We are delighted that Ruskin has been selected, as 1 of 30 schools in the country, for the Oxford University Set Up programme. This means that next year New College, one of the largest of Oxford University’s colleges, will be working with our Year 10 and 11 students on university applications and choosing the right A levels.
Ruskin Student, Rosie Milner, swept the board at the Lincolnshire Young Designer of the Year Awards on Friday 24th May hosted by Lincoln University. Wowing the judges with her innovative eco-friendly product packaging, the A-Level Graphic Communication student won three categories: Best Product Design, The Adobe Prize (awarded by the Head of Adobe Software) and the main prize of Lincolnshire Young Designer of the Year 2019.
On Wednesday 22nd May staff and students at Ruskin were honoured to welcome Simon Winston and hear his first hand testimony as a Holocaust Survivor.
His talk was followed by a question and answer session to enable students to better understand the nature of the Holocaust and to explore its lessons in more depth. The visit is part of the Holocaust Educational Trust’s extensive all year round Outreach Programme, which is available to schools across the UK.
Simon, was born in 1938 in a small town called Radzivillov, then part of Poland, now in the independent state of the Ukraine. Simon, his mother and father, and his brother were forced to live in a ghetto and Simon experienced much brutality there. However, Simon and his family were able to escape from the ghetto where they went into hiding at a farm. They lived in very cramped conditions. When they were told they had been freed and the war was over, Simon and his family became refugees and spent two years in a Displaced Persons Camp before moving to England. Simon has remained in England ever since, sharing his story in order to highlight the importance of learning from the past.
On Tuesday 8th May, Year 9 GCSE Sociology students from The Priory Ruskin Academy attended an event organised by Just Lincolnshire in commemoration of the life of Stephen Lawrence. The event focused on the history of hate crime and how the Stephen Lawrence case changed policing and the impact that it had on the criminal justice system. Students watched performances from students from De Aston school and then had the opportunity to discuss what they had seen with students from other schools and professionals from the police, victim support, courts and hate crime organisations.
The football and netball trip to Barcelona at the start of the Easter break was a huge success. Ninety students from Years 7-13 travelled to Spain where they enjoyed specialised training, lots of competitive match play, a tour of Nou Camp Stadium, the opportunity to watch a professional game and time to explore both Barcelona and Girona.
The newsletter for the spring term 2019 can be downloaded here. As always there has been so much going on at Ruskin - we hope you enjoy reading about some of the highlights.
On 25th March , a group of 69 Year 7 students went on a French trip to the Opal Coast in Northern France for 3 days.
On 13th March, Year 8 French students left the Academy in the early hours of the morning for a 3 day trip to Paris. The visit was packed with excursions such as the Arc de Triomphe, a trip to the top of the Montparnasse Tower, a stop at the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, a guided tour around Paris with entry to Notre Dame and the Fragonard Perfumerie where students were shown how perfume was made.
On Wednesday 13th March a group of keen Ruskin Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths students visited the NEC to attend The Big Bang Show. The students engaged in and enjoyed many ‘hands on’ opportunities provided by dozens of universities, businesses, colleges and schools from around the country. From coding to building air powered dragsters with the Bloodhound Land Speed Record Team, from medical procedures to working in deep sea conditions with members of the Armed Forces, controlling lunar vehicles a million miles away to finding out how far it is possible to travel on one litre of petrol.
Our annual SOS fashion show, held on Monday 4th March, was a well-attended and fun filled evening as always. With all proceeds from ticket sales going to Fairview Farm (Grantham and District Mencap), we were delighted to welcome some residents and members of staff to the event.
Ruskin’s termly PSHE day took place on Wednesday 6th March. Students were all off their normal timetables and instead engaged in a wide variety of important and relevant topics specific to their age group. Deforestation, addiction, Brexit, overcoming adversity, importance of sleep, teamwork, democracy, healthy lifestyles, setting up a company….all angles of life were covered.
Year 11 photographers recently returned from Kenya. From the Great Rift Valley and Lake Nakuru to the incredible Masai Mara you cannot fail to be touched by the genuine warmth and friendliness of the Kenyan people, the vast stunning landscapes that take your breath away and the spectacular wildlife that is unrivalled anywhere else in the world - a photographers dream!