Reddish Vale Technology College

Full List of Community Links

The following are examples of the closest links the college has with the community in particular:

• Day Care Centre on site. Started by the school in 1980, this operates two days a week for housebound senior citizens. It is now an autonamous group but the college does link through weekly attachments of pupils and there are many other curricular pathways.
• Parent and toddler group situated on the site. Started by the school in 1981 this operates two days a week for parents and toddlers. It is now an autonamous group but the college does link through weekly attachments of pupils and there are many other curricular pathways, including Health and Social Care classes.
• Adult Centre on site operates currently three evenings per week offering examination and recreational classes.
• Youth Centre on site accessible to pupils evenings and some weekends. Youth Centre also operates with the college to provide high quality outdoor education.
• North West regional Basketball Centre which serves not just Reddish and Stockport but the whole North West. North West Mecca for basketball.
• Reddish Vale Farm. Built by the staff, parents and pupils in 1984, provides local groups with an opportunity to experience working with a range of animals and plants.
• The college hosts an annual harvest lunch for senior citizens. About 100 senior citizens, who after lunch are entertained by dancers, actors and singers, attend it.
• The college produces a termly newspaper with a circulation of 10,000. This newspaper has won national and local acclaim.
• The college hall and theatre have regularly been used for Muslim weddings.
• We link with Stockport County for a range of courses. A group attend their computer suite on one evening per week. We also have players coming into lessons and coaching after school classes.
• We organise in partnership with the P.T.A social events. Every year we have a plant sale and last year a committee of teachers and past pupils organised the Golden Jubilee Celebrations. A spin off of which was a gathering of over 1000 ex-pupils at a reunion. There was also the planting of 50 trees and installation of 30 benches in the college grounds. There was a history of the school written and published and a 2003 calendar produced.
• We work closely with our local Youth Offending Team and the police on social inclusion including strategies involving the use of sports facilities by the Y.O.T and police.
• Local drama and dance groups use our drama and theatre facilities on a regular basis.
• Local sports teams use our sports facilities on a regular basis
• Our swimming pool is use extensively in the evenings, weekends and holidays by community groups.
• The college links with the police in productions of 'On the Beat and has won this competition which encompasses all of greater Manchester and have come runner-up on one other occasion, the college also links with the police in dramas relating to drink driving and drug abuse.
• The college has always played a part in the Manchester Festival of Arts and this year performed at the Contact Theatre.
• We have pupils from a local special school coming to join us in lessons. Special schools also make a lot of use of the farm. The farm also provides an egg incubation service for primary schools and other groups.
• Our extensive IT facilities are used by other schools and by local groups including the University of the Third Age.
• We link closely with other colleges in providing courses for Gifted and Talented pupils, linking in particular with Manchester University and MANCAT as providers.
• We have many activities throughout the year which local people are invited including Pop Idol, Dance Idol and the Plaza extravaganza.
• The college puts together with the assistance of students a yearbook, which is seen by all as an excellent record. This book is sold and forms the basis of our memory bank. In addition a year video is produced which is best described as very professional. The two memory aids coupled with the year photograph are much sought after.
• The college attends local community group meetings and is always represented at the Brinnington transport group.
• The college organises a summer school fro pupils to enjoy a week of sport. This is well attended and the standard of tuition is high.
• The college hosts an annual primary 6 a side football competition, which operates over a weekend. The competition is extremely well attended and very competitive, almost 300 youngsters take part.
• The college hosts a weekly 'Making it Back' session run by M.I.B qualified staff who will help students and families address various drug usage. This is very well attended and a waiting list exists.
• The college hosts a weekly 'Relate' session run by Relate qualified staff who help students and their families with family problems.

The following are examples of the closest links the college has with parents, for information, in particular:

• The college produces an excellent prospectus, which is much praised by parents and primary colleagues.
• The college produces a half termly newsletter, which informs students and parents about things that have happened, are about to happen and which are happening. This runs alongside the newspaper already referred to. The college also produces a Technology College newsletter.
• The college produces a KS3 and KS4 choice booklet, which is very informative and is backed up by subject choice evenings where parents and pupils can meet with tutor and subject teachers.
• The college holds a series of parent's evenings for one to one consultation with both subject teachers and tutors.
• The college has two days per year to review progress when parents can meet with tutors to discuss progress, set targets and look at strategies to improve performance.
• The college hosts an annual careers evening, which attracts one thousand pupils and parents form Years 9, 10 and 11. Over 25 education and training providers are available to advise.
• The college organises celebration and awards evenings at the Town Hall every year for Years 7, 8, 9 and 10.
• The college organises an annual certificate presentation evening which is very well attended by ex-year 11 students and parents.
• The college has an open afternoon and evening for parents to view the work of the College.
• We run 'Keeping up with the Children' courses in both ICT and mathematics. These are well attended and well thought of. We have in the past has to put on more than one course per term because of numbers. Parents attend in the evenings and on Saturdays. Parents can then opt to attend examination courses.
• We have a P.T.A group who meet and arrange events within the school. This group is always responsible for organising the Summer Fair. The group has been involved in organising special evenings on curricular matters and has also organised special evenings on Drug abuse and Alcohol Abuse.
• Annually the Art and Technology departments host an open evening where the GCSE students display their work. This is a very well attended meeting where parents and friends have the opportunity to view GCSE work. The evening is always attended by primary head teachers and teachers.
• Lists of students who are underachieving are identified. These targeted students and their parent's meet with a senior mentor who sets targets and outlines strategies to achieve success.
• The college in partnership with continuing education run several courses for parents and a 'Return and Learn' basis. A summer school for adult learning is a feature of the annual provision.

The following are examples of the closest links the College has with primary partners in particular:

• The college has a primary learning centre on site, which is attended on a daily basis by primary pupils and is staffed by a primary ICT specialist who is seconded from the primary sector and paid for out of the Technology College Budget.
• The college holds taster days for partner primary pupils during the year, which are very successful. This is in addition to the usual three-day induction, which takes place in July.
• The college invites partner primary schools to see our plays for afternoon performances.
• We have a member of the Modern Foreign Language staff who spends one day per week working in the primary schools. The college funds this. It is proving very popular and much praised by our primary colleagues.
• We have a member of the P.E staff appointed under the Sport Coordinator Programme who spends 50% of his time on primary liaison.
• We visit the primary schools with our road show, which is always well received, and a highlight of the year for our partner primaries.
• A senior member of staff regularly takes assemblies in our partner primary schools.
• There are regular meetings of the Reddish Group of Head teachers.
• We co-operate with our partner primary schools over P.T.A and social events.
• We organise for our partner primary schools 'Cooking for Kids' in the holiday period. This is generally for one week and on each day a different partner primary school attends.
• The college organises a performance arts evening with our partner primary schools which takes place at the Plaza theatre in Stockport.
• We have a number of pupils who are involved with helping arrange inter-primary competitions and particularly the very successful Mini Commonwealth Games.
• The college supports a number of the primary partner schools with IT technical support.
• The college has seconded a teacher to a unit to assist with the teaching of IT.
• The college informs our partner primary schools how their students have got on in their GCSE exams. This information is delivered during the first week of September with the important message that these are results, which primary and secondary teachers have contributed to.
• The college has very close links with our partner sixth form colleges. There are link courses with a number of colleges including courses in Health and Social Care, Hairdressing, Floristry and Building. Some 30 students have day release from our college to attend a sixth form or further education college.
• The college operates a summer school, government funded, for improvement of literacy and numeracy. Both primary and secondary teachers staff these courses.