Dear Parents, Guardians and Friends
It’s that time in the school year where we start looking forward to the next year and what it will bring, and this is no different for our students!
An important event took place in the sixth form this week as Year 11 completed their induction day on Tuesday. This day gave students an opportunity to experience what life is like in the sixth form as well as a chance to receive more information about the next steps in their subjects.
The day started with students completing sessions with their subject teachers and also meeting the classes they are due to be in next year. Students were told more detail about their summer bridging work which is provided to develop an interest in their subjects, and the sessions also included information about the careers that they could go into using these subjects. I know there were certainly some new career options introduced to many today!
Mrs Hart was also on hand throughout the day to answer questions and queries about careers and what students may consider doing throughout their time at sixth form to widen their opportunities for life after school. Although it may seem unusual to talk about options after the sixth form before they’ve even joined, but we always make sure students are aware of all the options to them so they can make the best choices about their subjects, work experience and extra-curricular activities.
We were also very grateful to some ex Holt students who spoke to Year 11 about what they had achieved since leaving The Holt, as well as their sixth form top tips. Their leaving dates ranged from 2017 to a Year 13 who left only a couple of weeks ago, and they embraced our new skills in technology and delivered their session via Teams. The former students’ experiences ranged from degrees in medicine, law and engineering, attending Oxford University, completing a degree apprenticeship and completing a vocational pathway to attend university. The Year 11 students asked some insightful questions in these sessions including how to balance their time, how they decided on their future career path and what university is really like. The common theme in all of their talks was that students needed to make the most of every opportunity available to them, and that hard work and perseverance will pay off, and changing their mind in what they want to do or how they were going to achieve it is a normal part of the sixth form experience.
Finally, the day finished with some more activities to get Year 11 moving. A big thanks to the PE department who ran some high energy bench ball sessions, and Year 11 definitely demonstrated their competitive streak! There was also a geocaching route placed around the school and students needed to find different hidden items using longitude and latitude co-ordinates and some clues about the object (some of which were very tricky including a fake acorn on a tree!). Year 11 showed some fantastic resilience when undertaking these activities and it was great to see them getting stuck in to a new activity.
As a sixth form team, we are very excited to welcome our new cohort of Year 12 students after such a positive day.
Our current Year 12 have also continued to achieve great things this week as they have been completing their PPEs. We are very proud in the way that Year 12 have approached these exams, and know they will feel a great sense of achievement once they have completed them. Best of luck to Year 12 for the rest of their exams this week. Year 12 also received some results this week, the biology classes took part in the British Biology Olympiad which allows students to demonstrate their talent and skills in biology. Holly, Ujala and Sandi achieved bronze and seventeen students achieved highly commended or commended. Congratulations to these students and to everyone who took part.
It remains a busy time in the sixth form in the summer term when we welcome different groups to experience life in the sixth form. Before the end of this term there will also be a taster day for Year 10 students with more information on this to follow this week.
I wish you all a lovely week ahead.
Emma Ward
Assistant Headteacher
Head of Sixth Form