Friday 10th December 2021

I am so incredibly proud of how hard all our staff and students have worked this term, and what they have achieved.  We have seen our young people grow and develop both personally and academically. Year 12 students have established strong work patterns and have now adapted well to the requirements and commitment needed of their courses.  Year 13 tutors have supported students in getting early UCAS applications sent for university places and some students have already undergone interviews and are awaiting decisions including places at Oxford and Cambridge.  How fantastic are our young people? 

I’m sure you will join me in thanking our staff for their exceptional commitment they give to our students to both challenge and support every young person.  A big thank you also has to go to all the staff that have worked tirelessly to maintain the safety of our site through COVID. 

We have received updated COVID guidance from the Government for colleges, and I can confirm that staff, students and visitors will continue to be asked to wear masks in communal areas as they have been doing.  Our guidance is that it is not advised for students and staff  to wear masks during lessons in classrooms, although they are welcome to do so if they wish.  

Our last day of term is Wednesday 15th December, finishing at lunchtime.  All students will have lessons period 1 and 2. Year 12 students will then leave for their Christmas break whilst Year 13 students have their final Life skills tutorial to tie up discussions about their progression planning before our Christmas break. This session will finish at 12.45pm.   

We return to college on Wednesday 5th January 2022, and will write to parents next week once we have confirmed the requirements needed for lateral flow testing before college commences in the new year. 

Many of our vocational students have scheduled external exams in January which they have been working hard to prepare for. Lisa Lucas will write to parents and students next week to confirm further examination details.    

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe festive season and we look forward to seeing students back in College on Wednesday 5th January 2022.

Best Wishes

Louise

Community Links & Charity Work

Christmas Jumper for Joy

Rebecca Anderson – Pastoral Lead

As mentioned in last week’s Update, this year the Magna Learning Partnership have signed all academies within the trust up to the help support Save the Children and are taking part in a Christmas Jumper day Today (Friday 10th December) to raise money for this great cause.  It was lovely to see so many Christmas jumpers and festivities around the building.  If you would like to make any additional donations to the charity to support as a community then you can do so by following this link to the Just giving page

Our Christmas Jumper Day (savethechildren.org.uk)

Christmas Wreath

Catherine Pennington – Mental Health Lead & Teacher of Business. 

In the last week of term, Catherine Pennington’s A-Level Business Class have been making Christmas Wreaths for Asthma UK. The project was an operation to demonstrate the workings of  a real business. There were some executive roles within the group: we appointed an accountant (Hannah Fergusson), a Sales Director (Rachel Hook),  Head of Marketing (Liv Bowman) and our website designers (Toby Mortimer and Harry Redshaw).  Lily Davis, who has recently joined S6C was quickly promoted to Team Leader on Production.  Students were assigned to pre-ordered wreaths, so they were responsible for producing products for customers who were known to them, therefore it was so important quality was of a high standard and passed Catherine’s Q.C. threshold.  Training was delivered by Catherine on how to add value to a basic douglas pine wreath.  The materials for the products were sourced in a variety of ways to keep the cost down; Peter Hopkins, a retired pensioner from Dorset helped gather holly, rosehip and pine cones from the land he farmed as a young man; the class donated their old christmas decorations from home; pre-loved christmas cards were turned into personalised tags for customers to collect and gift;  wreath frames from last year were donated back to the project and, sorry Laurence, we used some gold spray from your art room 🙂 The project linked to the Business A Level Syllabus in many ways, we had so much fun being creative and finishing off the Autumn term with a really worthwhile project. If you feel you could make a donation to Asthma UK.

please visit our JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/christmas-wreaths-asthmauk

Catherine would like to thank her class for the enthusiasm and resilience shown by every one of her students during this project. Our young people at S6C really are amazing and they can achieve anything they set out to do in life with the right recipe for success.

A huge thank you to our customers and supporters.

Student Union Message

Angus Archer – SU Events Officer

S6C volunteers have been delivering our donations received so far to the Salisbury Pantry and they are very grateful so please keep the food coming. If you are able to check through cupboards at home or pick up some additional supplies whilst shopping at the weekend, then we would love to receive them please. Please donate tins, dried goods or long lasting foods. We will be able to make a further delivery before the end of term.  Thank you so much for supporting our community!

Support at S6C  

Mental Health & Wellbeing – Rebecca Anderson, Pastoral Lead

We are pleased that Catherine Pennington has joined the pastoral support team as our S6C Mental Health Lead. Catherine will be promoting positive mental health and wellbeing for staff and students and will introduce herself in the new year. Students can now message or pop in and see her if you’d like support. Rebecca will still be available, as Pastoral Lead; we also have Bridget joining us in the office to help support attendance; and Hazel is always there for you for our students with a smile and a listening ear on the way in or out. First point of contact is still your tutor – Di (our Learning Mentor), the Safeguarding Team, the college counsellors, and external agencies and helplines are all here when needed.

Christmas Support 

If students need emotional or mental health support over Christmas, please contact The Mix (who offer experienced professional support to under 25s), The Samaritans (who are there to listen to any concerns 24/7), or take a look at the newly updated Salisbury Camhs website, which has lots of resources and advice for young people and families, details of the local mental health support line (which can be used by young people or their parents), and guidance on what to do in a crisis. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Get Support – The Mix

www.themix.org.uk

https://www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk/camhs/support/

Get support from Oxford Health CAMHS | Oxford Health CAMHSOxford Health CAMHS

www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk

Online Safety 

Craig Chambers, Assistant Head of College

We want to raise everyone’s attention to the potential threats that online chat sites can bring to our community.  Students and parents are familiar with common social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram and we hope that everyone uses these safely to communicate with their networks of people. 

As the internet continues to accelerate in it’s content, it is quickly becoming a significant part of our daily lives.  There will be a growing range of  video and chat sites available that are uncensored, have low level monitoring and create a risk of exposure of inappropriate material or communication to our young people.  One site that has been drawn to our attention is Omegle, and we want to share with you the message we have shared with our students about it in their Google Information Classroom. 

“Hello all. Although Omegle seems like a fun way to connect with people in a global community, their own website states that “predators have been known to use Omegle, so please be careful.” It has a spy feature (meaning your chats can be  monitored by an unseen viewer), it is poorly moderated, and has recently gained a reputation for exposing young people to unwelcome sexual content, as well as creating a platform for experienced groomers to gain your trust. We are not allowing the use of Omegle in college, when you should be focused on your studies anyway, and we recommend you avoid it. Stay safe and look after yourselves! “

Please can you discuss the importance of safe internet use for communication with your young person.  If you have any concerns you would like to raise about ICT acceptable usage and safety then please do get in touch with me at cchambers@s6c.mlp.college

Every student has a copy of our ICT acceptable use policy in their subject classrooms and it is also published on our website under statutory information. 

Here is the  link to our updated Policy   that was ratified by Governors in November 2021.

Creative Faculty Update

Art and Photography

Laurence Rushby & Sophie Bellars, Teachers of Art and Photography

A student perspective – Venturing out to Roche Court on an interesting trip allowed for us all to experience different types of art, as well as develop our photographic research and public speaking skills. 

Roche Court is a gallery with a unique layout, giving the whole place a more humble and ‘easy on the eye feel’ than most galleries. Its presentation as a gallery house packs in a lot of artwork from multiple diverse artists. Despite the harsh conditions of Storm Barra, we travelled around to view all of these inspiring pieces outside as well as going around inside different buildings to see sculptures, prints and paintings. These helped us to develop our ‘See, Think, Wonder’ routine, practised in class as a way of thinking critically, which allows us to describe an artwork in depth. 

While we went around to see all of these artworks, a series of activities prompted our preparation for our afternoon challenge of speaking publicly. We are taking part in the ARTiculation project, so developing our public speaking skills is an extremely important part of becoming confident to present in front of a larger crowd, a skill that also prepares us for any job interviews for the future. We were split into three groups and given a specific piece of art to analyse and research, then to turn into a presentation for the rest of the class. These pieces were ‘High Wire’ by Allen Jones, ‘Tame Buzzard Line’ by Richard Long and ‘Espaliered Girl’ by Laura Ford. 

While public speaking about a subject you only learned about an hour ago can be extremely daunting, every group did exceptionally well. We received constructive feedback on how to improve our script or speaking from our hosts, as well as how we did well. Having background information about the artist and our specific piece was a key factor for our presentations, but the main body was our in depth analysis and further elements such as our initial thoughts, a description of colours and composition and the intentions of the artist. Every group made their presentation extremely engaging and clear, as well as providing a lot of information. Finally, the day ended with sunshine purring through the clouds to allow for a final walk in the park after the storm.

Overall, the trip was an enjoyable experience and extremely useful as we got to develop so many useful skills – not just artistic skills, but ones that can be used in any situation. Seeing artworks in person was a greater experience than just looking online, as we can see so much more through our own eyes.

Reported by Clay Ingram, Isaac Kerley, Liv Bowman

Esports

Nathan David, Teacher of Esports

The Extended Diploma Esports students are thrilled to have their S6C bespoke jerseys for their Salisbury Spitfires Esports team. Each shirt has our logo (designed by S6C alumni Jordan Markham) as well as the S6C logo and our country of birth. The backs have our gaming tags and number. We even managed to persuade Head of College Louise Henderson to wear her Spitfires jersey for the shot as well as Assistant Head Craig Chambers! 

You can follow the adventures of the Spitfires at their Instagram and also via our Twitch

Teacher of Esports, Nathan David, has been working with HyperX on a sponsorship deal which we’ll be able to announce very soon. “It’s incredibly exciting to be working with them as we’ll hopefully have some fantastic peripherals for the Esports students.”

The Extended Diploma in Esports is currently in its first year at S6C. 

Creative Media Practice

Richard Eno, Teacher of Media & Film

The students are still in production for their music videos but they’ll soon be in post-production. Here’s a picture of our student Cosmin in costume for the Sparks song, ‘So May We Start’, which is also used in the latest film by Leos Carax and starring Adam Drive, Annette. 

Second year students are busy developing  their Salisbury business project where they are making video promos and social media campaigns for Maul’s Wine and Cheese, Vintage Corner No. 5 and the Rocketship Bookshop. 

Clubs and Societies

Pop Up Christmas Craft Club – Rebecca Anderson, Pastoral Lead

Year 12 practicing their open mindsets “I can’t make an origami Christmas star – yet! But I will get better at it if I practice ….” Students had a chance to have another go on a pop up Christmas craft club in the foyer.

Sally Tye, Baking Club

Baking club took on a big challenge this week – pastry making! Some students made last month’s mincemeat into mince pies and some made jam tarts.  Here are Tom Stewart’s jam tarts!

S6C Alumni 

Nye came to S6C from our MLP feeder school, Trafalgar, studied History, English Literature and Sociology at S6C and secured a competitive place at University College, Oxford, studying History and Politics. He had to sit an entry exam, was invited to online interviews for both subjects in the combined honours degree, and then had to secure A grades in all his subjects – a milestone which he surpassed by getting A* in all three of his subjects. A real achievement, we are very proud!

Friday 3rd December 2021

There has been an air of anticipation, excitement and nerves around the college this week with Year 13 Mock Exams taking place.   I have been very impressed with the maturity and organisation in which students have approached these mock exams.  Staff will now be marking and preparing feedback lessons for the students.  Rather than releasing all results together, we are releasing individual paper results once staff have had the time to complete their marking and have analysed the trends and be able to provide guided advice on areas that students need to personally focus on in the new year.  Student reports will be sent home on Thursday 13th January, the same day as Year 13 Parents Evening taking place online 4 – 7pm. Please save the date and further details will be sent out to parents in the week of Monday 3rd January.

As you are aware the government guidance has changed regarding the wearing of face masks in college,  this has been well received by the students despite the majority of them being vaccinated.  I would like to thank students and parents for their support in implementing these guidelines successfully. Although our Covid rates still remain low, we do need staff and students to be LF testing  twice a week to ensure we are keeping these rates as low as possible as we enter towards the last weeks of term. Any students having to self isolate will be fully supported with their learning and will be able to access their lesson online. 

A minority of students are arriving at college without their lanyards and are having to sign in daily. This prevents them from being able to access the upper floors to their lessons, and makes it difficult for staff to identify students that are part of the S6C community, particularly now that we are wearing masks again. If your young person has lost their lanyard and student ID  then these will have to be  replaced. Students can action this at reception at a cost of £10.  Parents can contact the office by phoning 01722597970.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Best Wishes

Louise. 

Christmas Jumper for Joy

Rebecca Anderson – Pastoral Lead

This year the Magna Learning Partnership have signed all academies within the trust up to the help support Save the Children and are taking part in a Christmas Jumper day on Friday 10th December to raise money for this great cause.  Please do encourage your young person to wear a Christmas jumper on the day and bring in £1 to donate. 

Learning about the cell membrane in Biology

Nicola Miller – Teacher of Biology, SEND Lead and DSL

This week in biology with Nicky we have been looking at the cell membrane, as a more practical lesson we used play-doh, pipe cleaners, pom-poms and a range of items to create a stop go animation in groups of how molecules are transported through the cell membrane in different ways. We moulded and labelled our diagrams and captured pictures to create the full video of the different types of transport including diffusion and osmosis.   This was really engaging and gave us a clear representation of the different types of transportation. Overall this gave the class a greater understanding through a really fun method. Reported by Chloe and Immy.

Art Exhibition 

Laurance Rushby – Teacher of Art

On Thursday the 25th November, the Art class curated an art exhibition showcasing some of the work that we have been working on recently and general pieces that we are proud of as a class from yr 12 and yr 13.  These pieces ranged from wire structures inspired by human form to mixed media pieces and a wonderful mannequin displaying Scarlett’s hand made paper dress and Ash’s amazing paper wig. We showcased Ibrahim, Kai, Robin and Fynn’s  fabulous painting with Christmas crackers! Also presented was a range of small sculptures and larger paintings done by the yr 13’s. Overall we curated our exhibition to present our work in a way that shows our audience how proud we are of the work we have done so far.

Creative Media Update Dec 2021

Rich Eno – Faculty Lead for Creative

This past week the Creative Media team have been working on various projects so have been really busy. The Year 13 group are working with clients in Salisbury city centre so their project briefs are 100% professional allowing them a real world experience. Here’s Lucy and Penny producing a social media campaign for a local business, they are also producing a promotional film as well as a 360 virtual tour of the premises.

The Year 12 class are in production with their Sparks music video project. Here are a few shots of Ewan and Ed during their shoot earlier this week.

Year 13 Film Studies have been doing mocks this week but they are also half way through their Contemporary US/UK Film unit where they are studying the role technology has played in film production and consumption as well as debating how relevant The Auteur Theory is in modern films. 

Year 12 have been studying the Silent Era of cinema and have just started to explore the Golden Era of Hollywood so they have been researching the classic stars of cinema such as Humhprey Bogard and Ingrid Bergman. Head of Faculty Richard Eno said, “The Golden Era Of Hollywood is my favourite era of cinema so this is such a fun unit to teach. I just wish I was as cool as Humphrey Bogard!” 

The S6C Instagram and Twitter have photos and video of last week’s TeachMeet so if you missed it you can find out more there. The social media for the evening was produced by two Creative Media students, Lucy Ferguson and Finley Reid. 

Esports – Salisbury Spitfires

Nathan David – Teacher of Esports

If you haven’t taken a look at the Esport student’s Spitfires Team Instagram or Twitch accounts yet, please do start to follow.  https://www.instagram.com/salisbury_spitfires/

https://www.twitch.tv/salisburyspitfires

This week you can see the progress the students have been making in their fixtures as part of the British Esports Association. 

S6C Future Students

Kathryn Clarkson – Business Manager

S6C Family Tours  are now available to book if families were unable to attend the Open Evening to see the college working during a college day. https://www.salisbury6c.ac.uk/study-with-us/open-evenings/
For those students who have already applied for September 2022, the first interview evening is taking place on the 9th December where staff will be meeting with potential students.

Friday 26th November 2021

We have had an amazingly busy week here at College. On Tuesday we held our second Open Evening of 2021, where we saw many families attending. It was lovely meeting parents and their young people, with many students leaving with much greater certainty about what subjects they wanted to study with us.  Many thanks to our passionate staff and our amazing student ambassadors who helped to make the evening run smoothly for our visiting families. Once again parents commented on how articulate our students are, talking with confidence and passion about their learning. 

On Monday, Mr Burley the Head of School at Wyvern St Edmunds accompanied me on a learning walk around the college, dropping into lessons.  He spoke to a number of former students and was taken aback at how much some of our young people have grown both academically and personally. He was delighted that some students who had not always had success at WSE were flourishing at S6C  and had clear progression plans for their next pathways.  

On Thursday, S6C and WSE held its first ever TeachMeet here at the college.  Teaching staff from the local community – and further afield, joined for an evening of short presentations as well as a Keynote Speech from Adam Boxall, Head of Science at TTA and co-founder of Carousel Learning,  as well as a wonderful presentation from education adviser and writer Mary Myatt.   The presentations were inspiring and thoughtful and we are very proud of all the staff including 3 of our own that shared their personal stories of  innovation in their practice. A special thank you and recognition needs to be given to Rich Eno, our Faculty lead for Creative subjects. It was Rich’s desire to run the event, promote and  organise all aspects of the presentations, sponsorship and raffle prizes. The event was a huge success, bringing together staff from over 15 different schools or colleges in the local area.

You will remember that the closing date for Parental Surveys was last week. I would like to thank you for taking the time  to respond to the survey. It is really important for us to gauge the views of our parents particularly as unlike school contact on a daily basis tends to be with the student rather than the parents, as we try to build their confidence,  resilience and independence as young adults.  We have now analysed  the feedback of the survey and overall the results are overwhelmingly positive, which is what we would want as the experience for all our young people. We are in the process of contacting a few parents where something has been flagged so that we can improve the communication or access to information you may require.   One of the questions specifically asked about access to online safety information. A few responses  highlighted they were unsure about Online Safety for their young person.  Below is an update from Rebecca Anderson, Pastoral Lead on the most recent focus with students on Online Safety which was covered again as part of this week’s Life Skills sessions with tutors. 

A reminder that Mock Exams start next week for year 13 and we wish students luck for these. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Best Wishes

Louise. 

Safeguarding 

Nicky Miller – Designated Safeguarding Lead and SEND

Recently we have reviewed a number of our College policies to ensure they reflect the updated Keeping Children Safe in Education 2021 Guidance.  The policies have now been ratified by Governors and are available on our website to view: https://www.salisbury6c.ac.uk/statutory-information/policies/

Online Safety 

Rebecca Anderson – Pastoral Lead

In an ever changing world, advice regarding online safety is regularly reviewed by the authorities and by S6C.  We want students to be able to make safe and well informed choices about online content, online contacts, online conduct and online commerce. Both year groups have had a chance to consider points across all these important areas – including current scams, reporting online abuse, setting up secure passwords, being wary of online contacts that may have links to criminal or sexual exploitation, and the laws around the sharing of sexual images. They also had a chance to explore practical websites offering advice and support to keep us all safe , including the Citizens Advice Bureau, a helpline for those who have been scammed, the Which? guide to current scams, and a reminder that the college safeguarding team can be contacted with any concerns about the safety or wellbeing of an S6C student.

Online Safety 2021

Progression planning  -UCAS Apprenticeships 

Rebecca Anderson – Pastoral Lead

We have sent a message this week to our Year 13 students interested in apprenticeships and suggesting it is a good idea for them to attend this event next Tuesday (details are in the link below) – there are talks and sessions ALL DAY so students can work it round their mock timetable if feasible. Registration is free. 

https://www.ucas.com/events/ucasdiscovery-apprenticeships-fair-404796

Progression planning UCAS Applications

Rebecca Anderson – Pastoral Lead

The tutoring team are offering full support for students applying to university – the fast approaching internal deadline is 10th December, to allow us to write references ready for the final UCAS closing date on January 26th. Tutors are the first port of call and are seeing students for individual guidance as requested. Rebecca has also been running drop-in sessions for anyone wanting additional support, and has been circulating round college offering help with university and course choices, apprenticeships, and personal statements, for anyone too shy to come and ask. There is an abundance of guidance on every step of the process on the Information Classroom, Careers Classroom and the UCAS website. Rebecca has also recently posted a very quick headline guide to writing personal statements. We have sent off our first six applications and want to congratulate the students who already have offers and interviews. There is plenty of time, and no need for stress, but we are very keen for students to engage with the support or encouragement they may need in order to take this next step towards independence.

Creative Media Practice

Rich Eno – Faculty Lead for Creative 

Creative Media Practice Year 12 students are busy in pre-production for their music video project. Each group has been given a song by the band Sparks to help promote their upcoming UK tour. 

Here are a few photos of the students testing make-up and costumes. Faculty Lead Richard Eno says, “The reason I chose Sparks is because they are outrageously creative and innovative in their music and visual style so I thought it would match the approach we take in lessons”. 

Vacancies 

Kathryn Clarkson Business Manager

• We have a S6C vacancy for a Data Manager – please see the link for more information  https://www.salisbury6c.ac.uk/about-s6c/vacancies/   
• Also within our MLP Trust Sarum Academy have some vacancies for a Caretaker role, please see below.  

https://www.sarumacademy.org/staff-vacancies/part-time-community-caretaker

Clubs and Societies

Baking Club – Dr Sally Tye, Faculty Lead for Humanities

This week’s bake was a double red velvet cake with buttermilk icing and raspberries, the final cake baked by Sally Tye was sold off as part of the raffle for the TeachMeet. 

Friday 19th November 2021

This week we have had our year 12 and 13 students sitting internal practice exam papers for Health and Social Care units, in preparation for external exams in January.  Many papers have already been marked and reviewed in class with  students. Some performances were exceptional and significantly above the mark boundary to achieve Distinction grades.  We are incredibly proud of how well all the students have prepared and have acted on the advice of our staff to develop high quality answers. This should give our students real confidence ready for the January papers.

I am also incredibly proud to talk to staff about improvements Year 12 students have made in their second data capture this month. Many students that were supported on action plans to improve their performance after data capture 1 have shown that development in these test papers, so there is clearly an impact in the work they have been focusing on as they continue to make the transition from GCSE to Level 3 courses.  Some of this support has come from direct interventions from our Learning Mentor, who is always available to advise any students in the Study Centre where she is based. 

Year 13 Mock Exams will take place from Monday 29th November  to Friday 3rd December, and this information and timetable has been shared with students and parents.  If you need any further information please speak to our exams officer, Lisa lucas at exams@s6c.mlp.college. A copy of these timetables can be found in the student Information Classroom.  Talking to many Year 13 students this week, it is clear that nerves are increasing about sitting these papers.  My advice to them is that they must see this as a learning opportunity to experience an exam series, and use the time wisely now to prepare as best as they can.  That way their strengths and areas for improvement will be more accurate to identify and action. 

We have our second Open Evening next Tuesday and we are very pleased that tickets have all sold out, with a lot of interest across the community.   If this affects you and you have missed the chance to attend for younger siblings, we are booking family tours for December and January dates.  Please get in touch with our admissions team on admissions@s6c.mlp.college and we will accommodate you. 

I hope you have a great weekend

Best wishes

Louise 

Student Union 

Lily Jackson & Thomas Booth on behalf of the Student Union:

Hello everyone! Every year the college takes up the festive spirit and selects a charity operating locally to support. 

This year we have selected to support ‘The Pantry’ a food bank type charity which is open to anyone who goes through the day hungry, offering both cooked and pre-packaged food. The Student Union would be very grateful if students could bring in dried/ tinned or packaged foods to go into the box for the Salisbury Pantry, located at Reception, as they are urgently in need of donations. 

We are keen to help our community by supporting the Salisbury Pantry – they really need these items right now so please bring in donations as soon as possible. It is an extremely worthy cause which would massively benefit from our food donations whilst aligning with our pledge to make sure that every member of the S6C community is valued, respected and heard. 

Our donations will  allow members to be able to choose from a selection of food, meaning that local vulnerable people, who are struggling to pay bills, still have choice, something many take for granted. The Pantry are asking for:

• Canned and tinned foods (baked beans, soup etc.)
• Foods with long shelf lives (non-perishables, UHT milk etc.)
• Foods which can be served as large helpings (pasta, rice etc)

S6C/ WSE TeachMeet 

S6C and Wyvern St Edmund’s are proud to host our first ever joint TeachMeet for the teachers of Salisbury on Thursday 25th November!

Our theme is, ‘Innovation In The Classroom’, so we are welcoming presentations from teachers which will inspire and challenge us. There are two presentation options:

• 7 minute presentation
• 2 minute micro presentation

We would like to encourage you as a parent to attend as an audience member if you are in the teaching profession, the evening will be suitable for teachers from any of the teaching phases.

Some of the presentations already confirmed include:

• Literacy in Maths
• Disruption in Art 
• Promoting a Gameful Mindset
• Adapting to Technology
• And many more!

We are delighted to have the highly acclaimed  Adam Boxer and Mary Myatt presenting.  Mary is an educational adviser, writer and speaker and is passionate about curriculum design. Adam is a highly sought after teacher trainer with a passion for evidence based practice and is heavily involved with researchEd. 

There will be a free raffle at the end of the evening with a variety of prizes, and refreshments will be available. 

For more details to book a ticket:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/salisbury-teachmeet-2021-tickets-186589031817

Protect Student Choice

 Katheryn Clarkson, Business Manager

Monday 15th November was a big day for Education and for the #ProtectStudentChoice campaign as the Skills Bill was debated in the Commons for the first time. It was the first opportunity the new ministerial team had to officially chart a different course on BTEC/CTECs and hopefully the momentum generated by the campaign will persuade them to take it. 

So why is this important and why should we be asking for your support to back the campaign?

Nationally a high proportion of students in post 16 study course combinations of vocational BTEC/CTEC courses as a programme  either alongside or instead of sitting A Levels.  These courses provide a fantastic stepping stone to university pathways, apprenticeships or employment. At S6C many of our alumni have gone on to get first class honours degrees in many specialist areas including audiology and  computer programming after taking a vocational route of BTEC/CTEC courses. 

The Government has stalled on the plans to remove these larger BTEC/CTEC qualifications for now, as they continue to develop an alternative pathway of T levels which will reduce the breadth of choices available.  We believe that removing these Level 3 BTEC/CTEC courses is taking away student choice and we strongly believe they provide an outstanding curriculum alongside A Level courses. If you want to support this campaign, the link can be found here. 

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/592642

Creative Media – working with the local community

Rich Eno,  Faculty Lead for Creative

Year 13 students on the BTEC Creative Media Practice Diploma have recently been working with local independent businesses in Salisbury on a new unit designed to produce promotional videos and social media content. 

The class have been allocated three separate businesses to work with: Maul’s Wine And Cheese Bar, The Vintage Corner and The Rocketship Bookshop. 

Each group has had to deliver professional pitches to each business owner on what they can produce for the company and then work in collaboration with the owner on producing a promotional video, social media posts as well as a 360 degree virtual tour of each company location.  

Teacher and Faculty Leader Richard Eno said, “These students have had limited real world experience because of COVID so I felt obligated to make sure they finish college with some professional work experience. They have had to pitch to real business owners in a professional environment and for some of them this was incredibly intimidating. But I knew they’d pull this off because I truly believe in them and have been training them for 12 month. I’m especially proud of one individual who has struggled with confidence and social anxiety throughout his first year with us and here he is now in the city centre delivering a professional business pitch in a real world professional environment.”

The BTEC Creative Media Practice Diploma course is a two year course where students spend their first year learning a variety of media related techniques and then focus on a major project in their second year. There are no exams but there is a huge amount of work which they have to produce. Richard Eno is a huge fan of the course for the following reasons, “The course is very industry focused and allows for a holistic approach to delivery and assessment. It means that students are able to develop a huge range of practical and technical skills which they can apply to a variety of situations within the creative industries and beyond”. 

Baking Club

Dr Sally Tye, Faculty Lead for Humanities

This week we have been making Coffee Cake – a wonderful sweet treat.  Below are some photos of Maddy Wood’s coffee cake creation. 

Friday 12th November 2021

As the nights start to draw in, exams are once again being completed at S6C. This time it was the turn of the GCSE Maths students. On the week starting Monday 29th November, Year 13 will be completing their Mock Exams and planning is now underway for this and students will shortly receive the timetable. 

We are in the process of getting our new prospectus and course booklets delivered to the local Secondary Schools in readiness for our second Open Evening on Tuesday 23rd November. 

Thank you in advance to parents for agreeing to let your young person take part. This is an integral part of the evening with prospective students being able to get relevant information from peers that have lived through the transition to sixth form. Following the last open evening, we had some wonderful feedback from attendees about the exceptional work the student ambassadors did and we look forward to the same for this open evening. 

We received the final report from our external quality assurance reviews and further details can be found below from Louise, along with pastoral, enrichment and faculty news.

Have a great weekend. 

Craig Chambers
Assistant Head of College

External Quality Reviews – Louise Henderson, Head of College

Behaviour and Attitudes

On the 4th and 5th November we had visiting reviewers to validate the quality of behaviour and values in the college.  They visited lessons, met with staff and interacted with students in forum groups, in lessons and in different communal areas of the college, talking to nearly 100 students over the 2 days.  The feedback we have received has recognised how exceptional S6C is as a community, and how the culture and ethos of the college is student centred – that every student’s experience really is ‘All about them’.

Key highlights identified

• ​​High expectations are clearly set out to learners at the start of the academic year in terms of behaviour. This is evidenced by exemplary behaviour in lessons where learners are respectful to staff and their peers. Learners can articulate that expectations are set in an initial induction period.
• Learners can articulate clear new learnt behaviours such as independence, confidence and self-led study skills. They articulate that they feel as if they are treated as young adults and note the difference between the sixth form college and school.
• Students are proud of the work they produce, are able to articulate the work they had created and can explain how they had been encouraged to try new skills.
• Learners are polite and respectful in both the classroom setting as well as in the communal areas.
•  Learners in a number of lessons and the focus group articulate that they feel supported well and believe the provider’s mission ‘It’s all about you’ flows through. 
• Learners provide evidence that the programme of learning they received during lockdown was excellent. Staff were ahead of the game and Google Classroom was set up pre-lockdown so that all lessons were able to continue following their curriculum plans and attend lessons remotely.
• The enrichment programme has seen development over this year, more learners are engaging and the programme is adapted to meet the learners needs
• The majority of learners can articulate their progression plans. For example, many of the learners are planning to go to university, take a gap year or complete a higher apprenticeship.
• Learners feel that the staff care about them and feel very well supported from personal tutors and the pastoral lead. This results in learners getting the support required in most cases. Staff show genuine care for the learners and are proud of what they achieve. Staff highlight examples such as learners volunteering in the community, working confidently with peers and producing high level work.

Areas for development

• Attendance and punctuality of some learners is not in line with college expectations. As a result a newly appointed attendance officer will be working with teaching staff on improving accountability with students. This will be launched with students in the weeks ahead.
• The 1:2:1 tutor meetings held termly need to be reviewed to incorporate the same experience for all learners which is currently not consistent. Some students are also receiving an academic review so the process will change to provide a holistic experience for all students. This will include a review of attendance, engagement,  progress and barriers in learning and progression planning.  

To be told by the reviewers that the behaviour seen was better than any other college they had visited makes me incredibly proud, and I hope it makes you feel the same way.  

Governor visits

We have had three  Governor visits in college in the last few weeks, having the opportunity to review teaching and learning and the personal development of our students, as well as joining the senior leadership team in strategic planning and discussions. Governors have reviewed our action plans and spoken directly to students about their learning experiences.  They are delighted that students are enjoying being back in college and enjoying their learning experience, and  they are confident that we have a strong focus on the areas we are targeting.  Across the MLP Trust we have a commitment to work with our young people on ‘Closing the gap’, and staff are working with ALL our students to support the identification of learning gaps that have come about from the impact of Covid.     

Armistice Day – Rebecca Anderson, Pastoral Lead

S6C paused for a two minute reflection on remembrance and peace at 11am on the 11th, with a series of images supporting this important moment of stillness.

British Values – Rebecca Anderson, Pastoral Lead

Year 12 and Year 13 tutor groups have been considering fundamental British Values in Life Skills – it is so easy for us to take these global values for granted if we live in one of the many countries that offers the protections of the rule of law, democracy, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of each other’s protected characteristics (such as faith, belief, age, gender, and sexuality).

We considered the nature of regimes that do not hold these values, and reasons why refugees might flee to countries that uphold them, and also the way the values interact with each other. We also talked about the importance of being able to identify extremist beliefs, and arrange support for those who might be in danger of holding damaging views, such as anti semitism, Islamophobia, or white supremacy.

Year 13 extended last year’s reflections with discussion on the danger of extremist views such as the anti-vax conspiracies, and considered whether the word ‘tolerant’ is adequate to describe the acceptance we should have towards the faith and beliefs of others.

We were very proud of the insight and maturity of our young people in their consideration of these key elements of society and citizenship; we are committed to a college ethos where these values are not just understood, but lived out, by all members of our S6C community. 

Psychology – Kirsty White, Faculty Lead for STEM

On Wednesday 3rd November, we were lucky enough to welcome back Dr Alex Corcoran from the NHS. He delivered a similar talk on NHS careers and basic medical skills to Year 12 students that Year 13s experienced before half-term.

The session provided excellent advice and guidance on how to enter careers in the NHS, the different routes that students can take and the types of job roles (all summed up in a wonderful booklet – copies can be found in the Health & Social Care and Psychology classrooms, and the Study Centre). The Year 12s were dynamic and enthusiastic and wrote excellent questions to ask Dr Corcoran. We hope that this experience will continue to drive students’ aspirations!

Health & Social Care – Jo Mason, Teacher of Health & Social Care

Starting from December, when Rachel Fernandez turns 18 or possibly sooner, she has been offered a position at Salisbury District Hospital within the obstetrics theatres. She will be  required to work full days during the week which would be Wednesdays and Fridays.

This will be invaluable in helping Rachel to gain experience in a hospital setting and will have the opportunity to be able to observe operations and possibly births which will help towards her university application. We are delighted to celebrate this news with our college community. 

ESports enrichment – Nathan David, Teacher of ESports

This past Wednesday saw the mid-way point for our Esports Students in their British Esports Association Champs competition for the Winter, and what a Wednesday it was!

The teams produced the ‘perfect Wednesday’ as our Rocket League team beat Newcastle-under-Lyme School 3-0, whilst the Valorant team beat Llandrillo College 13-0.

This leaves the Rocket League team top and unbeaten of their group and the Valorant team with a respectable W2-L2 Record. Fixtures take place immediately after Esports Enrichment (3-4pm) until 6pm in TF02 – please do come up and join in!

Baking Club – Dr Sally Tye, Faculty Lead for Humanities

This week Baking Club made Jamaican Beef Patties, as well as getting their mincemeat ready for making mince pies.

Friday 5th November 2021

I hope you all had a wonderful half term break and managed to get some  time together with your families. 

The return to College started on Monday with a Trust Wide virtual INSET day for all staff within the Magna Learning Partnership; the highlight being a Keynote Speech from Tom Sherrington, a renown teaching consultant who aims to work with teachers and school and college leaders to explore and implement contemporary educational ideas that help deliver excellent all-round education for all young people.  The day was very successful and well received by our staff.  Teachers focused on expert practice in the classroom and how we can support and maximise our interactions with all our young people to ensure that any gaps in learning are closed. 

We hope that students that have had a disrupted week for travel due to the rail line closure to Salisbury have been able to continue their learning effectively by joining lessons online. We will be  actively encouraging staff to check the learning with students next week and support any issues that may have arisen. 

Our Student Union met again this week to discuss a range of events and also teaching and learning in the college. They have been presented with materials that will support all our students to develop effective testing routines of knowledge in their Independent Study time.  In the coming weeks we will explore how these materials will be used and shared with students, and will send these to parents as a reference to support strong study habits at home. 

The college community currently has a very small number of reported positive Covid cases from tests taken during the half term break.  We are not at or approaching the threshold to have to consider bringing in stricter regulations, but continue to monitor closely in the event that we will have to revert back to mask wearing in communal areas.  All deep cleaning of the building and sanitation has continued and the students are behaving very maturely in their interactions with each other.  Testing kits continue to be  available for students to collect from reception, and we strongly encourage students to  report their results on the NHS app to allow accurate data to be collected from the college. 

This half term, like many others, is a busy one, and includes our second Open Evening on Tuesday 23rd November.  If you know of friends and family who are exploring the opportunities for their young person’s next stage in education, please book to attend the evening and see what wonderful facilities and teaching staff have to offer here at the 6th Form College.  Bookings can be made via our website at; https://www.salisbury6c.ac.uk/study-with-us/open-evenings/ 

I hope you have a wonderful Bonfire Night this evening and have an enjoyable weekend. 

Louise 
Head of College

Exams Officer – Lisa Lucas 

The resits for GCSE Maths and English and the Cambridge Assessment entry examination have run smoothly this week.  There were obviously some nerves and for the majority of students;  particularly as due to the pandemic,  this was their first experience of sitting an External Exam.  

Well done to all students who had exams this week, most of whom were well prepared, adhered to exam regulations and were polite and receptive to instructions.  There is one paper left for Maths GCSE on Monday.  So good luck to those students sitting this paper. 

InvestIN – Rosie Roberts, Career Lead and School Liaison 

InvestIN runs immersive career experience programmes for students aged 12-18 in over 28 industries and this year they are bringing their  most popular programmes to more UK cities. If your young person is interested in Medicine, Law, Investment Banking, Psychology or Engineering, then these regional weekend programmes could be perfect.

In addition, parents in the College community can attend their free-of-charge event for teachers and parents at the University of Bristol at 6pm on 23^rd November to launch these events. 

The evening will aim to not only provide information about these opportunities, but also offer tailored careers advice and complementary resources to students.

Parents and teachers can sign up for the event here.

Volunteering at S6C – Steve Price, Teacher of Business 

As we reported in our previous Weekly Updates, we have Volunteering Club as part of our Clubs and Societies on a Wednesday afternoon. The group is working on assisting students at WyvernStEds.  But we were keen to know, are we seeing an impact of the work we are doing, not only on the organisations we support, but the students themselves who are volunteering?

It is very early days in the project and we shall do a formal review at the end of Autumn Term 2. Anecdotal feedback from WSE is that the S6C students bring energy and drive to the sessions they support, that they are outstanding role models for their students and that the link we are trying to establish is starting to embed.

The impact of volunteering on the students themselves has been significantly positive, attendance each week is at 95% plus, students on discussion enjoy their experience and WSE value their support and hard work(Two students now run an additional homework support group on a Wednesday) The key highlight though has been the growing sense of ‘belonging’ in the group and the development of relationships amongst themselves and the staff involved.  Great work Volunteering Members!

Baking Club – Dr Sally Tye, Faculty Lead for Humanities (and baking extraordinaire) 

This week at the Baking Club students learned how to make a white chocolate malteser cheesecake.  

Over the next few weeks we will be looking at some Christmas recipes, including a delicious mince meat recipe with my secret ingredient! Great to enjoy yourself, or make in a decorative jar and give as a Christmas present.   Remember it is time to get your Christmas Puddings prepped too!

Here are students Erin Penn and Madeline Woods’ wonderful and scrummy looking efforts at the malteser cheesecake.

Friday 15th October 2021

We had a really positive start to the week  with our Personal  Development Day which was exploring Mental Health organised by Rebecca Anderson our Pastoral Lead – it was a packed day full of insightful talks and opportunities for students to explore their Mental Health in more depth.  In the afternoon we had a number of activities on offer for students such as, knitting, mindfulness, drumming, yoga, and a series of talks on sleep, exam stress, using apps & gaming to support mental health, and how to support a friend in need. Thanks are due to the MHST (mental health support team), Dr Orla Baird from SDH, and Kaya Drumming, for sharing their expertise.  

Luke Muchmore and Steve Price took our S6C football team over to The Burgate School on Wednesday afternoon, for a match against Burgate 6th Form football team.   As you can see from the match report below it was a successful trip for us. 

On Wednesday evening we held the first Open Evening of the year,  welcoming students and their families into the college community to speak to staff, find out more about subjects and to view our facilities.  It was so wonderful to see so many families enjoying our facilities and having the opportunity to speak to our wonderful teachers and some of our current students.   Our next Open Evening is Tuesday 23rd November 5.30pm – 7.30pm  if you would like to book on with a Year 11 child please follow the link: 

I would like to say a collective thank you again to the student ambassadors from both year 12 and 13. They showed outstanding leadership skills and parents were very complimentary about how passionate and articulate they were about their studies. 

Covid cases remain very low in our college community and we continue to review cases weekly to ensure we are confident our measures continue to be appropriate. Covid rates are rising in Wiltshire so we need to continue to be vigilant, keep testing and maintain good hygiene at all times. 

Wishing you a restful weekend.

Louise 
Head of College

Mental Health Development Day – Rosie Roberts, Career Lead and School Liaison 

This week, as part of the Development Day, Year 13 students had the opportunity to focus on Destinations, as well as their mental health, as requested in their feedback last year. They were able to  meet with representatives from the University of Bath, the University of Portsmouth and the University of Winchester to get feedback and advice on their university Personal Statements. We also welcomed Careers Adviser Polly Wiggins in to conduct careers guidance appointments with Year 13s. 

All students can get virtual support with their Personal Statement at any time by submitting it to the University of Portsmouth Personal Statement Hub.

Also this week, Year 12 students have been set a task to help them prepare for the “Your Choices” event on Tuesday 19th October. Students can access the independent study task in the Careers Google Classroom.

‘Your Choices’ is a free event for young people and their parents in Swindon and Wiltshire on Tuesday 19th October 2021 during the College day from 11-2pm, or in the evening between 5-7pm.     

This is an interactive event, giving you the chance to ask questions directly to our local colleges, universities, training providers, employers and speakers, to help you in making your future career choices.

Students, Teachers and Parents/Carers – Register for free here:

https://learnliveuk.com/your-choices-2021-2022/                                              #MyChoices

EGX 2021 – Nathan David, Teacher of Esports 

Last Friday, over 30 Esports, Media and Software Design students travelled to the Excel Centre, London, for the annual gaming convention, EGX. Students used the trip as an opportunity to network in their chosen career paths, engaging with industry professionals such as; content creators, game developers, and cyber security agencies as well as chats with University representatives within their chosen fields. The students then had the opportunity to play lots (and lots) of video games, some retro, some brand new and even some not out for release yet. We’re already looking forward to EGX 2022 – come join!

Student Union – Rebecca Anderson – Pastoral Lead

The Student Union, ably supported by Hazel Wright, are shaping the college with their feedback from Student Voice and their reflections on their individual focus areas. They are joining the Senior Leadership Team on Monday to discuss their recent requests, are working on audits of their areas, joined the team of amazing Student Ambassadors on Open Evening, and are working on their first independent task, planning the S6C Christmas Community Project. Cara Hellis, our mental health officer, suggested that we include a reflection on covid as part of the Development Day and students had an opportunity to discuss what they feel they have lost, what they have gained, and what gaps we can help with, as well as reflecting on current national statistics and sharing their feelings and views. Student feedback on the session was very positive and we will be looking closely at the issues they have raised for support and celebration. 

S6C Football – Luke Muchmore – Teacher of Sports

S6C 3-0 Burgate 

Goals: George Donohue, Finn Russell, Lewis Elshaw

MOTM: Ben Hayward

Lineup: W. Davis, N. Halliwell, B. Hayward (C), J. Price, G. Goff, L. Cartwright, G. Allen, A.Ford, F. Russell, L. Elshaw, G. Donohue   Subs: R. Fernando, H. McDonnell

S6C were back in 11 a side action on Wednesday afternoon, playing an away friendly against a good Burgate side. The opposition dominated early possession before coming unstuck due to good pressing from striker George Donohue led to a simple finish. 1-0. A solid start for the lads led to us playing well for the rest of the half, we were unlucky not to go into the break with another goal after a good header from captain Ben Hayward was saved.

The second half saw changes for both teams, but S6C remained on top – a rejuvenated Finn Russell scoring a weak footed volley midway through the second half. 2-0. S6C finished the game off after Lewis Elshaw scored the rebound from a George Allen free-kick. 3-0. Overall a great game with a flattering scoreline – the boys were buzzing to be back in action after a COVID-affected season last year. Next up is our first league game against Devizes.

Follow us on Social Media

The Official logo of the S6C Esports team – Salisbury Spitfires has been created by S6C Alumni, Jordan Markham.   You can follow the Salisbury Spitfires on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/enn_dee_esports/

We have also seen the launch of our STEM Faculty Instagram  – you can follow the STEM team on : https://www.instagram.com/s6cstem/

Our S6C College Social Media Accounts are please do follow us for regular updates: 

https://www.facebook.com/SalisburySixthFormCollege

https://www.instagram.com/salisbury6thform/

https://twitter.com/salisbury6form

Friday 8th October 2021

Here at college we have had another busy week,  which included a visit from Portsmouth University for our Year 13 students to have the opportunity to understand how to complete an effective UCAS application.  This was very well received by students and more details about the visits are below.  Year 13 students have completed their formal assessments this week and staff are now marking papers to prepare actions and direction to support students’ next steps.  Reports to parents will be sent home after half term and students targets and progress will be reviewed in class together.

This week I have had the opportunity to lead  some of our feeder schools assemblies, presenting to year 11 students at St Josephs, Trafalgar and Wyvern St Eds.  Students are embarking on their career advice for colleges,  and I hope that many siblings and young people in our local community join us next year, and experience the warmth, care, support and challenge that our students receive.  

We have been contacted by the Department of Education to actively encourage parents to support their child in the participation of regular lateral  flow testing.  S6C as a registered site has had a drop off of registered students completing Covid tests.  We know from talking to students that many students are actively testing each week, but are forgetting to register the result.  This will affect the stock that we receive to replenish the test kits needed for distribution, so it is important that we aim to register all results so there is a more accurate representation of testing taking place in our community. A guide to regular rapid COVID 19 testing.pdf

This week parents will have received home a letter from Rebecca Anderson regarding the mental health development day on Monday next week.   Below is some further information regarding the day. 

Have a great weekend. 

Louise

Life Skills & Pastoral – Rebecca Anderson, Pastoral Lead

Black History Month: 

S6C celebrates Black History month in October, and every day. Shared education and the willingness to listen and learn about each other’s lives and pasts is key to building a fair, equal, diverse and thriving society. Across the month we will be celebrating and learning more about Britain’s black and other ethnic minority communities – on the plasma screens, in the Information Classroom, by making direct links in each subject, and taking the opportunity to explore material in Life Skills and share our ideas and new found knowledge on jamboards. The Student Union have put up a series of infographic posters. Rebecca is hoping to run a trip to the National Maritime Museum, later in the year, for students interested in thinking further about Britain’s colonial past and its ongoing effects – students are encouraged to get in touch with an expression of interest.

Mental Health Development Day. 

We are really excited to be able to run our first Development Day of the year, to coincide with World Mental Health Day, in person and with a full range of activities, guest speakers, and workshops to promote mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. The timetable and information has been shared with parents and students and we are really looking forward to a fun, positive and practical day including 5 Ways to Wellbeing, Coping with Stress and Pressure, Reflections on Covid (suggested by the Student Union), How To Support a Friend in Need, Practical Tips for Exam Stress, Young Carer Support, Student Health Guide Publication Launch, Wellbeing Walk, Drumming or Knitting for fun, Yoga, Mindfulness Activities and Colouring, Gaming and Wellbeing, Apps/Video Games/Books for Positive Mental Health, Guided Stress Bucket Activity, and Getting Good Sleep. As ever, we will be encouraging students to look after themselves and each other.  A full list of the programme has been sent out to parents. 

Career Curriculum – Rosie Roberts, School Liaison 

Personal Statement presentation from local University

On Wednesday 6 October, Ruth Walton from the University of Portsmouth presented to Year 13s on Writing their Personal Statement. Ruth gave practical advice on what to include, how to structure it, tips on a powerful opening statement and where to get advice on your first draft. 

Ruth also provided helpful resources including a worksheet to help students structure their Personal Statement, and she invited students to submit a draft of their Personal Statement for checking and advice from university representatives through the Portsmouth Personal Statement hub here.

The slides from the presentation and the worksheet will be shared with students in the Google Careers Classroom (if students have not joined this Classroom yet they can follow the link in the Information Classroom to join).

Subject News 

Psychology – Kirsty White, Faculty Lead for STEM and Teacher of Psychology

Students were invited to join an online conference of Psychology talks organised and run by Oxford High School. A range of talks were provided, such as a talk on the teenage brain by Professor Sarah Jayne Blakemore and talks on forensic psychology and the impact of covid-19 on mental health. I would like to thank Oxford High School’s sixth formers for arranging such an incredible day! Here are some students reflections:

“The psychology talk by Professor Goddwin on the psychological effects of covid-19 was interesting and allowed me to learn something new in psychology to further broaden my knowledge. A lot of which Professor Goddwin talked about applied to current everyday life and therefore made it relatable.” – Bethany Cookson, Year 13

“The psychology conference I watched with Ms Keelie Persham on forensic psychology was very informative. It was interesting to hear about what forensic psychology is and what it is like when first starting to work in that field.” – Alanah Evans, Year 12

Clubs and Societies 

STEM club

Videos of STEM students firing a rocket out of a cannon, powered by gun cotton (gun cotton is made by nitrating pure cotton wool). The students then made their own cannons and packed in the gun cotton. We tried to do some target practice on the board but the students have yet to devise a method of identifying where the rocket has hit….maybe next week we’ll have cracked it and there will be some sharp shooting in STEM!

SPITFIRES MAKE THE PERFECT START – Nathan David, Teacher of Esports

On Wednesday afternoon the Esports society, Salisbury Spitfires, kicked off their British Esports Association Championship season in Rocket League and Valorant. The Rocket League (a sport/racing game) team overcame Bournemouth and Poole College in a brilliant showing coming out 3-0 victors, seeing themselves at the top of the table at this early stage of the season. The Valorant (a first-person shooter) team produced a dominant performance over Reading College, ending the game 13-2 in the Spitfires favour. The teams move on with morale high for their fixtures next week. Come to TF02 from 3pm every Wednesday to support – everyone is welcome!

Friday 1st October 2021

We had a great Virtual Welcome Evening for parents of year 12 students this week.  It involved a talk from myself and Rebecca Anderson, Pastoral Lead, to provide further guidance and information about the college processes.   Parents had the opportunity to split off into separate groups to meet with their young person’s tutor.  This gave parents the opportunity to ask any questions about college life.  If you were not able to attend or would like the opportunity to follow up on any further questions then please do get in touch.

Today, the first year 12 reports have been sent home to parents, this will give an indication to students and parents on the transition they have made in subjects from GCSE to A-level or their Level 3 BTEC/CTEC courses.  Staff will support students where early indications show the student has not performed well.  Some students may find the transition after a difficult year hard to manage. What is critical, is the students’ commitment to working with us to make improvements, and this comes about from showing positive attitudes to their learning not just in the classroom but in the Independent Study work required to support their progress outside of lessons.  Our expectations will always be high, so students not fully engaged will have subject conversations with teachers to work out what barriers are getting in the way. 

Next week is year 13 Assessment week, the first for this academic year. Some assessments have taken place already  in some subjects but the majority of students will be sitting a past paper to measure their progress.  Students are working really hard and have returned to college very focused and determined to fulfil their potential. 

This afternoon, our vocational classes have been closed period 3 to ensure that staff have the time together all afternoon to complete moderation and sign off of unit grades we are awarding in vocational courses. Students in year 13 have completed a number of course units and these will be submitted to the exam boards next week.   This process has to be rigorous and we need to ensure we provide the staff team with the time needed to decide on the right outcomes for all our students.  

Please see below further updates from this week. 

Wishing you all a great weekend, let’s hope the weather improves quickly. 

Louise

Dyslexia Week – Nicola Miller, SENDCo and DSL

Next week is National Dyslexia week.  The theme for this year is invisible dyslexia.  Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that shows no visible signs.  For a person with dyslexia they can feel that they are isolated and unsupported.  At S6C we work hard to make sure that our students with dyslexia and any SpLD (specific learning difficulties) are well supported by inclusive classroom practice.  To support learning in the classroom and during independent study we subscribe to Read Write for Google.  This is an assistive technology package that can support any student with their learning.  Students just need to be logged into their college Google accounts to access this package.  This means our students can use it to support their learning anywhere!  Read Write will read Google docs, PDF, web pages and other sources.  They can use it to dictate their work or apply screen colours that suit their learning.  For a full list of tools that are available please follow the link below.  If you or your young person would like to know more about Read Write please speak to Nicky the college SENDCo or Diane the college learning mentor.

Link to Read Write for Google instructions 

Psychology Talk – Kirsty White, Faculty Lead for STEM and Teacher of Psychology 

On Wednesday, Dr Alex Corcoran delivered a hands-on session focusing on roles and careers in the NHS to Year 13 students. They heard about the huge variety of options (over 350 roles!) and the different routes into them. Students then had the opportunity to try out some real equipment on themselves and each other – a stethoscope, a pulse oximeter, an otoscope and a blood pressure cuff. The session was engaging and will benefit the students who attended, giving them access to a professional in the healthcare field and helping them to add vital experience to personal statements and applications. We will be running the same session for Year 12s in November.

“The practical sessions were fun and educational. Letting students help with sessions also helped our confidence. I was helping with the pulse oximeter station and quickly learnt it was easier for me to time everyone at the same time and it created a smoother process. I would like to become a paramedic and this immersive talk really helped, especially the fact that it was in person.” – Rosie McAllister, applying for paramedic science.

“The session provided a range of useful information about working for the NHS including the diversity of jobs available, the different pathways of entering and the variety of opportunities such as working abroad. It helped me to think about the different qualities needed to be an NHS worker which will help me whilst writing my personal statement.” – Ed Smith, applying for Physiotherapy

Health and Social Care – Jo Mason, Teacher of Health & Social Care 

Today (Friday) Health and Social Care students arranged a cake sale to raise money for Macmillan Cancer.  The total raised will be confirmed in next week’s update.  Thank you to our community students for supporting this and to Abby Currie and Paige Withell for their hard work in arranging

Baking Club – Sally Tye, Faculty Lead for Humanities and Baking Club Lead

This week on the menu for the online baking club was chocolate brownies.  Below are some photos of the wonder creations students have made, in particular those made by Madaline Wood.

Friday 20th September 2021

We have noticed a decline in Lateral Flow Test reporting amongst students recently.  It is important to continue to test and report your results each week. Along with good hygiene, this helps to prevent the spread of Covid 19 and allows S6C to replenish their stock for students and staff via the government portal. If you require some more tests please ask at reception. 

This week saw the full throttle launch of our clubs and societies, with both year 12 and 13 attending.  

Some clubs took place on site at another Magna Learning Partnership Academy, Wyvern St. Edmunds, enabling us to build relationships and collaboration with local secondary schools. 

Over the coming weeks Louise Henderson, Head of College will be joining some of the secondary schools to carry out assemblies and speak to their Year 11’s.  Some representatives from our current student body will accompany her to present back to their old schools.  This is a great opportunity for students to develop their presentation skills and share their positive experiences of their journey from school to College. 

Have a great week.

Craig Chambers
Assistant Head of College

Subject News

Biology – Mary Gannon, Teacher of Biology 

This week Year 13 Biologists visited St Martin’s church graveyard to look at the distribution of lichens as part of their Core Practical activities, exploring the relative abundance of British native plant species. It was a fantastic opportunity for students  to put their sampling skills into practice to better understand the ecology of this wonderful environment on our doorstep. The bonus of having some late September sunshine helped make this even more enjoyable: the autumnal leaf changes were particularly beautiful.

Clubs and Societies News

Gaming Club – Nathan David, Teacher of Esports

During Gaming Club we have created a fun, engaging and inclusive environment for our students. So far we have had 18 students attend, most of which are our competitive Esports students practicing for their upcoming tournaments with the British Esports Association in titles such as; Valorant, Rocket League and League of Legends.

Whilst we have also welcomed students that choose to use their enrichment time to bring in handheld consoles, too. There’s plenty of space for more students – come join!

The Volunteer Hub Supporting Enrichment at Wyvern St Edmunds

Steve Price – Teacher of Business

One of our commitments for the Volunteering Hub is to support the Clubs and Societies run by one of our MLP partners, Wyvern St Edmunds (WSE). Working with pupils from Year 7 to 11 our students supported them in activities such as German, Dance, Homework Club, Film Club, Football, Cooking, BBC Young Reporter and Fencing.

For  the S6C students it was a chance to support and guide younger pupils with their learning. WSE were very welcoming and appreciated the energy and enthusiasm that the S6C students provided, we are very proud of them.

We will be supporting at WSE every Wednesday afternoon, we look forward to providing updates with our progress.

Yoga Club – Hanna Boddy, PA to Head of College and Teacher of Yoga

In Yoga this week we were exploring our self worth, learning to love ourselves for who we are, and not allowing others to determine our self worth for us.  We were able to flow through postures to open up our hearts and relax our minds and bodies; enabling us to see our true value. 

The students said they felt more relaxed by the end of the session, ‘like they were floating’.  Always the sign of a great yoga class!

Pastoral Care

Rebecca Anderson – Pastoral Lead

Oxbridge Entry: We are in the privileged position of living in a country with so many pathways after sixth form study: employment, apprenticeships and university. We want all of our students to find the pathway that will inspire and challenge them and in Year 12 LIfe Skills this week we were contemplating what makes for a ‘successful’ life and how this will vary from individual to individual.

For some of our most academically capable students, Oxford or Cambridge is an excellent choice, although this must be seen in the context of there being many exceptional courses and university options.  We are now preparing Year 13 students for these applications and wish them all the best.

Careers at S6C

Your Choices Learn Live Event: 19^th October

‘Your Choices’ is a free event for young people and their parents in Swindon and Wiltshire on Tuesday 19th October 2021

The Swindon and Wiltshire Careers Hub are offering a FREE, virtual post-16 and post-18 options event to all young people in the area (aged 14+). This is an interactive event, giving you the chance to ask questions directly to our local colleges, universities, training providers, employers and speakers, to help you in making your future career choices.

This is available during the school/college day from 11-2pm, or in the evening between 5-7pm.

We welcome parents to sign up and access the event at a time convenient for them.

Students, Teachers and Parents/Carers – Register for free here:

https://learnliveuk.com/your-choices-2021-2022/

#MyChoices