Friday 12th March 2021
It has been a delight to have students back on site, great to hear their laughter and chatter, and seeing students exchange birthday gifts after missing key celebrations with their friends including 18th birthdays. Students are feeding back that they are appreciating the time to take masks off in extended breaks and they seem genuinely pleased to be learning again and interacting with everyone. The college community feels safe but vibrant and we couldn’t feel prouder.
Further communication will be sent to students and parents today to update about our Lateral Flow Device Test process and the preparations for home testing. A letter will also be communicated to provide our guiding principles of the Teacher Assessed Grades and how as an academy of Magna Learning Partnership we are planning for a unified approach across the Trust. The finer detail will be shared with students and parents later next week in a follow up letter.
Best wishes,
Louise
Vice Principal
Lateral Flow Device Testing – Kathryn Clarkson, Business Manager
This week saw the return of the students to the college and with it, the task of testing all the students 3 times, 3 – 5 days apart began. The S6C team have set up testing in the Theatre and Dance studio and, so far, the testing has gone extremely smoothly. This Herculean task could not have been completed without the support of the wider Salisbury Community; thanks must go to Winterslow Parish Council for loaning us the polling booths so swabbing can be done in privacy, the MLP Central Finance and Estates Team for pitching in with Volunteers, Wiltshire Council Staff and Volunteers for helping with swabbing and processing and the S6C Support Staff for running the whole thing so efficiently. Finally, however, the biggest thank you needs to go to the students who have been just brilliant and patient during the testing. It has been so lovely to get feedback from volunteers who have never been to the college before; ‘ everything ran smoothly and the students were fantastic’ and ‘ Thank you to everyone for having me today, it was actually a really enjoyable morning and the staff and students were all very kind and helpful. ‘ Testing continues into next week and, on completion of the third test, students will be issued with home kits for further twice weekly testing.
National Careers Week – Rosie Roberts, Careers Lead
S6C marked National Careers Week 1-6 March 2021 by looking at how students’ current study relates to the world of work. Teachers were able to share information on careers that relate to their subject, enabling students to look at what the jobs involve and different routes into that career. Students were provided with links to virtual work experience opportunities, as well as other valuable career resources.
Year 12 student Ella said, “Careers Week has given me an insight into clinical psychology and allowed me to gain an understanding of what values and qualifications I might need to undertake that role. I have had the opportunity to look further into the next steps I may need to take if I were interested in a path in clinical psychology. I also found it useful that careers week linked to our current topic in psychology as we were looking into the explanation and treatment of depression.”
Year 12 student Jess said, “During careers week in psychology, we focused on the role of a Clinical Psychologist. The application of the work we are currently doing to major job roles really provided me with more of an incentive to continue with my hard work in Psychology, and all of my A-Levels, due to the fact I can become successful and gain a high status job. I was not aware of the amount of successful jobs that can come from further studies of Psychology, the college is extremely helpful when it comes to considering our future, not just throughout careers week! They help to give the work we do, more of a purpose. Making us aware that we can do so much with the courses we are currently doing.”
International Women’s Day – Rosie Roberts
On Monday 8 March, S6C welcomed Vicky Burvill, Senior Climate Officer at Wiltshire Council to speak to our students through Google Meet.
Vicky shared with us her career journey including her background in environmental science and sustainable planning. She also informed students about what she’s doing to support environmental issues in our local area and how our students can get involved – she shared a link to a public consultation for interested students to respond to.
Students were then able to ask Vicky questions about her career journey as a female working in environmental organisations and also about environmental issues – particularly issues that affect Salisbury and the local area. Vicky answered questions such as, “what do you hope to achieve in the future and are there any projects you would like to work on?” and, “The council are planning on mitigating against climate change. What actions are in place for a temperature rise?”
Business teacher, Catherine Pennington said, “I thought it was great because so much of the sustainability overlaps with the Business and A Level syllabus. It was also informative for careers advice for the students.”
Baking Club Update – Sally Tye, Faculty Lead for Humanities
We are currently still running a weekly online enrichment schedule for the remainder of term 4 and one of those is Baking Club – this week Sally Tye taught the students to cook a giant cookie in a slow cooker. Here is a photo of the wonderful result from Maggie Shelley in year 12:
Creative Faculty Update – Rich Eno, Faculty Lead for Creative
Our internal heat for the ARTiculation Prize happened last week and we are proud to announce that Freya King won with her talk and presentation on the silent films of Georges Méliès! Richard Eno, Head of Creative, said that, “Freya gave an impassioned talk about the work of the famed director and artist Méliès but more than that, it was poetic, full of empathy and inspiring.” Freya will now to go the next heat, which is held at Roche Court. The link is here: https://www.articulation.org.uk/
