Dear All,
I hope that you are well and, regardless of your interest in, or affiliations to, the recent royal event, I hope that you at least enjoyed the couple of extended weekends that we’ve just had. (Certainly more relaxing than Mathew Jorsyz, the son of our CFO Maria. He is the assistant organist at Westminster Abbey – if you were watching, it’s quite likely that you heard him play!)
I had a great couple of bank holiday weekends. That said, they put me out of cycle and made me forget to get this update out at the start of May. It’s strange isn’t it, just very small changes to background routine can be just enough to knock you off the equilibrium. I’ve not knowingly missed a Monday deadline since I started writing these updates way back at the start of lockdown for RSFC, and a simple extra bank holiday upends it. I suppose this sounds like the start of a ruminative piece about the importance of routines, but I’m not sure if I’ve enough knowledge or material on the subject to write one. Other than to say, creativity, good mental health, and productivity can all benefit from established routines. They’re the things that go on in the background, give us comfort, are things we don’t have to think about too much, and enable us to get on with the really important stuff and any arising challenges. It’s probably important not to be too strict with them too, or to catastrophise if they don’t go right, but having a regular drumbeat in the background is rather important. Here’s a nuanced piece on the issue.
This month’s update also contains information on: news from the academies (three student shows, two academy builds, and an Ofsted report), and the usual quizzes and puzzles.
News from the academies
I’ve referenced on a few occasions that Bamford Academy were inspected in March, well the report’s just been published, and you can read it in full here. I’m pleased to let you know that the school was judged to be ‘Good’ with a number of key strengths. A huge congratulations to all of the staff and students at the school (and thanks to all the governors and parents/carers too for your support). I’m also very much looking forward to attending 'Bamford’s Got Talent' – I already knew it had plenty of talent (well, look at the Ofsted), but it will be great to see the students performing.
After many months of preparation and back and forth discussions with our neighbouring Asda store, RSFC finally received delivery of two new Portakabins to provide interim space for classrooms at the college. These are the first new ‘buildings’ on the site since the college opened way back in 2010. See a picture below:
We’ve needed to put them in as the local demographic growth (and popularity of the college) means that we’ve simply not enough space to fit everyone in. This is one of the reasons that we have put in a bid to the Department for Education for money towards a new extension to the college (pictures of the plan in a previous update). Hopefully, we’ll find out soon as to whether or not we’ve been successful in the bid – fingers crossed! A quick mention too for the phenomenal college show, Beauty and the Beast. Every year performances get better and better, and this one was exceptional – well done to the entire cast and crew!
The Kingsway Park High School part of this update will also deal with a new build and a show. The KPHS new build is cracking on well as you can see from the picture below (next to a mock-up design).
As far as we can tell, the build is still on track for an October half-term opening, following which the old building(s) will be removed. I’m very looking forward to attending the school show ‘Hairspray’ on Thursday night too – I’ll write more in my next update after I’ve seen the show.
And at Edgar Wood Academy they hosted the Rochdale Borough School Games Partnerships Primary Indoor Athletics events in April and May. This involved a number of Year 8 students acting as Primary Sports Leaders, running sessions and adjudicating for children from years 1-4. The sessions were a great success and the collaborative organising the event commended the students, commenting on their level of maturity, as in many schools, this would be done by students in a much higher year group. In April a number of students visited the Contact Theatre in Manchester to tour the theatre space and take part in a Music Production workshop. As a school we run an enrichment entitled ‘Speak Up’ – this is an enrichment run by The National Theatre in conjunction with The Lowry Theatre and is an initiative aimed at giving students a creative forum to …Speak Up!
I know that there’s a huge amount of stuff going on at each academy, so equally huge apologies if I’ve missed something out that you’ve been involved in and would like to shout from the (electronic) roof-tops, or advertise. If there is, please just get in touch with me on my email: R.Ronksley@altusep.com.
A few quizzes
Click on these links for the BBC and Guardian news quizzes. And click here for some maths puzzles.
Please take care of yourselves and one another. And always feel free to email me or just say hello next time I’m at your academy.
With very best wishes and great pride,
Richard
Richard Ronksley
Chief Executive Officer
Altus Education Partnership | College Road | Rochdale | OL12 6HY
Tel: 01706 769800
Email: R.Ronksley@altusep.com
Website: altusep.com
Twitter: @AltusEducation
