St Brendan's News Bulletin 03.05.24 | St Brendan's Sixth Form College

3rd May 2024

Dear Students, Parents, Carers,

We hope this week has gone well for our all of our students. Our Year 12’s will have finished their internal mock exams and will soon be receiving their feedback and beginning work on their actions with their teachers.

Our external exams are now underway for all students, with applied subjects starting this week and GCSEs/A-Levels starting from w/c Monday 13^th May. We wish all students all the very best in their exams, reminding all of the support available both from teachers and our support teams who are available to work with students on all areas of well-being through this exam period.

Next week we will open our whole College end of year student survey. Your feedback matters to us and helps us to plan for the next academic year so we appreciate your time in completing this. There will also be an IT survey that seeks to get student feedback and opinion on our current IT provision, to inform our planning into next year and beyond. Finally, a curriculum course survey (completed in classes) to celebrate all that is great and voice any productive and constructive feedback that will help teaching teams plan their curriculum into next year.

Year 12 Parents and Carers will receive an updated progress report for their young person on Monday 20^th May, to review progress ahead of the Progress Review Day meetings on Thursday 6^th June.

Our Year 13 students will complete their studies with us on Friday 24^th of May. Lessons continue throughout this term as teachers work with students in class to support final revision and practice ahead of exams. Students are expected to attend these lessons (if they are not in an exam) so that they benefit from being able to work with their teachers and fellow students face to face.

Marian Curran

Principal

Become a St Brendan's Influencer!

Are you a confident individual looking to create authentic and viral worthy videos for Social Media platforms, like TikTok and Instagram?

Well then this is your chance for a big breakthrough...

The College Marketing Team is looking for students who want to become the next faces of St Brendan's!

If this sounds like you, simply complete this form for the chance of becoming the next St Brendan's Influencer!

CLICK HERE TO SHOW YOUR INTEREST!

If you have any questions please contact marketing@stbrn.ac.uk 😊

NCA Sextortion Resources

You may have seen in the news this week that the NCA has released an alert for schools and colleges following a number of sextortion cases involving boys and young men. As a parent or carer, please take the time to read the alert. It gives you key information on how to have conversations with your child about their internet use, what to do if you have concerns or you believe they may have been victim to a sextortion attempt. Here are the key links to resources and reporting procedures.

If you would like to speak with someone in College about any concerns you have about your child, please contact their Tutor in the first instance.

We will be updating our Safeguarding section of the website with some key resources in Term 6 and will share this with you all once complete.

LRC

LRC Closure

The LRC will be closed on these dates due to exams taking place:

9th May 12:30 - 15:30
10th May 8:00 - 12:30

During the LRC closure...

Photo IDs can be purchased from the IT Helpdesk (B101).
Temporary ID stickers can be obtained from the IT Helpdesk or from Reception.
Print credit can be purchased from the IT Helpdesk, or you can use the College Store to pay for print credit online
To return your books, please put them in the book return box available by the LRC entrance.

A reminder to everyone who borrows from the LRC

Everyone in the College is entitled to borrow books from the LRC, however we would like to remind you that while you have a book on loan, it is your responsibility to take care of it and to return it to the library on time.
You can take books home for up to two weeks, but if you need to keep them for longer you have to renew them for a further two weeks. This can be done from the library catalogue (you will find a link in the Student Portal), or at the library desk.
Please remember that late return charges apply for books returned late. If your book is late, you will receive an automated reminder asking you to return or renew the book. Please do not ignore these reminders as the longer you keep the book, the more late return charges you will incur. Also, you may be stopping other students or staff from using that book!
You can see if you owe any late return charges from the library catalogue (log in via SSO, select your name form the top right corner and select "My borrowing details"). These charges can be paid for in the LRC.
Please check your record, clear your debt if you have one and come to see Monica in the LRC if you have any questions!

LRC Survey

The LRC Survey runs three times a year and helps us identify what we are doing well and what we could do better. If you use the LRC please let us know what you think - your opinion matters!

The survey is now open until the 24^th of May. Please click here to take part!

First Bus Tickets

The College’s Finance Office is only able to issue First Bus tickets to students who have a valid student ID. Unfortunately a bus ticket cannot be issued using a photo of the ID, a photocopy or a temporary ID from the College.

Please note that Bus Inspectors have started boarding the buses and are checking tickets and IDs. We have recently had a case where a student has been fined £50 for not travelling with a valid ID.

Exam Support

To help you feel prepared and in control leading up to your exams, Inclusive Learning Team has put together a handbook full of handy tips and advise to get you through the exam season.

Please click here to access the Exam Support Handbook!

Useful resources for parents and carers

Please click here to access 2024 Summer Term Webinars Information for Parents and Carers that want to learn how to best support their young person.

CAREERS

Careers News

Head over to the Careers News page for lots of useful resources and opportunities: click here.

Student Finance information

Student Finance is now open.

It’s important to ensure you have finances in place before heading to university. The link below will guide you through the process. The Student Room website will provide you with forums, so if you have any questions, you will be able to find the answer here.

Click here to find the timelines for applying!

All students that are looking to attend university next academic year (from September 2024), should apply and complete your student finance application by the 31^st May 2024.

*Please note: All parents/carers will need to provide household income evidence to support their young person’s application*

If you have any questions, please contact Rob from Careers Team here!

Keynsham Music Festival - Work Experience

6th – 7th July 2024

Event management
Social media
Stage management / Sound engineers
Photography
General WEX

See Careers ASAP for sign up (B101N)

Closing date is Friday 17th May

Springpod's University Experience

Who is Springpod?

We are an online career and university exploration platform. We connect students to world-leading employers and universities through online programmes. Through our free virtual experiences, young people can gain the experience, knowledge, and skills they need to take their next steps. Upon completion of a programme students will receive a certificate to reference on their CV and/or Personal Statement.

How do students get started?

All students need to do is create a free account and click 'start now' to access the programme. Students can come back to the programme via their dashboard and complete it at a later date when it suits them.

Click on the link here to access the courses!

SAVE THE DATE! Year 12 Progress Review

As part of our commitment to parental/carer engagement, we are delighted to invite you to our virtual Year 12 Progress Review event.

This will be held on Thursday 6^th June 15:00 to 20:00 and is open to parents/carers of Year 12 students at our College.

You will be able to talk with subject teachers and progress tutors to discuss how your young person is progressing at St Brendan’s Sixth Form College.

We also have a new booking system for forthcoming events, called School Cloud - making it easier for you to book your sessions and improve the overall experience of the event. We will not require your young person to be with you for the appointment (although we would encourage them to attend with you, if possible).

We will be in touch on how to book shortly. School Cloud will be launching on Tuesday 7^th May at 18:00.

Please note that the College will be closed to all students from 14:30 on the Thursday 6^th June.

Changes to SB1, SB2, SB3 Buses

Since Monday 22^nd April First Bus provided routes (SB1, SB2 & SB3) drop-off and collect students within the College grounds.

Current timetables for these routes remain unaffected.

This has resulted in a significant increase in on-site traffic and we therefore request that all pedestrians use the footpaths provided when entering and exiting College for their own safety.

FREE Online Universal Parenting Courses

Bristol City Council have launched a new Family Hubs virtual offer, including a free new package of online courses for every parent and carer in Bristol. The courses have been developed by the Solihull Approach, alongside the NHS, health experts and parents too!

These courses cover a whole range of topics to support parents and carers through all stages of a child’s development including:

How to understand your child or teenager’s mental health
Help for understanding relationships
Support for children with additional needs

There are also courses for teenagers to help them understand their mental health and feelings.

You can access the courses here: Family Hubs virtual offer

The Ofsted Big Listen

If your work, your children, your decisions, your education, or your care are affected by Ofstead, then they want to hear from you!

Click here to have your say

SUSTAINABILITY

No Mow May

As part of our ongoing commitment to being a sustainable College we have decided to take part in 'No Mow May' this month!

We have made the decision to cut down on our petrol usage and do our bit for the environment through making little changes where possible.

Here is a list of some locations around the College that will be used for this. We would like to inform you that there will be no need for this to be reported to the Premises Team during the month of May.

Grass verges to the main drive & around car parks.
‘Telly Tubby’ hill in the outdoor amphitheatre
Area in front of DT workshop
The ‘meadow’ to the rear of the sports hall.

Water Refill station

In 2022, as part of the St Brendan's Sustainability journey, we have installed an upgraded Water Refill Station in Cafe Max to provide an efficient and environmentally friendly water source for our staff and students!

Last week, we have officially saved 100,000 plastic bottles, through encouraging our staff and students to bring in re-usable water bottles and to re-use their existing bottles, everyday when on site.

After a successful celebration of Earth Day last week, where this year's theme was Planet vs Plastic, we couldn't be happier to reach this milestone!

E-Scooter Notice!

E-bikes or E-Scooters are not permitted on-site.

Students using them to get to College should park them on the wide pavement across the road from the main College entrance, where they are not an obstruction to pedestrians and easy for the operator to recover.