Dear Prospective Student,

By now you will have all completed your GCSE’s, I bet many of you thought this day would never come! You should all be proud of the hard work you have put in. Hopefully you’re enjoying your long Summer break, after a successful and informative Bridging Week with us. September is a chance to start afresh and be the people that you want to be. You will be studying with a different group of students and new friendships will form, bare in mind we have over 50 applicants from other schools! New interests will flourish and your goals and ambitions grow as you develop into accomplished young adults.

It is our responsibility to support and guide you through Sixth Form, to ensure you have access to and benefit from amazing opportunities. We want you to feel inspired, both personally and academically.

As your Year Leader it’s my role to guide and support you to fulfil your potential, to challenge you, to encourage you and along with your parents/carers be proud of all you accomplish and achieve at King Edward’s. Fiona Long, as your Sixth Form Mentor, is here to ensure you are fully prepared for the next stage of your journey. Largely, Fiona’s focus is you and your life after Sixth Form at King Edward’s. Together with Mrs Johnston (Head of Sixth Form) and Susan Brown our Sixth Form Office Manager we will ensure you have a quality experience and access to the very best guidance for your next steps. Our aim is to ensure you fulfil your potential and reach your ambition, and that along the way you have exclusive experiences that contribute to you personal and academic progress. We hope your parents/carers will delight in all you do and achieve within Sixth Form at King Edward’s. 

When you join us in Sixth Form you immediately become part of a team and community that will be together for two years. We want to celebrate your successes and also support you through the rough patches that will inevitably happen. We want you to communicate with us, to give us your ideas and opinions. We want to reach the end of your two years of Sixth Form with a happy, healthy and aspirational team.

We’re looking forward to welcoming you and supporting you through the next two years of your education, but most importantly to working with you to help you achieve your goals and make your future ambitions a reality. Remember… a dream is just a goal without a deadline!

Sincerely yours,

Miss O’Neill and Fiona

(Year 12 Team)

The summer holidays are rapidly approaching and you’re all getting ready to let off some, well-deserved, steam. It is fair to say that this academic year seems to have flown by and has probably left a trail of shell-shocked students in its wake. The vast majority of you have spent the year working very hard; tackling that notorious jump from GCSEs to A Levels and sitting exams that may determine your future. What we are trying to say is, you deserve a break! Summer holidays are your chance to unwind, have fun and creative memories, as well as catching up with friends and family in the sun (hopefully!). However, six weeks is a long time and time that could be used wisely too. Being off during the week is a perfect opportunity to organise valuable work experience, even if this is just a couple of days spent shadowing a relative with an interesting profession. It could be your chance to get a foot in the door with a company you could see yourself at in the future. If you’d rather stay closer to home, there’s always the chance to get a couple of quick MOOCs under your belt too. Follow the link on Unifrog and find one that is related to the field you want to study/work in. Whatever experiences you choose to embrace this summer, remember…be proactive, seize the moment, stay safe and wear sun cream!

Debate is an excellent opportunity for those who want to gain confidence in articulating themselves and be able to produce better quality arguments. Every week we send out a debate motion to members, which varies as much as possible to ensure that the topics are new and equally challenging. We also try to keep up with issues that crop up in the news when possible, should anything interesting arise. Every debater will have up to 5 mins to have their say, and those not speaking during that time have the chance to deliver points of information. Towards the end of each debate we take questions from the floor, meaning that anyone who is just watching the debate can project their own opinions. Meetings tend to last around 1.5 hours.

Debate society is a low pressure environment, there is no requirement that you feel any good at debating and although all are encouraged to take part we aim to do this in as stressless a way as possible. The society is always a vibrant place to be, providing a forum for you to express yourself. This is particularly good for sixth formers who want to take a break from the traditional style of learning in lessons and instead want to engage in a more open, conversational and creative form of education.

Apart from our weekly meetings, we do also participate in competitions outside of school and have even done so on a national scale. In 2017 a delegation of 8 travelled to Liverpool to compete in the European Youth Parliament Nationals, which took place over a number of days and involved debating contemporary issues facing the EU. During the same year the society sent a team with interest in law to take part in the Bar Mock Trial event in Newcastle Crown Court, posing as barristers and witnesses etc.

We are thrilled to boast an increase in membership to around 60, with roughly 25-30 coming each week, and we would love to welcome you to our society.

Debate is held on a Thursday after school at the Advanced Study Centre and is open to all year groups. If anyone has any queries and would like to get in contact, please either email [email protected] or pop in to one of our meetings.

Contributors: Seth Gooding, Sam Oxley & Nicole Souter

Dissection club is run by Sixth Form Students Will Pallett and Cameron Dick. Once a half term, on a Tuesday night after school, the club allows all year groups to come along to dissect organs such as the heart and organisms such as a frog and a rat. So far, the club has been a major success, with many students of all ages attending the Tuesday night learning. With the support and guidance from Will and Cameron, all attendees have been able to participate, learn and gain confidence behind the scalpel whilst having a great time!

A new attendee who has joined KEVI from another school said;

“Dissection Club is an exciting, new opportunity not offered to me by my previous school. Student-led and for all years; Dissection Club offers an insight into Biology beyond GCSE and A level specifications. It is an intriguing concept which fuels scientific curiosity”

So far, in the academic year, the club has allowed students to dissect the heart, eye and kidney. These sessions have allowed the attendees to gain confidence and the skills that will be required in the dissection of full organisms later in the year.

We both hope to see even more people joining the club, so look out for posters advertising the next dissection session!

An open letter from Miss O’Neill

Dear Year 13,

This year has been full of highs and lows for a lot of us, however, you have all amazed me with your hard work, perseverance and determination to succeed. You all looked extremely smart on photo day and I felt very proud, there was a positive energy that day which we need to take right through to your exams.

There are many positives this year which we need to celebrate; your attendance has been fantastic and we end year with an average of 96%,  a huge improvement from previous years. One day you will all appreciate my constant checking where you all are. I fully believe the best place for you to be is with your fantastic subject teachers.

We launched our new Sixth Form website and following this Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are also used to keep you all in the loop and provide some excellent links to careers advice, apprenticeship adverts and tips for success.

The change in registration has been met with very positive feedback from you all, you have enjoyed the greater freedom to manage your own time. Students receiving progress support have also valued the support and guidance from subject teachers. I value all your feedback on this.

I have learnt a lot this year and have enjoyed being your Head of Year, I wish you all good luck in the future. As I often say to you; believe in your ability and be kind to yourself. Good luck with your exams, you can do this!

Miss O’Neill