Sixth Form Newsletter - March 2019

SIXTH FORM REVIEW APRIL 2019

Final Countdown To Exams It has been another hugely successful term for Holyport College’s Sixth Form. Having had the privilege of knowing our founding students since the College opened in 2014, the absolute highlight of this term has been hearing about the offers our students have been receiving from their chosen university courses. There is no greater moment for a Head Master than when a beaming young man or woman enters their office to share the news of their dream offer knowing that all of their future hopes and ambitions have just become a little more real. We are now heading towards the A Level examinations and I know that our Upper Sixth students will do all that they can to secure their futures over the coming Easter break.

Other highlights of this term include the Lower Sixth Leadership Day following which interviews for Head Boy and Head Girl were conducted. The field was incredibly strong however I am delighted to announce that our Head Boy and Head Girl for 2019-20 will be Victor Jimenez and Elizabeth Wales. The rest of the Sixth Form Leadership Team is due to be announced on Friday 5th April.

We were also delighted to welcome Mr Hardee to the staff team this term. Alongside teaching Economics and Government and Politics, Mr Hardee will be Master in Charge of Universities and the Eton College relationship. His impact has already been felt through our inaugural inter-house pancake race, the inter-house quiz and debate competitions and the boarders’ trip to his pub quiz in Oxford!

Our programme of speakers, both at Holyport and Eton, has gone from strength to strength this term. Societies at Eton have included George Osbourne and Michael Heseltine whilst Holyport Scholars’ have been delighted to welcome Craig Smith from INSEAD Business School and investment banker Julia Pearce.

We are on final countdown to A Levels. Excitement, nervousness and a touch of sadness abound. I cannot wait to hear of our students’ successes and to wish them well on their way to university however, as our founding cohort of Sixth Formers, they will be very sadly missed.

SIXTH FORM REVIEW JANUARY 2019 Oxford Union Debating Competition Four pairs of Sixth Form students represented Holyport College admirably at the Oxford Union’s Schools debating competition on Thursday this week. Over 60 teams participated in the South Central regional round held at Magdalen College School in Oxford and our 8 students certainly did the College proud.

The format of debating is British Parliamentary, which seemed highly appropriate given that the British Parliament was debating the Vote of No Confidence Motion at exactly the same time. Each pair had just 15 minutes to prepare for the debate and use logic and reasoning to convince the judge why they made the strongest case. Everyone got to debate two motions – the first being on Violent Video Games and the second on whether we should arm the Police.

Although none of the Holyport teams made it through to the finals day – they certainly gained a lot out of the experience and we have already set up a friendly fixture against Oxford International College later in the term.

SIXTH FORM REVIEW JANUARY 2019 Holyport Lectures Yesterday evening, Sixth Form were given a crash course on everything from embracing their inner ‘hustle’ to how to start a business. Entrepreneur Karol Ostaszewski, the mastermind behind ‘Sxollie’ (a craft South African cider) gave us a unique insight into the realities of owning your own business, competing within a market dominated by two major powers and the sometimes unpredictable journey to success. It was interesting (and relieving for some) to learn that Karol’s journey to become a celebrated Pommelier wasn’t straightforward and it took a degree in languages, 4 years in accountancy and a first business in Australia for Sxollie to be born. It was exciting learn about Sxollie’s provenance and share in Karol’s enthusiasm for ‘home grown hustle’. The evening couldn't be over without seeing what all the fuss was about. After tasting the infamous ‘Golden Delicious’, ‘Granny Smith’ and ‘Pink Lady’ ciders, ‘Granny Smith’ was crowned the winner and confirmed the first, yet undeniably best craft cider Holyport Sixth Formers had ever tasted.

Fran Mobley

SIXTH FORM REVIEW JANUARY 2019 Year 12s You and your parents will shortly receive an email giving information about a number of opportunities to study at a number of university summer schools such as Bath, Bristol, Edinburgh plus many more. You will also get information about Target Oxbridge and UNIQ Oxford that offer additional support for those considering applying to Oxford or Cambridge. All of these are free and provide a wonderful opportunity to experience university life. Please note that the deadline for UNIQ Oxford is next Monday (28/01/19).

Also Holyport Primary School has asked if any of our Year 12 students could come along to support their Year 6 prepare for their SAT examinations. They would like some students who are available between 2-3pm on Mondays, but also would like another group of 4-5 students on one other day during the week. This is a great opportunity for your CV and/or UCAS personal statement, and the Year 13’s who to took part last year really enjoyed the experience. Please contact Mrs Harding for more details.

Holyport Lectures This weeks speaker was our first ever from a creative field, graphic designer Sophie White from the Homemade Cake company. She explained to our budding young artists that there is no time like the present, their youthful energy could be spent improving their artistic craft while they have the resources and guidance at school.

Sophie recounted her experiences across a range of companies in the marketing department and designing posters, packaging and webpages. She recommended artists start to learn some simple coding of websites to set them apart from other artists looking for work in the corporate world.

She showed a wide range of her artworks both those done in her free time and designed for her company work.  Next week’s speaker Julia Pearce, Investment Bank Lawyer Life in Investment Banking and the City of London.

What’s a career in finance like? What are the particular challenges facing women?

With more than 25 years' experience in financial services, Julia has supported investment banking platforms in major multi-cultural financial institutions in London and across the globe. Skilled in Equity and Debt Capital Markets, Corporate Finance, M&A and due diligence across the banking, corporate and sovereign

SIXTH FORM REVIEW FEBRUARY 2019 Holyport Lectures Julia Pearce 30th January The world of high finance always seems to draw a crowd at Holyport College, and Ms. Pearce provided a detailed account of a long and accomplished career both internationally and within the City of London.

As a lawyer in finance, she recounted some of her first hand investigations into potentially criminal activities, and another occasion where investment decisions by her superiors were motivated more by revenue from transaction fees than long term stability of given companies.

She also spoke of the challenges of being a woman in a male dominated industry and how the work life balance with her family has been difficult at times, such as being on holidays with her family and having business calls demand her attention.

Jane Lunnon 6th February Can you be a Feminist and Watch Love Island?

Holyport College welcomed Jane Lunnon, The Head of Wimbledon High School for Girls who made the National Headlines last year by slating Love Island and saying that it was incompatible to be a feminist and watch the show.

She gave an insightful presentation about the state of Feminism in 2019 and then the floor was opened up for questions. Many A Level Politics students were among the audience and this provided a lively debate. House Masters have also reported the debate continued back in the boarding houses well into the evening – which is a testament to how well the talk went down.

James Erridge and Samiya Usmani chaired the session.

SIXTH FORM REVIEW FEBRUARY 2019 U6 Boarders Enter a Pub Quiz!

New staff member Mr Hardee runs a weekly pub quiz at his local family friendly pub in Headington, Oxford and so Mr Alford decided to take 16 U6 boarders to compete as three teams. Rounds in the quiz included General Knowledge, Current Affairs, a Name the Cheese picture round amongst others.

Although none of the students won the grand prize, one team, headed by Tobani and Greg, won the Bonus Prize of a Teddy! Mr Alford, joined another team which ultimately won the Grand Prize.

It’s events like these that we at Holyport run for Sixth Form students that allow an introduction to university style social life but in a managed and sensible environment. We look forward to running this event again.

Brunel win Holyport's first Inter-House Pancake Event!

Mr Hardee brought a tradition from Oriel College, Oxford University to Holyport College this week by setting up the first ever Inter-House Pancake race.

Essentially a relay race around the Quad with a flip at every corner, run by five members of each House with the Year 13s finishing off the final leg.

It was a hotly contested race that after about lap 3 came down to a Brunel vs Hershel duel. The dramatic final lap saw Oscar Newman (Hershel) leading Tobani Olabowale (Brunel) only for Oscar to slip and lose his pancake out of the pan meaning that Tobani brought home the win for Brunel.

Thanks to everyone for helping out - it was Flippin' Good Fun!

ďƒŞ

SIXTH FORM REVIEW MARCH 2019 Inaugural Sixth Form Ski Trip

Our trip to Zell am See was our last trip (for Year 13) with Holyport and a very memorable one. Besides the amazing skiing and resort, the curling, skittles, ski show and socialising with the group really made this trip one to remember! We all had a great time and we would all like to say a massive thank you to Mr and Mrs Crocker and Mr Nosworthy for putting up with us and making the trip so enjoyable.

Shout out to Linus for being the best dancer!

SIXTH FORM REVIEW MARCH 2019 Holyport Lectures Dave Leal travelled down from Oxford University and opened minds to the vast and complicated world of Philosophy, Ethics and Theology. He discussed the importance of being able to hold conflicting theories at once to decide on your own views on these issues. He was a big supporter of following one's thinking as far as it will go in

He affirmed his view that ethics cannot exclusively be based on the pursuit of happiness. Our Sixth Form interview probed him on the ideas of Situational Ethics according to Steven Fletcher. The talk ran over time as students had a wide range of questions to pose to the philosopher about who dictates moral standards nationally and internationally.

There was a clear interest in philosophy and we look forward to continuing our

Sixth Form Geographers participate in Maidenhead regeneration discussions On the 20th of March Debbie Radcliffe from JTP (architects, masterplanners and placemakers) who are involved in redeveloping the Nicholson Centre in Maidenhead came to speak to Sixth Form geographers about the redevelopment. She explained the different aspects and stakeholders involved in redevelopment projects. She was also interested getting information from our pupils about what redevelopment they would like to see in Maidenhead. ďƒ¨

SIXTH FORM REVIEW MARCH 2019 Seven students went to Eton on Tuesday night to attend a Psychology talk.

It was a round table discussion with the speakers sitting in close proximity to the students. It was a casual talk with the students asking many questions and the speakers freely answering them. It was not a formal talk, which made it much more interesting to follow and engage with the speakers. There were three speakers who spoke about coaching and leadership, they were Sandy Loder, Chris Berthoud & Ed Haddon. They were introduced by Simon Kelton. They all spoke about their personal experiences with Psychology and what paths they took after leaving Eton College. Sandy Loder spoke about joining the Army after leaving Eton, which helped him to get into the correct mindset with Psychology and how it has now led him to coaching many people and taking them across the world for expeditions to help build a positive mindset.

Psychology is the scientific study of brain, mind and behaviour and is hugely popular at university. In 2017 there were 115,000 applications through UCAS. It can lead to a number of well-defined career paths within Psychology including the health professions, human resources, marketing & communications and there is growing interest in sports and forensic psychology.

Recent (2017) research showed that nearly 60% of all graduates were employed six months after graduation, higher than the rate for all Science degrees!

Religion lectures We had a double billing of men of religion over the past fortnight for our weekly Wednesday evening lectures. On the 6th March we had Wayne Dixon, a frequent contributor to assemblies around Berkshire. This week we had Manvir Singh, a Sikh minister who works in the prison system.

Both speakers discussed their experiences of their religion and recounted their paths to working closely with their respective houses of worship. Mr Singh gave a humorous summary of the 5 K’s, the articles of faith he wears everyday as part of his commitment to Sikhism. His message of love and respect for all people and all faiths was an extremely positive message for our students. He recounted experiences with racism and assumed racism, when one women wanted to sit elsewhere on a plane, in case the smell of spilt alcohol would offend the holy man on the flight.

Mr Dixon spoke with infectious joy about spreading the word across schools to young people and the battle to attract school aged pupils back into the church through music and sport. He spoke at length about the worldwide band LZ7, who have played across schools locally to rave reviews.

We shift next week to the very newsworthy world of politics with Windsor MP, Adam Afriyie booked to speak.

SIXTH FORM REVIEW MARCH 2019 Lower 6th Business Inside Day On Wednesday Mr Hardee took four Holyport students; Anisha Sharma, Victor Jimenez, Jemima Jones and Bridget Lynch to Maidenhead to work with four Eton College students at MCFT (a kitchen maintenance company). In Holyport we believe that the most effective way to understand the world of work is to be part of it, even for a short period. This BI Day was a prime opportunity for our students to learn from business professionals in their work place and understand the factors affecting a medium-sized business. This was also a chance to experience the key components of the business and how they fit together.

Holyport Lower sixth students found out how businesses measure their performance and use that information to survive and thrive in a competitive marketplace. The day consisted of experiencing the work life of employees at MCFT and students said they found it really insightful and interesting to see the behind the scenes running of the company. In addition, they also learnt how to wire a plug! Overall it was a really fun day and we thank MCFT for being such lovely and attentive hosts.

By Victor Jiminez

SIXTH FORM REVIEW MARCH 2019 Sixth Form Leadership Revamp – A Whole Year Group Approach Today saw Holyport College’s first ever Sixth Form Leadership Day. Mr Alford, Mr Hardee, Mrs Harding and the Sixth Form tutor team kicked off the revamped student leadership programme today..

The ultimate aim is that whilst there will be a new Prefect Structure to the school, all members of the current Lower 6th will take some sort of leadership role from after Easter.

As a starter to this process – the entire Lower 6th were off timetable doing a series of challenges in teams – from physical exertion to problem solving, diplomacy skills in the form of a model UN conference to art and design challenges. All students represented a different country as part of the day’s competition. This has allowed the sixth form tutor team to see how students work as teams and whether any have begun to step up to the plate in terms of leadership.

As we go to press the winner of the day is yet to be determined but it is clear that all students have had a fun day so far.

Lower 6th Students will be invited to apply for senior positions this weekend – but all sixth formers needs to fill out the Google Application Form for which Committees they would like to be on by Monday.

Mr Alford and the 6th Form team are going to have some agonising decisions about student leadership as there were lots of good qualities on display today, but they are all keen to be working with this group of student leaders for the coming year.

SIXTH FORM REVIEW MARCH 2019 Sixth Formers participate in Lessons from Auschwitz Project Lower Sixth Historians and Religious Studies students were invited, earlier this term, to apply to represent the College in the Lessons from Auschwitz Project, run by the Holocaust Education Trust. Flynn O’Leary and Will Goderski were chosen as our ambassadors. Here they share their thoughts on what they have learnt so far...

Admittedly, I’ve already written these few introductory lines so many times, in an attempt to find the right words, but I’ve had to surrender to the fact that I’ll never find the “right” words to describe what Auschwitz is and what it represents.

On the evening of the 18th March, after waking up at 2am to check in a few hours later at Stansted airport, we found ourselves on a bus back to Krakow, our minds filled with hundreds of thoughts and questions that will never find a rational answer. After a 90 minute journey to Stansted, 2 hour flight to Poland and a 90 minute drive on the other side, we found ourselves in Auschwitz; or as it was known before the Germans invaded, Oświęcim. What shocked us on our journey over was how bleak the area was: there seemed to be no colour aside from the grey and brown in buildings and a sort of washed out green where it seemed that grass couldn’t quite grow.

We’d read countless articles of people's experiences - victims and visitors alike - in an attempt to prepare ourselves; as we were warned repeatedly that the visit can be very difficult to process. But nothing could’ve prepared us for the blistering wind, bitter cold and the abject horror we felt when walking under the infamous “Arbeit macht frei” gate. We put on our headsets before we entered the first camp -

Auschwitz I - through which our guide, David, spoke to us. We walked in relative silence for the next few hours, alone with our surroundings, thoughts and our guides voice; talking us through what was in front of us and what we couldn’t quite comprehend. After watching movies, documentaries, reading books & diaries and seeing photos of the atrocities of Auschwitz, it didn't seem real to us; to be seeing it in the David took us through the barracks which housed entire Jewish communities, Greeks, Eastern Europeans, gypsies, homosexuals and those with disabilities before their murder. We saw the infamous rooms; of human hair which the nazis tore from their victims, of childrens shoes and clothing, piles of striped “uniforms”, stacks of suitcases, crutches and prosthetic limbs and - what struck me most at the time - the piles of personal belongings and toys of those who were told they were being relocated or would soon be returning home.

Auschwitz was smaller than we’d expected and, consequently, the homes of the perpetrators, the barracks and the gas chambers & crematoria were all in this same area. Without relaying the graphic details of the black wall, the gallows and the chambers we saw, I would say that the harrowing and sick feeling that struck us that day was unlike anything we’d experienced before. (cont…)

SIXTH FORM REVIEW MARCH 2019 I think we both felt that, at the first camp, so much pain and hatred had been condensed and now manifested as this inescapable emotion, but Birkenau was quite different.

It’s the largest of the three main Auschwitz camps, built in 1941 to house up to 200,000 prisoners after the original camp got too overcrowded. Birkenau is where the scale of the horrors that went on here start to hit you. Birkenau stretches over 425 acres of bleak, barren landscape, with lines of barbed-wire fences and watchtowers stretching off into the distance in each direction. It’s a huge extermination camp where the Nazis industrialised death, building four gas chambers to dispose of as many people as they could as efficiently as possible.

Despite this, the vastness of the camp was so great that a sort of numb and hollow feeling took over at this point. The fatigue had kicked in for us and the wind made it so much more real for us to imagine standing in the very same place; crawling off the cattle cart after a ten day journey, being torn from our families and putting on our own striped uniform.

It would seem that there is no other way to confront this reality than by visiting somewhere like Auschwitz; which was an emotional but incredible experience. Our educators - as part of the LFA project drove home to us that we should not stare into the past as the resting place of this prejudice and hatred when it is alive and well in our “modern” and “progressive” society.

We’d strongly encourage anyone who has the opportunity to take it; despite how daunting it might be!

We’ll both carry forward a wholly unique experience and know that if debate is ever bogged down in jargon or obscured by politicised sweeping statements, we will just cast our minds to the day we visited Poland. Thank you so much from both of us - to Miss Lunney and HET for the opportunity.

Flynn O’Leary

SIXTH FORM REVIEW

Holyport Lectures March 21st - Windsor MP Adam Afriyie Mr Afriyie gave a talk last Thursday, largely focused on Brexit and his road to becoming an MP after his career in the technology business. He explained the reasons behind his votes against Theresa May’s Brexit deal. Pupils posed a wide range of questions on his views and the potential outcomes of the Brexit process.

He clarified his position on the process, defending the notion that his constituents voted in favour of remaining, pointing out that parts of Bracknell (an area that voted to leave) lay in his constituency. It sparked a wide range of opinions and discussions throughout the attendees and provided plenty of food for thought on the current political impasse.

We appreciate Adam giving up his time and hopefully inspiring our students to talk an interest in politics, which seems promising as he spoke to a full house of Sixth Formers.

March 26th - Insead Lecturer - Craig Smith

Business ethicist, Craig Smith discussed many of the choices we make shopping everyday, from clothes made in China to use of social media. What corporate choices are we endorsing, from low wage labour in Asia to sale of our browsing data to advertisers in return for free use of Facebook and Instagram.

He illustrated the choices we should be aware of and the behaviour of businesses that we sometimes ignore when shopping. Tobani and Romina in their interview, asked him to reflect on how business are rated on their ethical conduct and unfortunately how this can only come to light following large scale instances of corporate misconduct such as Volkswagon or Eron.

SIXTH FORM REVIEW MARCH 2019

Senior A team: joint 1st in 3 way tie in the end of season tournament, with 2nd overall on GD. 3rd in the league. 

Seniors helping out at inter-house sports, thank you so much. Team Holyport 

Megan & Grace up early for the first day sailing ! 