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Earlier this month, Rhyddings welcomed hundreds of former pupils, staff, and members of the community to celebrate their 90th year. To commemorate this fantastic occasion, former pupils travelled from near and far to attend the event and allowed former students to reconnect with their school friends.

During the event, the school had archive materials from throughout its 90-year history including old school photos, sparking reminiscent and positive memories of their time at school. “Rhyddings was a lovely chapter of my life”, and “It’s hard to believe that Rhyddings was a huge chapter in my life 14 years ago. It’s where I made my life-long friend and shaped my life forever.”

Throughout the day, current staff dressed up to add to the nostalgia people had for the school and their school days. For many there, it was fantastic to see how previous teaching staff at Rhyddings had shaped pupils’ lives, with some taking the step to become teachers themselves including Rhyddings’ own Miss Simpson!

The teaching staff, past and present, were a huge part of the day, with many visitors reflecting about their favourite teachers whilst they were at the school including Mr Hargreaves, Mrs Hilary, Mr Furley, Mr Smith and Mr Gibson all being remembered positively.

Current headteacher of Rhyddings. Mr Williams said “All in all it was a wonderful day, a fantastic vibe for everyone involved. We state we are at the heart of the community and have been since 1932, and this absolutely came to life by sharing the school’s rich and wonderful history and the precious memories it holds for so many across generations. I could not be prouder of the school, the staff, and our pupils for staging such a magnificent event! Bring on the hundred!’

On Wednesday, pupils from the Hollins organised and hosted their second event of the academic year at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel as part of their volunteering experience with the Let’s Be Foundation.

The Hollins Let’s Be Foundation, ‘The Great Elderly Tea Party’, is an annual intergenerational tea party that brings together different generations.  

This year, the event took place at the Mercure Dunkehalgh Hotel and was organised and hosted by our amazing Let’s Be Volunteers. This year we had the privilege of hosting over 120 elderly residents from across East Lancashire, with attendees from Accrington and the neighbouring towns of Oswaldtwistle, Burnley, Blackburn, Barrowford, Nelson and Great Harwood.

The Tea Party allowed young people to make a positive contribution to their local community, as well as help foster better relationships between the two generations.  Prior to the event, the Hollins pupils visited elderly people within their community, spending time with them and learning about their life experiences.

Waqar Ahmed, Extended Schools Co-Ordinator and founder of the Let’s Be Foundation said: “The aim of the Tea Party is to have both generations meet each other in a positive way and create a stronger community connection between the two. Our young Let’s Be Volunteer work extremely behinds the scenes to ensure that each attendee is made to feel special and accepted.

The event was a huge success, and the 120 guests were welcomed with incredible entertainment, wholesome conversations and  some traditional afternoon tea. A huge congratulations to all of the pupils and staff that are involved in this initiative.

As part of their summer term, West End Primary School pupils participated in a Game, Sketch and Match competition to win tennis equipment and Staedler stationery for their school.

As part of the competition, pupils across the UK were encouraged let their creativity run free and to enjoy learning about tennis. As part of this, KS1 were asked to design their own tennis ball and KS2 was challenged to design kit for their favourite tennis player.

We were delighted to find out last week that Lucas from West End Primary School had the winning tennis ball design and won against thousands of other entrants. Lucas was delighted to see the prizes arrive into school last week. All of Lucas’ fellow pupils can’t wait to join and use the tennis equipment and stationary that he had won for the school!

A huge congratulations to Lucas! Every teacher, staff member, and parent in the LET Education Trust is incredibly proud of your achievement!

The Year 6 pupils at Huncoat Primary have had an extremely exciting couple of days at Hothersall Lodge. During their time, the pupils climbed trees, zoomed down long zip-lines and even found the time to practice canoeing!

The pupils were actively encouraged to try to take part in new activities and tasks throughout their visit. They all learnt new skills orienteering up Beacon Fell, completed a team challenge whilst Gorge Walking and improved their archery skills. The children had a great 3 days, learning to make their own beds, keeping themselves safe, testing their resilience and practicing growth mindsets.

A very tired, but happy set of children and staff, all returned safely to hand over a pile of muddy washing to their parents!

As we approach the new term we look back at the first week of the summer holiday (for most) were we held the Rhyddings summer school for 2022.

We had a good mixture of pupils coming from our primary schools and meeting each other for the first time whilst doing the ice breaker activities where some pupils made their very own badges! They had many opportunities to work with their new-found friends and peers competing through the week with The Apprentice Challenge, where they had to design a brand-new roller coaster and create and present a marketing campaign around a selected target audience. Whilst getting to know the building pupils competed in treasure hunts and escape rooms tasks using their maths skills and introducing themselves to their new teachers all whilst building on their literacy skills. The week was concluded with an excellent team and confidence building day spent at Outdoor Elements outdoorelements.co.uk where pupils had physical challenges.

Many demonstrated excellent resilience when successfully completing their activity ranging from overcoming their fears from climbing trees (45 feet tall). Whilst climbing they had to place their trusting in the rest of the team with belaying (holding the rope safely). Many pupils were able to summon all their courage and overcome voices in their heads that were telling them not to jump from a 35 feet tall tree. The other on ground-based tasks were making their own bread and cooking it on a fire they had started from foraging sticks and logs and finally honing their archery skills.

All pupils demonstrated excellent self-awareness whilst offering encouragement and support, perseverance, mutual respect, awareness and consideration of others – They fully immersed themselves in the activities and demonstrated the values of The Rhyddings Way.

Pupils, staff and parents have been celebrating at The Hollins as they received their well-deserved GCSE results. Despite the challenges of the last 2 years, pupils have worked hard to ensure they achieved grades that would allow them to pursue their chosen next steps. While they have lived through a pandemic that interrupted their “normal” education for a significant portion of their GCSE years, they are leaving their secondary education with an impressive haul of qualifications and grades.

Headteacher Mrs Haydock said “As a school we have seen some real improvements in most of our subject areas, showcasing the dedication and commitment of the staff at The Hollins. As a year group, our young people have achieved the best set of GCSE results since the exams were reformed in 2017 and for that I congratulate the class of 2022. I would also like to thank parents and staff for their unwavering dedication and commitment to our young people. I could not be prouder of what we have achieved at The Hollins.”

Stand out performances were achieved by many of our individuals, with Heather T topping the table in terms of the top grades.

Mrs Haydock also added “Our pupils are much more than just these excellent grades. Their determination and resilience, along with the wider skills we focus on at The Hollins, have meant they are all able to confidently take their next steps be it in A-levels, T-levels or apprenticeships. We cannot wait to see what they achieve next.”

We say a sad but fond farewell to our Deputy Head, Catherine MacMahon who is leaving Huncoat this July to take up a new post as Headteacher at Woodnook Primary School in Accrington.

Mrs MacMahon has been at Huncoat for over 18 years and taught many, many children, and worked in a highly effective way with their families.
She has a wonderful relationship with all staff, governors, children and families and will be truly missed by all. Her hard work and devotion to the school has been greatly valued and her promotion is very well-deserved.

She will make a wonderful headteacher and our loss is Woodnook’s gain.
Good bye and good luck Mrs MacMahon.

As part of their ITT year a group of our trainee teachers have been fortunate to go and teach in British Schools in Prague, Rome and Brussels. Below is an item written by Charlotte and Mark, two trainees from The Hollins, about their experiences at the British School in Prague.

“Ahoj Z Praha”

That is about as far as our understanding of the Czech language goes…

In such a short space of time we feel that we have gained not only the experience a new school in a different country brings, but also memories that we will remember for life. We will definitely find it hard to leave in a couple of weeks’ time!

The experience of working in a selective, international school has allowed us to experience an almost different way of teaching compared to what we have been accustomed to in the UK. What has been familiar though is the warm welcome we received and how quickly we have integrated into school-life and the classroom. Students still require the same from us in terms of guidance, support and to be the one that challenges them academically. In return, they have been open to our instruction and have made it an easy transition into a slightly different classroom environment.

The main difference between teaching in the UK and at the English College in Prague (ECP) is the idea of autonomy and independence in students. We spend our lessons openly discussing the big ideas within our subjects and what impacts they have, alongside the core curriculum that they follow here in the International Baccalaureate (IB) & International GCSE (IGCSE). Students within classes help each other and provide guidance from their own independent study. The experience of this has opened our eyes to the endless possibilities of how we can continue to improve our teaching upon our return in the UK.

Alongside teaching, we have been experiencing the Czech culture and exploring the beautiful city of Prague. Along with the Nottingham trainees we went cannoning down the River Sazava, which was an experience; by the end of it nobody was dry! Last week Mark climbed Snezka, the tallest mountain in the Czech Republic, to catch the sunrise. He was ill-equipped for the hike wearing only shorts and trainers which upon reflection would have probably failed a risk assessment, however, the views were certainly worth it!

This weekend we are visiting Bohemian Switzerland National Park, not to be confused with ‘actual’ Switzerland because apparently the term ‘Switzerland’ is used to describe its beauty. Narnia was also filmed there but hopefully we don’t run into any lions!

Charlotte and Mark have also produced a short video talking about their time in Prague and Jennifer has created one about her time in Brussels.

The PTI awarded Bethany Seymour a trainee teacher with the Pennine Lancashire SCITT based at The Hollins in Accrington, the Martin Roberts Prize for outstanding new resource in Spanish, celebrating the outstanding new teaching resources.

The late Martin Roberts was a founding member of the Academic Steering Group of the Prince of Wales Education Summer Schools in 2002, continuing with the group in the establishment of the PTI until 2016. He was Headteacher at the Cherwell School in Oxford for 22 years, managing its evolution from a secondary modern school with 300 pupils to a comprehensive school with 1,800 pupils judged “Outstanding” by Ofsted by the time he retired.

Martin Roberts was instrumental in the establishment of the PTI’s New Teacher Subject Days courses; in his memory in 2022, the PTI established Martin Roberts Prizes celebrating the best new teaching resources created by course participants.

The Pennine Lancashire SCITT trains teachers in a school-centred teacher training programme and is part of the LET Education Trust, a newly formed Mult-Academy Trust based in Accrington. The PLSCITT has a very innovative and exciting curriculum and provides placements for trainees following both primary and secondary training programmes across East Lancashire and Europe.

Steve Campbell, CEO for LET Education Trust and Accounting Officer for PLSCITT said:

“We are delighted Beth has been awarded this coveted prize. It is validation of the hard work Beth has applied throughout her training year and is also testament to her mentors who have all provided such valuable support. Beth begins her teaching career at Blessed Trinity in September where we know she will continue to make a difference to our young people”

Louise Stubbs, Director of PLSCITT said:

“We are delighted to see Beth win the Martin Roberts prize this year. Our programme has an ambitious curriculum designed to create outstanding teachers and to receive this external validation is a thrill! Beth has been an outstanding trainee and we are excited about what the future holds for her and her classes.”

Carolyn Roberts, Co-Director, The PTI, said:

“The candidates selected for the inaugural Martin Roberts Prize have inspired us with the quality and creativity of the resources they have produced. We couldn’t be more delighted that Bethany was awarded the Martin Roberts Prize for Spanish for their outstanding new resource.”

The PTI (formerly The Prince’s Teaching Institute) inspires teachers and school leaders to become more effective, enthusiastic and influential by putting subject-centred teaching at the heart of schools. Providing high-quality professional development, the PTI’s sustainable approach to school improvement supports teachers to become experts in their subjects and pass on a love of learning to their students. The PLSCITT still has some training places available for September please visit www.plscitt.org.uk