TERM 1 VALUE:

Justice & Service

Dear Students, Parents and Carers,

This week marks the first full week for our Year 12 students settling into life at St Brendan’s, and the first week back for our Year 13s.

Last week, we welcomed our new Year 12 students with our Freshers’ Fair. It was fantastic to see such energy and enthusiasm as they discovered the wide range of enrichment activities, clubs, and volunteering opportunities available. A particular highlight was the launch of our new weekly lunchtime sport programme, giving all students the chance to take part in recreational sport in a relaxed and enjoyable way.

This week has marked the first full week at college for Year 12s – Congratulations to them on making such a positive start. For our Year 13s, it has been their first week back, and already many are turning their attention to UCAS applications (especially our early applicants) and exploring competitive apprenticeships. Our Careers Team is working closely with students to provide guidance and support as they take these important steps towards their futures. We were delighted to welcome so many families to our Parent and Carer Engagement Event. This was a valuable opportunity to share insights into the journey our Year 12 students will take with us over the next two years, from the breadth of support available to the exciting opportunities ahead. We hope it was both reassuring and informative. For those unable to attend we have put together the resources for you to read. The link for this is later in this weeks bulletin.

Our Year 12 students are in the course change window. While most are already well-settled into their programmes, some are making final adjustments to ensure they are on the right pathway. Our team is on hand to guide and support those students through the process.

The week also saw us conduct our start of year assemblies for all year groups helping them to understand life here at the college, the opportunities they have to immerse themselves into college life as well as important information regarding our behaviour and attendance standards and the consequences should these not be met. You will soon be receiving an update letter via email that ensures you too are aware of the key information and benchmarks in order that you can support your young person with using their time here positively. There are also links to each of the assemblies within this bulletin so that you can hear our key messages to our students.

Looking ahead, we are excited that some of our Year 12s will be attending the Oxford Open Day next week, giving them the chance to explore one of the UK’s leading universities and to think ambitiously about their own next steps.

Finally, a note on study habits. Now is the perfect moment for students to establish routines that will support their learning. Simple habits such as reviewing notes regularly, keeping work organised, and setting aside consistent time for quiet study make an enormous difference over the two years. Many of our most successful students say that starting strong early on gave them confidence and reduced stress when exams arrived.

If you or your young person feel this that developing effective study habits and routines for Sixth Form is an area of development, please ask them to work with their Progress tutors to access our Academic Coaching support based in the LRC. They will also have picked up many top tips in the online induction Tutor2U course which has had overwhelmingly positive feedback from students so far. Do take opportunity to check if they have accessed this yet and encourage them to do so if they have not.

Thank you for your continued support – it has been a joy to see students embracing college life so positively.

With best wishes,

Marian Curran

Principal

Students are reminded that if they haven’t got a first lesson timetabled for that day, and are travelling on the SB1, SB2 or SB7 routes, to catch the later service that will arrive at College in good time for 2^nd lesson.

This is to support capacity on the buses. FirstBus have confirmed that they are able to change buses for routes going through Hanham to add space for around 20 students.

Students are also reminded for those who travel on the SB1, SB2 and SB7, if they don't have a last lesson to get the earlier bus home.

Attendance is crucial for success, particularly during these initial weeks. For our Year 12, ATL3 and Year 13 students, please be aware that we will be closely monitoring attendance. Maintaining regular attendance is important, as it impacts your ability to remain enrolled on your courses. Should there be concerns about your attendance falling below our threshold during the first three weeks, it may affect your place at St Brendan’s.

We are here to support you through these transitions and ensure that your time at St Brendan's is both successful and enjoyable. Our staff, including teachers, progress tutors, inclusive learning team, careers team, mental health team and the senior team, are here to help with any concerns or queries that you may have.

St Brendan's is a cashless campus so please make sure you have a card and/or contactless payment on your phone.

If you need to purchase print credit you can do this on the College “Store” which you can access on our website or by using this link St Brendan's Sixth Form College Store

When prompted to login, click on the “Sign in with Microsoft” option, where you can use your College email and password. Your print credit account will automatically update after payment has been approved.

The College takes the safety of students and staff very seriously. Students should not invite friends who do not attend St Brendan’s onto the site and must wear their student lanyard and ID at all times on campus. (Students should obtain a temporary student lanyard from the main reception if they do not have their ID card with them.) Our campus personal , Frank and Blessing, patrol the site and can be approached if any student is concerned about their own safety or the safety of others.

As is normally the case at the beginning of the academic year, our car parks can get very busy at peak lesson change over times during the day with students being dropped off/collected. This is especially the case at the end of the College day when we also have our college buses arriving to pick up students at the same time.

There is limited capacity in our car park so we ask that all parents/carers please adhere to the following:

• Please utilise all available parking bays in the car park to your left as you enter College. Please drive into, rather than reversing into parking bays as this makes it easier when pulling out to follow the one way system and ensures vehicles aren’t parked over multiple parking bays.
• If parking bays are full, please queue alongside the left side of the car park (this leaves space on the right for cars to exit as required). Unfortunately, this means anyone parked in a bay on this side may need to wait for cars in the queue to move before they can depart.
• Once you are in the queue for the car park, you must complete the one way exit route. Please do not attempt to turn around on the drive as it is very busy with other vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians.
• Please do not be offended if the car park is full and you are advised to pick up your child off-site. Find a safe place to wait further up Broomhill Road but please do not park/wait directly opposite the College entrance.
• All vehicles departing between 15:50 – 16:20, or later if College buses are delayed, must turn right to ease congestion at the main gate (please see ‘turning right’ information above with directions back to the A4 if required)
• Please pass this information on to anyone else who may be collecting students from College on your behalf.

We thank you in advance for your co-operation in keeping our campus as safe as possible.

A reminder to all students, parents and carers to please turn right only, when exiting the College between 15:50 – 16:20 at the end of the College day.