6News - October 2015 Edition

6News

Staff newsletter October edition

A warm welcome to new staff We would like to wish all of our new starters a very warm welcome to Blackpool Sixth. We hope that you are enjoying your first term with us and we would welcome any feedback that you may have. We will soon be inviting you to a new starter lunch, where you will have a further opportunity to meet each other and members of the college team.

Student Services Lucy Thomas Naomi Lynch Steve Hayes-Brown Nicola Bradley Kerry Jones Daniel Moore Connor Docherty Sandra Baron Business and IT Lisa Fahey

Science Kerry Ormson Lorraine Linnett Sport, Tourism & Public Services Samantha Tinsley David Pimblett Adam Hollett Maths Rob Butler Yuhui Li Yanguang Liu

Humanities Ken Walton Laura Holman Performing Arts, Music and Media Katie Edgar Social Sciences Laura Kimmins Mariam Khan Admissions, Liaison & Marketing Emma Curphey

Amy Roberts English and Modern Foreign Languages Keith Rolison Sue Ann Shaw Estates Neil Gowen Leanne Noble Angela Parker Stacey Ward

We also would like to wish all of our existing staff who moved to new posts over the summer, the best of luck within their new roles.

Student Services Jackie Ainsworth David Morton Ruth Large Hannah Goodrick

Business and IT Sarah Whittaker Sport, Tourism and Public Services Stephen Gibson

Maths Simon Thornhill

Charlotte Still Instead of sensibly sunning myself on a beach I spent my summer holiday competing with the GB Mixed Ultimate Frisbee team in the European Ultimate Frisbee Championships in Copenhagen. During the week long tournament we conquered Italy, Slovakia, Hungary, Israel, France, Spain, Finland, the Czech Republic, Belgium and last but not least Ireland in the final to take the gold. The GB Open (men's) team also secured top spot with our GB women's and men's Masters teams (for those over 30/33) both taking bronze. Hot on the heels of our victory Ultimate Frisbee was officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee so fingers crossed you'll be seeing more flying discs in the future!

Ken Baird Duke of Edinburgh Award The Duke of Edinburgh award is a long ­running activity in college and has seen hundreds of students successfully achieve it. The most well­known part of the award is the expedition and it is this part which college concentrates on although all the other elements (skills, residential, volunteering, and fitness) are also supported. The DofE team are always on the look­out for staff to help supervise the weekend expedition practises.

So, if you like to do a bit of camping and some walking in the Lake District or even mountain biking then this could be for you! You don’t need any experience just a willingness to get involved. If you think you could help then please have a word with Steve Scatterson (Business and IT) or Ken Baird (Humanities).

Finally, if you are a young member of staff (23 years of age or under) you can take the Gold DofE yourself! Just talk to us if you are interested.

European Ultimate Championships, Mixed Winner, Copenhagen, 27th July - 2 August 2015 Team Great Britain.

Tim Bateson’s College Cat It has been a year since Phoebe was rescued from college. She has settled in brilliantly in Penwortham.

We have had one major incident though, a couple of months ago she was attacked by a fox and came home all battered with puncture wounds and a damaged eye. After many trips to the vets and a lot of love she has made a full recovery and her eye is back to normal.

...

Congratulations

Michael Hodgkinson has successfully completed his NPQSL Qualification. Well done Michael.

Congratulations to the following staff who got engaged over the summer: Justine Williams and her partner, Danny; Denise Hunt and her partner, Karl; Joanne Brown and her partner, Chris; Charlotte Herd and her partner, Ash Austin. We look forward to news of upcoming weddings!

All our best wishes for the future for our new married couples. Emma Robinson, (was Bethell), and her husband Ryan and Gemma Lea, (was McNair), and her husband Matt.

Best results we’ve ever seen Every year students at Blackpool Sixth have amazing opportunities after gaining outstanding results. This year’s leavers will have even better opportunities than their predecessors after the college achieved the best results we have ever seen.

Improvements in results were seen on every programme – 2 Plus, GCSE, BTEC, AS and A level – which when combined with the support, enrichment, guest speakers, visits and work related experiences on offer provides the young people of Blackpool and the Fylde Coast area with fantastic opportunities to shine and grow.

supporting more of our students into prestigious universities and outstanding careers.

The hard work and commitment of the team at Blackpool Sixth has generated these outstanding results and has made a huge difference to the lives of so many young people in the local area. The strength, commitment and ambition of the team means we are in an incredibly strong position to achieve these on-going improvements to provide positive outcomes and successful futures for many more young people in the future.

To all the staff at the college, many thanks for all your hard work and dedication and for the real difference you make every day.

...

100% of BTEC students achieved their qualifications with 91% gaining high grades and 79% gaining upper high grades, an increase in both. Upper high grades went up by 4.5%, which is fabulous to see and the ALPs value added score increased from 1.19 to 1.20, maintaining the grade 2 overall.

Equally impressive were A Levels results; A2 saw a 98.6% pass rate, an increase of 5.08% to 52% in high grades and of 2.78% to 20% in upper high grades. AS saw a 91% pass rate, an improvement of 3.37%, high grades improved considerably rising 3.92% to 39% and there was an increase of 1.77% in upper high grades to 16%.

In every department there have been impressive successes and improvements, far too many to mention; however to highlight a few, AS Chemistry saw a rise of 33% in their pass rate; significant improvements in high grades and upper high grades have been seen across BTEC qualifications in Business, IT, Forensic Science, Sport, Engineering, Health and Social Care and Public Services, also in AS subjects including Art (combined), Biology and PE, in A2 Dance, French, Religion Ethics & Philosophy and Statistics and in both AS and A2 Textiles, Further Maths, Theatre Studies and General Studies.

Congratulations to all teams who saw many more improvements.

We are looking forward to building on these successes, securing even more high grades and upper high grades in A level, achieving more A* grades, creating more work experience and volunteering opportunities for all and

þ Did you know? þ In January 2012, there were 8.2 million pupils attending 24,372 schools, colleges and nurseries in England.

Summer Events

...

For a second year running staff in college during the summer holidays enjoyed a get together once a week at the following events: Quiz – fiendish questions as ever from Dave White, who just about managed to be heard over the noise from the building work.

Coffee Morning – drinks in Starbucks and homemade cakes provided by Sarah Rainford, Helen Crowther and Susan Riley.

S​ports Day ­- initially rain stopped play but thankfully the sun shone the following week and the teams competed at short tennis, sit­down volleyball, bat­ and­ball relay and football dribbling. The will to win provided lots of amusement for the spectators.

Treasure Hunt – clues, (apparently even more difficult than Dave White’s quiz), sent teams all over college in search of gold coins, in some cases to places they didn’t know existed.

The winners were: ​Quiz – Lee Hopwood, Annette Wilson, Tim Bateson and Susan Riley ​Sports Day – Gary Warner, Emma Lund and Aidan Cooke T​reasure Hunt –Neil Webster, Curtis Jackson, Debbi Hodson and Lindsay Gates Thanks to everyone for participating, with particular thanks to Dave White for organising the Quiz, Chrissie Turkington for organising the Treasure Hunt, Lee Hopwood for refereeing Sports Day and Debbi Hodson for being the unofficial Sports Day photographer.

A big thankyou to Susan Riley for organising the events!

CRY walk On Wednesday 2nd September as part of our CPD & team building training we all walked a 1.5 mile leg of a 28­mile relay walk around the Fylde Coast. The walk was a huge success with all staff embracing the spirit of the day. The sun shone from start to finish and there was a great gathering to see the STPS team over the finish line. The walk also raised £400, which has gone towards the Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) Screening to be held in college in October.CRY is a national charity that raises awareness of potentially life threatening cardiac abnormalities in young people and promotes screening. CRY’s mission is to identify those young people that are at risk due to an undetected cardiac condition. These conditions include the thickening or abnormal structure of the heart and irregularities of the impulses that upset the natural rhythm of the heart. A two ­day screening session will screen 200 students at a cost of £7000.

Compliments The following was received from a student who spent a few days in the Visual Arts Department: Just a quick note to express my sincere thanks and gratitude for allowing me to spend the past few days with you and your staff gaining valuable teacher training experience. I really did feel like I’d returned home, I­ ’m more convinced than ever that teaching is the right profession for me and that Sixth Form is the environment that I would love to work in.

This lovely letter was received from Trinity Hospice after we donated our leftover bottled water:

The Trustees of the Blackpool Grammar School War Memorial Fund have donated £3,500, with the college community fundraising for the rest. We are currently £300 short of the £7,000 total however, by Christmas this should have been achieved by further activities. The importance of the screening for our students is huge. There has never been a screening of this kind in the Blackpool area before. The aim of the screening is to try and pick up conditions in seemingly ‘normal’ ‘healthy’ students with the chance to save lives. Unfortunately we can not screen all our students but by raising the profile of charities like CRY and promoting a healthy heart we are helping. The screening took place in college on Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd October 2015

...

Dear Mrs Gray, I wanted to personally thank you for the very kind gesture of donating your spare water bottles to Trinity Hospice & Brian House. In doing this you have financially saved the hospice thousands of pounds over the next few years. As a fundraising team, we offer lots of different events each year and we normally have to purchase the water to give out to our participants. With your support we are now fully covered and cannot thank you enough.

Thanks again, Lisa Martin Community Fundraiser ­Trinity Hospice & Brian House.

FYi workshops Skills workshops are here to support students in their studies throughout their time in college. An array of study skills based sessions are being held throughout the year to complement the students’ journey through college. Each half term a different set of skills workshops will be advertised in the college weekly so that teachers can recommend and refer students as needs arise. Time management, C.V. writing, essay structuring, revision skills and organisation are just some of the sessions planned. To book a student on to these workshops please email their pastoral mentors with the students’ names and reasons for referring. From here they will inform our team and we will arrange the session for the student. Sessions are lead by Emily Tillotson and are held in R212 unless stated otherwise. Please contact Emily, or the FYi Team for more information.

FYi research Calling all teachers who need their students to find solid, relevant and robust research for their studies! Why not book the FYi’s outreach service and have one of our team visit your classroom with a workshop specifically designed to teach your students the hows and whys of fantastic research and referencing. These sessions include accessing subscription databases including JSTOR, infotrac newspapers, Oxford English Dictionary, Issues Online, e­books and Vogue.

For more information, please contact Debbi Hodson, or Helen Crowther.

Special Birthday Celebrations BSIT Team Building Best Practice The Business and IT Team recently held a Staff Team Building Event at Emma Robinson’s house. They arranged a Disco Bouncy Castle (as seen in the adjoining picture) and had a BBQ; luckily the sun shined for them all day! The event was used to get all of the team, including partners, together and to welcome the new members of the department that have recently joined over the summer.

The following members of staff all recently celebrated special birthdays: Dave White Alison Harrison Debbie Robinson Colin Harrison Mariam Khan Mhairi Mitchison We hope you all enjoyed your special day.

þ Did you know? þ Michael Caine became an actor because all the prettiest girls at his school were in drama class.

Macmillan Coffee Morning The Macmillan World's Biggest Coffee Morning is an annual fundraising event that first started in 1990. It was a simple idea of people having a coffee together and donating the cost of their cuppa. It was so successful that it was repeated the following year nationally, and since then has grown to raise over £138 million for Macmillan. This year's event took place on Friday 25th September and college took part by having a cake sale in the foyer with a wide variety of delicious cakes and biscuits made by staff and students. Taylor Shaw kindly donated cupcakes, drinks and a fruit basket raffle. Live music, which added to the atmosphere, was provided by Upper Sixth BTEC Music students Holly Jowle, James Noel, Jess Allan and Kelsey Smith.

The whole class of Lower Sixth BTEC Dance also performed a flashmob dance on the grass area outside to a "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend/ Material Girl" medley. Elsewhere in college, HR and Finance ran a "free from" cake sale which raised £46.61.

The total amount raised on the day came to a fantastic £345.47! As one in three people will be diagnosed with cancer, the money raised will go towards helping Macmillan to provide medical, emotional, practical and financial support so that no one faces cancer alone. Just £27 could pay for a Macmillan nurse to spend an hour with someone who has just been told they have cancer. A big thank you to everyone who supported the event and helped to make it a huge success for such a worthy cause.

Growth Mindset -­Great teaching and learning tips

· Break difficult or complex tasks down into their component parts so that students can see their own skills building up over time. · Talk about adopting a growth mindset in class— tell stories about former students who thought they would never learn the subject but who, with persistence and effort, ended up being successful in the course. · Encourage students to take risks at any opportunity, and not be frightened to fail.

Some language cues for students who have struggled despite ​tr​ying hard ·​​“Ok, you found this difficult, but see that as an opportunity to learn from it” ·​​“How did you prepare for this? Could you do anything differently next time?” ·​​“I expect you to make mistakes. It’s the kinds of mistakes you make that show me how to support you.” ·​​“You might be finding this difficult, but you are making progress in your learning. I can see your development in….” ·​​“You can do it. It’s tough, but you can. Let’s see if we can break it down into easier steps together.” ·​​“I admire your persistence and appreciate your effort and hard work. It will pay off.” ·​​“Of course it’s tough. If it was easy, would you be learning anything from it?”

Growth mindset classroom learning agreement In this class; · We all have different starting points but we can all learn from one another. · We can all make progress. · We will value our mistakes because we can learn from them. · We will choose tasks that challenge us because this is how we develop our skills and understanding. · We will keep trying even when we are finding a task difficult because this is how ​​we make progress.

Five tips for developing a growth mindset in the Classroom · Emphasise that “fast” learning, or getting assignments or exams done quickly, is not the same as “deep” learning. Often students who take longer to “get it” learn the material more deeply. · If a student says “I can’t do it,” add the word “yet” at the end of their sentence.

þ Did you know?

þ

- The biggest school in the world (in terms of pupils, not area) is the City Montessori school in Lucknow, India.

The school was set up by the Ghandi’s in 1959 and has more than 32,000 students! That’s more than a lot of universities (not to mention a lot of towns...)

- The University of Bradford is the only British university to have had a serving prime minister, Harold Wilson, as their chancellor. Bradford’s first chancellor, Wilson held the position from 1966 until 1985.

Bean Juice - Helen Crowther

Right now, I’m willing to bet that there is a tiny little miracle lurking in your kitchen cupboards.

Tasteless, pale, and gloopy, you throw it down the sink every time you drain a can of beans. But stop!

That disappointing gloop is is about to change your baking forever. Vegans have long been finding cunning kitchen hacks to replace eggs in baking ­ but this one’s a biggie. We’re talking bean juice, or aquafaba, and it’s chemically so similar to egg white that it can be used as a binder for cakes and biscuits, to make macaroons, and ­here’s the barnstormer ­meringues. Giving up lemon meringue pie is a heavy price to pay for going vegan ­trust me on this one ­but with a bit of molecular wizardry, desserts are right back on the menu. Now, go get your white coat on for the next bit, because here’s the science.

The binding properties of eggs are probably to do with polymers (long, stretchy chains of atoms) which, when heat­treated, form links with each other, rather than sliding about in an unpleasant manner, and provide a solid structure for cakes. This is why it’s so hard to get dried egg off a pan ­or indeed off yourself, if you are an unpopular MP. Bean juice contains proteins and starches (more polymers ­this time made of sugars) which do a similar job . When beaten briskly with icing sugar, they trap air, and form enough of a structure to hang on to the air without collapsing. Baked, that’s your actual meringue, that is. Still with me? Excellent!

- This is the bean juice being whisked, with a little xanthan gum to stabilise the meringue. (fig. 1)

Fig 1.

Fig 2.

- And here it is, this time with icing sugar added. I do believe that’s a glossy peak! Also, by this stage, it’s trying to climb up the beaters, which is a signal it’s ready. (Fig. 2) - I made the meringue with a standard shortcrust base (thanks to one Mrs Margaret Crowther for the top tip of using self­raising flour rather than plain). The meringue recipe is from The Gentle Chef ­available at http://thegentlechef.com/ blog/?p=1557 The finished product!

(Fig. 3)

Fig 3.

You can get more aquafabulous recipes here: https://www.vegansociety.com/whats­ new/blog/13­amazing­things­you­can­do­ aquafaba Some quick facts: - Aquafaba is great for people with egg allergy. One of our students last year had never eaten cake in his entire life because of this. I think that’s a shame.

- It doesn’t make meringues taste beany.

- Make sure the bean juice you use is unsalted, otherwise it’ll all go a bit Heston.

- Any bean will do. I suspect kidney beans make the meringue pink, but I haven’t tried this. Yet. Also, not baked beans. What are you, crazy?

- It’s cheap.

- It can be frozen, as can the beans it came in.

- Three tbsps of aquafaba is equivalent to about one whole egg. If you want to know more, go to: http://aquafaba.com/faq.html

Careers and Work Experience futures Futures We are dedicated to helping our students succeed in all their future intentions. Together with careers, advice and guidance, we also offer opportunities for work experience and volunteering.

Careers, advice and guidance When there are four main options to progress to: higher education, apprenticeships, employment with training and gap year/volunteering, we can guarantee our students will receive impartial and supportive advice. The Futures team is available daily between 9am­-4pm Monday to Friday in Cafe+ to help students with their future prospects. As part of Learning Resources, the Futures team coordinates careers, advice and guidance along with employability and enterprise. Our main focus is to ensure all students have access to career education, development and guidance. We provide students with opportunities through; 1 to 1 sessions, workshops, guest speakers, career fairs and themed weeks. Through these we highlight to students the importance of being prepared for the world of work, the skills needed and how to be successful in their career plan. Staff and students can read our blog for top tips and advertised job opportunities ­http://futuresteamb6fc.blogspot.co.uk We also have a moodle page, just log in to ilearn.blackpoolsixth.ac.uk and search for futures. Your login will be the same as logging in to the computers. Students can book appointments by contacting Futures by google email.

Work experience All students will benefit from work experience not just so they are able to include it on their C.V.s or personal statements, but so that they will experience what it is really like to work in the area of work they see themselves pursuing. During work experience placements or volunteering our students will undertake tasks that will allow them to contribute to organisations, develop different skills and meet with various professionals within the field. It is our intention to provide opportunities for all of our students to access work experience or volunteering places, as we believe that allows them to stand out from the crowd.

In order for us to provide these opportunities and to support those who already have/or are going to placements, please contact Natalie Dobson, the Employment Liaison Officer. In addition to this if you or your department have any employment links please let us know.

Wellbeing Day On the 11th November the college will be holding the first college development day with a best practice marketplace in the sports hall, you will be getting more information on this in due course. In the afternoon we will be welcoming Blackpool Wellness Service to the college. They will be based in Relish from 1pm­-4pm. Services that are confirmed so far are Care and Repair, Walk to Work advisor, Health trainers and the Health MOT team. We will also hopefully be hosting teams from memory screening, stop smoking service and bowel cancer screening. There will be no signing up or booking for the services so please feel free to pop along at any time and use whichever service you are interested in.

þ Did you know? þ In the 19th century the poet Lord Byron tried to keep a pet dog while he attended the University of Cambridge but was made to get rid of it. In protest he got himself a pet bear instead and as there was nothing in the statute to state that he couldn’t have one, the university had no legal argument against him.

New CPD We are doing something different this year with CPD and we hope you are finding the new offering varied and that the new objectives and ‘recommended for’ sections are helpful to you. The CPD is designed to help you keep your knowledge relevant and up to date and to ensure you are aware of the changing trends in the college and the education sector on the whole.

Your CPD selections should help you build confidence and credibility; you can see your progression by tracking your learning (the staff portal is great for this because you can view of all your CPD in one place along with the evaluation of impact on your learning and development).

We are also linking CPD with the new PMRs and Show process, this gives everyone a great opportunity to reflect on your learning and

highlight any gaps that you may want to focus on.

We will be publishing 3 CPD brochures across the year, the current Autumn brochure, one in the Spring term and a final one for the Summer term. This new approach gives us the opportunity to review and tailor the offer accordingly, so if any focus areas are identified we can create a session that addresses those areas. It is also a more flexible and hopefully more user friendly approach, if you have any suggestions for potential CPD sessions then we would love to hear them, just drop Amanda Crumblehulme or Curtis Jackson an email and we can review your suggestion.

To help us shape the CPD further, and ultimately make it as beneficial to you as possible, it is really important that you evaluate each

session you go on. The staff portal is live and many of you are using it, but every session (internal and external) needs to be requested and evaluated on the portal. Your evaluation will be used to build future sessions and adapt current ones to make them more relevant and useful.

We are busy looking at your feedback for the August CPD, we realise that there was a lot on, but hope you found it constructive. The external speakers have been really well received and a lot of people have said they will be using a lot of what was learnt in their work practices and to ultimately raise aspirations.

As always any feedback is welcome, get in touch!

Upcoming Autumn Sessions þDid you know?þ Winchester College​is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in W​inchester,​ Hampshire, England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England.

Car/Flat Share If you are interested in finding out if there is anyone that would like to car/flat/house etc. share, then please use the noticeboard in the staff lounge to ask for any interest.

The Staff Lounge The staff lounge is proving really popular as you will see from the pictures. A big thank you to everyone for keeping it clean and tidy and we do hope that you are enjoying the facility.

Staff Areas All of our new offices are now up and running with everyone having settled in well. We hope you will agree that it is really helpful having the admin block.

Please do feel free to visit the teams in their new offices. Other departments have also moved around during the summer.

Please see a current list of all staff/working rooms.

Fylde Coast Teaching School Alliance Twilight Sessions - November 2015 Date 4.11

4.11

Session category Subject Specific

Subject Specific

Content Prepare for new curriculum in GCSE English By the end of the session, you will be able to have a working knowledge of the content of the new English curriculum for GCSE

11.11

Subject Specific

Teaching & Learning

Breck Primary School * Kirsty Churchouse

Progress in writing

Flakefleet Primary School

By the end of the session, you will be able to apply techniques for language and writing development, particularly within KS1, focusing on the Pie Corbett approach

* Lucy Beardow * Hayley Wood

Strategies to close the achievement gap for Pupil Premium Millfield Science & Performing Ars College and Free School Meal pupils

Technology for Learning Effective use of IPads in the computing curriculum By the end of the session, you will be able to use Apple Aps within the curriculum

18.11

Leadership

25.11

27.11

Associate Staff

Subject Specific

Subject Specific

* Cheryl Brindle (Breck Primary School) * Sean Bullen (Millfield Science and Performing Arts College)

Breck Primary School * Tom Rosebury

Improve staff performance through effective performance The Blackpool Sixth Form College (Committee Room) management By the end of the session, you will be able to run effective performance management reviews that challenge and support staff to improve pupil outcomes

25.11

* Amanda Morton * Julia Slade

By the end of the session, you will be able to:

By the end of the session, you will be able to identify strategies that have improved achievement for pupil premium and free school meal pupils. Double North West Pupil Premium winners provide a valuable insight into how to improve pupil achievement.

18.11

Montgomery High School

Effective SEN practice across Primary - Identify effective practice in light of new code of practice - Be aware of SEN code of practice and implications in school - Recognise high incidence SEN and how these can affect Children’s participation and learning - Have a better understanding of strategies for improving outcomes for children with SEND - Have a good understanding of SEN paper work. What paper work to use and how to keep a paper trail

11.11

Venue & Facilitators

* Gail Yeadon

Teach Meet: Creating opportunities for TAs to excel

Highfurlong School

By the end of the session, you will be able to recognise how TAs in an outstanding school enhance the teaching and learning of pupils

* Cherryl Drabble (Assistant Head Teacher)

Prepare for new curriculum in KS3/4 Maths

St George’s School

By the end of the session, you will be able to apply tried and tested ways to increase pupil achievement in Maths

* Louise Hastewell

Science Moderation for Pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Red Marsh School

By the end of the session, you will be able to moderate pupils’ work across the P scales

* Jenny Hindley

HR Policies A number of HR Policies have been reviewed recently. So we thought it might be useful to highlight some of the key changes of these policies. All policies can be found in the Staff Area of Google Drive.

Recruitment & Selection policy New vacancy approval form Review Job Description and Person Specification Refresh each time we advertise Micro-site - All applications now on line. Shortlisting to be on line from November 2015 Paperless assessment days Training - Road to successful recruitment/Safer recruitment (available to anyone involved in the recruitment process)

DBS checks & Disclosures policy

Flexible Working Policy applies to all staff who wish to consider flexible working arrangements Complete flexible working request form - submit to HR Invite to meeting with SLT Member, HoD and HR representative Can be agreed on a temporary or permanent basis Can be reviewed annually 8 business reasons why a request can be refused Right of appeal

Policy applies to applicants & staff to let HR know about any disclosures

Attendance Management

All and any disclosures (except speeding fines)

Staff must inform Manager and HR when absent before 8.15am and advise when likely to return

Personal statement (detailing circumstances around disclosure)

Make regular contact (every 3 days/once a week if off long term)

DBS Panel (DP, VP, HR, HoD) - reviews all disclosures to determine if likely to have any impact on employment

Occupational Health provision for advice and guidance

New staff - cannot commence without a satisfactory DBS check Single Central Record (DBS/Right To Work/ Qualifications) Existing Staff - update with any changes in circumstances DBS Referrals - legal duty of the college to refer should there be any safeguarding concerns

Trigger points when discussions will commence regarding level of absence Long term sickness absence details Annual leave during sickness absence - accrues/can be taken during period of absence Payment details are within the policy during sickness absence

Leave Requests - Forms should be completed 5 working days before leave is required - Additional information is added at the time of - Manager reviews requests submission - TOIL sheets attached and signed - Cover arrangements have been fully detailed - Medical appointment etc. details are attached - SLT link sign off HR review - Appointments are made at a time to ensure least impact

Diwali Celebration 2015 Each year Blackpool Sixth hosts a major event to celebrate Diwali. Diwali is one of the most important religious festivals in the Hindu religion and is marked by many millions of people across the globe.

The festival, sometimes referred to as the ‘Festival of Lights’, is believed to mark new beginnings. It also represents the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness, with the word Diwali, or Deepavali, meaning ‘a row of lamps’.

This year’s Diwali celebration, organised in partnership with the Fylde Coast Hindu Society, was held at the college on Sunday the 1st November. The event began with a short ‘lighting of the lamp’ ceremony followed by a dance and music show, including a performance by some of our performing arts students. There was also delicious Indian food on offer. Each year we

Highfurlong fundraising marathon Head of Admissions, Liaison and Marketing, Jon McLeod, completed the Chester Marathon on Sunday 4th October to raise money for our neighbouring special school, Highfurlong.

The school moves to its new building in November but is still in need of money to buy much needed equipment for their students.

Blackpool Sixth has been fundraising for the school since March, with Nichola Coleman and our Student Ambassador Team leading the way. Cake sales, a charity car wash, a sponsored head shave, face-painting at Poulton Gala as well as several other events have all been extremely successful fundraisers.

Jon’s run has added around £200 to the total which has now passed the £2,000 mark. If you or a friend or relative wishes to donate to the appeal please do so at https://mydonate. bt.com/fundraisers/jonmcleod1. The money goes directly to the school and will be very gratefully received and will help make a big difference for Highfurlong’s students.

have a number of our own staff and students attend the event and they always say how much they enjoy it.

Sarah Rainford (Cllr) Mayor of Longridge Some colleagues across college are aware that I serve as a Town Councillor for Longridge where I have lived for the last 27 years. I have been a parish Councillor for 8 years and served as Deputy Mayor last year.

Subsequent to my successful re-election earlier this year in May, I was nominated by my fellow Councillors to become Mayor and Chairman of the Council. My biggest achievement to date in my term of office is the Community Partnership Team that I initiated linking Councillors, businesses, and community groups to drive collaborative initiatives for the benefit of the town. The first success was the community celebration of the Tour of Britain where the town was decked out with yellow bikes, bringing an estimated 6,000 people out on the streets, lots of them wearing the ‘Longridge 2015’ merchandise.Within my year I am working towards setting up a Youth Council, Community Awards Scheme, Strategic Town team, an annual youth Talent Show and a

Town Council newsletter. My charities are the newly formed youth section of the Longridge Brass Band and the Longridge Loop, a 5-mile safe route around the town for all users to enjoy.

...

Fascinating Facts Rick Crowther moonlights as Captain Redbeard with his wife, Toni the Mermaid. www.meet­a­mermaid.com Chrissie Turkington and Andy Brooke are Musical Directors of choirs.

Chrissie’s choir is called The Capricorn Singers, and Andy’s is Carleton Community Chorus.

Dave White has a regular column in The Gazette on a Friday about Blackpool Football Club.

Forthcoming events Please come and support our staff and students at this year’s Autumn events. Contact our friendly event co-ordinators, Nicola Kelly or Emma Lund for information and tickets on events@blackpoolsixth.ac.uk.

Key dates Autumn term 2015 Open Evening - 15th October October half term - 23rd October College reopens - 2nd November Autumn Music Concert - 9th November Open Evening - 11th November Christmas Showcase - 10th December Students finish for Christmas - 17th December Christmas Carol Service - 17th December

Key dates Spring term 2016 College reopens - 4th January Mock Exam Week - 11th January Parents’ Evening (surnames A-K) - 3rd February Parents’ Evening (surnames L-Z) -10th February Musicians of the Fylde - 11th February February half term - 12th February College reopens - 22nd February Open evening - 24th February Annual Musical 2nd, 3rd, 4th March International Evening - 8th March Battle of the Bands -16th March Dance Showcase - 22nd March Lower Sixth HE Info evening -24th March Easter break- 25th March College reopens - 11th April