3 July 2023
Before sharing a lovely evening celebrating the end of GCSEs at the Year 11 Dance on Wednesday 28 June (pictured, with Head of Year Mr Nunes), students spent two days looking ahead and learning new skills on a bespoke Futures Programme.
A session run by Mrs Young, Head of Higher Education and Careers, looked ahead to the near future, as students did a ‘dry run’ of their personal statement, matching their skills and aptitudes to a university course description they selected from a brochure. Careers Advisor Mr Philbin focused further ahead, engaging students in some blue sky thinking about great business ideas, for which they created an 'elevator pitch' to succinctly explain the concept. Skills and knowledge to equip Year 11 for the workplace also included workshops with Mrs Mair, Foundation Director, on 'Making it Happen', such as a business idea, and 'Presentations Skills' from Ms Rawlinson, Director of Communication. To ground everything in reality, Head of Sixth Form Mr Abbot ran a crash course in the cost of living crisis, so our Year 11s are very well versed on the topic of inflation.
The programme also included sessions on coaching run by teachers Mr Kellaway, Mrs Carrilero and Mme Poullain, leadership with Mr Ross, and some fun team building organised by Mr Brinkmann, Outdoor Education Manager. Our transport team showed Year 11 the basics of car maintenance, useful to those planning to take to the roads in the not-too-distant future, while Head of Facilities & Operations Mr Sharkey ran a session on first aid – quite literally a lesson in life.