Despite being a short term, it’s still been a very busy one! Read on to find out more…
From Campden to Sierra Leone
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, 12JSM organised a Christmas themed chocolate sale. This ran for 10 days to raise money for Mariama in Sierra Leone. The whole tutor group contributed in a variety of ways, including market research, advertising to the 6th Form, and evaluating their finances. In total they raised in excess of £200. This money will go towards funding Mariama’s education, as well as food and essentials for her family. £200 equates to around 5.8 million Leones; the average salary in Sierra Leone is 68 million per year, with some families earning as little as 17 million per year. A huge well done and thank you to 12JSM!
A Future CEO of M&S?
Year 13 student Marcus Garcia-Stokes was in contact with the current CEO of M&S (Stuart Machin) earlier this term, in response to his cost and time saving suggestion. Marcus (who works part time at M&S around his studies) has developed an idea to implement expiry dates into the barcodes of M&S products to reduce the time of checking expiry dates during his shifts. He has estimated that this change would save over 5 hours every day with the cost savings being in the millions! His idea is currently being considered and may be introduced in the near future. Well done Marcus!
Go Mad for Mad Thingz!
From a future CEO to future rock stars! Year 13 students Charlie, Alex, Rowan and Archie have combined their passion for music and have formed their own band called Mad Thingz. After lots of hard work, this term they announced that they were releasing their debut single! The track entitled ‘Dream’ is now available to listen to on several streaming platforms, including Apple Music, iTunes and Spotify.
The Spotify link is here
Staff were lucky enough to hear a live performance of their song during a staff briefing earlier this term; we would like to wish Mad Thingz many congratulations on their first single and we look forward to hearing more of their music in the future!
STEM Ambassadors
Our Year 12 STEM Ambassadors have been busy this term delivering sessions to a number of Year 6 pupils from local primary schools. Mrs Gooding (who oversees the programme) has been particularly impressed with our Sixth Formers:
“The Year 12 STEM Ambassadors have been utterly brilliant. The variety of sessions that have been planned and led by all of them have been incredible. As such we have had a very enthusiastic bunch of Year 6 pupils turning up every week for 7 weeks and they are sad that it is nearly over. After such a successful run we are hoping to invite another cohort after Easter. Well done to everyone involved!”
A Helping Hand From Hilda Terry
Three former Year 13 students met with Mr Southam (one of our school trustees) recently; Mr Southam was delighted to present them each with a cheque for £350. Ollie, Joe and Archie are using the money from their ‘Hilda Terry Award’ towards their trip to South America where they will be undertaking volunteer work as well as some travelling. They had applied to the school trustees who can choose to give the award to suitable candidates; the trustees generously support a number of post-16 students each year, enabling groups and individuals to gain a whole range of life experiences.
‘What If…?’ Roadshow
In March our Year 12 students attended a thought-provoking event called the ‘What If…?’ Roadshow. The event is hosted by Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service, The Police and Crime Commissioner, Gloucestershire Constabulary and the South West Ambulance Service.
The event was hard-hitting and thought-provoking; its aim is to shatter the ‘illusion of invincibility’ held by many young drivers and passengers, and empower all of us to be safe and sociable road users.
Apprenticeship Success!
Year 13 students Carys Hawyes and Sam Chapman are both celebrating after securing fantastic apprenticeships with the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) and ATT (Association of Accounting Technicians).
“I’m going to do a 4-year degree apprenticeship in scenic engineering at the Royal Shakespeare Company. It will involve operating machinery in their workshop and helping to create and install scenery. I discovered this incredible opportunity through the RSC website, and I hope to pursue a career in theatre design in the future.”
Carys Hawyes Year 13
“I had a phone call yesterday confirming that I’d been successful in one of my apprenticeship interviews! The apprenticeship is an Accountancy School/College Leaver through AAT where I will be working on accounts and audits while progressing through my AAT qualifications.”
Sam Chapman Year 13
Huge congratulations to both Carys and Sam!
Photography Masterclass
As part of their schools outreach programme Broadway Arts Festival put us in touch with local, professional, photographer Peter Martin. Peter has worked all over the world as a photojournalist, covering all sorts of exciting events and photographing a number of famous people; he now has his own commercial photographic gallery in Stow, alongside being heavily involved in the photographic side of the Broadway Arts Festival. Peter kindly spoke to our A Level and GCSE photography students, sharing his knowledge, expertise, and experiences as a professional photographer.
Welcome back!
This term we welcomed back a number of ex-students all eager to share their experiences and advice with our current Sixth Formers.
Madeleine and Live both left us in 2020; Madeleine is now in her third year at Oxford Brookes University studying Midwifery and Liv is a qualified paramedic with the West Midlands Ambulance Service. They shared their individual journeys to where they are now and also spoke about the different routes into their roles that are available (University route / Apprenticeship route) and the pros and cons of each. They stressed the importance of any relevant work experience as well as giving lots of other advice and tips.
Mark Scott returned to CCS this term and spoke to Sixth Form and lower school students during one of our ‘Twilight Tuesday’ sessions. Mark left in 2003 and has had an incredibly successful career in the RAF; he delivered a passionate and interesting speech about his experiences, including flying the Royal Family!
Former students Abi and Jake also visited us to talk about their degree apprenticeships with ProDrive and Ricardo. They delivered a fantastic presentation which included information about how they secured their apprenticeships (the A Levels they took etc), what their apprenticeships involved including the similarities and differences between them, the benefits of completing a degree apprenticeship and the future opportunities that could be available. Both have now completed their apprenticeships; Jake secured a position as a Junior Design Engineer with Ricardo and Abi is a Project Engineer with the Aston Martin Racing Team at ProDrive.
Martha left Sixth Form in 2021 hoping to pursue a career in medicine. She is now in her final year at Exeter University studying Bio-Medical Science and will then complete a Post-Graduate four year course in Medicine with the hopes of becoming a GP. Martha shared details about the route she has taken (including the application process and personal statement tips) but also had lots of advice about alternative routes including a new apprenticeship option. She also talked about how to choose which medical school to apply to, as well as discussing other patient facing jobs within the medical profession.
UCAS Exhibition 2024
On the 14th March over 150 Year 12 students attended the UCAS Exhibition at Worcester University. It provided them with an excellent opportunity to chat with UCAS experts, university representatives and employers.
Product Design
Year 12 Product Design students had the opportunity to get an insight to how Product Design is delivered at De Montford University from Head lecturer Chris Whittaker.
During the session students learnt about the courses available to them as well as about the University itself. Students were able to work through mini workshops looking at how we can draw quickly to enable us to design under pressure and the concept of ‘second life’ which looks at how products are designed to have another use behind their initial purpose.
Finally, students were able to put their creativity to the test by designing an ATM for a primary school or a care home. Each group were challenged with making a scaled model accessible to the problem they were given, taking into account the individual needs and situations presented by both user groups.
Rugby Success!
Huge congratulations to our Senior 7s team for their fantastic performance at KES on the 20th March! They came 2nd in the plate of the Kingham Hill 7s; their achievement was made even more impressive by the fact that they only had 8 players in their squad compared to 12 or 15 players in the other teams. A huge well done to Harry McAllister, George Ledbury, Stan Fotheringham, Dan Oxton, Dylan Kingswood, Josh Williams, Freddy Bonham and Oliver Lamb.
