Over the past three years, Ely College has been fostering a robust connection with the world of rowing, building a firm alliance with the local Isle of Ely Rowing Club (IOERC). This partnership has provided students with first-hand rowing experience on the River Ouse and established an ongoing pathway for those wishing to join the local rowing club, with a considerable number of students enrolling and participating in competitive racing.

Bolstered by funding from Love Rowing and The Boat Race Fund supported by Gemini, and a new strategic partnership with East Anglia Youth Rowing (EAYR), the college recently expanded this unique opportunity to six local schools. On June 8, 2023, Ely College co-hosted an aspirational rowing event at the Cambridge University Boat House on the River Ouse.

The event, running from 12:00 noon to 4:00 pm, was designed to inspire students to try rowing, nurture a passion for the sport, and potentially uncover a new hobby. Participants were divided based on their rowing experience and engaged in a variety of activities such as Boat Race student athlete talks, a land-based rowing machine competition, a water safety talk, a technical skills session, and a coxed quadruple scull (four rowers with two oars and a cox) racing event.

The day was enriched by the presence of student athletes from Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Clubs; Barbora Hlachova and Louis Corrigan from Oxford, and Cameron Spiers, Iris Powell, and Rosa Millard from Cambridge.

Cameron Spiers shared his reflections on the day: “It was great to see so many young people try out rowing for the first time, everyone was getting stuck in and having fun. I spent some time out on the launch and was very impressed by how focused everyone was. Hopefully, some people will have found a new hobby that they’ll stick with.”

Echoing this sentiment, Barbora Hlachova added: “[…] it was fun getting to share our love of rowing with kids who will maybe race in the Boat Race one day! I even got to try out coxing – that was a highlight (and a dream come true…being over 6 ft tall, it was a dream I was slowly giving up on.)”

  

Jason Coe, who heads the Ely College rowing programme, expressed his gratitude for the support provided by Love Rowing and a recently announced second round of funding from the Boat Race Fund, as well as the visiting university athletes: “It was an absolute privilege to be able to row from the Cambridge University Boat House and meet with the student athletes…The students willingness to get out on the coaching launch, cox boats, and provide tours alongside the general conversation was a pleasure to see.”

He added: “ This was our first ever aspirational rowing event and it felt like a huge success, with over 60 students getting an experience of rowing on the River Ouse from the landmark Cambridge University Boat house. This alongside the opportunity to meet and speak with 5 high performance university rowers truly made for a wonderful and rewarding afternoon.”

  

“The confidence, enthusiasm and desire to improve was noticeable across all students many of whom were rowing for the first time. We are so pleased we could invite Neale Wade Academy, Soham Village College, Cromwell Community College, North Cambridge Academy and Littleport & East Cambs Academy. None of this would have been possible without the input from IOERC and EAYR on the day, but also without the ongoing support from Gemini, The Boat Race Company & Love Rowing.”

Siobhan Cassidy, the Interim Chair of the Boat Race Company Ltd, who also attended the event, was delighted by the vibrancy she witnessed: “It was a fantastic afternoon and wonderful to watch everyone in action, great to see children who had never tried rowing before, get out on the water, race and have lots of fun! Huge thanks to Jason and all the other teachers and rowing coaches who made the day such a success. I hope the young people taking part know they have now become rowers and are part of a wonderful sporting community!”

This event underscores the effective collaboration between these amazing partnerships; welcoming in more schools to strengthen the offer and widen the circle, illuminating a bright future for the young rowing enthusiasts in and around Ely. It offers these young people a thrilling introduction to the world of rowing and the myriad opportunities it holds.

 

The Department for Education has announced that Bishop Laney Sixth Form (Ely College), part of Meridian Trust, will receive additional funding to increase its student intake and expand and refurbish its buildings.

Bishop Laney Sixth Form currently accepts 150 students per year group, but this expansion will allow the school to create a further 50 places per year group, taking the total intake from 300 to 400 places.

The sixth form will also receive capital funding from the Government’s £140 million ‘Post-16 Capacity Fund’. This will enable a £5 million renovation and upgrade of ‘Needhams Tower’ to become the new home of Bishop Laney Sixth Form, as well as providing new classroom space for students and staff at Ely College.

Richard Spencer, Executive Principal said: “We are delighted that our application to expand Bishop Laney Sixth Form (Ely College) has been accepted. The accompanying investment will significantly improve our facilities and spaces at Ely College, as well as provide us with the capacity to offer more students access to an excellent sixth form experience locally. We will be sharing details of the plans in due course and are very grateful for all the support we have received in this application.”

This news follows a successful application by Ely College and Meridian Trust in November 2022, which noted the anticipated rise in demand for school places in East Cambridgeshire, and was supported by Ms Frazer as the local Member of Parliament.

Responding to the announcement, Lucy Frazer MP said: “Ely College is a fantastic educator of many young people in my constituency, so I am delighted by this news. The new funding announced this week will enable 100 more pupils every year to learn important skills that will set them up for the world of work. It also prepares our area for the anticipated increase in demand for student places.”

The planning process is underway, with works anticipated to run from early 2024, with a target for completion of early 2025. More details will follow in the coming months, but the College have shared an initial concept design (pictured below).

The renovated tower will be ‘net zero’ energy consumption and will be fully accessible with lift access. The College also aims to re-lay the car park area and provide additional spaces to alleviate the pressure.

Simon Warburton, Principal of Ely College and Bishop Laney Sixth Form said: “At Bishop Laney Sixth Form, we aim to provide a thriving college experience within a centre of academic and professional 16-19 excellence. This vital funding will allow us to bring this opportunity to many more young people locally and wouldn’t have been possible without the success of our brilliant team at Ely College and Bishop Laney Sixth Form. A lot of hard work has gone into this project, and I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to getting us to this point.”

For more information about Ely College and Bishop Laney Sixth Form, please visit: www.elycollege.com. 

 

2nd place winners! Amazing recognition has been given to three of our young design engineers of the future! Entering the Enginuity Skills Award Competition, they took on the challenge to design a centerpiece that represented / demonstrated the theme of engineering and manufacturing. Showcasing their skills and understanding, they followed up their prototype design with a presentation explaining what they enjoyed most about their D&T studies and what inspired their final design. The materials used and concept really took into account the brief and the judges loved the use of recycled materials.

Amazing to get 2nd place in a national competition supported by The Design and Technology Association. The Enginuity Skills Award representative commented: "The standard of entries was extremely high so they should be very proud of their achievement. This is the first year we ran the competition and the imagination and creativity that has been shown by the children far surpassed our expectations and creates a real excitement around the future of engineering. To recognise their achievement and hard work we have decided to send them a £20 amazon voucher each and an engineering book. Once again, congratulations, it is lovely to see the work of three engineers of the future."

Over the last few years, Dave Bausor, Lead Practitioner for D&T at Ely College and D&T Lead at Meridian Trust, has transformed a previously unused classroom into a museum of technology.

The D&T Days Gone By Museum is situated adjacent to the D&T department’s main foyer, acting as a learning space that students can use to explore and interact with a wide range of technological based items to understand how they are made and how and why they have developed over time.

All sorts of items have been donated by the local community and Facebook forums, from old typewriters to hair dryers, video players, walkmans, kettles and irons, even a teas made and soda stream… you name it, Dave has probably acquired it and now has it in the museum!

Items have been donated from the Falklands Islands, Hong Kong, Jersey and many places across the UK but one stand-out exhibit is a television made in 1951. Dave recalls how the lady that donated it shared her experience of watching the Queen’s coronation on the television in 1953 with her parents gathered around the small black-and-white screen in their living room.

Dave has donated his own personal collection of items too and is a self-confessed Dyson addict with all of the original set of iconic yellow and grey styled iterations now exhibited in the museum.

Tony Ryan, Chief Executive of the Design and Technology Association, officially opened the museum in in the Autumn of 2019 and since then students have enjoyed interactive and engaging lessons inside the museum. Dave said: “Our students’ interest in the design museum has been fantastic to witness and I’m so proud of what we’ve been able to achieve since we opened it despite the pandemic and resulting lockdown.

We are the only school in the UK to have a sit-in museum of this type and scale which makes it an amazing resource not only for our own department but the Trust and its schools too. I’ve also written a number of articles about the museum in the D&T Association publications.”

He continued “Parents and visitors love it too and are often struck by the volume of items we have during open evenings or tours. They enjoy spending some time taking a trip down memory lane to reminisce over the things they used to own. The items in the museum have so many stories behind them and it’s wonderful to see them gain a new lease of life in this way. The room provides a really immersive learning experience and helps to bring our teaching to life.”

Now, Dave is in the process of creating schemes of learning supported by the museum to further its use and impact in the school and across Meridian Trust. The museum is still evolving and developing and has begun to overspill into the Ely College foyer and other rooms throughout the department. We are even followed by the Design Museum on Twitter too! Dave has lost track of which ‘phase’ of development the museum is in but, it’s safe to say that he will keep going and will no doubt have to find more creative ways to display the exhibits as they continue to flood in.

If you have an item, are clearing out a loft, or have something that is broken then please do get in touch with Dave. Or, as he often says, “don’t ditch it, donate to Dave” and he will get it on show in the museum.

https://www.meridiantrust.co.uk/taking-a-trip-down-memory-lane-in-meridian-trusts-very-own-museum-of-technology/

DRUM ROLL PLEASE With a new year ahead of us, this feels like a great sign of things to come. The vouchers have been counted, the bids are all in, and we have the grand totals from our AMAZING end of term Charities Day!

Thanks to our amazing staff and students... AND your generosity at home for donating so much MORE than the recommended £5... Ely College and Bishop Laney's 'Charities Day' raised an EXCEPTIONAL total of £5671.04!!!

This is the biggest total ever! We are so pleased we can split the 'extra' donations equally over our 5 chosen House Charities as well as Save the Children UK for their #ChristmasJumperDay. It was truly such a fantastic way to sign off on an overall brilliant year.

Well done to Turing House for having the most engaging activities and collecting the most vouchers!

Huge congratulations to everyone here, what an amazing achievement! You have all earn those Giving #PLEDGES! Dr Norton-Berry commented: "Not only is Charities Day important for our role in the community, but also helps to develop communication, empathy and entrepreneurial skills in our students. This is what our PLEDGES system is all about. It was amazing to see Charities Day happen again with full gusto after having to scale it back the last few years.”

#anexceptionalcollegeforanexceptionalcommunity #yourlocalsixthform with Meridian Trust

Supporting: Spectrum Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust (ACT) Teenage Cancer Trust Arthur Rank Hospice Charity Ely Foodbank East Anglian Air Ambulance Charity Save the Children UK

Photos below from the day back in December; take a look back at how our student raised such an amazing total with more photos here on our socials:  https://www.facebook.com/ElyCollegeMT/posts/pfbid02urpvqwa3HX2VGvaykZy3TYdc5LUHtHBsNjBKioKbhcsRjWA9Ci2A1zZThxpGbSC3l

  

  

We are delighted to share with you all our Winter Wonderland Sway for 2022. This was shared with all our parents and carers via InTouch email, but you can also click the link below.

Once again a fantastic crop of entries from our very talented students. Over 600 entries from all year groups in the college and Bishop Laney with the standard being exceedingly high.

    

    

Above you can see the overall winner and the House winners, and included in the Sway are those chosen to be college Christmas cards (pictured below) and the highly commended pieces in each House.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas.

Ely College and Bishop Laney Winter Wonderland Competition 2022

Once again a fantastic crop of entries from our very talented students. Over 600 entries from all year groups in the college and Bishop Laney with the standard being exceedingly high.

Go to this Sway