Autumn newsletter

Autumn Newsletter It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the first Stamford Park Trust newsletter for the new academic year.

The last twelve months have clearly demonstrated the unique and vibrant community we have here at Stamford Park Trust. In a relatively short time, the Trust has developed a strong identity, with fantastic work taking place across all three academies and Astley Sports Village. We are beginning to see the true potential of our collaboration for the benefit for our students and for those who work across our Trust.

In the newsletter, you will read stories which exemplify the strength of our community.

Whilst not exhaustive as no newsletter of this kind could ever capture every element of the important work we do, it does provide a snapshot of our activity and our ambition. It is a demonstration of our vision, ‘Excellence and ambition for all’.

We have already seen the benefits for working together. This summer’s examination results were the best ever in all three academies and reflected our unswerving focus on improving the life chances of all our students. It is testament to the hard work and resilience of the students, ably supported by their teachers and other members of Trust staff, that this was possible. And remember that these students were significantly affected by the loss of learning from the COVID pandemic. Congratulations to all!

But it isn’t just about exam results. We have committed to support the development of each and every student to ensure that they have the opportunity to become a better version of themselves tomorrow than today. One of the articles in our newsletter describes our aspirations week in the summer which brought students from the high schools into the college to take part in a number of exciting and enriching activities. Another article highlights our academic mentoring scheme where Ashton Sixth Form College students volunteer to support students at both Rayner Stephens and Longdendale high school.

I hope you enjoy reading about the work of the Trust, its successes and its ambition. Together, we can help realise our vision and help our young people to achieve their goals.

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter and best wishes to you and your family.

Anton McGrath CEO

A celebration of results success!

Students across our Trust celebrated a fantastic set of results at both GCSE, Level 2/3 BTEC, A level and EPQ. Students at both Rayner Stephens and Longdendale High Schools celebrated best ever results, with significant improvements across a wide number of subjects. After significant disruption across their education for the past two years, students, ably supported by teachers and support staff, met the challenge, showing real determination in the face of unprecedented adversity.

The students of Longdendale High School have secured fantastic GCSE results, which are the best results in the school’s history!

Initial results show that the majority of students achieved at least a pass in both core subjects such as English and maths, alongside impressive results across a wide of subjects. This is a significant improvement on previous years, showing staff and students alike really do live our ethos of “Excellence and Ambition for all!”

The class of 2022 at Rayner Stephens High School have secured the school’s best ever GCSE results.

Paying our respects to her majesty The Queen The whole nation was shocked and saddened by the announcement of the Queen’s passing on Thursday 8th September 2022.

The Queen reigned for over 70 years and was known the world over. Her service to the nation and dedication to duty was clear for all to see and will never be forgotten.

Students from Longdendale and Rayner Stephens High Schools and Ashton Sixth Form College joined the Mayor in the laying of flowers in respectful memory of our late Queen Elizabeth II. Students also signed the book of remembrance at Tameside One. They were a credit to their schools and the college, and a credit to the Trust.

Our student’s results reflect the hard work and positive changes that have occurred at the school since joining the Stamford Park Trust in January 2021. As a school they have delivered significant improvements in results across all subjects including Maths, English and Science.

All subjects have delivered fantastic results which is indicative of the exciting changes made since forming Stamford Park Trust.

And finally, Ashton Sixth Form College are delighted to announce record-breaking results in this year’s A-Level and equivalent qualifications. Despite the significant disruptions experienced by the class of 2022 over the past two years, students achieved a near-perfect pass rate with more students than ever before in a normal examination series achieving the highest grades.

These results in both A Levels and vocational qualifications show how well students managed to focus on their learning and their preparations for examinations in spite of the Covid challenges they faced.

A huge ‘well done’ to all our 2022 leavers, and a big thank you to our students’ parents / carers for their invaluable and unwavering support.

Stamford Park Trust academic mentors Academic mentors have begun to support students at both Longdendale and Rayner Stephens High Schools.

Students at Ashton Sixth Form College have volunteered to support a number of students across both schools in English, maths and science this term. Mentoring them in subjects they may be finding challenging. Working collaboratively to help pupils reach their full potential in their studies.

They received training from staff at both schools prior to beginning their work.

A new application process for a new cohort of academic mentors has been launched at the college with the aim of starting our second cohort in the new calendar year so watch this space!

Aspirations week

Longdendale High School and Rayner Stephens are proud to be launching their values and mission, formed since joining Stamford Park Trust.

Back in July, Ashton Sixth Form College were extremely excited to have hosted the Stamford Park Trust Aspirations week.

The week saw year groups from fellow trust members, visit ASFC and take part in various lectures, workshops and talks.

Year 7’s from Longdendale and Rayner Stephens participated in Criminology and Law lectures, two subjects they wouldn’t usually study at high school. Year 8’s took part in a treasure hunt in Maths, English and Science and worked very hard to solve a mystery!

The schools have adopted a values based, standards driven approach underpinned by out vision of ‘Excellence and Ambition for all’, which is promoted through the core values of Respect, Resilience and Aspiration.

Throughout school life we aim to create opportunities, broaden horizons and introduce challenges to support your child’s development. Our staff are committed to ensure that students achieve their full potential regardless of their starting points.

The vision and values are underpinned by individual school missions.

Finally, students had XL and Realising Aspirations programme leaders deliver introductory workshops to the Year 9’s, giving the students a glimpse of the unique programmes offered at Ashton!

Year 10’s from both schools also attended the previous week for taster days!

Ashton Sixth Form College loved welcoming over 400 students from across both Longdendale and Rayner Stephens. It is really exciting for us to be building our Stamford Park Trust community.

Thank you Longdendale and Rayner Stephens students for being participating and being amazing!

Longdendale and Ashton alumni returns!

Recently, ex-student Meg Bynon, from Longdendale High School, returned to Ashton Sixth Form College!

Meg studied our L3 Full Time BTEC Health and Social Care course and is currently a second year student at Salford University studying Midwifery.

She came to talk to our current students about her experience and journey since leaving ASFC and to also offer support to students that are wanting to progress and apply for midwifery course!

Belonging to a Trust of schools affords our students and staff with a greater advantage, through shared expertise and collaboration, we are able to develop exciting Aspiration and Enrichment programmes.

By working together as a group of schools, the students and staff across Stamford Park Trust have increased opportunities for everyone to develop and thrive.

The opening of Longdendale’s new library Investing in facilities across the Trust We’re committed to improving the learning facilities for students across all the Trust. In total, around £600,000 has been invested across the Trust estate this year alone.

The works include: Longdendale High School installed a larger library, a new ICT room, additional offices and more. Rayner Stephens also had a new library installed as well as a new food tech room and four new science labs. Ashton Sixth Form has also undergone works with a new media room, improvements to the dance studio and a new food facility. Across all sites theres been upgrades to security as well as general paint works and installations of desks and computers.

There are plans for further developments across the Trust for this academic year. Bids are being finalised for a redesign of the Sports Hall at Ashton Sixth Form College, to add an additional 10 classrooms and three staff offices, and a bid to upgrade the Design and technology facilities at Rayner Stephens. We are also close to securing planning permission for a £1.5 million addition to the Rayner Stephens estate. This will house the creative arts, with purpose built a drama, art studio and music studios. We aim to complete this project by the start of the next academic year.

Deadlines for applying to our academies We are already seeing the benefits of our collaboration since we came together as Stamford Park Trust. This year, GCSE and equivalent qualifications results were the best in the school’s history.

Tony Walsh, the renowned @LongfellaPoet officially opened the new library at Longdendale High School.

Tony Is most famous for his use of poetry to bring the people of Manchester together after the horrific Manchester bombing at the Arena In 2017. His poem, “This Is the place” was commissioned by the charity Forever Manchester following the bombing. Tony performed the poem at several events, including at the vigil in Albert Square the day after the attack, and the One Love Manchester concert.

Tony was joined by a number of guests, including current governors and local counsellors, and a number of children from nearby primary schools.

Tony read two of his poems, one of which had been commissioned by the organisers of the upcoming rugby league work cup.

Both emphasised the Importance of reading, libraries and trying your best.

The investment in our staff, our facilities and a clear focus on our vision of ‘Excellence and Ambition for all’, are already having a significant and positive impact on the lives of our students.

As well as Tony’s poetry, there were excellent musical performances by Longdendale students, an opportunity to look around the new facility and, of course, coffee and cake! It was a grand occasion for the opening of such an Important resource.

We can’t wait to welcome new students to the Stamford Park Trust family, a reminder of the application deadlines are below.

A huge thank you to Longendale’s librarian, Vicky Payton, for organising the event.

Monday 31st October

High School application deadline

Friday 16th December

Ashton Sixth Form application deadline

Student leadership As the new academic year has started the academies in the Trust have been working to appoint student leaders.

Student leaders work across their academy to represent their fellow students and bring fresh and innovative ideas. Take a look below and who is representing our academies for the next academic year.

Rayner Stephens At the end of the last school year Mr Davies and Miss Heap interviewed a number of KS4 students for a variety of different Ambassador roles.

After these interviews and a number of discussions we appointed three of our amazing students into the leadership roles of Head’s Ambassadors.

These new roles are designed to take the place of the former Head Boy and Head Girl roles as we have revamped our leadership roles with the aim and aspiration of being more inclusive. Faye McCormick, Immanuella Amore and Amy Blood were all selected after outstanding interviews and applications.

Longdendale High School Longdednale High School are pleased to announce their student leadership team for the next academic year. As well as the KS4 leadership team there is many roles to get involved in student leadership from year 7 up until year 11.

Our year 11 leadership team includes: Seb Dixon - Head Boy Charlotte Ivens - Head Girl Chloe Gorrod and Keria Wilde - Deputy Heads Hayden Young - Wellbeing abassador.

Other roles in all years include anti-bullying ambassador, mental health and wellbeing ambassador, form representative and subject leader, preparing students for a leadership role in year 11.

Ashton Sixth Form College The academic year is now in full swing, meaning our Student Council for 2022 has been formed with new members and new roles.

Over the next year the Student Council will have many opportunities to make real changes across college. A representative from the Council also have the chance to attend SLT meetings weekly to strengthen the voice of the students at senior levels.

Towards the end of the last academic year, students had the opportunity to vote for their Council President and Vice President. The results of that vote put Ethan Lord as the Student Council President and Matthew Ratcliffe as the Student Council Vice President.

Other members and their roles are: Claudia Catalan Riquelme - Enviornmental Officer Zedan Raja - Equality and Diversity Officer (Lead) Adeena Rehman - Equality & Diversity Officer Alishbah Ullah-Raja - Equality & Diversity Officer Lucy Pimlott - Equality & Diversity Officer Muskaan Chaudhry - Charities Officer Menal Aamir - Health Officer Sarah Standley - Marketing/Events Officer Abi Bakerson-Lowe - Tutor Reps Officer (Lead) Jess Leigh - Tutor Reps Officer

Students and staff look forward to see the impact these students will make over the next academic year.

For more information on the roles of our student leaders and other members of the student councils, please visit the individual academies website.

World Mental Health Day On Monday 10th October, each Trust academy raised awareness of the support available for anyone in need of help and support for their mental health.

Support services both at school / college and in the wider community were highlighted as we reinforced the message that It Is always good to talk.

At Longdendale student leaders were busy delivering wellbeing quizzes and promoting activities and strategies to help support positive mental health.

On Friday 14th October students took part in #HelloYellow where they wore one yellow accessory in support on Young Minds, the mental health charity for children and young people.

Rayner Stephens and Ashton Sixth Form were signposting to important resources locally for students to take advantage of, all of which can be found on the website.

Open events round up!

Open events took place this term with excellent attendance at all evenings.

As well as tours around the school from pupils, Rayner Stephens gave talks from Anton, Martin as well has students from year 7 and year 11 and Steph Reddish, a parent of two former students. Steph said: “This school makes me proud to say that they have been partly responsible for moulding my child into the man he has become today.”

Longdendale had stands around school to showcase key things for pupils to get involved in, from the school nurse team to student leaders. Primary pupils could also vote for what colour tie they would like to have when they join the school in year 7!

We have now launched this years Christmas Gift Appeal across Stamford Park Trust, where we help support our most vulnerable families and children to bring that Christmas Magic every child deserves!

Our Christmas Gift Appeal, becomes a HUGE community effort where every donation will put a smile on a child’s face this Christmas.

We work closely with our local community to identify 10 families who really need support this Christmas, and who without appeals like this, face the prospect of not being able to afford to put presents under the tree for their children to wake up to on Christmas Day. We ask our local community and our amazing facility users to donate a range of children’s gifts to our appeal between now and Sunday 10th December. You can drop your donations off anytime during the day, evening or at weekend here at Astley Sports Village or at Ashton Sixth Form.

Donation Ideas Colouring Sets Board Games for 6-11yrs & 11yrs+ Toy Car Sets Dolls Children’s Books Jigsaws for 3-5yrs, 6-11yrs Make Up Sets for 11yrs+ Toiletry Sets for boys & girls Toy Figures e.g Toy Story, Spiderman, Batman, Lol Dolls, Barbies Children’s Bracelet Sets Dressing Gowns Pyjamas Footballs Rugby Balls Boy & Girl Caps Man bags Jewellery Sets Christmas Present Sacks Wrapping Paper

For those struggling with ideas or have limited time to go out and buy donations, you can make a cash or bacs donation where we will purchase items on your behalf.

For more details on our Christmas Gift Appeal across Stamford Park Trust and for details on how to make a bacs or cash donation please email Mark Storie, Director of Stamford Park Trust Sport, Community & Leisure on m.storie@astleysportsvillage.org.uk or contact 07872 923 730

Astley Sports Village along with Ashton Sixth Form have been hosting monthly makers markets giving local crafters opportunity to sell and showcase their work. The markets have been a great sucsess with the next one coming up in December!

@StamfordTrust /StamfordParkTrust www.StamfordParkTrust.ac.uk