S6C UPDATE

Personal Study
For those who are new to a 16-19 setting, at S6C we expect all students to complete at least 4.5 hours of personal study per subject per week. This equates to 50% of their course requirement, the other 50% being undertaken in class. In the unfortunate event that a teacher is absent, we expect our students to approach their work with maturity and continue with their personal study in that subject. There will always be plenty of work available on Google classroom to ensure that students do not fall behind. We understand that this is a rather different ethos to secondary school so if you have any particular concerns in this area, please feel free to contact us.

Free School Meals
From September 2026, the government extended the provision of a free meal in college to all households who are in receipt of Universal Credit. You can apply for a free meal through the college free meal and bursary system. Households where the total income is less than £36,000 may also qualify for assistance through the 16-19 bursary programme. If your young person has received a bursary in 2025/26 they will have been issued with a renewal email on 1st July where they will be asked to sign into the bursary system and either complete a declaration stating that the financial circumstances of the household have not changed or submit revised income information. Please ensure your young person does this in good time as we will be unable to renew bus passes for the new term without this.

Summer Reading Challenge
Over the summer staff completed the S6C Summer Reading Challenge, championed by Emma McAndrew, teacher of English Language, which highlights the importance of reading for pleasure for both educational purposes as well as personal development. Staff read nearly 35000 pages and here are some of their recommendations…

Pastoral Update
Rebecca Anderson, Pastoral Lead and Designated Safeguarding Lead has shared the following information with students about support and wellbeing in college:
– You need to have notifications on during reasonable working hours and check this Classroom daily.
– It won’t all be relevant to you all the time, but anything that is relevant to you will be on here.
– You have to keep looking! Every tutor session you will have a prompt to look back and check, but please also keep up in between.
– Urgent notices, wellbeing notices, current affairs, support information, events information, behaviour expectations, exam timetables, key dates will all be on here.
– In tutor, you have explored slides about safeguarding and how to get help and all kinds of support in college. I’ve put these up on the plasma screens as well, so make sure you know where to come for help, and come sooner rather than later. We are genuinely all here for you!
– Any worries, speak to your tutor, or come and find me or message me on Chat and I can either see you or point you to the relevant member of the team.

Parents and carers are encouraged to look at the slides (link below) so you know where your young person can get support. The team are also happy to be contacted directly with any queries or concerns – you can message office@s6c.mlp.college and they will forward it, or call us for direct details. For concerns about the safety of an S6C student please email safeguarding@s6c.mlp.college

Staying safe on the way to and from college
We want all students to feel safe in our local city, especially on their way to and from college. If anyone has any issues then please let us know so that we can follow these up.

Community and inclusivity at S6C
In addition to our tutor programme, we have a programme of college community events and Awareness Days, which we launch with Black History Month in October. If students celebrate a religious or faith based festival that you would like us to note (eg Diwali), or you would like us to include a specific Awareness Day (eg World Down’s Syndrome Day) then please do let Rebecca know and we will consider these for the Calendar.

 2026-2027 Term Dates