Friday 7th January 2022
Welcome to 2022! I hope you had a wonderful Festive Season and Happy New Year.
We had two really busy days of testing students ready for full return to college yesterday. Testing has gone well, however as I mentioned in my recent email to parents, some students were a little unsure as to the process of testing which indicates they are not testing regularly at home. Please can you remind your young people that testing weekly is important to keep themselves, friends, family and the college community safe. Your support with this is greatly appreciated by all the staff at S6C. We have a small number of students self isolating currently, and teaching staff have been made aware. They will run a hybrid lesson, providing access for students isolating from home via Google meet so students can listen or participate in their learning with their classmates.
You will have also seen an updated letter sent out with details for the forthcoming Exams. If you haven’t seen this letter and require a copy please contact Lisa Lucas the Examinations Officer at llucas@s6c.mlp.college .
Next Thursday, the 13th January we have our Year 13 Virtual Parents Evening 4 – 7 pm. Staff will be in touch to organise appointments to discuss progress demonstrated in the December mocks and next steps students need to work on.
Best Wishes
Louise
Clubs and Societies
Luke Muchmore – Teacher of Sports and Lead for Clubs and Societies
Next week sees the start back of our Clubs and Societies. It is an important part of the college programme to participate in wider activities beyond the academic curriculum. We want to support student’s personal growth and help develop wider talents and interests. This term we have a whole host of opportunities for students to take part in. Listed below are the clubs running in terms 3 and 4:
Speaker Programme
Nathan David – Teacher of Esports
Yesterday, S6C welcomed two guests from the College of Esports, London, to speak to our Esports BTEC students. Professor Phillip Wilson and Jacob Golding of the institution presented to our students about their brand new facility, which is the UK’s first university-accredited institution solely built for Esports. The students learned about the various courses they can study, the state of the art equipment and facilities available, as well as general university life. We hope to visit the CoE later on in the year to get a real taste of what it’s like and continue building this exciting partnership.
Mental Health & Wellbeing
Catherine Pennington – Mental Health Lead & Teacher of Business.
Happy New Year Everyone.
On 1st December 2021 I was so pleased to start working with a team which prioritises health and wellbeing. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to share with you how I have been training for this role and some of the work I have been involved in so far.
On 9th December I attended a webinar called ‘’Change Your Mind’’ delivered by Sophie McPhee at Queen Mary’s Grammar School, Walsall. Change Your Mind is a mental health and wellbeing volunteering programme designed to run the course of one academic year as an enrichment option to raise the awareness of mental health in young people. A series of 10 minute workshops are delivered by Year 12 students to Year 6 pupils on subjects from Digital Detoxing to Relationships. S6C will be one of 3 providers to offer this programme in Wiltshire, so I am looking forward to working with our MLP primary schools in the near future. S6C will become a nationally recognised hub for this type of initiative.
In college we have an amazing Mental Health Support Team who can help students deal with life’s difficulties. I have been enhancing my knowledge about our systems and supporting students who need specific assistance. We have two counsellors on site who students can self refer to. If you, or someone you know is feeling the pressure and not coping very well, please encourage them to come and see me for an initial consultation, in SF09. Look out for posters around college about ‘’Who can help me?’’ and meet our Mental Health Champions. Everyone has Mental Health and we need to look after it.
In December 2021 my Year 1 Business class made wreaths for charity as an exercise to learn the basics of business practises and as a wellbeing experience. Creative activity and giving to others are both very powerful ways to boost a good feeling. The students thoroughly enjoyed it and to date we have raised £101.
Staff Wellbeing
Excellent training is essential for this role to be successful; this week, I attended an introductory session on Mindfulness with Philip Anderson from Trusting Mind, Salisbury; it was wonderful. This was an offer to all MLP staff to enrol on an 8 week course to learn about useful practises to enhance wellbeing. As the weeks go by I will update you, or even better, enrol yourself and reap the benefits to improve your life and the experience of our students.
All our staff at S6C have the fantastic opportunity to join in our yoga classes with Hanna Boddy, she runs 2 online classes per week open to anyone, £5 per session and available on Zoom. I am looking forward to rejoining Hanna and the gang this evening. Please give it a go, it’s amazing to finish off the working week with a great stretch. If you want to join please do visit her website on www.happyboddyyoga.com and book your class. Hanna also provides these classes free for the students on a Wednesday afternoon as part of the Enrichment offer.
I am encouraging everyone in our college community to work towards boosting their wellbeing and I welcome any positive suggestions and feedback. I am looking forward to building a parents forum later on in the year to talk about ways we can help and support families in our community who are experiencing difficulties.
Please get in touch with me if you have ideas or skills that can help enhance the wellbeing of our college community further. I would love to hear from you at cpennington@s6c.mlp.college .
