The following message was sent out to parents via email, and via the website, Facebook and Twitter on 16 September 2022:
All,
Your children have had a good few weeks settling back into Sixth Form life and, after a more cautious year last year due to COVID, there are various events being scheduled in to bring the full Sixth Form experience we think every student should be entitled to. This email will cover:
* Contacts
* Sixth Form Parents Sessions
* Field Trips Residentials 2022-2024
* University Open Days
* Sixth Form Study Centre
Contacts
What with maternities and career moves, we have had a move around in the Sixth Form team and I wanted to give you absolute clarity on who your contacts are.
Adel Stubbs – Sixth Form Mentor – astubbs@friary.greywoodmst.co.uk – for day-today enquires and support.
Amy Jones – Head of Sixth Form – ajones@friary.greywoodmst.co.uk – for the more serious issues above day-to-day issues.
Helen Barratt – Assistant Headteacher – hbarratt@friary.greywoodmst.co.uk – for when previous contacts have not resolved matters.
I can promise all three of the team are excellent and will go more than the extra mile.
Parents Sessions
The Year 12 Partnership Evening takes place on Thursday 6 October between 6.00-7.00pm. This event will see an outline of the Sixth Form schedule before branching out into optional 15mins sessions which address specific topics. More details will appear later this week but attendance is recommended.
Following on from this event there is:
* Y13 Parents Evening – Thursday 13 October
* Y12 Parents Evening – Thursday 23 March
* Y12 UCAS Evening – Thursday 25 May
We regularly review your child’s progress and we may well get in touch if there are any red flags emerging. Additionally, we have Y13 Mock Exam Week (W/B 14 November) and Y12 Mock Exam Week (W/B 17 April) – with the latter followed up by re-takes if there are problems to determine entry into Year 13. It may well be you will be contacted after these exam weeks to address any areas of concern.
Field Trips Residentials
We place a high priority on opening our Sixth Formers’ eyes to the world around them and part of this is getting them out there to see it. Clearly, we are in tough financial times and we are all too aware in our work with families and the community that some families are very limited in what they can do. Consequently, we are looking to provide options – but appreciate the prices are steep as they are for family holidays, etc. We have though seen record numbers sign up for trips lower down the school so we’ll see how the Sixth Form pans out.
There will be a number of Sixth Form Residential trips coming up – and as we flagged up the first last week with a Geography / Biology Field Trip to Naples, I wanted to give you the full picture to inform your thinking.
We have scheduled the following residential trips for the current Y12 and Y13 students – and we are giving you the full programme up to Summer 2024 (which only applies for the current Year 12):
Spring 2023 – Naples Field Trip – £900
The paperwork for this trip went out last week to those Y12 and Y13 student studying A-Level Geography and A-Level Biology – though we may offer it out more broadly depending on demand. This is useful to the courses, but not critical, and it includes climbing Vesuvius, visiting Pompeii, Capri, etc. It will be a fantastic experience.
Spring / Summer 2023 – Year 12 UK Geography Trip – £250 (approx):
This field trip is essential for Y12 A-Level Geography students as it will be specifically covered in the exam. It will be a 3-4 night residential and costs will be kept to the minimum. It will literally be covered in the exams.
Summer 2023 – World Challenge Trip – Croatia – £2,400 (approx):
This World Challenge experience is projected to be a 10 day tour of Croatia including hiking, 4-day treks, whitewater rafting and cultural visits. It will be open to current Year 11 students (though only those who go on to attend our Sixth Form) and current Year 12 students. Year 13 students are welcome too – but it will be after they have left the school.
Summer 2023 – Experience Week (Last Week of this school year) – TBC:
We are looking at various options for this week and one may include a sailing trip where students will literally sail a boat on the high seas. More details to follow…
Autumn 2023 – Berlin & Auschwitz Trip £700 (approx):
This trip is planned to run over October Half-Term 2023 and will be for A-Level History and Sociology students – though we may offer it out more broadly depending on demand. Similar to the Naples Trip, this visit is not course critical, but it is an incredibly moving experience and is well worthwhile.
Summer 2023 – Vietnam & Cambodia – £4,100 (approx):
This will be open to the current Year 11 and Year 12 – though the latter need to consider that they will have just completed their final exams. It will be an extensive tour similar to the recent Borneo expedition.
Elsewhere, there will be a range of day trips including a London visit, theatre trips, etc, but these will not be residentials.
I appreciate some families will look at this and think ‘tick-tick-tick’ whilst for others none will be feasible. Either way, I wanted to lay it all out for you so if you want to prioritise then you can. If birthdays or Xmas can be part of the equation then maybe that will help too.
University Open Days
Many of our Year 13 students will already be thinking about Open Day visits to check out their potential post-18 destinations. These just need to be booked in with the Sixth Form team.
Meanwhile, for the Year 12s this will seem some way off, (though time will fly), but to give an insight into what university life is like I noticed that Keele University (50mins drive) are offering Open Days on 15-16 October and 26 October (half-term week) so this may be a good option to get an idea of things. You can check out the details here: https://www.opendays.com/institutions/keele-university.
Naturally, we will offer advice and support for these visits, as well as options for apprenticeships, employment, etc.
Sixth Form Centre
Regrettably, we experienced a flash flood in the heavy rains a couple of weeks back and this swamped one end of our Sixth Form Centre. This has meant it can still function but is a little cramped.
We are looking to get this resolved in the next 2 weeks. We have surveyed all the drains, are making some adjustments, re-sealing the floor, and then putting things like carpet tiles and furniture back in place. I guess we are always going to be at risk of extreme weather nowadays, but rest assured we are on it and getting the Sixth Form Centre back to full capacity is a big priority for us.
Finally, we’re pleased with how all of the Sixth Formers have settled back in. The Year 13s are being gently cranked up to their first formal exams, whilst the Years 12s, who successfully experienced those this summer, are doing great.
