Rainford High Technology College

Rainford High Technology College
Established 1940
Type Community comprehensive school
Headteacher Ian Young
Chair John Bromilow
Founder Lord Derby
Location Higher Lane
Rainford
Merseyside
WA11 8NY
England
Coordinates: 53°30′31″N 2°47′03″W / 53.5085°N 2.7841°W / 53.5085; -2.7841
Local authority St. Helens
DfE URN 104826 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Students 1586
Gender Mixed
Ages 11–18
Houses Derby, Holland, Lathom, Muncaster
Colours Red, yellow, green, blue
Website www.rainford.org.uk

Rainford High Technology College is a community secondary school and sixth form college located in Rainford, Merseyside, England.[1]

The school specialises in technology, and has a notable tradition of producing competitive sports teams, most notably in rugby.

The school was recently rebuilt as part of the UK government's Building Schools for the Future programme.

Technology College status

As a Technology College the school has been able to invest in modern technology, which is used widely in all areas, by all students, to raise the quality of products manufactured, and to extend the range and complexity of the work produced.

Each technology subject area has access to computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) equipment. These include embroidery machines in Textiles, and conveyor ovens in Food Technology. CNC milling, routing tools, vinyl cutters and a laser cutter are used extensively in systems, product design and graphics.

Technology is studied by all students in each year from 7 to 11 for 10% of their time in school.

At KS3 there are six separate subjects to be studied:

Students complete a unit of each subject during the academic year.

All students in year 10 and 11 have the option to specialise in one area and complete a GCSE course in this subject.

Rainford Connect

Rainford Connect is Rainford's Virtual Learning Environment. Connect is one of the most advanced Secondary School VLEs in the UK and contains a wide range of interactive activities as well as access to student data. Connect is hosted and developed in-house by the school and is based on the Moodle LMS platform.

Rainford High Wind Band

Rainford is proud of the musical ability of its students. Its largest organisation is the Wind Band for both brass and woodwind players. It is open to students of all ages (including Sixth Form students) and practices weekly in order to play in local primary schools, and also the main showpiece - the 'Summer Concert', usually held in July.

Vocal Group often performs in the Summer Concert as well. This group offers musical tuition for guitar, piano, brass, percussion and woodwind in order to promote musicianship amongst its students. Sixth Formers are also involved. The group participates in a regular 'Performance Evening' as well as charity music events, such as for Children in Need 2010.

Annual Summer Festival

Successful local business owners returned to their former high school to support the annual Rainford Summer Festival on Saturday 12 July 2014 from 11am to 7pm.

The festival was considered a highlight of the village summer calendar. Steve Roberts, who built up the thriving 02 franchise in Rainford from scratch, described the event as a “celebration” for the whole village to enjoy. He added: “This is a wonderful opportunity for us to support and give something back to the local community and more specifically my former High School. I have many fond memories of Rainford High and am looking forward to seeing lots of old friends on the day”.

Principal Ian Young described the festival as "a celebration of success". He added: “It is a great opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our students but also the professional success of local businesses many of whom are former Rainford High students“ .

Past pupils have embraced the opportunity to reconnect with their former school through the festival in various forms, from the cakes baked by Julie Ryding to cottage garden plants grown by Janette Cockayne of Bridge Lane Farm. Body Shop At Home franchisee Leigh Bennett enjoyed a successful day trading at the event and is looking forward to the same again. Businessman Andrew Ashcroft from Ashcroft’s Vehicles was happy to be part of his former school’s festival and said “This is a wonderful opportunity for us all to get together, have fun and talk about our experiences and subsequent careers”.

Notable former pupils

References

  1. ↑ BBC News. English school tables 2006: Secondary schools
  2. ↑ http://www.rainford.org.uk/Home/SchoolHistory/1960s/tabid/89/Default.aspx Rainford High Technology College. School History.
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