Please have a look at the timetable below.

We hope to see lots of Year 11 pupils attending the sessions, as they will be specifically focusing on pupils' gaps in knowledge.

We hope all our pupils have a lovely break, and we will look forward to welcoming them back on Monday 13th April 2026.

Many thanks to the Ivy Project who run a mobile food bank locally. As well as providing a valued service in the community they have kindly been supplying the farm with any leftover fruit and veg they might have.

Y7 intervention pupils have been enjoying weeding and preparing our polytunnel to prepare it for planting. The polytunnel was fully refurbished last year and we’re hoping to get some bumper crops of fruit and veg over the next few months. Pupils are also looking forward to planting some flowers and shrubs outside the reception area and have prepared all the planters with fresh compost ready for next week.

Finally, a Y7 pupil submitted these great cartoons that he created from his snaps of one of our little pygmy goats, Dotty, and our alpacas Horace and Espresso, for our classroom display.

Reddish Vale High School is part of the Achieve and Learn Trust.  You can read the latest Trust news by clicking on the link below:

Achieve and Learn Trust - Trust Bulletin

We’ve had 7 new ducks donated to the farm! One of the ducks, Jemima, is photographed below.

The farm has also linked up with a The Ivy Centre, a mobile food bank for the community. They are happy to drop any surplus fruit or veg off once they have distributed what they can to the community. Today the animals enjoyed a bumper feast of lettuce, broccoli and other tasty veg.

Two new bunnies donated by one of our pupils’ parents have been named Thumper and Bambi after a vote amongst the farm pupils.

Some Year 7’s did an amazing job of deep cleaning the barns and washing down the farm changing rooms, and another Year 7 group enjoyed learning how to measure and fit new fencing wire for some much-needed spot repairs.

We hope all our pupils have a lovely break, and we will look forward to welcoming them back on Tuesday 6th January.

Click the titles below to visit the external web pages.

You can also visit the Stockport Jobs Match website to view the College and Sixth form prospectus and to book a slot on their Live Evening Q&A Information Events.

https://stockport-jobsmatch.co.uk/post-16-careers-week-2025/?utm_source=chatgpt.com 

More photos from results day can be found under News & Events - Events Gallery.

Please see the poster below for more details. 

They are currently recruiting for their next Wave of Change* programme starting in June 2025. The personalised programme takes place in person over the next 3 months.  They are looking for Stockport women who are either:

·       Out of work

·       Struggling with mental or physical health challenges

·       And/ or, are feeling socially isolated

On the Wave of Change programme, they support Stockport women to explore future possibilities and create impactful connections whilst building useful skills.  They always provide flexible sessions within school hours and around half terms and school holidays. Their sessions mainly take place on Tuesdays.

If you are working with any women who would benefit from this amazing opportunity, please encourage them to complete an expression of interest form. They will then be in touch to invite them to an intro walk.

PIE have already supported over 200 women in Stockport to take their next positive steps, and they'd love to reach even more.

The Y8 allotment club pupils are really pleased with the area and have started rotovating the soil in preparation for some planting, and the Y8 morning and after school clubs have been sowing fruit and veg in the new mini greenhouses, which will be planted in the allotment area in the next few weeks.

Intervention pupils also enjoyed repairing the outdoor guinea pig cage to get Poppy and Daisy outside while the weather has been warm and sunny, and they are looking forward to sprucing it up with a coat of paint next week.

Pupils also helped in the construction of mini greenhouses which have been placed over the seed beds in the polytunnel to ensure the best growing conditions for the planned fruit and veg patches. They’re excited about the prospect of seeing the seeds grow and eventually producing food, and all classes and interventions will have the chance to plant seeds and track their progress all through Spring into Summer. Some of the fruit and veg will be used to feed some of the animals and pupils will also get to see the benefits of sustainability.

Finally, the goats area has had some logs and tree trunks donated by a local businessman and the goats seem to be enjoying clambering over these.

Please see below the link to the Young Minds Parent Guide on trauma, which was shared in Mr moroney's Headteacher's support letter, which was sent to parents/carers on 12th February 2025. 

https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/parents-a-z-mental-health-guide/trauma/

A group of Y9 intervention pupils also helped out by assembling the new cart, and by working as a team they managed to decipher the instructions and did a great job of fixing it all together. The Y10 animal care pupils used it today, and they said it made their tasks much easier.

Sadly, we have said goodbye to Marshmallow, the oldest of our three guinea pigs. The pupils will miss her, but they handled it really well, although understandably saddened.

Before Christmas, we bought some new leads and collars for the goats and pupils have enjoyed taking the goats for a stroll, weather permitting.

Over the harsh winter, pupils helped grit the farm first thing in the morning to make the area safe for everyone. When all the water on the farm froze up, they worked hard filling and carrying buckets out to all the animals. They were a huge help.

Pupils have also enjoyed putting up new hangers in the changing area and also repurposing some Christmas trees as scratching posts for the goats (after the goats had stripped all the greenery off them!)  Also, new scratching brushes have been fixed in the goat’s and Mabel’s area by pupils, which are being well used already.

Many thanks to Morrisons for the veg they kindly donated at Christmas, which helped out enormously in giving the animals a nice variety.

We hope all our pupils have a lovely break, and we will look forward to welcoming them back on Monday 6th January.

Various groups of pupils also made another boot cleaner after one of the brushes broke in the morning and by the afternoon, they added offcuts of wood and finished it ready for painting.

In addition to this, the Y8 pupils working on the allotment project have been working extremely hard, repurposing steel fence panels from the chicken quad and bringing them over to the farm to hopefully prevent any of the animals from eating the growing produce! The pupils are very enthusiastic and come in early to start promptly at 8am! It’s great to see so many pupils cooperating, bringing their own ideas and enjoying the work they are doing for the farm.  

You can find the bulletin attached below. 

Also, some old off cuts were used to make a sturdy little table/footstool. All the work of sawing, drilling, screwdriving, painting etc is the work of our pupils.

Finally, the guinea pigs have been able to enjoy a rare bit of October sunshine.

In July the farm took on a new project to build a hay trough for the goats and it is finally finished. It was a collaborative effort by all farm groups and made from 100% recycled materials.

Inclusion pupils have also done a great job refitting the overall hangers, doubling the capacity by staggering the hooks for everybody to reach.

Many pupils and staff have asked how Dotty the goat is doing after discovering that she lost a horn on Tuesday morning. The Y8 farm club pupils rallied into action and were extremely helpful, separating Dotty from the other goats and bringing supplies to help treat her wound. A quick call to the vets told us that she will be fine so long as we look after her - she is lively and has a great appetite as usual!

Thank you for your positive feedback regarding Open Evening. It is wonderful to hear that "the event was fun, welcoming, informative" and "all the students were lovely, very friendly, as were the staff."

Don't forget that the deadline for Year 7 applications for September 2025 is 31st October 2024 and applications should be made through Stockport Council. 

Morning clubs run five days a week and afternoon clubs run Mon to Wed and are very popular with many more pupils showing an interest.

The pupils' behaviour and attitude was exceptional, and we are so proud of each and every one of them.

Also, farm club and intervention pupils have been busy on the farm, helping with the daily jobs, maintenance and cleaning. The biggest job has been jet washing the goat’s area in the barn and removal of panels to gain access to the hay store.

Horace the Alpaca is improving after a visit from the vet - he is his lively self and has a healthy appetite.