Darlington 14-19 Practitioner Newsletter Welcome In This Issue... To the third newsletter for 14-19 Practitioners. ♦ High Number of Oxbridge Places Offered One of the concerns amongst 14–19 practitioners has been the high profile given to the development of Diplomas which currently account for a tiny proportion of ♦ Car Crash Incident Day 14–19 activity. for Students ♦ Yr 10 BTEC Students Win At times it has seemed like the Diploma tail has been wagging the 14–19 National Competition curriculum dog. In some ways this has been inevitable because of the massive amount of preparatory work needed if the new entitlement is to be made ♦ Bannatyne’s Brightsparks available for all young people in Darlington by 2013. ♦ Nacro and Skills 4 Me So you will see that this edition has little to say about Diplomas although it is Partnership good to see that Saks are playing an important part in the Hair and Beauty Diploma which starts this September. The news that 17 students from the town ♦ Saks and Hair and Beauty are heading towards Oxbridge is excellent and how pleasing to see that a significant number will be studying maths/science based degree courses. You ♦ Influencing the Future will also see that the Bannatyne Bright Sparks event – in which all of the town’s secondary schools (state and independent) participate – is now into its third year ♦ Aimhigher Law Trip and will take place at the Dolphin Centre on Monday 5th July. It was originally ♦ Bridge and Bike Club scheduled for the following day but we then discovered a possible clash. If England win their group and reach the semi-finals of the World Cup in South ♦ Darlington College Gain Africa, then it would have clashed with our event. A lot of “ifs” there, but in Beacon Award these days of risk assessments we managed the risk out by trying to persuade Duncan Bannatyne to bring the event forward by one day. Fortunately he agreed. ♦ Connexions Success The rest is now down to England! ♦ 14-19 Pathways in We hope you find this edition of the 14–19 Practitioner Newsletter is interesting Engineering at Beaumont and informative. There is no doubt that 14–19 education in Darlington is vibrant Hill and healthy. There is also a great deal of excellent but unreported activity, so if you would like to bring any of it to our attention, we would be delighted to hear from you. Issue 3 April 2010 David Heaton OBE © Darlington 14-19 Partnership Chair, Darlington 14–19 Partnership. High Number of Oxbridge Places Offered Fourteen students studying at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College and three students studying at Carmel RC College have been offered places at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge this year. Their places are conditional upon achieving the highest grades at A Level in this summer’s exams, but all are determined to do their utmost to secure their places. 10 students have been offered places at Cambridge: Andrew Williamson (QE) – Geography Laura Williams (QE) – Law Laura Raine (QE) – Veterinary Science Michael Dyson (QE) – Maths Rachael Roberts (QE) – Architecture Adam Shield (QE) – Natural Sciences QE students with Oxbridge offers. Charlotte Pollock (QE) – Natural Sciences Sophie Madden (QE) – History Georgia van Raalte (QE) – Theology Heather Hind (Carmel) – English The 7 students with Oxford places are: Sam Hurst (QE) – Law Jonathan Coulthard (QE) – Physics Helen Robb (QE) – Politics, Philosophy and Economics Michael Parry (QE) – Physics Helen Greetham (QE) – Archaeology and Anthropology Tom Kent (Carmel) – Law Carmel students with Oxbridge offers. Jonathan Lumsden (Carmel) - Medicine Simon Nicholson, who co-ordinates Oxbridge applications at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, explains: “Competition for Oxbridge places is intense. Not only do students have to excel academically, they also have to undergo rigorous interviews to convince admissions tutors that they are worthy of a place.” Lynn Hunter, Vice Principal of the Sixth Form at Carmel, confirms that this is indeed the case, adding that students work extremely hard to ensure that they achieve the grades and are well supported by experienced and dedicated staff. Darlington Colleges provide excellent support for all their students, including those who are capable of reaching the country’s most prestigious universities. 2 Hard-Hitting Incident Day for Students An Incident Day, planned around a drink driving car crash scenario, has been held for students in County Durham and Darlington. The day, arranged by Durham Education Business Partnership and The Work Place in liaison with Durham Constabulary, Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, Victim Support, the Crown Prosecution Service, Magistrates in the Community, County Durham 4 Real Team and HealthTec, outlined the devastating consequences of drink driving and the way in which the emergency services work together in such circumstances. Over 130 year 10 students from seven schools and colleges, including The Education Village, attended the event . The day focused on several aspects of a drink driving car accident, including the emotional, physical and financial costs, how the emergency services work together in the event of an accident and the devastating statistics of drink driving. The Accident & Emergency part of the day took place in the HealthTec room of The Work Place, a unique facility in the north east offering a simulated hospital environment and real ambulance where the attending paramedic discussed the transportation of injured patients, the A&E procedure and the number of professionals that could potentially be involved with a road traffic accident. The climax of the day involved students being cut out of a wrecked car. Feedback from students and teachers included the day being a ‘hard-hitting’ experience, with others confirming how thought provoking it had been both from a professional and personal point of view. For more information about the activities provided by Durham Education Business Partnership and The Work Place, please contact Kirsty Coates on 01325 375 900. Yr 10 BTEC Students Win National Competition BTEC Hospitality and Catering students at Beaumont Hill School have been encouraged to continue their creative cooking after winning the National Cook For Life Challenge 2009. The award is sponsored by Kenwood, who are dedicated supporters of healthy eating in schools. They were impressed by the imaginative way that seasonal British food was used to create a nutritious, well-balanced meal. In recognition of this achievement the school has won an assortment of kitchenware which will undoubtedly be used to raise the already high standard that has been set. 3 Bright Sparks Launched at Bannatyne Event Student imaginations were lit today at the launch of the 2010 Bannatyne’s Bright Sparks Competition, held at The Work Place. The competition, co-ordinated by Penny Hudson from Durham Education Business Partnership, is open to year 10 students from all secondary schools within the Darlington area and involves students using their entrepreneurial skills to develop a business idea in the form of either a product or service. They are supported and assisted by business mentors from the Darlington area. Mentors involved with this year’s event come from companies which include HSBC, Darlington Building Society, Orange, TICA and Barclays Bank. Students also benefit from a presentation and media skills workshop in preparation for the final. Teams will then put forward their business ideas and advertising campaign to a panel of judges, including Mr Bannatyne, in a Dragons’ Den style presentation at the Dolphin Centre in Darlington on 5 July 2010. The event is sponsored by Darlington Borough Council, with the prize money of £1000 being donated by Duncan Bannatyne. Nacro and Skills 4 Me Support Disadvantaged Youth Working in partnership with Connexions and the Youth Offending Service in Darlington, Nacro has seconded a member of staff, funded through the “Skills 4 Me” ESF project , to help disadvantaged young people across the town move on positively with their lives. Liz O’Hern from Nacro and Steve Mathews from Connexions are working with Youth Offending Service staff to help young people prepare for and secure sustainable education, employment or training. Young people involved or at risk of becoming involved with the criminal justice system in Darlington will be further encouraged and supported to positively engage in accredited and non accredited activities and courses leading to increased confidence, self esteem and motivation. Whilst based in Gladstone Street, Liz and Steve will be mainly delivering the service for young people in the community. If you would like to know more about Nacro, the leading crime reduction charity in England and Wales, visit our web site at www.nacro.org.uk or contact our regional office on 01642 615 554. The Youth Offending Service can be contacted on 01325 346 831. Connexions can be contacted on 01325 480 055. 4 Saks Produce Support Files for Hair & Beauty Diploma Saks Education have now teamed up with Heinemann and VTCT to produce outstanding assessment and delivery files to support the 14-19 Hair and Beauty Diploma. The files include a CD-Rom, all the principal learning units at levels 1, 2 and 3 and learning tools designed to get learners applying their knowledge to the hair and beauty industries. Each unit has been broken down and presented in learner-friendly manageable amounts, making the file easy and enjoyable for learners to use. Functional skills and personal, learning and thinking skills are embedded into each unit to ensure learners develop these essential skills. Saks Education is one of the leading national training providers. In 2006 they were one of the few training providers to receive grade 1s across the board by OFSTED. They have been awarded Beacon status in recognition of their excellence and innovation in further education and to top it off they have recently won the Sapphire Award for top training scheme.