27 May 2021
27th May 2021
Dear Parents / Carers,
12th – 16th July
It is extremely pleasing that so many Year 12 students have already attended masterclasses, webinars and completed virtual work experiences. I am writing to clarify the information that Year 12 have received about taking advantage of online opportunities and specifically how the week 12th-16th July should be spent.
As you will know, this has been designated a week of self-directed activities for students to develop skills and gain experience in the areas they may wish to pursue post-18. The expectation is that every Year 12 student will complete either virtual work experience, a MOOC (massive open online course) subject/work-related attend webinars and/or make full use of the extensive resources on Unifrog. Some students have already signed up to a National Citizenship Service (NCS) programme during that week. Students have been shown how to access these resources and opportunities during form time sessions and assemblies.
Face to face work experience cannot be authorised this year, as we are unable to carry out health and safety checks at placements. If a student does have an opportunity to complete a face-to-face work experience in the summer holidays, through family or friends, this would be beneficial but the college can accept no responsibility for that and parents/carers would be strongly advised to thoroughly consider any potential risk.
Students have been directed to the following websites to look for a virtual work experience placement. They will need to register an account to search and apply for a placement.
- https://www.springpod.co.uk/virtual-work-experience-programmes
- https://www.speakersforschools.org/experience-2/vwex/
There are also lots of opportunities in Sixth Form Opportunities bulletin. These are sent to students through classcharts and are also available on the website.
https://bishopchalloner.org.uk/sixth-form/extra-curricular/sixth-form-opportunities
Unifrog has extensive opportunities that Year 12 have been shown how to access.
- MOOCs give students an opportunity to study an area they are interested and will take students beyond their classroom experience.
- ‘Read, watch, listen’ section on Unifrog offers links to subject specific podcasts, TED talks, articles and videos
- ‘Webinars’ section can be filtered through to find a past and future webinar that students may be interested in.
Students have been reminded to keep a record, on Unifrog, of everything they complete. On the 19th July, students will produce their first draft of their personal statements and the more documented experiences they have, the easier they will find writing their personal statement.
https://youtu.be/_8hFkMAjW-I A UCAS video about personal statements.
I would also recommend the following websites for an extensive selection of past and future webinars and lectures
https://www.channeltalent.co.uk/events/list/
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/attend
Finally, I would like to stress the importance of students engaging with the opportunities this week offers. It will ensure they are well-informed and genuinely interested in their proposed areas of work or study and that they can demonstrate genuine interest and understanding in their personal statements.
Best wishes,
Mrs Healy
Head of Year 12
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