News
Five Star Food Hygiene
Congratulations to staff in our canteen for getting the best possible food hygiene ratings after an inspection from the Food Standards Agency.
Our Educaterers run facility got a rating of five (out of five) which means that everything at the eatery is in tip-top condition.
Each establishment is checked in three categories, including hygienic food handling, cleanliness and condition of facilities and building and management of food safety.
Half term revision schedule
You can download a PDF of our half term revision schedule here:
Howzat For A Year 7 Cricketer!
Students at Forge play a diverse range of sport and today we’d like to celebrate Harry in year 7 who is clearly a prodigious cricketing talent.
Harry plays his club cricket for Stourbridge Cricket Club and plays for a range of age groups from U12s to U15s. He has recently made his debut for the adult Saturday fourth team.
He was recently awarded Worcestershire County Cricket Club U11s Most Valuable Player of the season. Every game during the season, the players’ performances are turned into points. Harry accumulated a total of 497 points over the season, he had an outstanding season with both bat and ball. Harry’s total is the highest achieved in the six years the award has been given out.
Over the season of 10 games, he took 17 wickets and scored 217 runs.
He is now in the U12s county team and has been invited to play with the academy side which are mainly 14, 15 and 16-year-olds. He recently played his first game for the Academy vs Cheshire.
Please join us in congratulating Harry and wishing him luck with the bat and ball in the future. Perhaps one day we’ll see Harry play for Worcestershire Rapids or the Birmingham Bears… or England. Howzat!
Forge Announces Football Shirt Sponsor
Ormiston Forge Academy is delighted to announce a new football shirt sponsorship with paint technology company, Reiter of Wolverhampton.
The deal, which will see match shirts carry the sponsor logo is already up and running and Forge students wore the shirts with pride on a recent tour to Holland.
Dr Lisa Mason, head of academy at Ormiston Forge said: “We are delighted to welcome Reiter to our Forge family.
“They have demonstrated a real enthusiasm and desire to work with us.
“To partner with a company that understands our values and who we are is very important to us.
“This partnership provides us with the perfect opportunity to further enhance our growing sports portfolio and our football teams look forward to wearing the shirts with pride.“
Shirts have been provided for every year group and both male and female football teams. The shirts will be used for fixtures throughout the year.
General Manager at Reiter, Ivan Roberts said: “It is an absolute pleasure to be sponsoring Ormiston Forge Academy; providing an opportunity and supporting the local community. I wish the best of success for the students and hope this has a real positive impact.“
The name Reiter has been associated with developing leading technology for the paint application industry for more than 40 years, with innovative ideas for paint machine design and automatic paint application systems. Reiter is a well-established company within the automotive and general industrial product finishing markets. Operating across a global network spanning hundreds of installations, Reiter products and services have a universally proven track record.
Duke Of Edinburgh Bronze Award
This morning we launched the Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Bronze Award with our students in year 8.
Chris Harding, DofE central Birmingham and Sandwell operations manager, spoke to students about what’s involved and how to apply.
Interested students in year 8 should pick up an application form from student reception.
For more information, see Mrs Thomas or Mr Morrissey, send a message via social media or go to https://www.dofe.org/.
Summer Exam Timetable 2019
We’ve published the summer exam timetable below in a PDF format.
Easter Revision Schedule
You can download a PDF of our Easter Revision Schedule here:
More Community Accolades For Forge
The hard work of students and staff at Ormiston Forge Academy continues to be recognised. Just this academic year the Cradley Heath academy has been awarded the Well-Being Charter Mark, the gold award for the Sandwell Early Help Partnership and become the lead Sandwell school for the Black Country Careers Hub.
Becoming the Sandwell lead for the Black Country Careers Hub involves sharing examples of best practice and case studies with the Enterprise Adviser and championing the programme with other schools, colleges and businesses. It also means sharing information, experience, materials and skills with partners in the hub. The group will learn from each other and develop effective working practises, work collaboratively to identify solutions, eliminate duplication of effort, mitigate risk and reduce cost.
The director of work related learning at Forge, Rachel McCarthy, said, “This places us firmly at the heart of the local careers hub and allows us to shape the future for students from across the Black Country.
“We have much to offer, our careers programme is innovative and is completely centred around the student. When students leave Forge, they go into the world of work, apprenticeships or higher education. Our commitment is that nobody is left behind and we’d like to see that across the region.”
Additionally, the Sandwell Well-Being Charter Mark project has been co-developed by Inclusion Support and Sandwell Council’s public health department in response to the recent National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.
The project stems from an identified need to develop and focus thinking around whole school approaches to promoting positive mental health and wellbeing.
The project addresses the wellbeing and mental health of all those in the school community (parents, staff, and pupils) and works on the premise that everyone, at some point in their life, will have some difficulties around mental health and need support from others.
By engaging in this project, the school has shown a dedication to addressing needs in an exciting and creative way. The whole school approach contains multiple elements including:
- An emotional health and well-being audit for schools linked to the Charter Mark
- The development of an ‘action plan’ to address gaps in each school
- Whole school survey to monitor pupil well-being
Geraldine Butler, the vice principal for inclusion at Forge, said: “We’re very proud of achieving this charter mark and our dedication to the wellbeing and mental health of our Forge family continues.
“By embracing this work and making it central to all we do, we are hoping to remove any stigma about mental health. It is time that we treated mental illness in the same way we treat physical illness.”
Finally, the Sandwell Early Help Partnership brings together schools, voluntary agencies, community organisations, faith groups, Sandwell Council, health providers, police and fire services and others, to work more closely supporting children and families in Sandwell. The Partnership believes that all children and young people growing up in Sandwell deserve the best possible start in life and should have access to a wide range of opportunities to grow and develop into healthy, happy individuals and active citizens within our community.
Gold level members, like Forge, make a range of commitments including working well with other local partners, maintaining best safeguarding practice throughout their organisation, developing their knowledge of other routes to support, and playing a lead role in helping students and parents address concerns and challenges when they arise.
Sarah Taylor, the associate senior leader for inclusion, said, “The Forge family extends into the heart of the community and our commitment is there for all to see. Our support doesn’t stop at the school gates and I’m as proud of the work we do in school as the work done outside.”
Head of academy, Lisa Mason, said, “These achievements don’t happen overnight, they are the result of deeply committed staff and rigorous, lengthy processes. They are motivated not just by our students but by students right across Sandwell and you’ll note that all three reach out into the community and positively affect all children, not just Forge children.
“I’m incredibly proud to lead a school that shines as brightly as ours does, isn’t afraid to dirty hands and tries to develop stronger, more sustainable networks that will create a better future for children.”
New Football Scholarship Programme
After some months of planning, Ormiston Forge Academy are delighted to be able to announce the launch of a new football scholarship programme in association with Gornal Athletic FC.
The programme is designed for students from the local area aged 16 to 18 to combine high calibre football education with A level / BTEC education courses, whilst also undertaking FA accredited qualifications in various areas of the game.
The programme will be led and directed by former professional footballer Richard Forsyth, who has 15 years playing experience, 15 years teaching experience and is a UEFA B licensed coach.
Ormiston Forge Academy scholarships have previously helped many students attain A levels, places with universities, degree apprenticeships, places of work with football clubs and football scholarships in the USA and Canada.
A presentation evening will be held for interested parties on Wednesday 10th April at Ormiston Forge Academy, B64 6QU at 17.30 -18.30 where Richard Forsyth, Andrew Burns (Executive Principal), a representative from Gornal Athletic and current scholars will be on hand to discuss the new programme in more detail.
There will also be a football trials day on Wednesday 17th April 11am -2pm at Forge where students will be put through their paces.
Jason Tonks, head of football at Gornal Athletic Football Club said: “This is another very important move for the restructure of the football club, and is a partnership we are very excited about.”
The minimum entry criteria for students is current year 11, turning 16 before September 1st. Anyone interested should make contact using the details on the scholarship flyer or via the clubs website and social media (Twitter, Facebook).
https://www.facebook.com/events/1029712513896863/
Message on behalf of Sandwell Education Directorate
We have been asked to post this on behalf on the Sandwell Education Directorate. This is not an Ofsted inspection at Forge. Thank you.
From 18 March 2019 to 21 March 2019, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will carry out jointly a re-visit of your local area following the previous inspection that took place between 16 January 2017 and 20 January 2017.
The re-visit will evaluate how effectively leaders have addressed the areas of serious weaknesses detailed in the written statement of action (WSOA).
During the re-visit, Ofsted and CQC inspectors will be keen to speak to as many children and young people and their parents and carers as possible, specifically about the weaknesses identified in the WSOA.
How can parents and carers contribute their views during this local area re-visit?
The inspectors will gather the contributions of parents and families through an online survey and a face-to-face open meeting. The focus of the online survey and open meeting will be set by the inspectors and will be based on the WSOA.
Parents and carers who would like to take part in this survey can follow this internet link: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/SandwelLASENDRevisit/. The survey will open at 12 noon on Monday 11 March 2019 and close at 12 noon on Friday 15 March 2019.
Parents and carers can submit their contributions via the online survey using the link provided above.
An open meeting, which will focus on areas identified in the WSOA, will take place on 18 March 2019. Parents and carers can contact their local Parent Carer Forum / SENDIASS (0121 500 4010) to request details of how to be part of the discussions between parents and carers and the Ofsted/CQC re-visit team.
