As Christmas and New Year approach, we’ve reached the end of a very busy term here at Campden Sixth Form! We have welcomed our new Year 12 students and held our hugely successful Sixth Form Open Evening amongst many other things. Please read on to find out more!
European Youth Parliament
After competing in the South of England European Youth Parliament earlier this year, Year 13 students Isabel and Florence were delighted to represent their region in the national event. Here they talk about what it was like to compete at a national level:
We both competed in the South of England European Youth Parliament in February and got selected to represent our area at the national sessions in July. It was a 5 day long event which we attended virtually alongside around 100 other young people who had been hand picked like us. We had the opportunity to explore interesting and relevant social issues such as Europe’s move towards green energy and sustainability as well as issues surrounding the racial inequalities of the Covid 19 pandemic and minority groups that were disproportionally affected by the coronavirus. We both gained important debating skills and felt privileged to represent our area. The fact that we participated in these national sessions means that we can now go on to help organise and run future sessions all around Europe.
Florence Johnson and Isabel Trinkle Yr 13
Since writing this Florence and Isabel have since found out that they have both been chosen to oversee and organise EYPUK regionals; Florence will be leading the South West and Isabel the Midlands. We wish them both Congratulations and lots of luck!
Senior Prefect Team 2021-2022
When we returned in September we officially welcomed our Senior Prefect Team 2021-2022; the students will be working hard over the next academic year organising (amongst other things) charity events, the Year 13 Dinner Dance, Year 13 Yearbook and representing both the school and Sixth Form at events both within and outside of school.
Welcome back!
This term we were delighted to welcome back four previous Campden Sixth students; Abi, Jake, Emily and George all kindly offered to talk to some of our current students about their experiences since leaving CCS.
Abi and Jake
Abi and Jake visited us in October and delivered a fantastic presentation about Degree Apprenticeships. Abi is currently completing a Degree Apprenticeship with Prodrive whilst Jake is at Ricardo; they provided a wealth of information and advice to a group of current students all interested in potentially pursuing the apprenticeship route after A Levels.
Emily
Emily left Campden Sixth two years ago and is now at Oxford Brookes University studying Midwifery; she spoke to a group of students all interested in careers within the Healthcare sector. Emily’s presentation included some fantastic advice including the importance of background reading and interview tips. She also spoke a lot about perseverance, resilience and how important it is to keep going even if your original plans don’t always work out as you had hoped.
George
George recently graduated RAF Cranwell as an Officer in the Royal Air Force. He was delighted to return to CCS and talk to a group of students all interested in pursuing careers within the military.
Charity Events
Over the course of the term the students have organised a number of charity days/events in order to raise awareness for a host of deserving causes.
Jeans for Genes Day 2021
Back in September the Sixth Form raised over £330 for Jeans for Genes by wearing their jeans to school and making a donation. The Jeans for Genes charity raises awareness of the daily challenges faced by those living with a genetic disorder and aims to fund projects that make a difference to the lives of those affected.
Mental Health Day 2021
In order to raise awareness ahead of Mental Health Day one of our Year 13 students (Hannah) helped to deliver assemblies across the school.
I have felt so honoured that I was given the opportunity to host the assemblies for this years World Mental Health Day. It’s a massive achievement that I found the courage to stand up in front of all those people to educate them on a topic I’m so passionate about.
Hannah Croxson Yr 13
Fundraising for Marianna
One Year 13 tutor group have been on a mission of the chocolate kind raising money for a young lady called Marianna in Sierra Leone; the fundraising is part of ‘Project 3580’ which aims to improve the education and health care provision of the displaced residents of Kissitown Refugee Camp in Sierra Leone. 13KJO organised and ran a Sixth Form chocolate sale with all the money raised going to support Marianna through school. They have already raised enough money to pay her school fees until she is 18; they would like the chocolate sale money (final amount raised was £232.75) to go towards supporting things like uniform and books.
Christmas Jumper Day 2021
This term we also celebrated Christmas Jumper Day 2021 (this year on Friday 10th December). As a Sixth Form we dug out our festive knitwear and helped raise money for Save The Children and Christmas Care Swindon (a local homeless charity).
Reverse Advent Calendar 2021
13KJO have also been busy encouraging staff and students to donate to their ‘Reverse Advent Calendar’. Following the success of last year’s collection the students were keen to repeat that success this year too; here they are pictured with a selection of the donations which will now be making their way to a local food bank. We are very proud of all of their hard work this term!
Broadway Food Festival
A number of our students helped out at the annual Food Festival in Broadway on the 12th September. From helping to set up the day before the event to litter picking and car parking they were on hand to assist in any way that they could.
Schools COP Summit
During the lead up to the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, two of our Year 12 students (and Sixth Form Climate Ambassadors) Ben and Charlie were delighted to represent the school at the Schools COP Summit. The national summit which was organised as part of ‘Tomorrow’s Engineers Week’ was designed to explore ways that engineers can help achieve net zero. It saw over 50 pupils from across the UK come together to explore how engineers are at the heart of addressing the climate crisis.
Students heard from inspirational engineers at the forefront of reducing the effects of climate change and then held discussions hosted by broadcaster Fayon Dixon and former BBC presenter Susan Bookbinder that mirrored those being held at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow.
Southampton University – ‘More than Maps’ Workshop
Southampton University have been providing A Level Geography students with an opportunity to utilise state of the art remote sensing data to investigate global changes.
“The More than Maps public engagement initiative aims to share replicable and open-access skills in mapping and social science analysis, to empower students and young professionals in research supporting climate change adaptation” (SARTRAC – Teleconnected SARgassum risks across the Atlantic: building capacity for TRansformational Adaptation in the Caribbean and West Africa)
The phenomenon’s studied ranged from the causes and impacts of the 2014 Somerset Levels flooding through to how remote island nations may be able to mitigate the impact of natural disasters. The students benefitted greatly from the experience of hearing first-hand from university professors, and the school is hugely grateful to Southampton University for providing us with this opportunity.
Film Club Ambassadors
From Climate Ambassadors to Film Ambassadors! Our six Year 12 Film Ambassadors have been busy since September promoting and running the ‘Into Film’ Club for KS3 pupils. With around 40 members the ambassadors work hard helping to run the sessions by taking registers, sorting technical issues, discussing the films and liaising with club members via email. They recently accepted their certificates and lapel badges from Mr Elmes.
The students are also working towards achieving an AS Level in Film Studies which they attend after school.
Medics Society
After its establishment last year, the Holistic Healthcare Society continues to go from strength to strength. Run by students for students, this term has seen talks on Midwifery, Nursing and Veterinary Science application processes by students past and present, as well as a visit from the Medical Detection Dogs Charity (see below to find out more!)
Medical Detection Dogs Charity
Our Medical Society welcomed a visitor of the four legged kind this term! Heather Shute from the Medical Detection Dogs Charity visited with her dog Edward; Heather spoke to our medical students about the work of the charity and how dogs like Edward are being used to help save lives.
Well done Jess!
One student who particularly enjoyed Heather and Edward’s visit was Year 13 student Jess; Jess is part of the Medics Society and is working hard to achieve her dream of becoming a vet. She was recently thrilled when an article she had written was published in the ‘Medic Mentor’, the magazine is designed specifically for healthcare students in the UK interested in pursuing a career as a doctor, dentist or vet. Here Jess tells us more:
As an aspiring vet, over the last year I have been carrying out work experience placements to deepen my insight into the veterinary career and to help me make a competitive application. I have spent one week in a veterinary practice, one week at a wildlife sanctuary and lots of hours milking cows on a dairy farm. I have also completed lambing placements on three different farms from February-April which allowed me to compare the practices I saw on each. I decided to reflect on my lambing experiences by writing an article for the Medic Mentor magazine after hearing about the opportunity to get your work published at a veterinary conference I attended in September. Writing this article has been extremely valuable to my learning and has allowed me to develop my written communication and research skills.
Jessica Gregg Yr 13
Jess is also keen to help other students who wish to pursue a career as a vet; she therefore delivered a talk to students in Years 10-13 interested in applying for veterinary medicine. Using her own personal experience of the process Jess spoke about the requirements of the application and how to maximise your chances of success.
Launch of the Law Society
Following in the footsteps of the Healthcare Society, the next generation of Solicitors, Barristers and Judges launched a Law Society earlier this term. Though still in its infancy the society intends to soon welcome guest speakers, conduct visits to legal institutions and assist with the debating club for the lower school which is launching after Christmas.
History
The 6th Form Historians have been very busy this term. In November they organised, researched and presented the Remembrance Assemblies across the school (including videoing it for the year groups that could not have a live assembly). They had lots of positive feedback from staff who said that it was one of the best they had seen as the students tried very hard to make it relevant to the present day.
Dance Success!
Our fantastic dance teacher Miss Torley recently took students from Yr7-Yr13 to Blackpool Winter Gardens for the UK finals of Dance Challenge UK (this is a national competition that decides the best schools in the UK).
The mixed team (Yr7-Yr13) came 4th and the Senior Team (Yr10-Yr13) came 3rd!
(Our Junior team Yr7-Yr9 came 1st!!)
Huge congratulations to all the students that took part including our Sixth Form dancers. Congratulations!
Sixth Form Open Evening 2021
At the beginning of November we opened our doors to prospective 6th form students and their families during our Sixth Form Open Evening. The event was a huge success and we were delighted to welcome Year 11 students from CCS as well as students who currently attend other schools.
Christmas Card Competition
For the second year running the ‘Design a Christmas Card’ competition was launched in order to raise money for the Performing Arts Centre and Campden Nursing Home. Around 80 students entered from across all the year groups, these entries were then whittled down to 20, the judges then had the hard decision of selecting the winning 4 entries.
We were delighted that 2 of the winning designs were from the Sixth Form, well done to Year 13 students Ned and Lucy! They both received a £50 cash prize and their cards were published and sold through the school as well as the charities own website and shop.
We’d like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers a very Happy Christmas and New Year!