Higher Education Evening - June 2012

Thursday 28th June was the first ever Higher Education to be held at this school.

The evening was very well attended by over 80% of students who were accompanied by their parents. The aim of the evening was for the Year 12  students to explore their future options and to consider the benefits of  Higher Education. In so doing, it is intended that students make an informed choice about their future.

The evening began with a formal welcome and a presentation from UCAS on the application journey / process. Following this, there was a carousel of talks from external speakers on key issues and considerations to do with finance, student life and advice with regard to selling yourself in applications.

Our thanks go to the following speakers for their expert guidance:

Alison King UCAS : Application Advice & Guidance

Mike Nicholson Oxford Admissions Tutor : University Life

Gabrielle Bell Oxford Brookes : Financing your Studies

Project Trust - Taking a Gap Year

Next stage in making plans for the future will be the

'Fit for Work' Conference

for Year 12 to be held on Friday 13th June

YEAR 12 Art & Technology Exhibition

AS Art 

The first ever KS5 exhibition was held last night. The Post 16 centre hosted the AS Level Art work which graced the walls of the common room. In this space, the atmosphere created was one of a formal exhibition and reminded me of the brief I gave the designers for this area last year : to make it feel like an Art gallery. This exhibition was the final stage of the vision that I had for this space. It was a delight to see the range of Art work on display - the beauty and the creativity of the students' work was evidenced from the moment you entered the room. Walking around the students' individual work I was struck by the inspiration of the school trip to Venice at Easter. Equally stunning, were the students' sketchbooks which were like opening a treasure trove of artistic delights.

Engineering

I also have to mention the Level 3 Engineering students - on display was the racing car that they have designed and been creating all year. An unexpected delight - I have been promised that I will be able to drive it in the near future and I look forward to that enormously. Photographs in due course.... watch this space.

My congratulations to all the students and also thanks to the support and hard work of the staff involved: Caroline Butler (Art), Maggie Burnand (Art), Leanne Hayes (Art), Ivan Hore (D&T)  and Graham Frogley (D&T)

SWEENEY - 2 cuts

On Monday 11th June,  the Year 12 students returned to school to commence their Year 13 Induction. This was heralded by the Year 12 Performing Arts examination for which the students created 2 pieces of theatre inspired by the tale of 'Sweeney Todd'. This was the final examined section of their AS qualification and the students demonstrated their skills of music, dance, stage craft and performance.

This was an impressive and entertaining evening and a great end to the AS level examination period.

It is also really good to have the Year 12 students back on site and in lessons full time. Once again, the cafeteria is full of the noise and bustle of our students and it feels like it has come back to life again.