St Vincent Life College Magazine • Autumn 2019
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St Vincent Life College Magazine • Autumn 2019 College launches iPad Digital Learning Scheme See Page 4 Useful Information Contents Upcoming Upcoming Open Evenings ..................................... 2 A Bit of Fun... .......................................................... 2 Open Evenings Wednesday 23rd October 2019 Welcome ................................................................ 3 from 5.00 – 7.30 pm iPad Digital Learning coming 2020! ....................... 4 Thursday 21st November 2019 College Hits Top 10% – Again! .............................. 5 from 5.00 – 7.30 pm Hooray For Hollywood – Wednesday 5th February 2020 Student Film to be Screened at Film Festival ........ 6 from 5.00 – 7.30 pm Music Students Spotify Success ........................... 6 Wednesday 6th May 2020 Staff Shortlisted for from 5.00 – 7.30 pm Prestigious Education Awards ............................... 7 Former Student Inspires Head of College ............. 7 Final Moments at St Vincent .................................. 8 All the Fun of the Fair! ............................................ 9 ‘Grease’ is the Word ............................................. 10 Charity Starts at Home ........................................ 12 St Vincent Student Wins Top Prize at University of Portsmouth ................. 12 A Bit of Fun... Welcome to our New Head of School for Sixth Form Studies .............. 12 28 73 The St Vincent College Governing Body ............. 13 48 Meet the Chair of Governors ................................ 13 Busy Year for Students on Trips 796 with the Sun Project ..............................................14 65 Students Gain Places at Top Universities .............14 31 65 Launch of Exciting New Project in the Community ................................................. 15 296 7 Skills Tree Ambassador ....................................... 15 69 21 Grand Opening of our New Medical Facilities ........................................ 19 Student Song inspires NHS Foundation Trust ..... 19 51 6 2 Welcome to St Vincent Life Welcome to the second edition of St Vincent Life, our termly newsletter which provides the College with the opportunity to share with our students, staff, parents and stakeholders all that is going on in the vibrant day-to-day life. The start of the new academic year brings with it exciting new opportunities. It has been wonderful to watch our new students enrol with us from our local schools following their GCSEs. Having the opportunity to meet them and share our expectations has been a great way to get to know our new student cohort and it is great to see them settling in to their new learning environment. Likewise, it is has been really nice catching up with returning students, finding out about their summer and watching them progress to higher levels of study. We have also seen our students who completed their studies with us last year progress on to exciting pathways and opportunities, some case studies of which you will find later in this publication. In mid-August our students received their results. Following all of their hard work it was great to see their faces as they saw their grades and realised the success they had achieved after all of their hard work. It was a particularly successful year for our vocational Level 3 subjects. For the fourth year in a row the outstanding results seen across this aspect of our provision ranks in the Top 10% of Colleges in the country for student progress and results which is a fantastic achievement and one we are very proud of. You will find out more about this and some of our other recent successes in this publication. Thank you for taking the time to see all the great things your local College are doing and my very best wishes. Andy Grant, Head of College 3 Digital Technology Update Digital Learning coming 2020! Students enrolling on to Level 3 programmes in September 2020 will be the first to benefit from our new Digital Learning Scheme. This exciting development in our curriculum delivery model will see students studying at Level 3 provided with iPads for the duration of their studies at the College following enrolment. These innovative technology devices can be used for a wide array of education and learning activities and will be used by students to supplement the teaching and learning taking place in the classroom. Following successful pilots of such devices teaching staff will spend part of this year learning how best to use iPad technology to enhance our students learning experiences. Subjects such as Health and Social Care and Sport have been already been using such devices Students already have access to a wide range of IT to support performance improvement, complete health technologies including iMacs, PCs and laptops as well checks and tests as well as complete online work. as being able use their own devices via the College The devices will be allocated to students studying WiFi system. In addition to this the College will also relevant Level 3 subjects and can also be taken home be implementing an iPad purchase scheme which will to support independent study and research. Head of enable students and their families to buy a personal College, Andy Grant said ‘we recognise the value in iPad but pay for it over a two year period. This using mobile technologies to support student learning. subsidised scheme will be open to all learners and Having seen students use these devices inside and would cost potentially as little as £10 a month to own outside of the classroom I can see the huge benefits an iPad. Further details regarding these schemes will they can bring to our learners’. be sent to all applicants in 2020. 4 Outstanding Success Continues College Hits Top 10% – Again! This summer saw St Vincent College once again ranked in the Top 10% of college in the country for our Level 3 vocational provision. With vocational courses now making up the majority of our Level 3 offer the success our students have had on these programmes has enabled our learners to move on to University, employment and further study opportunities. In addition to the fantastic news about our ranking, we also recorded 5% increase in high grades in these subject with 90% of all Level 3 vocational learners achieving Distinction* or Distinction grades – the equivalent of A*-B grades at A-Level. Students studying Criminology, Law, Health and Social Care, Public Service, ICT, Sport and Music have all seen record achievements with these recent successes leading to St Vincent College developing additional provision for vocational pathways and from 2020/21 this offer will increase. Head of College, Andy Grant said ‘these results not only reflect the level of specialism our staff have in teaching these rigorous subjects, but also demonstrates the hard work and commitment of our students who have worked so hard to succeed. We a thrilled by these results and the positive implications they have for our students as they move forward in to the next stage of their studies and careers’. 5 Success Stories Hooray For Hollywood – Student Film to be Screened at Film Festival When former Brune Park pupil Corey Kitchen joined St Vincent College he had a dream of joining the likes of Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino in the Hollywood Film Making elite. One year later and that dream is becoming a reality after his college produced short film ‘Knock Knock’ which was screened at a movie theatre in Cumbria this summer. Following work with the British Film Institute Corey was asked to submit his film for consideration at an introductory screening before the showcase of a major motion picture. Such was the buzz generated by this that the film will now receive a formal screening at the Creative Alliance Independent Film Fete in London in October. Not only will Corey’s film be screened to a wide selection of film and industry executives he and his fellow student collaborators will then take part in an audience question and answer session. Corey attributes his love of film to his time at Brune Park where he initially studied film before progressing to St Vincent. The film, Knock Knock, is the story of a hitman and was inspired by Pulp Fiction, one of Corey’s favourite films and stars fellows students Tobias Husmann, Samuel Murphy and Phoebe Wellsted. When asked if he wanted to have a quote in this article Corey said ‘ I only have one piece of advice. If anyone ever wants to make film just go for it’. Music Students Success When Music teacher Chris Harris went to collect his work mail he expected the usual array of promotions and training offers. One envelope however, held something far more interesting – a cheque from music streaming service Spotify. Since joining the College in 2016 Chris has revolutionised the teaching, learning and industry payment. The initial cheque for the grand sum of 69p, experience afforded to our music students. The whilst small, meant more to the students than money. College is now recognised as one of the top providers For them it has enabled them to say that they are for music education and development, not only professional musicians whose songs are reaching a because of our fantastic facilities and high level wide audience. teaching, but because of the practical experience and development afforded to our learners by actively Subsequently the College have received further performing in a range of music events. cheques each month for minor but increasing amounts of money showing that their music is being listened to St Vincent Music students frequently perform at local by more and more people around the world. Not bad gigs and events, including the Wickham Festival and for a group of aspirational students developing their Victorious. Such is the extent of the personal music love for their subject in heart of Gosport. catalogue of our students that they created their own Spotify profile in which they upload their music for the To share this news with the wider staff team, Head world to hear. At the time of creating the profile the of College, Andy Grant presented Chris with a mock intention was simply for the students to share their cheque at an all staff briefing.