Community and Christmas Initiatives:

We feel that community is important throughout the year but perhaps especially in this festive period and students have generously taken the opportunity to be involved in a number of initiatives focused on supporting others:

• Christmas Cards for Care Homes: over 250 of these have been sent to residents within the local community – they are personalised to the care home residents and were very well-received. As part of our Enrichment offer, students go to one local Care Home on a Wednesday but this initiative extends beyond to others
• Christmas Hampers: dovetailing with the Main School, Year 12 and Year 13 tutor groups collected foodstuffs to support those in need
• Christmas Jumper Day: we are delighted that, in concert with the Main School, we have supported in collecting to raise funds to support Save the Children.

 

  

   Beyond Christmas, we were very happy to be involved in the Odd Sock campaign to raise awareness of, and money for, Anti-Bullying.

  

Elsewhere, in another community event, anyone who attended the recent
Winter Concert will know what terrific talent is nurtured here.

It was really great to see the Sixth Form so represented with performances.

 

Data 1 and Academic Support

As you will be aware, Data 1 is now complete. All students have undertaken reflective learning processes in Tutor Time – whether on target or not, students have identified areas and action plans for improvement. That said, we do recognise achievements and ensure celebration and recognition is part of the process. Those students who are not on target will be supported via the Sixth Form Team as well as subject areas in order to bring them on-track for success.

Please recall that we strongly urge students to undertake six hours of private study per subject outside of lessons. This can include homework but students should be re-visiting notes and, crucially, doing something with them – such as editing, condensing or making them visual. Additionally, students should read around their subject – the term “super-curricular” refers to a process of reading for a love of a subject and beyond the confines of the specific syllabus. This is something which the most successful students ensure is a habit.

UCAS Submissions and Early Entry Successes

We are delighted that around three quarters of students have submitted applications to UCAS now. There is a range of course choices and organisations targeted, rightly reflecting the varied interests of our cohort.  If your child is yet to submit, please do actively encourage them to do so as soon as possible as the hard, external deadline fast approaches in January.

We were very grateful that so many parents and others in the local community offered their services to those targeting Oxbridge, Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Science – those areas where there is an earlier, October deadline for applications. In a series of Mock Interview processes, students experienced the type of questioning that can be expected in the upcoming season of formal interviewing.

From the Early Entry submissions (for those ‘high demand’ subjects and organisations alluded to above), we have a number of students who have secured Oxbridge interviews and others who have begun the first successful steps on the route to a career in one of the medicines – great news!

Student Leadership, College Events, Rewards

Some of you may have been at the Sixth Form Open Evening on November 7. We were so proud of how our Senior Student Leaders represented the school and the Sixth Form. We are also delighted to have appointed a number of Year 12 students to the College Leader posts – which are key roles in the student leadership organisation and which can form a stepping stone to the even more senior posts available in Year 13.

Under the leadership of Will and Millie (our Senior Student Leaders) they continue to successfully and effectively drive innovation and reflect Student Voice here at NLS.

 

An especially pleasing demonstration of student leadership was seen in our Christmas Silly Sports event. With student leaders organising the event for both Year 12 and Year 13, students engaged in events such as the Santa Dash, Tug-o-Tinselly-War, Santa’s Sack Race. With festive music playing and all actively involved, it was a good event and a great developmental leadership experience for the team!

    

Elsewhere, a number of College assemblies have taken place to re-assert the College affiliation which students have had since either Year 7 or (if New to NLS) since Year 12. These assemblies were a great reminder that we look out not only beyond our individual tutor groups but also in to the wider school as part of a whole community. Linked to this, our Termly Rewards Event saw those students with the most rewards invited to a Celebration Event on Friday 6 December and, again, it was great to see such a great post-16 representation from your children as they were recognised for securing some of the very highest allocations of rewards.

Remembrance

It was wonderful to see our Remembrance event so well-supported by Sixth Form students – in both formal capacities and as respectful attendees.

 

Tutor Time and P.S.H.E Curriculums

In terms of the Tutor Time curriculum, and linked to the above, recent coverage in Year 13 has been on Christmas Community initiatives interspersed with attention to UCAS and other applications. Beyond that, it has also covered reflection processes on the Data 1 outcomes. Meanwhile, there has been a sharp focus with Year12 on Work Experience launching – as well as all the Christmas Community and other initiatives their Year 13 counterparts have taken part in. There has also been a Tutor Time competition for the Best Noticeboard Designs – with Mrs Fear (Year 13 – 13-2) and Mr McIntyre (Year 12 – 12-5) winning in their respective year groups. Here, Mrs Fear and Mr Noakes (on behalf of Mr McIntyre) show off their brilliant boards:

 

All of this has been supplemented with our ongoing assembly programme which has foregrounded the notion of High Challenge, Deep Support with reference to Stephen Covey’s models of self-efficacy – while also ensuring attention has been paid to important issues such as Black History Month and Mental Health Awareness Week. The P.S.H.E programme has complemented all of this with its attention to Relationships (Year 13) and Living in the Wider World (Year 12).

Our dedication to Wellbeing Wednesday hopefully reassures parents and carers (as well as students) that, while examination results, next step destinations and Future Pathway outcomes are key, that we place this in a more holistic, people-centred context.

Student Rewards

For efforts in tutor time, across lessons and in school in general, students have accrued many rewards points in Sixth Form – which is great to see. With their College affiliation noted, here are the Top 10 in each year this term:

Year 12

Year 13

Well done to these Top Ten students but to all of those who are so committed to their studies and to school life here at NLS.

In terms of our whole-school literacy drive, we are further delighted that a number of Sixth Form students have been the recipients of awards for specifically receiving the most R1s for Literacy.

 

 

 

 

Upcoming Events and Calendar

• UCAS Deadline – while the internal deadline has passed, it is vital Year 13 planning to submit have done so by 18:00 on January 29 as this is the external deadline UCAS impose
• Mocks – for both Year 12 and Year 13 begin February 3 and the window is for two weeks
• Work Experience – Year 12 need to have completed their applications and the forms by 28 March 2025.

If you have any queries at any point, please do make contact via the usual communication sources.

On behalf of myself, the Sixth Form Team, and the school, have a terrific winter break.

S A Taylor
Senior Assistant-Head-teacher (inc. Head of Sixth Form)