can be found on our website by clicking here.

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.