On Friday 13th June, our talented Year 12 Professional Cookery students had the incredible opportunity to cater for the Bishop's Garden Party — a special event aimed at encouraging local employers to engage with careers programmes.

With the sun shining and the stunning cathedral view from the Bishop’s private garden as a backdrop, it was an unforgettable afternoon celebrating partnerships between education and the world of work.

👏 A huge well done to our students for showcasing their skills in such a prestigious setting!

#CareersEducation #ProfessionalCookery #StudentSuccess #BishopsGardenParty #WorkReady #FutureChefs

We are delighted to share our Ofsted report from our inspection in March this year. This was an ungraded inspection where the inspection team had a remit to judge whether we are maintaining standards and provision or have standards changed. The inspection team found that we have made significant progress since the last inspection.

“Highly skilled” teachers, pupils with “exemplary” behaviour, and an “ambitious and challenging curriculum” which ensures that “pupils achieve exceptionally well” are just some of Ofsted’s recent findings, as Ely College builds on its position as an exceptional college for an exceptional community.

The inspectors highlighted a “well-considered curriculum for pupils with special educational needs”, highlighting “a small number of pupils study a bespoke curriculum that supports their needs”. At Ely College, “teachers know pupils’ individual needs and apply effective strategies to support them”. The inspectors also praised the “strong culture of reading” and the effective support to help students build confidence in their reading.

The full report can be found on the College’s website but the key findings are detailed below:

• Pupils enjoy attending this inclusive school and feel safe. Pupils feel known as individuals in this large school.

• The broad and ambitious curriculum engages all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

• Pupils access a high-quality offer of enrichment opportunities with a diverse range of activities and a very broad personal development offer.

• Teachers are highly skilled at adapting the learning to meet pupils’ needs.

• Pupils achieve highly and are well prepared for the next steps in their education, employment or training.

• The behaviour of many pupils is exemplary. They are polite and respectful.

• Trustees and governors know the school exceptionally well and provide an equal balance of support and holding leaders effectively to account.

• The school’s broad and rich curriculum is well considered. It is ambitious and challenging for all pupils. There is a wide range of academic and vocational courses, particularly in the sixth form. The curriculum builds well on pupils’ previous learning and takes account of their different needs.

• The school has a strong culture of reading. Pupils read a wide variety of challenging texts. If pupils struggle to read fluently when they join, the school provides effective support to help them build their confidence.

• Staff, including early career teachers, say that they are very well supported. They feel valued and appreciate how leaders look after their well-being and workload.

Principal, Simon Warburton, said: “I’m incredibly proud of everyone’s hard work and dedication which clearly shines through in this report. It’s an achievement for all of us in the school community, students, staff and parents, and across the wider Meridian Trust family. We remain dedicated to building on this success, and addressing areas for further development, to ensure we’re a truly great college; a beacon of excellence of which our whole community can be proud.”

You can access our report here https://www.elycollege.com/ofsted

🏆Shout out to the other Meridian Trust teams! What a great day we had! Recently, several Year 10 students and our Year 12 Bishop Laney students were invited to compete in a cross-trust technology competition at Stratton School. Students were set a brief by the Rotary Club to design and build a flashing beacon 🚨

With the Year 12’s attempting a more advanced version of the task, all the students got started and worked so hard in their teams to problem-solve and learn new skills. Ultimately producing some varied but fantastic work, they were judged on teamwork, their design portfolio, critical thinking and how well their chosen design worked in the final testing stages.

🥇We are delighted to announce that one of our Year 10 teams won 1st place and our other team came a very respectable 6th! Year 12 also did amazingly well, and although they were beaten to first place, we claimed 2nd and 3rd! Congratulations to all involved!👏

  

Ely College was honoured to welcome Tia Fisher, acclaimed author and winner of the Yoto Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice medal for 2024, for a special visit with Year 9 students.

The event, organised by Librarian Anne Shaw, was a highlight of the spring term and formed part of the College’s wider efforts to promote reading and creative writing across the curriculum.

Tia Fisher, whose award-winning young adult novel Crossing the Line has received national acclaim, spoke to students about her writing journey, the inspiration behind her work, and why she feels that connecting through creative writing is so important.

Crossing the Line is a novel in verse aimed at teenage readers, using concrete poetry to explore complex issues and emotions. It was inspired by the true story of Tia’s friend’s son who became involved with a drugs gang.

Celebrated as outstanding and important, the novel won the Yoto Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice 2024, the UKLA Award 11-14+ category 2024, was Children’s Book of the Week in The Times and is in the 2024 Reading for Empathy Collection.

Tia’s talk was followed by a lively Q&A session and a book signing. Selected students with a passion for creative writing were invited to a writing workshop after the event, where they explored writing concrete poetry of their own.

Principal, Simon Warburton, said: “It was a privilege to host Tia Fisher at Ely College. Her visit created a real buzz amongst our students and staff. We have a fabulous reading and writing culture here at Ely, and we’re passionate about providing positive memorable experiences for our students.

“Tia’s words and experiences brought the world of literature to life in a way that truly inspired our young people. A huge thanks to Mrs Shaw, Mrs Clark-Hope and the rest of our hard-working English department for organising such a fantastic opportunity and sharing their passion for creative writing with our students.”

For more information about Tia Fisher and her work, visit https://www.tiafisher.com.

   

What a gorgeous sunny day to celebrate the end of term and to enjoy our Year 11 Wellbeing Day! Preparing them for those all important final few weeks ahead, we welcomed 'Fix Up', who came in to run a fun and interactive assembly. They confirmed how wonderful our students are...

The rest of the off-timetable day saw a variety of activities for students to be involved in – textiles stitching, dancing, clay pot making, mindfulness, boxercise, reading, creative writing, African drumming and the Ely MHST team came in to share ways in which to deal with different and sometime difficult thoughts.

Thank you to all the staff that ran sessions and made the day happen – and thank you to our lovely Year 11s for getting involved and enjoying the day. Hoping everyone has a restful break and Year 11: YOU GOT THIS when we all come back! #year11matters #wellbeingmatters - with Meridian Trust