Name change for Banbury school looking to the future

Students at the Futures Institute will undergo transdisciplinary learning, honing vital skills over a broad range of disciplines sought after by industry recruiters.

Julia Ingham, vice principal and head of the institute said: “We were called Space Studio, which was great but it only encapsulated a small part of what we do. We are a STEM school, science, technology, engineering and maths, and the trouble with space was it was very narrow.

“We’ve gone for Futures Institute because we are equipping students with the skills they will need in the future.

“Students follow a normal curriculum but where other students might do drama or French, we get our students all to do engineering and computing, up to A-level.”

In order to achieve this goal the school has forged working relationships with Banburyshire businesses with a strong need for employees with STEM-based learning.

Julia said: “We’re linked to lots of industries in Banbury, in fact they are coming to us. Douwe Egberts have recently come to us because they can’t get apprentices. Magna are another company we’ve work with because they’re desperate for apprentices.

“So they come and work with us on real life projects. When we are teaching employability skills businesses are working with us on that rather than just teachers who haven’t been in industry.

“The list of companies we work with is huge now.”

The school is also increasing student numbers and has altered its entrance policy.

Julia said: “Wykham Park is opening an educational pathway here so that students can come from year 7, rather than having to wait until they are 14 years old.

“A lot of primary school children are saying they are desperate to come, so they can now come from primary school, go to Wykham Park but have their education here.”

Businesses can learn more at www.wykhampark-aspirations.org/