Friday 11th June 2021
Dear Students and Parents/Carers
Welcome back to term 6. This is an exciting time for our students. We only have some of our Access to Level 3 and Year 12's onsite. This term is about consolidating work that has been learnt this year as well as preparing for the year ahead. All of our students will have started the UCAS process as part of their Futures lessons and next week we will have a number of Careers events that will be taking place across the college. This is an exciting time of year in which you start to make plans for your future.
This term we also have a number of student engagement activities that are being led by our Student Engagement Officer, Stanford. This is a great time to set up societies and to further develop interests and hobbies. We also have a number of sport enrichment opportunities, ranging from Football, Netball and Basketball. Please see more information in the bulletin as to when these are taking place.
In light of the new Delta variant, can we please stress the importance of our students continuing to use their lateral flow tests twice a week. It is also important to continue to follow our safety precautions here at College, particularly with regards to hand sanitising and desk wiping. We will know more on the 21st of June and the implications for our safety precautions at College.
In other news, St Brendan’s College was recently a runner up at the National TES FE award for outstanding GCSE provision, a huge thank you to our staff and students who supported this. The College has officially been shortlisted for 2 SFCA awards. The Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) hosts their awards annually and this year the celebrations continue. St Brendan’s has been shortlisted for the following two categories: Covid above and beyond and Independent Learning.
Due to the current situation, the Awards Evening will be hosted virtually. The winners will be announced on 16th of June. With that in mind, on the 23rd of June 2021, it is the National Thank A Teacher Day. If you would like to send a message of thanks to a member of staff at the College, please click on the following link. I know that many of our students will have appreciated the support that they have received over this year.
Have a good week ahead.
Marian Curran (College Principal)
Remote Working
Remote working 28th, 29th, 30th June
On the 28th, 29th
and 30th June we will be welcoming our new students on to College site for their taster days. This means all current students will be working remotely for these days and will be set work to complete at home, rather than coming in to College.
Teaching Learning and Assessment
Access to Level 3 and Year 13 students
Teacher Assessed Grades (TAG) Updates:
1 Student Confirmation for TAG:
ALL students in Access to Level 3 and Year 13 are required to complete THIS FORM as part of our grade submission process. The deadline for completion is short, with completion required no later than Tuesday 15th June 2021.
2 Centre Policy and reminder of the process steps to date:
Clicking on this LINK will take students to the centre policy that has been confirmed as approved by JCQ.
To support with this, we have put together a flowchart of the key activities undertaken at each stage of the process. All stages have lots of detail within them and all are completed in line with the policy and awarding body expectations. We hope this summary helps to give you an overview of the process. Click here to see the TAG Process Flowchart.
Teaching Learning and Assessment
Year 12 Students
Wave 2 Subject Support Sessions
By now you should have been made aware of all of the additional sessions being held in your subjects to support you in your studies. Some sessions are designed to revisit knowledge and topic areas where students have identified they would like further support, whilst others focus more on the skills needed to be successful in your subjects. If you aren't yet sure when or where the sessions are being run, be sure to ask your teachers who will be happy to signpost you to the relevant sessions.
Academic Coaching.
Many of you will either already be, or will soon be, accessing support from Alex Womersley our Academic Coach. Alex provides support in a range of areas such as time management, file organisation, note taking and active revision to name just a few areas. If you see sessions appear on your timetable (accompanied by a visit from Alex in your classroom to introduce himself), be sure to attend the session and take advantage of the additional support on offer.
Careers News
'Careers News' - featuring the latest apprenticeships, university and college opportunities, career-related events and much more. Highlights of the 26th May edition include:
St Brendan's Careers Week 21st, 22nd, 24th and 25th June
- Four days of live virtual talks about the wide range of opportunities available after St Brendan’s
- Some sessions are compulsory and teachers will be streaming these during lessons
- Summary of the timetable is here
- Teachers may also be streaming optional talks if relevant to their subject
- Students can also join independently if not in a lesson or request permission from their teacher to attend during lesson time if they feel the talk is beneficial for their future career plans.
Click on this link further details and to join the live Teams event:
https://virtual-events.stbrn.ac.uk/careers-week-21st-june
students may use the linked Padlet to ask questions before or during the event
Note: Recordings of the March Health Careers event are available HERE
WE'RE BACK!
Sport Enrichment is back!
Running throughout June & July - everyone welcome!
- If you don't have a lesson at these times, head to the sports centre (E building) to join in.
- If you can't make these sessions but would like to play next year, email: Jake.Britton@stbrn.ac.uk to let him know.
ATL3 - Moving Up to Level 3
For ATL3 students who are moving up to Level 3, your plan and logbook can be found by accessing this link
Café Max and Café Min - Important Information!
Good news - both cafes are open!
Opening hours are 8:30 am - 3:30 pm Monday- Friday.
Whether it's breakfast to kickstart your day, a snack at break time or a tasty lunch, the Cafe Teams will be happy to serve you.
BAME at St Brendan’s
Paul Revere Williams
Williams was one of the most important architects in California’s history. He worked on 3,000 projects over six decades and helped to define the look of modern Los Angeles. He designed schools, offices, churches, the county courthouse, housing projects for the poor and spectacular residences for the likes of Frank Sinatra and Johnny Weissmuller, the Olympic swimmer and Tarzan actor, who got an Italianate villa with a 300ft serpentine pool coiled around it.
The Return of Societies!
Society Sessions are continuing to launch!
Sign-up for the coming week of sessions HERE
If you would like to create a new society, just email swi@stbrn.ac.uk and we can begin to promote the group to the student body!
New groups and sessions will continue to be added via the bulletin, and all sign-ups will be added to individual Teams channels for each group for more direct information about sessions.
To note, please fill in the form even if you have already previously registered interest- this allows us to manage attendance and numbers at sessions which is still extremely important due to Covid!
Looking forward to some fun sessions 🙂
Student Engagement Officer - Stanford
Student Union Election Results
We are happy to announce our new Student Union Executive:
President - Thirowshie Srijeyaram
Vice President - Fin Deane
Secretary - Divya Rajesh
EDI Officer - Ashya Bernard
Student Governor - Charlie Hiscox
Communications Officer - Katie Cooksley
Student Life Officer - Teya Baggan
Sport & Enrichment Officer - Raven Massiah
These students will be the lead representatives of the student body over the coming year, and students can reach them at su@stbrn.ac.uk
Get Involved!
Medical Schools Council Summer Schools
Medical Schools Council is working with four leading medical schools across England to offer a series of free summer schools. The initiative is funded by Health Education England and is aimed at young people from areas of England where few students apply to study medicine. There is a particular focus on reaching young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
At an MSC Summer School, students can learn about becoming a doctor or health care professional and whether it would be the right career for them. They will receive the information, skills and above all the confidence they need to submit a strong application to medicine. The summer school will take place during the week of 5 July 2021. Applications for this summer are now open and can be made here
Improving Wellbeing – A self-study course for students
Dr Iro Konstantinou at The Tony Little Centre for Innovation and Research in Learning (CIRL) has created 8 x 10-minute well-being sessions for school students to do in their own time and at their own pace. The link to the sessions is here
Chaplaincy
You can find our College Chaplain Ann Morgan in room B209, all faiths & no faiths welcome!
If you would like to follow any of the Chaplaincy social media accounts - the links are below.
Key Contacts
Marian Curran Principal
Stephen Clayson Vice Principal
Svetlana Bajic-Raymond Vice Principal
Laura Howe-Haysom Head of Support Services
Vicki Haigh Head of Teaching, Learning & Assessment
Kerry Mullinder Head of Learning Development & Safeguarding
Sue Rees Head of Data and Exams
Sarah Hinder Finance Manager
Claire Woodhouse Attendance Officer
