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6th Form Newsletter Friday 2nd October

Contents

Section 1 Study Ready

Page 1— Eton X

Certifications

Page 2—Star of The

Week, At Home Study

Tips

Page 3— Available

Workshops and virtual

events for University

and Apprenticeships

Section 2 Work Ready

Page 4—Enrichment

Opportunities

Page 5—Virtual Fair

Opportunities and

How to expand the

skills on your CV

Section 3 Life Ready

Page 6—Health and

Wellbeing Online

Resources

Welcome Back!

Welcome to our first edition of our Sixth Form Newsletter this year! We are so

proud of the start our students have made to term in such unusual

circumstances. Year 13 have demonstrated some great resilience over the

lockdown and summer holiday, while our Year 12 students have made a

successful transition to Level 3 study. We would also like to take this opportunity

to welcome Ms Battimelli to the Sixth Form Team as she takes over as our new

Sixth Form Mentor, and Mrs. H Thompson who is our new Career’s advisor. We

hope you find this newsletter full of information that not only helps and support

students but also encourages them to take advantage of opportunities available

to them

The Key Stage 5 Team

(Mrs. Gibbons (KS5 Lead) Ms. Morgan-Russell (SLT Link) Ms K Thompson (Deputy

KS5 lead), Mr Smith (Sports Academy Director), Mrs. H Thompson (Career’s

advisor), Ms. Battimelli (Sixth Form Mentor))

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Section 1 - Study Ready We want to congratulate students who have been studying and succeeding throughout lockdown.

Eton X Certificates

During the lockdown period, we had a number of students take up a

fantastic opportunity and complete a variation of ‘Eton X’ online

courses alongside their studies at home. Eton X courses are created to

help students develop skills needed for success in the future; to encourage success at university, the workplace

and overall are focused on improving communication and leadership skillsets. Both Year 12’s and 13’s had the

chance to undertake a course; Year 12 students completed the ’Building Resilience’ course and Year 13’s focused

on the ‘Improving Writing Skills’ course. To complete these courses throughout the difficult lockdown period is a

real achievement and we are extremely proud of all students who managed this.

Since completing the courses, students involved have been rewarded with certificates to acknowledge their

achievements and will be able to use this piece of extra curricular work to encourage university and workplace

opportunities in their future.

Students who completed

Eton X ‘Improving Writing Skills’ course:

Milly Gibbins

Jessica Engleman

Freya Lewin

Gina Trozzo

Matthew Reed

Ben MacDonald

Kalliopi Vlachou

Alex McNamara

Rahul Umasankar

Ametz Parcell-Arregi

Tom Linfoot

Steffi Pereira

Arun Kaul

Ella Bampton

Vlad Teisanu

Aaron Cheung

Noah Harley

Elena Blinco

Jessica harris

Jess van Laar

Cameron Armstrong

Tatjana Vukicevic

Students who completed

Eton X ‘Improving Writing Skills’ course:

Aleksandra Jablonska

Rafaela Balan

Lucy Langdale

Michael Humphreys

James Milburn

Bethany Sugrue

Hayden Netherwood-Meek

Adam Aziz

Nikolaos Douranos

Rafaela Balan

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Section 1 - Study Ready We understand that as we encourage you to spend most of your study time at home throughout this difficult period, it may be harder to concentrate. We’ve created some Top At-Home Study Tips to help you through you’re A-Levels. We also want to congratulate our Star

Use A Timetable

Use timetabled study periods to manage time at home. For example, split the

given workload into manageable 30 minute slots (like the periods throughout

the school day) and set a small goal for each. This will help improve the

structure of each days and give a sense of achievement once completing the

tasks for each study period.

Set Up A Study Space

Try to remove distractions at home and find a study space away from noise and

Netflix! Having a dedicated space for study helps students to fully engage with

work and encourages them to work as efficiently as possible. Another success

tip for studying at home is putting phones on aeroplane mode and leaving it in

another room so notifications don’t interrupt scheduled studies.

Star of the Week

Lucy Langdale

Over the summer, Lucy Langdale took great initiative by taking an opportunity that was advertised in a previous newsletter. Lucy completed the Operation Wallacea programme where students from across the country came together to collect and analyse data about different organisms. Lucy focused on spider monkeys and the differences between the sexes. As part of a group, she analysed the data using current scientific literature and wrote a complete scientific report to the standard that universities would expect. The feedback that she received was that her supervisor could think of no improvements to her report! This was a fantastic opportunity that Lucy took on and she has developed a huge number of skills that can be used in both her UCAS and future CVs.

Matthew Nock

A huge congratulations to Matthew Nock who has been praised by Miss Brown for his excellent participation in

Quantum Physics. He went above and beyond with research throughout their first lesson back this term and

showed some outstanding work!

At-Home Study Tips

We have created some at-home study tips to encourage the new dynamic of working from home during

study periods due to Covid-19. We understand it is difficult for students to focus at home sometimes, please

read through these tips to help support at-home studying.

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Section 1 - Study Ready We have selected a number of fantastic opportunities we would advise you take advantage of. Some will help you with your A Level journey, some will help you plan for your time

Personal Statement Online Workshops

As UCAS deadlines are approaching, Royal Holloway are offering an online personal statement workshop which

is ideal for Year 12 and 13’s. Whether students are at the beginning of their university planning or at final draft

stage, the workshop can help to improve statements and ensure them stand out from other applications.

Dates:

Tuesday 27th October, 10.00-11.00am Tuesday 27th October, 1.00-2.00pm

Wednesday 28th October, 10.00-11.00am Wednesday 28th October, 1.00-2.00pm

Meet the Russell Group Virtual Event

For any students who are interested in attending a Russel Group University, there will be a fantastic virtual

event held with all 24 Universities in October. Russell Group Universities support more than a quarter of a

million jobs across the UK and offer brilliant facilities for learning and growth of

students. This event will be free to join, for more information please click the link below:

Meet the Russell Group Virtual Event - Wednesday 7th October: 12.00-18.00

There are also two Pre-Event Webinars in place for students, to support with the work

towards the October UCAS deadline and to help any preparation and questions for the October Russell Group

Event. These Pre-Event Webinars will be useful for students applying to Oxford, Cambridge and Russell Groups

to set them on the right path for a successful UCAS application.

Wednesday 23rd September 12pm—For Students applying to Oxford and Cambridge

Wednesday 30th September 12pm—For Students applying to Russell Group Universities

UCAS Virtual Exhibitions

UCAS are holding Virtual Exhibitions this autumn for students to explore the course they’re interested in and

have the opportunity to speak to many universities around the UK to seek advice for applications, discover

apprenticeships and understand student finances. These exhibitions are a great way to get a better feel for

university and familiarize students with the UCAS process.

Online Events by Subject Area:

Business, law and finance—30th September

Biological and Physcial Sciences—16th October

Social Sciences, Humanities and Teaching—23rd-24th October

Maths, Engineering, and Computing—2rd-3rd November

Creative Subjects—13th-14th November

Please Note: There are many websites and companies on offer that you can search for on the internet, here are

a few samples of virtual work experience opportunities -any that are chosen by the parent/student and any

data shared by yourself is with your consent and not shared by Cox Green School so the parent/student is not

For more information or to

book, please see website:

UCAS Website

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Section 2 - Work Ready We have been swamped with some fantastic virtual work placements. We’ve selected some of the best for you below.

Enrichment

Enrichment is a fantastic scheme we offer on Wednesday’s Period 5 that allows our students at Sixth Form to

prepare for life afterwards and build skills to shout about in their future careers. We’re excited to announce we

will be running six goal focused enrichment opportunities for students to pick from, all of which are designed to

supplement and enhance students to make them more Life and Work Ready.

Enrichment Options:

Sports Leadership Programme

This option perfects leadership skills through planning, organizing and leading a variety of

different sports focused sessions. This programme includes students working towards a

Cox Green Sports Leadership Award in which there are three levels to be awarded by:

Bonze, Silver and Gold. The Sports Leadership Programme will be ran by Ms.Anderson.

Fitness for Wellbeing

Aims to improve their mental and physical fitness by pushing students through some

challenging exercises designed to leave them feeling energised and motivated. Fitness and

Wellbeing is brilliant to allow students to switch off from other commitments and spend

time to focus on themselves; Ms.Bentham will be running this enrichment offer.

Preparing for a Successful Career in Media

A brilliant offer to find out if students have what it takes to stand out from the crowd in the

media industry and learn some new skills for when they eave education. This option is ran

by Ms Frank-Keyes, who has a great amount of experience from her 10 years of work on

Fleet Street and can use her talents to benefit students who have a passion for media.

Cooking for Occasions

This option allows students to plan, budget and cook a meal for a different occasions and

learn all the tips and tricks to be self-sufficient in the kitchen, life skills everyone needs!

Cooking for Occasions will be ran by Ms Hirst and there will be chances for students to

compete between each other for the best dishes in a Masterchef inspired style.

Self Care and Wellbeing

Self Care and Wellbeing will allow students to understand how to deal with stress, practise

different mindful techniques and learn how to act as a role model to others to help them

deal with life pressures after education. This enrichment option is a brilliant opportunity

for students to grow their communication skills and encourage mutual support and

understanding, ran by Ms.Dean.

Debate Club

If students are after testing their opinions and trailing out debates then this enrichment

option is for them! Students can try out different debate formats in order to find the most

effective method of making strong arguments as well as exposing weak ones. Debate Club

will also include competitions throughout the year, ran by Ms.Foley.

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UK University & Apprenticeship Search Virtual Fair

Following the success of virtual fair’s in June, University Search are holding a UK University & Apprenticeship

Search Virtual Fair this November. Whether students are interested in University or wanting to kick start their

career with an apprenticeship, this fair would be brilliant to explore everything available when finishing Sixth

Form.

For more information and where to register, please click through the link:

UK University & Apprenticeship Search Virtual Fair - London, Wednesday 4th November: 12.00-18.00

How to enhance a CV through a Google Digital Garage online course

The Google Digital Garage online course is beneficial for

students to expand their digital skills and gain a deeper

understanding for how businesses function online. This

course is free to complete and is great for students to add

to their CV to become a little more Work ready for when

they complete Sixth Form with us! Taking up

opportunities such as this shows initiative and

independence to future employers.

For more information, please click through

below:

Google Digital Garage Course

Fully funded, Online Summer School with the University of Reading

Learning Section 2 - Work Ready We have some fantastic virtual opportunities to encourage students to be work ready after their studies at Sixth Form.

Please Note: There are many websites and companies on offer that you can search for on the internet, here are

a few samples of virtual work experience opportunities -any that are chosen by the parent/student and any

data shared by yourself is with your consent and not shared by Cox Green School so the parent/student is not

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Fully funded, Online Summer School with the University of Reading

Learning Section 3 - Life Ready We know that current times can be harder and understand it is important to look after your health and well-being.

CGS Sixth Form Leadership roles: Help us make CGS sixth form even better

We have conducted exciting interviews for the Sixth Form Leadership roles and are really looking forward to

creating a student led team. Successful candidates will lead student voice activities helping us to create an even

better experience for CGS sixth formers. We can’t wait to have a brilliant team on board and work with them

closely throughout the year.

Fitness / Wellbeing

As the new school year begins, it can be the perfect time to set some new personal goals aside from

academic studies. We’ve looked into some fitness and well-being related schemes that students can use

outside of school to improve personal health and create a positive mind-set through fitness. Please read

through the list below and see if any of these free apps would help with fitness goals and use them as a

break from studying.

Couch to 5k Challenge

If students are after getting into running then this is perfect for you! Students can access the

‘Couch to 5K Challenge’ through their app; the app gives users a steady routine to gradually

build up to a 5K run, it’s useful if running longer distances feels like a scary prospect or if

students are unsure on where to begin!

Map My Fitness

If students participate in any fitness but are after tracking it to map their progress and feel a

sense of accomplishment then this app is brilliant. Map My Fitness tracks fitness progress

and allows users to input all forms of exercise including running, cycling and gym workouts.

Daily Yoga

Yoga is a great way to stay healthy and encourage a positive mind-set to overall help

concentration and level of calm. The Daily Yoga app is free and can be used to complete

short yoga sessions which helps users to relax and unwind from stress.

Looking After Your Mental Wellbeing

We understand that having readily available information around the topic of mental health is essential and

the more we all know, the better we can understand those who are struggling. Below is a collection of

Instagram pages to follow and check out for information and understanding regarding mental health issues;

there are also pages to encourage a positive mind-set and happiness. If students want to learn more about

mental health as a whole but prefer information in small snippets then please check out these pages.

@letstalk.metalhealth

@advocating.mentalhealth

@howmental

@dlcanxiety

@anxiety_wellbeing

@emotions_therapy

@sunnybloominspiration

@dearmyanxiety

@fightthroughmentalhealth