Soest ( German pronunciation: [ˈzoːst] , as if it were 'Sohst'; Westphalian : Saust ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany . It is the capital of the Soest district .
57-401: RM plc is a British company that specialises in providing information technology products and services to educational organisations and establishments. Its key market is UK education including schools, colleges, universities, government education departments and educational agencies. The company was founded in 1973 as Research Machines Limited . As of 2016, RM plc employs around 1,700 people,
114-727: A further education college to prepare themselves for the Vocational Certificate of Education (VCE), which is similar to the A-levels. Major provider of vocational qualifications in the United Kingdom include the City and Guilds of London Institute and Edexcel . Higher National Certificates and Higher National Diplomas typically require 1 and 2 years of full-time study and credit from either HNE or Diplomas can be transferred toward an undergraduate degree. Along with
171-637: A bachelor's degree or higher, whilst 52% of British people aged 25 to 34 had attended some form of tertiary education, about 4% above the OECD average of 44%. Education was listed as a charitable purpose by the Parliament of England in the Charitable Uses Act 1601 . In each country there are five stages of education: early years, primary, secondary, further education (FE) and higher education (HE). The law states that full-time education
228-558: A joint venture: This venture was closed down after 12 months. RM manufactured desktop and server computers in its Oxfordshire premises from 1978 until 2014. The first model that RM shipped was the RML 380Z , based on the Z80 processor and CP/M operating system. This was followed in 1982 by the Link 480Z , essentially a smaller, diskless 380Z with a simple networking capability, enabling it to use
285-439: A multitude of historical buildings and attractions. The many medieval churches are built from a greenish sandstone unique to this area. In 960, Bruno I, Archbishop of Cologne transferred relics of St. Patroclus from Troyes to Soest. From 964 on, they have been housed in what became the provost church St.-Patrokli-Dom (St. Patroclus' "Cathedral"), a particularly fine example of Romanesque architecture . The cathedral
342-574: A number of third-party partners as well as having developed over 5,000 of their own resources – one of the best known and best selling being the Bee-Bot® programmable robot, designed to introduce learners to programming concepts. RM previously offered products from other classroom resources firms it had acquired: Deals with the process management and outsourcing for testing and qualifications; data analysis services for teachers, education managers and policy makers. Clients include Cambridge Assessment and
399-557: A range of educational software including the Kaleidos Virtual learning environment , MathsAlive, DiscoverAlive, Living Library and SuccessMaker, as well as an e-book library management system, RM Books, developed for the education market. They also package software titles from other companies to allow easy centralized installation on RM networks. In 2005 RM was awarded the contract for Glow (formally known as Scottish Schools Digital Network (SSDN) National Intranet project). Under
456-661: A tight schedule. The company floated on the London Stock Exchange in November 1994 under the name RM plc. Mark Cook joined the Group as chief executive officer in January 2023. Previous CEOs were: Mike Fischer (until 1997), Richard Girling (1997–2002), Tim Pearson (2002–2008), Terry Sweeney (2008–2011), Rob Sirs (2011–2012), Martyn Ratcliffe (2011–13), David Brooks (2013–2021), and Neil Martin (2021–2023). In 2003
513-633: A tremendous loss of both population and influence; at its lowest point, in 1756, having merely 3,600 citizens. With the creation of the Soest district in 1817, its influence again began to rise. However, the industrialization of the Ruhr area throughout the 19th century did not reach Soest, which remained a small town. Under the re-drawing of political borders within the Reich by the Nazi Party Soest
570-493: Is Europe's biggest old town fair and was held for the 685th time in 2023. Among the traditional specialities of Soest are Möppken bread and pumpernickel . The Haverland bakery in the city centre, which formerly supplied dark bread to the royal court of Bavaria, has existed since 1570. A more recent speciality is Bullenauge (Bull's Eye), a mocha liqueur, sold mostly at the Allerheiligenkirmes. Another speciality
627-473: Is a separate system. Further education (FE) refers to post-secondary education in England and Wales. FE may include the study of apprenticeships , A-levels , BTEC , International Baccalaureate , NVQ or others, ranging from entry level to the highest level (Level 3, equivalent to A-level) and aim to prepare students for higher education. The sixth form is one type of FE, which includes post-16 study that
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#1732791446525684-479: Is an example of early medieval Romanesque architecture fashioned from the local greenish sandstone. Its massive squared bell tower or steeple can be seen for many kilometres, rising up out of the city centre of the old town and a landmark of the Soester Boerde. The Allerheiligenkirmes is named for All Saints' Day as it starts every year at the first Wednesday after All Saints' and lasts for five days. It
741-539: Is closing with more students in good or outstanding schools from all social backgrounds. A 2016 report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission said that racial inequality exists in the Great Britain education system. It was found that 6% of Black school leavers went on to attend a Russell Group university, compared with 12% of mixed race and Asian school leavers, and 11% of White school leavers. In 2009, it
798-633: Is compulsory for all children between the ages of 5 (4 in Northern Ireland) and 16. In England, compulsory education or training was extended to 18 in 2015. Before they reach compulsory school age, children can be educated at nursery ; the four governments all provide universal funding for children from the age of three years old or younger. Further education is non-compulsory, and covers advanced education which can be taken at further (including tertiary) education colleges and higher education institutions (HEIs). The fifth stage, higher education,
855-404: Is introduced during the secondary school years and goes on until further and higher education. Secondary vocational education is also known as further education. It is separate from secondary education and does not belong to the category of higher education. Further education incorporates vocational oriented education as well as a combination of general secondary education. Students can also go on to
912-499: Is no salt to be found in the surroundings. When people make salt they take water from the spring, filling a kettle and placing it in an oven made from stone, lighting a large fire underneath, turning it into a thick and murky fluid. Then it is left to cool, leaving solid white salt. In this manner, all white salt is produced in the Slavic countries.” An increasingly confident and powerful Soest liberated itself, between 1444 and 1449, from
969-497: Is study beyond A-levels or BTECs (and their equivalent) which, for most full-time students, takes place in HEIs such as universities and colleges. The National Curriculum , established in 1988, provides a framework for education in England between the ages of 5 and 16. Although the curriculum is compulsory, some private schools, home educators , academies and free schools design their own curricula. Following devolution in 1999,
1026-451: Is undertaken after completing GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education). Sixth form may be offered by sixth form colleges or by schools which teach the 11–18 age-range and have an attached sixth form. Further education colleges generally provide a wider curriculum and have a wider range of options for FE, including vocational forms of education (such as NVQs ). Tertiary colleges provide both academic and vocational courses. In
1083-631: Is valued around the globe for its quality and rigorous academic standards. Several British universities are ranked among the top universities in the world, including the University of Cambridge , the University of Oxford , Imperial College London , and UCL . In 2023, most students who sat for GCSEs undertook 9 subjects. In 2023, the most common combination of three subjects that was undertaken by students included: 1) English Language, 2) English Literature and 3) Mathematics, with 61.2% of students studying these three subjects in combination. Sitting
1140-545: The Bishop of Cologne , who controlled Westphalia (the so-called Soest Feud ). No longer a capital of Westphalia, Soest aligned itself instead with the Duke of Cleves . This proved to be mostly a Pyrrhic victory , however. Though it had shown itself strong enough to defy the powerful Archbishop of Cologne, the town lost much of its trade as a consequence, with a "liberated" Soest surrounded by territories with other allegiances. When
1197-740: The Education Department of Western Australia . The company grew to employ 50 staff located in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Wellington (NZ), servicing over 4,000 schools across Australasia and in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore and Taipei. RM Asia-Pacific was sold to Civica in 2011. In 2009 the company announced that it was expanding its business into the MENASA region with offices based in Dubai. The company stated that this would be
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#17327914465251254-675: The General Certificate of Education, Advanced Level (A-levels), or the Advanced Highers in Scotland. As with the GCSE, students who sit for the exam choose the subjects and the number of advanced examinations. In 2022, students who sat for A-Levels averagely undertook 2.64 subjects. WES awards undergraduate credit based on the nature and number of subjects passed. Each university has their own set of admission policies and
1311-727: The International Baccalaureate . From the mid-1990s the company expanded overseas, with international revenues rising to 12% of the total group's revenue in 2009. A contraction in customer spending in RM's core UK education market and slow growth in the overseas businesses prompted it to divest several of them from 2010. RM founded its subsidiary RM Education Solutions India in Thiruvananthapuram in 2003 to develop software and provide central corporate functions. In November 2016 it accounted for approximately 36% of
1368-714: The Micro Channel architecture that featured in the IBM PS/2 , which was faster than the standard ISA architecture, but failed to gain widespread acceptance. RM's fileserver platform became its 'E Series' computers, using the similarly short-lived EISA architecture and using a tower case to allow space for multiple hard disks. These fileservers ran Microsoft LAN Manager (on Microsoft OS/2 ) preconfigured with client Operating System files (Windows 3.0 and later 3.1) for remote booting and bundled with RM-developed tools for managing network users, client PCs and applications. This
1425-558: The OECD , ranked the overall knowledge and skills of British 15-year-olds as 13th in the world in reading, literacy, mathematics, and science. The average British student scored 503.7, compared with the OECD average of 493. In 2014, the country spent 6.6% of its GDP on all levels of education – 1.4 percentage points above the OECD average of 5.2%. In 2017, 45.7% of British people aged 25 to 64 had attended some form of post-secondary education. Of British people aged 25 to 64, 22.6% had attained
1482-713: The countries of the United Kingdom having separate systems under separate governments. The UK Government is responsible for England , whilst the Scottish Government , the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive are responsible for Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland , respectively. For details of education in each country, see: In 2018, the Programme for International Student Assessment , coordinated by
1539-546: The 11th and 12th centuries, Soest grew considerably, making it one of the largest towns in Westphalia with some 10,000 citizens. It was also, until 1609, an important member of the Hanseatic League . In the geographical work Atar Al-Belad composed by Iranian scholar Mohammad Qazvini (1203-1283), Soest is described for its salt production and referred to as a "Slavic country": “There is a salty spring, while there
1596-498: The 1980s RM and its rival Acorn Computers sold thousands of computers to schools in the UK as part of the government's Microelectronics Education Programme . A key model of the time was RM's Z80 -based RML 380Z . The company was invited to tender to supply the BBC micro but declined on grounds that it was not economically feasible to provide so many features at such a low price and to such
1653-605: The Great , identifies Soest (called Susat) as the capital of Attila 's (?–453) Hunnic Empire . The actual location of Attila's capital has not been determined. Owing to its fertile soil (predominantly brown silty clay loam ), the area around Soest is believed to have been settled well before the village is first mentioned in the Dagobertsche Schenkung in 836. Excavations in recent decades have uncovered signs of habitation stretching back more than 4000 years. During
1710-623: The HNC and HND, students who are interested in other vocational qualifications may pursue a Foundation degree , which is a qualification that trains people to be highly skilled technicians. The National Apprenticeship Service also offers vocational education where people at ages of 16 and older enter apprenticeships in order to learn a skilled trade . There are over 60 different certifications can be obtained through an apprenticeship, which typically lasts from 1 to 3 years. Trades apprentices receive paid wages during training and spend one day at school and
1767-558: The RM Group workforce. In 1993 the company established a subsidiary in Soest, Germany , in order to sell a localized version of RM Net LM, a turnkey Local Area Network product for schools, consisting of file-servers running Microsoft LAN Manager , client PCs running Microsoft Windows 3.1 and including a suite of RM-developed network management applications. Despite a nationwide program of marketing seminars and three pilot sites, RM withdrew within two years. RM Educational Software, Inc.
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1824-535: The UK spent £3.2 billion on early years education, £27.7 billion on primary education, £38.2 billion on secondary education and £5.9 billion on tertiary education. In total, the UK spent £83.4 billion on education (includes £8.4 billion on other categories). Schools and universities in Britain are popular destinations for international students. The country's universities and colleges have educated many heads of state and government around
1881-420: The United Kingdom, higher education is offered by universities and other institutions (colleges, institutes, schools, and academies) and includes both research-oriented and higher professional education. Universities provide programmes that lead to a degree (bachelor's, master's, or doctorate) and non-degree programmes that lead to a vocational qualification such as a certificate or diploma. British higher education
1938-678: The Welsh Government took responsibility for education in Wales and the curriculum began to differ from that of England. The National Curriculum for Wales was established and is now being succeeded by the Curriculum for Wales . In Scotland, the equivalent is the Curriculum for Excellence . Scotland's qualifications system of National 4/5s, Highers and Advanced Highers are very similar to Advanced Subsidiary (AS) and Advanced Level (A2) courses in England. The Northern Ireland Curriculum
1995-495: The Window Box system which used Windows 95 , as well as RM Connect, for education and as a successor to RM Net LM. RM Connect comprised Microsoft operating systems at the server (Windows NT and successors) and client (Windows 3.11, Windows 95 and successors), in-house coded tools for managing the network, a predefined software configuration and applications such as Microsoft Office. Diskless network client PCs were discontinued as
2052-496: The client operating system from Windows 95 onwards had become too large to transfer over the LAN to multiple PCs in a timely manner, so local hard disks were required. From version 2.4 RM Connect was renamed RM Community Connect. In the new millennium RM offered laptops and tablets that bore its name. These were manufactured by Asus and others. In 2013 RM ceased hardware manufacture to focus on software and services. The company offered
2109-580: The company won the contract to deliver online tests for Key Stage 3 ICT . Despite a pilot phase in 2005 involving 45,500 pupils that was judged a success by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority the government cancelled the contract in 2007, shortly before their scheduled introduction. Cuts in the budgets of UK educational establishments in 2011 damaged RM's revenues, leading it to shed hundreds of employees and sell less profitable parts of its business. RM ceased production of computers towards
2166-426: The end of 2013. RM classifies its business into three areas: The division that deals with technology infrastructure, software and services – including interactive classroom equipment, connectivity, networking software, school management software and support services. This division focuses on products for use in the learning curriculum, trading as TTS, a company acquired in 2004. TTS supply educational resources from
2223-419: The exam represents the end of 11 years of mandatory education. A General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), or Higher in Scotland, is awarded for each subject passed and World Education Services issues a high school diploma after the evaluation of a minimum of three GCSEs. Pre-university education in the United Kingdom is a two-year senior secondary programme that leads to a new round of examinations,
2280-600: The file storage of a 'parent' 380Z via CP/NET networking software and Zilog Z-Net network hardware. In 1985 RM released the RM Nimbus PC-186, a desktop computer using the Intel 80186 processor, a development of the 8088 processor used in the IBM PC and IBM PC/XT that defined 'PC compatibility' as a dominant standard for personal computers for decades to come. As the 80186 processor integrated some hardware that
2337-505: The file system level until Windows XP introduced support for NTFS . From the AX model onwards RM computers were PC compatible. The 'X Series' was supplemented by the VX, using the new, 32-bit 80386 processor, marketed as a standalone CAD workstation or network fileserver. RM released M Series computers, primarily used as diskless network clients, using the 80286 and later 80386 processors. These used
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2394-419: The five-year, £37.5 million project, all 32 Local Authorities, over 3,000 schools and over 800,000 education users plus parents had access to Glow. RM Education's proprietary software offerings are focused on cloud delivery – including RM Unify (IdP and SSO), RM Integris (School MIS), RM Finance, and RM Easimaths. British education Education in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, with each of
2451-518: The last Duke of Cleves died in 1609, his dukedom was inherited by Brandenburg and, after a short siege, Soest was incorporated into it. The painter Peter Lely , later to win fame in England, was born in 1618 in Soest to Dutch parents, where his father was an officer serving in the armed forces of Elector Johann Sigismund of Brandenburg . During and after the Thirty Years' War , Soest suffered
2508-565: The majority based in the company's headquarters located on Milton Park , near Didcot, Oxfordshire . RM also has offices across the United Kingdom (Cheshire, Nottinghamshire, Lanarkshire and London) and a software development facility in India. The company was founded in 1973 as Research Machines Limited in Oxford, England, by Mike Fischer and Mike O'Regan , respectively graduates of Oxford and Cambridge Universities . Initially it traded under
2565-407: The minimum entry requirements for each particular higher education programme that they offer. The A-Level is an entry qualification for universities in the United Kingdom and many other universities across the world. Students that are interested in pursuing higher education will usually enrol in pre-university and further education programmes. Technical and vocational education in the United Kingdom
2622-399: The name Sintel as a mail-order supplier of electronic components, mainly dealing with the hobbyist market. With the arrival of microprocessors in the mid-1970s, the company expanded into the design and manufacturing of microcomputers. The company shipped its first computer in 1977 to a customer in a Local Education Authority and has been involved with educational computing ever since. In
2679-417: The network, which made disk drives in the client optional. Diskless client computers that loaded their operating system, applications and user data centrally from fileservers were common in UK education for a further decade, partially to avoid the cost of local storage devices such as hard disks, but also to protect system files, as the client Operating Systems MS-DOS and Windows did not offer access control at
2736-747: The rest in the workplace to hone their skills. T Levels are a technical qualification being introduced between Autumn 2020 and 2023. They are intended to provide the knowledge and experience needed for learners to progress to skilled employment, further study or a higher apprenticeship. In 2018 The Guardian commented that successful schools tend to choose pupils from high–achieving backgrounds. Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, and challenging pupils, tend to be concentrated in schools that do less well in inspections. Also that children from prosperous backgrounds are more likely to be in good or outstanding schools while disadvantaged children are more likely to be in inadequate schools. The inequality gap as of 2015
2793-773: The southwest. In addition, an American Nike Battery (66th Battalion) was situated just south of the town, and was subsequently turned over to the German military. From 1971 to 1993, the former Canadian properties, including the Married Quarters along Hiddingser Weg, south of the B-1, were used and occupied by British military personnel and their families. With the eventual closure of the Belgian and British army facilities, many of these properties were re-purposed for civilian use, abandoned, or demolished. The former Married Quarters area
2850-707: The town. Though retaken by a German counterattack shortly thereafter, destructive front-line combat continued to rage in Soest and its environs at the eastern edge of the Ruhr Pocket until the Allies ultimately gained permanent control. From 1953 to 1971, a sizable garrison of Canadian soldiers and their families was stationed at Soest (with the Canadian camps located just east of the town in Bad Sassendorf), as well as at Werl and Hemer-Iserlohn and Deilinghofen to
2907-587: The world, rivalled only by the United States. Soest, Germany Soest is located along the Hellweg road, approximately 23 kilometres (14 miles) south-west of Lippstadt , roughly 50 km (31 mi) east of Dortmund and roughly 50 km (31 mi) west of Paderborn . The Norwegian Þiðrekssaga from the 13th century, a series of tales about the Gothic King Theoderic
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#17327914465252964-613: Was converted to civilian housing. The former CANEX (the Canadian Army's food and clothing store for NATO families) was converted to a NAAFI under the British and finally demolished in 2006. The city is home to a major branch of the South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (also: Fachhochschule Südwestfalen (FH SWF)) which offers various engineering, and Business Administration programmes. Soest has
3021-603: Was established in 2005 to provide schools and districts in North America with many of the UK software products. It has been inactive since 2011. In 2008 RM purchased and integrated the US interactive classroom provider Computrac and sold it at a loss in 2011. RM Asia-Pacific started operations in 1997. A head office was opened in Perth, Australia in February 1999 after being awarded a contract for schools information systems by
3078-602: Was found that White students' predicted A-Level grades were 53% accurate, whilst Black students' received predicted grades that were 39.1% accurate. Black students are also the most likely to receive under-predicted grades by their teachers. It was found that 7.1% of Black students received higher actual grades compared to 6.6% of White students, 6.5% of Asian students and 6.1% of Mixed students. In 2018, of all teachers in state-funded schools in England, 14.1% were from BAME groups. 33.5% of primary school and 31.3% of secondary school pupils in England were from BAME groups. In 2015/16,
3135-623: Was incompatible with the support chips chosen by IBM for the IBM PC, RM's computer was not truly PC compatible but could run some PC software and Microsoft Windows up to 3.0 . RM introduced its AX model in 1986, using the Intel 80286 processor. A common use for the AX was as a fileserver, connected to PC-186 clients using MS-Net , Microsoft's network operating system of the time. This initially used network hardware based on Zilog Z-Net and later via Ethernet . PC-186 clients could be configured to boot via
3192-551: Was placed in Gau Westphalia-South. During World War II , the Stalag VI-E prisoner-of-war camp for Polish, French, Belgian and British POWs was operated in the town. Soest was the target of several allied bomber raids targeting the marshalling yard , one of the biggest in the Reich, and the important battery factory Akku Hagen. In early April 1945, Soest suffered from major fighting as Allied forces captured
3249-478: Was sold as RM Net LM. The success of PC compatibility as a worldwide standard changed RM's focus from complete in-house design of circuit boards, peripherals and firmware to the assembly and integration of hardware components sourced predominantly from the Far East. The hardware within RM server and desktop PCs was no longer significantly different from mainstream PCs from other vendors. In the mid-90s RM released
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