Friday 24 March 2023
This week we have been visited by two representatives from Challenge Partners, an education charity led by practitioners with a focus on quality assurance and sharing the collective wisdom in schools. It has been an intense and busy couple of days and I am delighted with how impressed our visitors were when meeting members of the S6C faculty and students. A large number of lessons were observed and although this puts pressure on our teaching staff, our observers were able to gain an insight into how inspiring and impressive our lessons are and how much work our teachers put into the college’s pedagogy. I am confident that we are doing a lot right and I look forward to sharing the outcomes of the scrutiny and working towards making improvements of real value to the college.
Next Wednesday 29 March we have our Healthy Relationships and Sexual Health Development Day.
This is compulsory for all students and they will be in college from 9am to 3pm exploring this important area of personal development and safety. The day is designed to be accessible, safe and inclusive and any parents or carers who would like additional information are invited to contact our Pastoral Lead, Rebecca Anderson. During the day everyone will explore the visiting Consent Tent, run by STARS Dorset, for activities and discussions with the specialist team; there will be a range of resources to explore; a talk from the Wiltshire Sexual Health clinic; and everyone will be able to choose three workshop sessions led by S6C staff. Please encourage your young person to remember their choices and to engage in this very important Development Day.
Over Easter, S6C will open during the second week of the holidays for some additional revision sessions in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Psychology, Geography, History and Religious Studies. Please encourage your child to attend wherever possible. These sessions may make a huge difference to exam results and will help everyone to get the grades they need to achieve their goals.
Regards
Ben
JOIN US AT S6C
This is an exciting time to be a part of Further Education and at S6C we are committed to providing the highest quality teaching to our dedicated and focused students. Our ethos is to provide a welcoming and friendly atmosphere in which to learn and for everyone to achieve their full potential. We are currently looking for highly motivated full and part time teachers in the following subjects:
Physics – Law – Geography – Business Studies – Esports – History – Environmental Science
If you are not a qualified teacher but are looking to train we would be interested to hear from you as well. You would ideally have industry knowledge or a relevant degree. Our starting salary for an unqualified teacher is over £26,000.
If you would like to find out more please call 01722 597970 or email me directly at bhillier@s6c.mlp.college for an informal conversation.
Fine Art and Photography
Sophie Bellars – Teacher of Fine Art and Photography
Year 13 Fine Art and Photography students have started their externally set assignment. They now have 13 weeks (including holidays) to complete a wide range of experiments and development of ideas that will lead towards their 15 hour exam. The dates are:
PHOTOGRAPHY
19 April, 20 April, 24 April
FINE ART
25 April, 26 April, 27 April
Visiting Speakers
Rosie Roberts – Careers Lead
In the last week, both Year 12 and Year 13 have met visiting speakers to help them with their next steps after College. On Wednesday 15 March, Paul Meades, Student Finance Adviser at the University of Portsmouth, came to speak to Year 13 about how to complete the Student Finance application to support their university studies. He gave a reminder of what support is available and then talked through how to apply and what information students will need to complete the form. The slides from the presentation have been uploaded to the Year 13 Careers Classroom and we would also like to share a copy with parents (please see below).
On Tuesday 21 March, Stuart Shimmin-Vincent, Schools Adviser for Wiltshire and Swindon for the Department for Work and Pensions, spoke to some Year 12s in a Study Skills lesson on Labour Market Information (LMI) – what is it and how can students use it to inform their careers planning. This talk will be shared with all classes in the coming weeks. We would also encourage parents and carers to access and use up-to-date information about the labour market, future study options and career paths to inform the support you give to your young person (please see below).
On Wednesday 22 March, Lucy McDonagh from the University of Winchester spoke to Year 12 about researching university choices in order to help them prepare for the upcoming UCAS Discovery event which all Year 12 students will be attending on Wednesday 19 April. The event is an opportunity for students to speak to universities and apprenticeship training providers from across the country and the talk this week gave students information on what to think about when deciding between courses and universities to help them ask questions at the event (please see below).
Introduction to Student Finance.pdf
Introduction to Labour Market Information.pdf
Choosing a University and Course.pdf
Brain Day
Kirsty White – STEM Faculty Lead
Last Friday Dr Guy Sutton, Director of Medical Biology Interactive, gave a one-day introductory tutorial in Neuroscience to some of our yr12 and yr13 students. The tutorial was incredibly detailed and interesting and covered basic brain anatomy, the effects on the brain of such things as smartphones, child abuse and drugs, methods for exploring the brain and the classification of mental disorder with a focus on schizophrenia. Dr Sutton posed the questions ‘Can we reverse the effects of deprivation?’ and ‘Is There a Criminal Brain?’ and the students witnessed a sheep brain dissection. A truly fascinating and enlightening day!
Meet the Animals
Lisa Rodway – STEM Technician
Last week our foyer was filled with an array of exotic animals! Those students who wanted to were able to hold snakes, a bearded dragon, tortoises and a tarantula. A wonderful opportunity to see such beautiful creatures up close!
Sponsored Football Kit – Foray Motor Group
Emma Thompson – Teacher of Sport
Foray Motor Group kindly offered to sponsor a new football and netball kit for the teams at S6C. Here is the football team wearing the new kit for their fixture against Marlborough College. Photos of the netball team coming soon!
Life Skills
Rebecca Anderson – Pastoral Lead
In Life Skills, Year 12 are continuing with their pathway on Community and Values and Year 13 are still Looking Ahead to a more independent life. With these focus areas in mind, everyone has had a chance to think about the political spectrum, the values that define modern Britain and make it a safe place for all, about the nature and danger of radicalisation, and about LGBTQ+ history (which we celebrate in February, and throughout the rest of the year). Year 13 have also had a talk and discussion on online influence, and have been encouraged to choose their role models and online inspirations as. carefully as they would choose their friends. Year 12 have had additional support from their tutors in choosing a work experience placement which will really benefit them. Students have had a chance to feedback their thoughts and take home points on all these issues, and we are in dialogue with them as they shape their ideas. We encourage them to base their ideas on sound evidence alongside open mindedness, and to share them with sensitivity. We take opportunities to address any misconceptions, misunderstandings, or potentially unhelpful ideologies, in the course of our main sessions or with individuals. It is a real privilege to be working with a group of young people who are reflective and keen to learn, willing to stand up for what is right, and always looking out for each other’s welfare. Please do get in touch if you would like to talk with us about any of these issues or would like to know in more details what has been covered.
1:1s
Rebecca Anderson – Pastoral Lead
Every term, every student should be seen by their tutor for a 20 minute Performance Review appointment for a chat about their attendance, progress, development of skills and experiences, online safety, personal development, citizenship, and wellbeing. Young people should remind their tutors if they are yet to be seen and must make themselves available at a time that works for their tutor. This is an amazing opportunity for us to get to know our young people and for them to feel seen and heard and supported. We can put a huge amount in place to help academically, personally, financially – and for emotional, physical and mental health – but only if we know. Please keep in touch with us – we really value direct communication with parents and carers and students.
If your financial circumstances have changed since joining S6C and you feel you may be eligible for a bursary, please complete the form in the attached link.
https://www.salisbury6c.ac.uk/study-with-us/bursary/
