Friday 14th January 2022
Dear Parents/ Carers,
The college calendar is currently heavily focused on vocational examinations and revision blast sessions, which will continue for another week, for both Year 12 and 13 students in unit exams. The students have been exceptional and these qualifications they are working to achieve are highly regarded, equivalent to their A Level counterparts. The vocational course entries at S6C make up approximately a third of our courses and are essential for successful university entry and higher level apprenticeship success.
You may remember that on the 15th November there was a significant debate in the House of Commons for the #ProtectStudentChoice campaign , to highlight the importance of these BTEC and CTEC qualifications that are significantly at risk of becoming discontinued in the next few years, disadvantaging tens of thousands of young people’s choices nationally in the 16-18 study programmes.
At the start of the week the petition was approaching 70,000 signatures and 100,000 signatures are required to trigger a debate in Parliament. The petition expires on 23rd January so I am asking you please to get behind this really important campaign, which In my opinion this is one of the most important moments in post 16 education. You can see from the petition map that the number of signatories in Salisbury is extremely low and we need the community’s help. I thank you in anticipation for your support in protecting the choices of our young people. You can share your support here –#ProtectStudentChoice campaign.
Wishing you a restful weekend.
Best Wishes
Louise
Attendance
Bridget Siddle – Pastoral Assistant – Attendance
This week we have launched the new Attendance Diamond with students in their tutor times – details of which were found in the letter to parents this week. If you have not received the letter please contact me directly on bsiddle@s6c.mlp.college.
This week students watched a video about attendance and how it can affect their learning and their overall grade. Each two weeks during their life skills lesson, students will get to see their overall attendance, what band they are in the attendance diamond and whether their attendance is falling or climbing, along with how many weeks this trend has been ongoing. With this information, students will be able to ‘own their own learning’, strive for an upward trajectory in their attendance and improve their outcomes.
If you are concerned about attendance, then please contact me on bsiddle@s6c.mlp.college.
Careers
Rosie Roberts – School Liaison and Careers Lead
Local, current apprenticeship vacancies have been uploaded to the Apprenticeship topic in the Classwork section of the Careers Classroom. We recommend that Year 13 students interested in apprenticeships sign up to alerts through Find an Apprenticeship and other apprenticeship vacancy sites to see upcoming vacancies with a summer start date. If students would like support to search for or apply for apprenticeship vacancies they can speak to their tutor or the Careers Leader, Rosemarie Roberts.
Deloitte apprenticeships parents’ insight webinar
We have received the following information that we would like to pass on to you:
If your young person is in Years 10-13, don’t miss out on our parents’ insight webinar in partnership with Deloitte, on Tuesday 1st February at 6.30pm. Hear all about apprenticeship opportunities at Deloitte, and how your child can earn and learn, gain professional and degree level qualifications, and help to solve clients’ problems right from the start.
- Find out about how apprenticeship opportunities at Deloitte can kickstart your young person’s career
- Hear from experts at Deloitte on how your child can make their application stand out
- PLUS a Q and A session, giving you an opportunity to ask any questions
If you want to support your child to forge a brilliant career with a business that is making an impact worldwide, register now: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/deloitte-parents-insight-webinar-tickets-239150564777?aff=odeimcmailchimp&goal=0_075a5d0dae-c60df8cefc-212063956&mc_cid=c60df8cefc&mc_eid=3548e676fa
Driving Achievement and Progress: Vocational Revision Blast Workshops
Steve Price – Deputy Faculty Lead for Humanities & Teacher of Business
You may not be aware but a significant number of our vocational students take part in a January external exam session. These exams are based on specialist learning focus and represent for most a considerable percentage of the whole qualification, for example in Business the two Units the Year 13 are taking represent 25% of the course!
Over the last fortnight the students have been taking part in ‘Revision Blast Workshops’ in Applied Science, Sport, Health and Social Care, Business and Applied Law. A whole day in length, delivered by their specialist staff, 24 hours before the examination, they focus on exam technique, securing knowledge and building confidence. This approach strips out the barriers many students face in getting down to revision and provides a framework to secure better outcomes.
Even during a challenging period of the pandemic, the students’ attendance has been outstanding, they have worked very hard, been committed and we as staff have enjoyed working with them. Results will be published towards the end of March and we will share with our community the impact the workshops have had on outcomes, as we head to the Summer Exam season.
Creative Faculty Update
Richard Eno – Faculty Lead for Creative & Teacher of Film Studies & Creative Media
Year 13 Film Studies are busy working on their coursework at the moment so are writing screenplays. One aspect of the coursework is that they have to write a detailed analysis of several professional short films which have been set by the examining board. Film teacher and Head of Faculty Richard Eno has tracked down one of the directors and asked him if he would speak with the students about the making of his film, ‘Over’.
Sport and Health & Social Care have had a busy start to the New Year revising for their formal external examinations this month,
The other exciting news for the Faculty but also the college is that we now have our very 3D printer! Rich Eno says, ‘I’m over the moon with this new purchase as it means we can do so much more with the creative work we produce like turning a 2D design into something physical you can pick up. We can also work with the STEM faculty where we can show them how to print out cross sections of brains!’
S6C Volunteering Globally!!
Steve Price – Lead for Volunteering Club
Francesco Pellegrini is part of our International Student Programme, who has been studying with us since September. Over the Christmas Holidays he was volunteering in Rome, his home city. We are extremely proud of Francesco and will be sad to see him go at the end of this week. He is a very hard working young man with a real drive to succeed, he has brought much to our college and he will be missed.
The Volunteering Hub continues to grow, currently working with Wyvern St Edmunds and Salisbury Food Pantry, we would encourage any of our community to contact Steve Price (sprice@s6c.mlp.college.uk) to discuss any help that we may be able to provided.
Online Baking Club
Dr Sally Tye – Faculty Lead for Humanities and Baking Club Lead
Baking club are starting prep for student life focusing on healthy budget meals. This week we started with a basic bolognese made into chilli nachos! This is a healthy, simple and cheap meal that can be made in batches and used with spaghetti as bolognese, mash potato as shepherd’s pie or made into a chilli with rice or nachos. See the photo below for the mouthwatering results.
