PARENT
NEWSLETTER
APRIL 2024
Welcome...
Hello everyone,
As the nights become lighter and the summer approaches, it feels like the perfect time to take a moment and look back over an extremely busy Spring term, despite the notably wet weather in February it did not dampen our spirits or stop us from:
Hosting our 5th annual Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) Conference and Progression evening during National Careers Week. The STEM conference was a huge success, attended by hundreds of Year 10 students from 15 local schools. The Progression Evening saw our largest number of participants, with over 1,700 students attending and over 90 exhibitors, including local and national employers and universities
Celebrating International Women's Day with fantastic live vocal performances from several of our incredibly talented female students
Embarking on several UK and international student trips, including visits to Dubai, Athens, and Paris
Local students from schools took on the roles of barrister, witnesses, and court officials at our annual Mock Trial event, showcasing their legal skills to take the title and win their case
Opening our new retro games area to promote numeracy, literacy, competition, and social interaction skills
Developing a new Employer Advisory Board collaborating with local employers to discuss the skills and attributes they want to see in their next generation of employees, which are invariably our students
At Franklin, we constantly strive to provide the widest opportunities for our students. To date, this year over 4,462 students have interacted with 118 guest speakers from universities, apprenticeship providers and employers to support their studies and wider skills development.
Furthermore, our students continue to flourish in their respective academic achievements, this year we introduced two new T Levels, and we look forward to offering additional new courses in September 2024.
It is, as ever, an absolute pleasure to write to you as Interim Principal of Franklin Sixth Form College. Every day, our staff and students positively change lives, sometimes their own, sometimes others, and it is difficult, to sum up how proud this makes us all feel to be part of such a strong community.
Finally, I am delighted to share with you that the College's hard work and achievements have been recognised, for no less than SIX Educate North Awards 2024! The awards recognises, celebrates, and share best practices and excellence in the education sector in the North, with Franklin nominated in the following categories, STEM Initiative, Business Engagement & Employer, Digital Education and Development, Innovation, Mental Health and Wellbeing and Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion.
Kind regards,
Wendy
Interim Principal
THIS TERM
Our 5th Annual STEM Conference & Exhibition 2024
Franklin welcomed over 2,000 visitors to the 5th Annual STEM Conference and Progression Event. This year's event saw record numbers, with 15 schools attending from across the region. The annual event delivered an immersive experience for students, featuring a diverse array of over 20 interactive workshops delivered by a range of employers and universities, with all sessions designed to spark interest and inspire innovation in young people.
Accelerate Your Revision
We are running a campaign called 'Accelerate Your Revision' to prepare students in the lead-up to the summer examinations. All students were invited to a launch event on the first Wednesday after the February half-term, where they were shown effective revision techniques. To support their preparation, we have created a revision site that has access to revision strategies and links to subject-specific resources. Please encourage your son or daughter to access this valuable revision resource. We will also be embedding these revision strategies into lessons making them subject-specific.
Students can access external exam dates through their student portal. They have been asked to complete an exam-ready document, ensuring they have the exact date, time, duration, and content of their exams through their student portal. They have been asked to complete an exam-ready document, ensuring they have the exact date, time, duration, and content of their exams.
We are aware that exams can be an anxious time for our students. Having your support in making sure that they maintain healthy habits in terms of sleep, hydration and having a well-balanced diet will help.
If you require any further information or access to resources to support your son or daughter in helping them with exam and revision preparation, please email me at gary.thomas@franklin.ac.uk and I will be happy to help.
Progression Information
University / Apprenticeships / Employment
University Applications - 2024 Entry
Student finance will be open at the end of March for those who have applied to university for 2024 entry.
The following web page will guide you through the process:
https://www.gov.uk/get-undergraduate-student-loan
Further student finance information can be found here:
Martin Lewis has developed a useful guide with helpful advice:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-decoded/
University Applications - 2025 Entry
Please note that applications for students wishing to apply for a 2025 entry open in May. Progress Coaches will support students with creating UCAS accounts and providing guidance on personal statements. Students will complete a first draft of their personal statement before they leave for the Summer term. Please encourage your child to be proactive in their progression research. All students can access Unifrog, which contains know-how guides, online courses, apprenticeship guides, university comparisons and CV-building tools. Please look out for a date for our next Parents As Partners Evening, where we will guide you through the university application process.
Early Applicants
For those applying for Medicine, Dentistry, Vet Med/Sci, Oxford, Cambridge, all applications have to be sent to UCAS by the 15th of October 2024, at 6 pm. Therefore our internal deadline for completing UCAS forms for these students will be the 16th of September 2024.
All students applying for early applicant courses are part of a programme to support the application process. If your child has not been invited to early applicant meetings through Google Classroom and intends to apply to an early applicant course, please ask them to see Helen Forman in room B26.
Apprenticeships/Employment
Apprenticeships offer a wage, holiday pay, benefits, cover study fees and practical experience alongside classroom studying. With over 600 apprenticeships available, covering everything from accountancy to zookeeping, there is an apprenticeship opportunity suited to everyone's interests and career aspirations.
All students are supported through the ASPIRE programme, receiving advice on CVs, letters of application, interview techniques, mock interviews, and visits from guest speakers In a variety of industries. All of these opportunities support our students in the wide variety of routes they choose to take after leaving college.
Please visit the link below for further information:
https://www.ucas.com/apprenticeships/what-apprenticeship
There is a great section for parents and carers on the Amazin Apprenticeship website, which is full of resources including: "The Parent Perspective" podcast:
Job Vacancies at Franklin
As a fast-growing College, we are passionate and committed to providing the best possible life chances for our local community. We believe it is through our people that an excellent student experience will be delivered, and this, in turn, will have a positive impact on student outcomes.
Our college vision and values ensure that we always put our students first and consider our staff to be our greatest asset. We pride ourselves on putting staff wellbeing at the heart of everything we do and invest heavily in their personal and professional development as we firmly believe in growing our future talent.
We offer our staff a range of competitive staff benefits, including a generous annual leave scheme, additional paid college closure days, two excellent Pension Schemes (Teachers Pension Scheme and Local Government Pension Scheme), FREE gym facilities, FREE parking, a Cycle to Work Scheme a fantastic on-site catering provision and many more.
To view our current openings please visit: https://www.fejobs.com/careers/franklin/
Currently, we have these exciting job vacancies:
Campus Expansion Plan 2024
We’re extremely proud of the opportunities we give our students and are looking forward to the next term and all the exciting things we have planned. In the meantime, we thought you would like to see some of the amazing trips, visits, talks and successes that have been taking place across the College!
