The following Year 12 students have been accepted onto the Social Mobility Foundation ‘Aspiring Professionals’ programme: Suhaymah Zahraa, Ethan Wilkinson, Maddison Wilson and Scarlett Kerr. They all hope to pursue medicine after sixth form and will have opportunities to take part in university workshops, work experience and have a personal mentor – a fantastic opportunity to expand their experiences in the field!

Sixth formers took part in an Easter Eggstravaganza last week to celebrate the end of term. We had a huge Easter Egg Hunt featuring cryptic clues, word and number puzzles, and eggs hidden in blue books…

Meanwhile, the Year 12 and Year 13 boys had a football rematch.

It was a cagey first 15 minutes with lots of great chances for both sides. The year 13s had the better of it and would have been ahead had it not been for a sliding block from Daulton Jenkins to deny Nial Caffry from opening the scoring for the year 13s. The deadlock was broken on 18 minutes as another Caffry, Liam this time, slotted the ball home for the year 12s against the run of play.

Year 13 goalkeeper, Rowan Baldwin was in fine form to prevent Liam from getting a second when through one-on-one followed by a sublime goal – line clearance from Sol Gothard. A curling corner somehow made its way into the top corner from Jude Percival just before half-time however (helped somewhat by the wind), to make it two before the year 12s took advantage of a demoralised year 13 team to score just 40 seconds later, Luke Allison slotting a calm finish past Rowan Baldwin. 3-0 to the 12s at half time.

The second half was considerably less intense as the teams tired – a dipping free kick from James Kellioh (year 13) bringing an excellent save out of 12s keeper Kyle Hutchinson and preventing the ball squeezing in under the crossbar. Andrew Brennan was on top form to keep the 13s launching a come back as they piled on the pressure – coming close on a number of occasions but never able to get the ball in the net. It was against the run of play and with another sprinkling of good fortune that the ball did end up in the other net however as Todd Wilkinson’s wayward shot took a deflection off a year 13 defender and then off keeper, Baldwin who had little time to react, before the ball bounced in the far corner following a year 12 corner.

All in all a fantastic, competitive game in the sun – the score line doing no justice to how evenly matched these teams were throughout much of the game. Congratulations to the year 12s for taking the spoil, however!

A group of Year 13 girls have taken part in the Young Enterprise Programme – a scheme to empower young people to set up and run a student company under the guidance of a business volunteer and with support sessions to develop their skills in business leadership. The girls devised a business plan to create and sell recycled jewellery, making all the decisions about their business themselves, from deciding on the company name, managing the company finances and selling to the public. This week they began raising their start-up capital by selling goods and will soon begin to sell shares in their company to others in school, with any return being given to shareholders and profits supporting local charitable causes.

This programme gives students a real insight into the workings of a business and widens their options and aspirations for what they could achieve once they have left school. Look out for our students on the high street in times to come!

Well done to Tamzin Bell, Ellie Burlinson, Elle Carlton, Poppy Carroll Martinez, Anna McIlwraith, Rosie Patterson, Chloe Roberts , Charlotte Smith, Caitlin Tempest and Maddy Wilson for achieving a place on Realising Opportunities!

This university access programme is an innovative national programme for eligible, talented students that provides increased access to some of the country’s leading universities. Through this programme students will benefit from sessions to develop their skills to be successful at university and in applying to some of the most competitive courses in the country. The program starts on Wednesday 24^th March and will run throughout Year 12 right up until students receive their places at university in just under a year’s time.

This is a significant first step for these students, towards reaching their own goals for the future and excelling in their own areas of interest. We are excited to see where it may take each of them!

In support of Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day, Sixth Formers raised over £100 with a red nose quiz and non-uniform day! Congratulations to Luke Usher who, unsurprisingly, was the most red of the whole sixth form, winning a Smarties Easter Egg in the process.