Have a lovely summer!

Congratulations to everyone for all the hard work you have put in to this year, it has really paid off! For those of you who are not returning to us in September good luck for everything in the future.

Unfortunately, I will also be leaving after the Summer so I can go back to uni. I will see a lot of you on results day and I will be around for the first week of September.

Now enjoy your summer break! We all look forward to seeing you on August 17th

Miss Dix

Y13 Core Maths Books

Dear All Y13, 

Could all those who still have Core Maths texts books please return them on results day. The maths department really need these books back.

Thanks

Sixth Form Meetings 24th August

All of those who have had letters with their reports asking to arrange meetings on the 24th August please follow this link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cheney-sixth-form-meetings-tickets-36402196951 

It will take you to an EventBrite page where you can book a meeting slot. 

The password that you will need to book a slot is: CheneySixthForm 

Please book these as soon as possible 

Aspirant Medics Meeting Wednesday Lunchtime Mr Etheridge's room

There will be a meeting for Year Twelves planning to apply for Medicine in Mr Etheridge's classroom at lunchtime on Wednesday - please bring the very latest copy of your personal statement and remind other aspirant medics that they need to be there.

Many thanks

DGi

Personal Statements

Thank you very much for your hard work on your Personal Statements on Thursday.  All the statements which have been handed in include very good raw material.  Almost all of them are very personal and tell the story of why you are well suited to read your chosen subject - only a few talk about the subject without relating it closely to your skills and experience.  Almost all need further editing to make the 'red thread' (a clear storyline running from start to finish) come out more clearly, and everyone needs to read their statement line-by-line to take out every unnecessary word, so that your come in  at under 4,000 characters.  The fewer the words you use to make a point, the greater the impact.  Keep adding content and editing out words over the summer.

Make sure that you have handed a copy of your statement to your tutor and Ms Dix by the end of Tuesday.

Thank you to the 72 students who have now registered with UCAS - the four page outline UCAS guide helping you to do this can be found outside Ms Dix's office, and the rest is on the Sixth Form section of the Cheney website.  Please assign yourself to the college you originally joined at Cheney, or put yourself down as being without a college if you arrived in Year Twelve.

Tu6 with ERA

I'm sorry I am not here today and so will not be around for tutor time.  Miss Dix is not here either so for today you are free to go home at 2.30pm.

See you next week!
ERA

Sixth Form Spaces Next Year

You all have an opportunity to voice your opinion on what should be done with the Sixth Form area next year. 

Ms Hackett and I want to meet with some representatives from each tutor group on Tuesday lunch time to discuss what should be done with L1 next year. We need your ideas on layout, rules, rotas, and what should be done with the 3 rooms in the Sixth Form area.

If you haven't already you will need to get ideas from your tutor group to ascertain what everyone wants to come of the Sixth Form space. Two people from each group will then meet us in L1 on Tuesday lunchtime (with a free lunch!) to feedback to us. 

Please let your tutor know if you would like to be your tutor groups representative. 

No Class Civ this Wednesday

I'm involved with the Y7/8 Debate Day all day tomorrow (Wednesday) so won't be able to be at the lesson. Please can you register with Miss Dix? Please then read book one of the Odyssey in detail, and come ready to discuss it on Friday. 

I will return your UCAS Predictor papers and go through them with you in our Friday lesson. 

Thanks,

Dr R 

Holiday Jobs

Good morning

I am launching a national jobs noticeboard website (www.holidaystaff.co.uk), purely concentrating on holiday/seasonal staff - a one-stop online presence on which businesses advertise for temporary staff and job seekers apply direct to the employer. Apologies there is nothing to see online yet, but we will be live by the end of July.

Jobs will be listed by both category/job type and location, so anyone anywhere in the country can see all vacancies, and can easily apply on-line, without the need for registration or fees. 

12-TU5

Miss Jackson's group please register with me this afternoon

YEAR 12 CANOE Exped

Meeting Wednesday lunch time 12:50pm in C26 for kit collection and info for the exped that will take place on Friday.

There is NO NEED to bring deposit money as we have the deposits from last time.

Dara – you have STILL not returned your kit.

See you all Wednesday at 12:50pm – 1:20pm in C26 (I teach P5 so please do not be later than that)

Miss B 

UCAS To Do for this week

To Do This Week

¨  Complete university/courses form and bring on Thursday 13 July

¨  Re-draft Personal Statement and bring on Thursday 13 July – see Sixth Form area of website for guidance given in March

¨  Register with the website SACU: http://sacu-student.com

¨  Take the Spartan Test on the SACU website

¨  Attend the support session in L2 on Tuesday 11 July at 3pm – Mr Gimson will be available to help you if you are feeling lost, unsure, confused, have any questions etc

¨  Consider degree-level apprenticeships if appropriate

¨  Early applicants (Oxbridge, medics, vets, dentists): attend briefing at 12.50pm in L14 tomorrow (Tuesday 11 July)

¨  Sign up for an EPQ meeting with DGi next Monday if you are planning to complete your EPQ this summer

On Thursday 13^th, please meet in the Sixth Form area at 10.50 prior to coming over to the Canteen for 11.00. 

Text of Assembly on UCAS and careers plans this week

In case you missed it, here is the text of the assembly from yesterday - please complete the tasks on the handout before Thursday.

Next UCAS Steps Assembly July 10^th 2017

There is a right career, and a right choice at 18 for you, where your unique personal interests and skills fit with what society needs.  I hope that the last week, whether you were visiting CERN, attending Open Days or Summer Schools, or completing your work experience, has contributed towards working out what that choice should be. 

On Thursday, we are going to complete second drafts of your Personal Statements.  I have some of the ones which were handed in on March 17^th with me here, and can return them to you, but others appear to have gone missing. This does not matter, as writing freshly, rather than tinkering with an existing model, will lead to a better outcome.  On Thursday, we will briefly re-visit the guidance I gave you in March, look at some more exemplars of good and less good personal statements, and then write an improved version.  This improved version will then be added to and updated over the summer so that you have a completed one ready for submission to UCAS by 15^th September (if you are an early applicant) or by 16^th October (for everyone else). 

The reason for these early internal deadlines is that we want to make sure that we give you the most personal and detailed references possible – and that takes time. If you have been out on work experience this week, it is very important that you have asked your supervisor to send your tutor just a few lines of comment on what you did.  The best and most supportive Cheney references from last year often included this kind of quotation which provided expert evidence for your workplace or other skills.  If you have been part of a highly successful squad, ask your coach to send a line or two to your tutor. 

While you have been absent, your tutors have been at work preparing the short paragraphs which will go at the start and end of your reference, using the information which you have given them about your out of class activities.  These can’t be finally completed until we know what it is that you want to apply for, so tutors will be updating their drafts over the next couple of weeks, with your help, and again after September 11^th, when teaching staff will have done a final check on your subject references in the light of AS and UCAS predictor results. Your finalized reference will be used in support of your UCAS, apprenticeship or job application, and will be kept on file in case you need a reference at any time up to the age of 21. 

There is some homework which you need to do before Thursday.  

If you know what subject you want to do at university, please research specific courses and fill out this form which we will distribute at the end of the assembly.  It helps you to structure your choice of which five universities you will apply for, so that you have a balance of aspirational, solid, and safe choices and can therefore guarantee a range of offers whatever your results.  You must bring the form with you on Thursday. 

If you are not sure what you want to do at university, please register with the careers advice site SACU and complete their free Spartan personal aptitude test which will provide you with some suggestions for possible lines of enquiry.  I will be available to support you after school tomorrow in L2 and would be very grateful for some volunteers to join me then to evaluate the test and to give me advice on whether the school should invest in the subscription services offered.  You must come on Thursday with a print out of the suggestions from SACU, and with your own personal five point plan for careers research. It is a job in itself finding the right job, and you need to invest time in research now.  There are lots of possibilities. I went to visit Nielsen, a company specializing in worldwide market research, last Monday, and they were very keen to tell me about their degree level apprenticeships, delivered in association with Brookes. Apprentices are paid £10,000 and rising a year, work on projects in the company from Monday to Thursday lunchtime, have Thursday afternoon to study as a group, and spend Fridays at Abingdon and Witney college which is contracted by Brookes to provide their academic programme, leading to a degree in Business at the end of three years.  Apprentices have access to all Brookes facilities and can take part in student societies and sports clubs in the evening and at weekends.  Although they don’t get the full-time experience of being a student, or of studying intensively five days a week, they benefit from being able to see the links between academic study and the world of business directly in the workplace. They also complete their degree without any debt.  They will come to do an assembly in September to tell you more.  I should of course add that the applications process is highly competitive. For most of you going to university will be the right thing, but for some of you it will be well worth considering alternatives, or making both a UCAS and some apprenticeship applications. 

If you think you are likely to be an early applicant – going for Oxbridge or Medicine, or if you are applying to any kind of highly competitive university, please come to L14 at lunchtime tomorrow, without fail, for a detailed briefing.  Phoebe Day, a former Cheney student now at Cambridge, will be around to talk about her experiences of early application. 

Finally, Michael Paulin, a former Cheney student who left the school in 1996, and is now a barrister in London, will be visiting the school on Friday.  I would be very grateful for a volunteer or volunteers who are interested in reading law, to give him a tour from 12noon onwards on that day.  He will be giving a talk about careers in law during Period Five – please let me know if you would like to attend. He has contacts in a wide range of London professions and may be able to advise on a range of  careers outside law as well.  

Results Day

· You will collect your results on Thursday 17th August from the Library.

   Y13 you can collect your results from 9:30 - 12:00

   Y12 you can collect your results from 10:30 - 12:00

   

   If you will not be around to collect your results for any reason you will need to either ask someone else to come and pick them up for you. To do this you will need to complete a form that you can pick up form me in the 6th form office and return to Ms Fischer in the exams office 

Assembly Monday 10th

Tutor time on Monday 10th will be an assembly on what is going to be happening on Thursday

BMW Group: Girls Go Technical Programme

At BMW we continually strive to have a diverse workforce.  We are a predominantly male organisation whose largest recruitment activity on our production sites is the apprenticeship programme, into which we are very keen to recruit young women.

We are very proud of our technical apprenticeship – we offer about four times more shop floor instruction than is required by a standard UK programme and the large majority of our apprentices will be expected to complete some Further or Higher Education.  Many will go on to obtain a full honours degree, earning a very competitive salary from the day they join the company, which bears all training costs.  BMW is a world class international company and an apprenticeship opens the door to a challenging and exciting future.

Despite all of this it remains difficult to attract female apprentice applicants!

We address this with our GIRLS GO TECHNICAL Programme which takes place annually during the October half term holiday (Monday 23^rd to Thursday 26^th October 2017).  During the four day programme based at our factories in Oxford, Swindon and Hams Hall, we offer work experience, workshop instruction, the opportunity to meet and work with female staff and apprentices, and support for important job application processes such as CV writing and job interviews.  The programme is free of charge, but there is an application process as places are limited.

Application lines are now open, and will close at midnight on Sunday 24^th September 2017.  Young ladies in year 11 or above from September are eligible to apply.