ANNUAL REPORT 2015-2016 CONTENTS Introduction 4 Our Curriculum 5 Our Students 13 Our Finances 15 Our Success Rates 17 Personal Successes 18 Our Community 21 Our Technology 23 Our Staff 23 Our Estate 25 Our Highlights 27 INTRODUCTION It gives me great pleasure to The final example which I would like to highlight is introduce the College’s Annual report the recent Ofsted inspection of the college which took place in November 2016. The report said of us: for 2015/16. “Your leadership team and governors set high The year as usual has presented many challenges expectations for your learners and staff, with and opportunities for the college and I would like clear priorities to improve the quality of provision, to highlight three examples which characterize the develop the skills of teaching staff, improve the spirit of the college, its staff and learners. college estate and maintain a strong financial In December 2015, the college had to respond to position. the extraordinary circumstances of severe flooding “Governors have a good understanding of the in Rochdale Town Centre. Despite significant college’s key priorities and areas for improvement damage to the infrastructure of the Rochdale and provide challenge to you and your leadership campus, of the order of £1.5m, we recovered in a team.” short period of time thus allowing continuity and The highly positive inspection also highlighted that: minimal disruption for our learners. • Staff share an ambitious strategy to provide the Throughout 2015/16 the college was involved highest quality vocational provision which meets in the Greater Manchester Area Review of post the needs and is responsive to national priorities. 16 provision. We took this opportunity to raise Staff development is a key priority of the college. the profile of our local post 16 system, a highly performing, highly efficient system, with no • Ensuring high-quality teaching and learning is duplication or competition. A system which the highest priority and continues to be a strong demonstrates some of the highest Key Stage 5 focus of the college’s work. performances nationally. • Study programmes provide learners aged 16-19 Through this review we highlight Hopwood Hall with high quality work-related activities and College’s unparalleled record of collaborative purposeful work experience which link to their working both within Rochdale and across Greater longer-term employment aspirations. Manchester. We also reaffirm our commitment to • Teachers have high aspirations for their learners realising Greater Manchester’s skills ambitions in and use a variety of challenging and interesting tandem with an unwavering focus of delivering on activities to motivate them. Rochdale’s priorities. • The college works effectively with local businesses and other partners to ensure that the curriculum is current, supports learner’s employability prospects and provides opportunities for learners to progress to higher level technical skill programmes. • A wide range of enrichment activities help Derek O’Toole learners to develop their personal, social and Principal work skills. The strength and character of Hopwood Hall College starts with people; governors, staff and students and I thank you all for your contributions to our success in 2015/16. 4 In April 2015, Hopwood Hall College was named again as having the highest FE college success rates across Greater Manchester. To achieve this for a second year was a huge achievement and we continue to build on our reputation of innovation offering courses that meet learner demand. We are continuing to offer an expanding range of programmes from pre-entry to degree level for both full and part-time learners. Courses are delivered on both our college campuses and externally in community venues, local schools, professional football clubs and on employer premises. The key curriculum developments in 2015/16 were: Apprenticeships Training@Hopwood manage all In 2015/16 over 255 work-based learning provision on apprenticeship jobs were created behalf of the College, including with around 130 apprentices apprenticeships, traineeships and successfully completing their other workforce development frameworks. programmes. Training@Hopwood is currently During the year the department working with around 200 has developed its customer local employers covering an base by establishing new extensive range of sectors. The apprenticeship frameworks new Employer Engagement and such as plumbing and, where Recruitment Team are working possible, growing other closely with all our partners and frameworks for example employers to continue to expand engineering. The ESF Skills our offer. Support for the Unemployed The Employer Satisfaction (SSU) programme has had a Study carried out by the Skills successful start with the team Funding Agency for 2016/17 delivering Level 1 accredited found that just under 80% of our qualifications in English, Maths, employers would recommend ESOL, Health & Social Care, our services to another Business Administration, Catering employer seeking similar training & Hospitality and Employability. because we understand their Around 90 learners from the organisation’s training needs. borough have successfully They also praised our quality progressed through this and the professionalism of our programme to date. delivery. Additionally it was also found that we offer our training in a flexible way and we are efficient and effective in our communication. OUR CURRICULUM 5 Arts & Performing Arts All Performing Arts students are now registered with an Art & Design students had a busy agency and many secured acting year which included a successful parts during 2015/16 which we exhibition at Touchstones Gallery hope will give them valuable and our Graphics students being experience and lead to further responsible for the redesign work in the future. of their café logo. Zain Zia’s design came out on top and Employer engagement and he attended the unveiling at an strong links to universities has event alongside the Mayor and enhanced the provision for Mayoress of Rochdale. Fashion & the HND Games Development Textiles students also took part and our Level 3 Creative Media in a fashion show at The Rock courses. Students also undertook shopping centre in Bury entitled a range of ‘live’ work related ‘Style your Summer’ which projects across Graphic Design, Business, Travel Art & Design, Fashion and Media featured in ‘This is Lancashire’ & Accounts online magazine. (Film & TV). Fashion & Textiles and Creative Media were both To improve employability skills Creative Media student Cary- placed in the top 3 at the Greater and meet individual learner’s Lee Walker won the BTEC Manchester Colleges Skills needs Level 3 business students Outstanding Student of the competition, with Performing ran a charity event for a young Year (see page 18 for more Arts winning the Level 2 Acting footballer, Ellis Robinson, on details) and the Performing Arts and Dance categories and Fine behalf of Rochdale Football club. students held a full programme Art winning their section. The event was a success with of successful shows culminating learners actively engaging with in a pantomime at the Hopwood all areas of event management. Theatre and the Rochdale Christmas lights switch on. Student Jack Morrison also secured a placement on the KPMG360 programme which is a highly sought after rotational apprenticeship programme (3 – 6 years) which will allow Jack to work around different areas of the organisation with the potential of leaving with ACA, CA, CTA OR CIMA professionally qualified status. Our Level 2 Business learners also undertook a two week voluntary placement in a national supermarket during the Easter break allowing them to put their classroom learning into practice in a real work environment. Performing Arts Students Jack Morrison with poet Lemn Sissay and Principal Derek O’Toole 6 Early Years and Health Hair and Beauty & Social Care Two students who recently The Early Years and Health & completed their Level 3 courses Social Care curriculum offers with us are now travelling the a comprehensive portfolio of world on cruise ships in the competence as well as theoretical On Board Spas by Steiner. Ella based programmes to meet the Danleme who studied Beauty needs of diverse learners, the Therapy and Chloe Williams who community, and local employers studied hairdressing, excelled ranging from Entry level to Level while gaining employability skills 5. through our own Riverside Salon and are now both working on The qualifications are offered luxurious Royal Caribbean cruise both full and part-time across ships across the globe. both our campuses. Our qualifications are offered by the awarding bodies CACHE, BTEC and City & Guilds and designed for learners who wish to undertake either an academic route or more practical study programme. The Early Years Educator qualification is delivered at both Level 2 and 3 and it will enable learners to access higher education or enter E-Learning the workforce as Early Years The e-Learning department Educators. compromises the LRC team, Within Health and Social Care e-Learning development team we are in the second year of and the VLE Coordinator. These delivering the Level 3 Dental three key areas provide a central Nursing qualification. The service to promote, support and qualification focuses on direct facilitate the college’s ambitious chair side work and support e-Learning strategy. during a range of dental The department has a significant treatments and is suitable for impact on