Education at Ruskin Mill College
Through craft and land-based activities, pupils develop resilience, responsibility, and a strong sense of community. The use of natural materials and outdoor learning environments supports pupils’ physical and emotional well-being, with drama and art further enriching this holistic approach, helping students build confidence, communication skills, and self-awareness.
The curriculum
Ruskin Mill College, the founding college of Ruskin Mill Trust, draws inspiration from its textile heritage.
Textiles – the signature craft of Ruskin Mill College – have an ancient relationship with stone mill buildings and the Cotswold landscape. In our whole-process approach, students can care for the sheep on the farm and then use the wool in felting, spinning or weaving. The college offers other craft workshops, including Iron Age forge, green woodwork, pottery and willow basketmaking.
The grounds at Ruskin Mill College are extensive; our land-based curriculum includes the market garden, animal husbandry, horticulture, the fish farm and woodland management. The 40-acre biodynamic farm raises cows, pigs, sheep,chickens, bees and donkeys, and many of our students involve themselves in caring for the animals throughout the year.
Both the Ruskin Mill Café and Gables Farm Shop provide work experience opportunities for our students and engagement with the local community.
Each student receives an individualised programme that meets their needs and interests. The varied curriculum offers opportunities to develop work skills, social skills and improve self-awareness and self-confidence. Students can progress from making items for themselves to contributing to one of the many social enterprises that operate on the site. Literacy and numeracy are embedded into all activities and delivered through contextualised learning in the Practical skills, as well as individual sessions as needed. Performing arts, and a range of therapies are also available to provide a diverse and holistic curriculum.
Ruskin Mill College’s work experience and transition programmes build on the skills developed through Practical Skills Therapeutic Education and help students to transfer their knowledge and skills to a range of vocational and community opportunities, ensuring a strong foundation for their next steps.
Careers Education
Careers Lead: Gemma Dobson, Assistant Principal
Contact: 07805304246 or email gemma.dobson@rmc.rmt.org
Ruskin Mill Trust’s vision is that each student is on a journey towards ‘self-generated conscious action.’ Drawing on the visions and values of the Trust, Ruskin Mill College understands careers in its widest sense – how individuals can make a meaningful contribution to society based on their unique talents, abilities and aspirations. This is the guiding principle that informs our approach to CEIAG.
Learners at Ruskin Mill College complete meaningful work, with skills for adult life and preparation for adulthood built into the PSTE curriculum. Students experience an environment reflecting the world of work, where they learn to work safely with tools and in different weather conditions, developing transferable skills in preparation for their next steps beyond college. Preparing for adulthood outcomes including work readiness, community inclusion and managing health and wellbeing, are also achieved through topics integrated into sessions such as healthy eating, healthy relationships and managing emotions.
Our CEIAG curriculum has been developed in line with the eight Gatsby benchmarks for ensuring best practice:
1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each student
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experience of work places
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance
It aims to ensure that our students, where appropriate, are able to access the independent information and guidance they need to help them choose pathways that are right for them, and to be able to manage their life choices beyond college. Our careers programme includes: employer engagement activities and experiences, social enterprise sessions, internal and external work experience, and independent advice and guidance alongside a bespoke study programme implemented by a student’s Education, Health and Care Manager.
Students are able to engage in external work placements within the timetable, pursuing their interests in line with their aspirations. Sessions build towards a student completing an outward facing programme within their transition year, to best prepare for them for the next stage in their adulthood.
Outdoor Learning
Ruskin Mill College is located on a 140 acre site that includes a valley, trout farm, woodlands, market garden and working farm. The workshops are located around the site and create a sense of space. Students benefit from working outdoors in the landscape and from walking through the site.
Included in the college’s grounds is a 40 acre biodynamic farm that has a range of livestock including pigs, sheep, chickens, bees and donkeys. On the farm and in the market garden, students work to produce vegetables and crops to be used in the canteens, cafes, farm shop and households, and to feed the animals. Students are also involved in caring for the animals throughout the year. The farm and gardens provide valuable opportunities for students to develop empathy and an understanding of time, working with the seasonal rhythms.
Fundamental British Values
At Ruskin Mill Trust colleges, we actively promote positive, inclusive values. These include democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect for and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs. We believe British values are those values expected of anyone living in Britain, regardless of their nationality, culture or religious belief.
Our ethos, curriculum and purpose reflects these values. We place great emphasis on building positive relationships in college, amongst the students themselves and between staff and students. We strongly believe students should not merely be taught such values but that they are embedded into school life.
- We value inclusive learning and living activities that integrate practical activity, thinking and our emotions.
- We value mutual respect and we strive to understand all people’s differences and uniqueness.
- We value the capacity for re-imagination present in all people, towards positive change and development.
- We value openness, goodwill, tolerance and treating individuals with dignity and respect.
- We strive to support our students to develop into confident, happy, successful young adults who have empathy towards and an understanding of those less fortunate than themselves.
The Fundamental British Values Policy reflects how our schools work to promote positive values through the ethos and life of the college, for example through a rich and deep curriculum (Practical Skills Therapeutic Education), and through social, moral, cultural and spiritual development.