Parent and Carers Newsletter June 2024 - Wakefield College

Parents & Carers Newsletter Parents & Carers Newsletter

Welcome

I am thrilled to welcome you to our brand-new parents' and carers’ newsletter, which is designed to keep you informed and engaged with the latest news, developments and opportunities in our amazing College.

Last term was certainly a busy and prosperous one, with careers fairs, Sustainability Week and the launch of progression activity with Your Future Week, taking place across the College. Our Animal Care and Travel & Tourism students have also just returned from a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Fiji where they learned about eco-tourism on the South Pacific Island, which I hope you’ll enjoy reading more about below.

In this newsletter, we also proudly showcase a former Sport student’s remarkable triumph in the world of rugby and discuss how we can support your child/ward in successfully reaching their next steps.

A number of our students and I were also invited to visit Rhubarb Radio’s studios and take part in its Regeneration Show alongside Wakefield Council. It was great to see the studios and the students talking so passionately about the Wakefield district and what they’d like to see in the district’s future as part of the regeneration project.

Summer exams are now in full swing and additional support is available for those sitting their exams. We wish your child/ward the best of luck with their exams!

Hayley Shillito Local College Director

Issue 1

June 2024

Ensuring our students progress

Whether your child/ward has chosen to continue their studies with us or needs further advice on what steps to take next, we will be here to support and advise them.

Students wanting to progress with us are not required to apply using the same process as new students as we are keen to secure places early for our current students. Any offer made by us, whether that be onto a higherlevel course, an Apprenticeship or a Higher Education programme, will be ‘conditional’.

To secure their progression application, students must attend all classes now, including their progress meeting, as well as successfully complete their current programme of study. Attendance is a key factor to success in all subjects and attendance and achievement of each subject including Maths and English, is vital to secure the right progression outcome.

If your child/ward doesn’t currently meet the entry requirements for the course they are interested in, it doesn’t mean they can’t progress. They should talk to us during the progression process as there may be things we can put in place to support them in getting to where they want to be.

We encourage all parents/ carers to track their child/ ward’s attendance and progression via the Parent Portal, using the QR code: Scan here to login to the Parent Portal.

What's been happening

Students embark on Fiji trip with Think Pacific

20 students from the Animal Care and Travel & Tourism departments embarked on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Fiji, hosted by Think Pacific.

The students enjoyed three weeks on the tropical South Pacific Island, where they observed Fijian animals in their habitats, visited Sand Dunes National Park, coral reefs and bush trails and learned about the development of tourism in Fiji and the conservation efforts on the island.

They were also given independence to explore the island in groups and relax on the rest days from the exciting itinerary.

Local radio stars take over Rhubarb Radio

A number of A Level students and Local College Director, Hayley Shillito, were recently invited to take part in a special podcast at Rhubarb Radio’s studios.

As part of the Regeneration Show – the Next Generation, the students spoke about the regeneration of the Wakefield district and what it means to them.

Sustainable fashion for Community Foundation Wakefield District designed

Level 3 Fashion Textiles students teamed up with Community Foundation Wakefield District to create and help promote sustainable fashion across the district.

The students transformed clothes that had previously been donated to the charity’s shop or fabrics which would usually be sent to landfill to create new fashionable garments or accessories.

The items are now being displayed in the charity shop’s window in Wakefield and are helping to encourage shoppers to buy second-hand items.

The garments will be sold as part of the charity’s Community Give Box, with the money raised going towards its Wakefield fund which provides small grants to individuals, local communities and voluntary groups to help build better communities within the Wakefield district.

Volleyball team compete in AoC Sport National Championships

A huge well done to our volleyball team who participated in the AoC Sport National Championships 2024 in April. They gave it their all in the match and we’re incredibly proud of them for making it this far in the competition.

Sport students volunteer at Wakefield Hospice run

Students and staff from the College’s Sports Department very kindly volunteered their time and expertise to provide free physio support and sports massages at the Wakefield Hospice 10k run.

Our Sport and Public Service students also enjoyed taking part in the NCS programme, which saw them try a range of activities! On top of this, our Public Service students have been getting stuck in with a variety of army-style fieldcraft activities and challenges at the Army Supercamp at Queen Elizabeth Barracks.

Digital Industries students showcase artwork

A number of Digital Industries students now have their artwork displayed across the College after winning a wall vinyl competition with Escape Technology.

The students put their creativity to the test by designing a wall graphic which incorporated Escape Technology’s logo and celebrated the College’s partnership with the company After many dazzling submissions, Level 3 Media Production & Technology students Dan and Jamie were chosen as the winners.

Dan said: “I was ecstatic when I found out that I had won the competition as put a lot of thought and effort into creating the design. researched what Escape Technology do and its brand, which was my inspiration for the colour scheme and the layout - encapsulating both the identity of the company and the College. The competition was really fun and engaging and I enjoyed the challenging aspects of it.”

Celebrating sustainability

During Sustainability Week, we celebrated the best practices and fantastic initiatives our staff and students have been carrying out when it comes to sustainability.

Our Horticulture students planted 450 trees with Open Country, whilst our Business students presented their sustainable business plans to Solupak's Managing Director. Sport and Public Services also collected a significant amount of litter across the campus and Wakefield city centre as part of their annual ‘plogging’ event. These are just some of the activities that have been happening across the Group – it’s truly been great to see students putting sustainability at the heart of their activities and really driving forward change.

You can read all about these initiatives in our sustainability newsletter, Footprint using the QR Code:

We held a careers fair during ‘Your Future Week’ in March which was attended by more than 430 students across the College. Employers, universities and providers from across the country were on hand to talk to students about their future options and it’s fair to say every student left with valuable information about their next steps.

One external exhibitor commented that it was a great event and that had very good conversations with students and that they seemed prepared and informed to have conversations about their progression.

If your child/ward is still unsure about their choices, they can contact our supportive Careers Team on 01924 789113 or careers@heartofyorkshire.ac.uk for advice.

Your Future Week Student helps Wigan Warriors win 2024 World Club Challenge

We care for our Young Carers

We also celebrated Young Carers Action Day in March which aims to raise awareness of young carers nationally.

We have signed up to the Young Carers Covenant to help secure fair futures for young carers. We do this by providing support as required for our young carers and making reasonable adjustments to help ensure they can combine their caring with education, providing emotional support and practical advice as necessary.

We also support them in securing their progression options, by giving them careers advice, looking at including the skills developed in their caring roles in CVs and university applications and helping them to find out what support is out there in higher education or in the world of work.

If your child/ward is a young carer and needs support, please don’t hesitate to contact the College’s Young Adult Carer Lead – Carol Price on 01924 789755 or at cprice@heartofyorkshire.ac.uk

Group signs new AoC Mental Health Charter

We have demonstrated our commitment to supporting student and staff mental health and wellbeing by signing up to the Association of College’s new Mental Health Charter.

Developed in partnership with education professionals and senior health leads, the charter has been updated following its creation in 2019 to address the rise in mental health difficulties in young people. Wakefield College originally signed up for the charter in 2019, with the latest version outlining new good practice principles and standards.

Our Student Experience team are a dedicated team who are here to ensure that all students receive the support that they need to make the most of their student experience and studies.

If you are concerned about the mental health or wellbeing of your child/ ward, please contact our Student Wellbeing Team on studentcentral@ heartofyorkshire.ac.uk or by calling in person to Student Central at any of our three Colleges.

Former Higher Education Sport Student, Tyler Dupree, helped lead Wigan Warriors to victory against Penrith Panthers in the World Club Challenge 2024.

Tyler was brought on in the 18th minute of the game by Wigan Warrior’s Head Coach Matt Peet, with the forward playing a key role in securing the team’s win over Penrith Panthers at the DW stadium on Saturday 24th February 2024.

Tyler said about the experience: “Playing in the World Club Challenge was unreal and is the highlight of my career so far. I’m incredibly excited for what’s to come next in my professional

rugby career and the knowledge that I learned throughout my studies regarding recovery, nutrition and performance is ensuring I can be the best player can be.”

Amy O’Keefe, Head of Sport at the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group, said: “Tyler has showed incredible talent since the start of his professional rugby career, but what has made him such a successful player is that he backs this up with theoretical knowledge which enables him to constantly improve his performance. These are the tools which we aim to give our sport students, ensuring that either they or the people they are coaching can achieve their full sporting potential."

Helping to Navigate your child’s future

We provide wrap-around support for our students, ensuring that they can successfully progress onto their next steps. One of the ways we do this is through our Navigate programme,

which provides a range of activities and events designed to develop your child/ward’s employability and wider skills. They will get a programme for the year during induction and additional activities and reminders will be advertised on a weekly basis.

Find out more using the QR code.

Study for a Degree on your Doorstep

Is your child/ward still undecided on their next steps? Did you know, they can progress onto a Higher Education course, right here at Wakefield College? At the University Centre at the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group, we offer over 50 different degree-level programmes ranging from Animal Care to Music to Business.

Our flexible approach to teaching and learning means that your child/ward can study many of our courses part-time around their other commitments. What’s more, our programmes are validated by some of Britain’s

top universities, meaning your child/ward can get the same qualification whilst paying lower course fees.

There’s no age limit on who can do our courses, so you can also study for a degree on your doorstep! To find out more, please contact our Course Information Team on 01924 789111, email courseinfo@ heartofyorkshire.ac.uk or visit www.heartofyorkshire.ac.uk/HE

Putting Safeguarding First Sexual Extortion (Sextortion)

The safety and wellbeing of our students and staff are a top priority at the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group. All staff are trained in safeguarding and child protection and we have an enhanced safeguarding trained team across all three Colleges.

If you have any safeguarding concerns, please contact Carol Price or Michelle Jones by emailing safeguarding@ heartofyorkshire.ac.uk or scan the QR code to report a safeguarding concern.

Contacting Social Care

Safeguarding is everyone’s business, and you should refer to your local social care services if you have concerns that a child is being harmed. You do not have to give your personal details such as your name and address. The number for Wakefield is 03458 503 503 or visit www.wakefieldscp.co.uk

Please do check the numbers online for other districts.

The Wakefield Safeguarding Children Parternship websites provides a wealth of information for parents and carers. The information related to safeguarding children is relevant up to the young person’s 18th birthday.

A Parental Guidance Booklet

This booklet provides key information and guidance to those parents with young people who have an Autism Spectrum Condition, around safeguarding them from extremist ideologies.

The objective of this resource is to equip parents with the confidence and effective strategies to have meaningful conversations with and develop the resilience of young people going forwards. Consequently, they will hopefully be able to effectively recognise and counter extremist points of view.

Read more using the QR code.

Smoothwall Monitor

We use Smoothwall Monitor to help safeguard students in the online space, both in College or when they access IT on College equipment from home.

Smoothwall Monitor has advanced behavioural technology and the human moderation team provides protection 24/7, 365 days a year. The platform also helps designated staff to spot at-risk students who may otherwise go unnoticed, alerting staff in realtime and within minutes of an event being detected. This ensures we can concentrate on supporting and educating students.

All education institutions in the UK have recently been sent information from the National Crime Agency, raising awareness of the recent rise in reporting of financially motivated sexual extortion (a type of online blackmail often known in the media as ‘sextortion’).

This type of crime involves an adult offender (often from an organised crime group based overseas) threatening to release nude or semi-nude images and/or videos of a child or young person (including AI generated images), unless they pay money, or meet another financial demand, such as purchasing a prepaid gift card. Victims of any age and gender can be targets, however, a large proportion of cases have involved male victims aged 14-18.

What can I do if this has happened to my child?

If your child tells you that someone is trying to trick, threaten or blackmail them online:

• Don’t pay, do stop contact and block: you may be tempted to pay, but there is no guarantee that this will stop the threats. As the offender’s motive is to get money, once you have shown you can pay, they will likely ask for more and blackmail may continue. If you have paid, don’t panic but don’t pay anything more. Help your child to stop all communication with the offender and block them on any accounts that they have been contacted on.

• Avoid deleting anything: try not to delete anything that could be used as evidence such as messages, images and bank account details. This protects the public from serious and organised crime.

• Report to the police or CEOP: call 101 or 999 if there is an immediate risk of harm to your child. Or you can use the CEOP Safety Centre (www.ceop. police.uk/safety-centre) to report any online blackmail attempts. Adults who have experienced financially motivated sexual extortion can use the Stop Non-Consensual Intimate Image Abuse (https://stopncii.org) to immediately prevent their content from being shared online across StopNCCI. org’s industry partners. They should also report the incident to the police and the platform or app that the incident has occurred on.

Getting support in a mental health crisis or emergency

A mental health crisis is when a person is currently safe but needs urgent mental health support. They could be feeling like they may seriously harm themselves or others or be suicidal.

What can you do in a mental health crisis?

9 If your child/ward already gets mental health support from the NHS or another organisation, please contact the service that helps them

9 Book an emergency appointment with your child’s/ward’s GP practice.

9 Contact Night OWLS for free on 03002 003900 or 07984 392700 or chat online at: www.wynightowls.org.uk

9 Call NHS 111 a 24-hour helpline for help and advice

9 If your child/ward doesn’t currently use mental health services, you can contact Single Point Access (SPA) teams on 01977 735865

What's coming up

VISIT OUR NEXT OPEN EVENT

SATURDAY 15TH JUNE, 10AM – 12PM

If your child is still undecided on their choices or is wanting to progress onto another level or programme, we recommend that they attend our Open Event on Saturday 15th June, 10am – 12pm.

This will allow them to meet their course tutors and potential coursemates, as well as talk through their options. Register your child’s place, using the QR code:

DINE WITH US…

Did you know that you can enjoy some delicious food in our state-of-the-art restaurant, Gaskells?

Something to celebrate? Perhaps a birthday, exam success or a special anniversary? Why not meet your friends at our on-site restaurant and enjoy fine food in a sophisticated but relaxed atmosphere.

Gaskell’s Restaurant is multi-award winning and operated by Hospitality & Catering students from Wakefield College. It provides some of the best value-for-money delicacies in Wakefield! To book a table at one Gaskells, please contact gaskellsrestaurant@wakefield.ac.uk

STUDENTS PREPARE FOR END OF YEAR SHOWS

With the end of the academic year in sight, students across the College are preparing for their final shows and exhibitions, including:

› Upload Music Festival - 6pm, Tuesday 11th and Thursday 13th June 2024 at Wakefield College

› Art Exhibition - Wednesday 19th and Friday 21st June 2024 at Wakefield College

Scan the QR code to get tickets or find out more.

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