Feb 2015 Newsletter

HNC NEWS FEBRUARY 2015

A-MAZING RESULTS

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HNC RANKED IN TOP THIRD OF ALL STATE SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES FOR SPORT PROVISION

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CLASS OF 2014 CELEBRATE

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HAPPY 2015!

We thought we would start the New Year by sharing with you some of the fantastic enrichment activity that has taken place at the college since September. This enrichment activity is really important, as it helps our students to grow and to develop personally as well as academically, and it helps them to hone the skills and qualities that they will need to progress successfully from the college to university or the world of work.

It almost goes without saying that they will also need excellent examination results to progress successfully from the college to university or the world of work and so we are delighted that in August 2014 student performance at A Level and on BTEC qualifications was excellent and placed the college in the top 10% of all schools and colleges nationally for value added success. Nearly all of our Class of 2014 made exceptional progress during their time at Huddersfield New College. We celebrated this with them, and their family and friends, at Huddersfield Town Hall early in January and it was a joyous occasion.

We will continue across the remainder of this academic year to provide the academic challenge and the outstanding college experience that will enable our current students to make exceptional progress too, and I very much look forward to celebrating their success with you in August.

Angela Williams Principal

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A-MAZING RESULTS

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We were delighted to announce in August that HNC’s Class of 2014 achieved a fantastic 99% pass rate at A Level, coming in above the national average, and almost 40% of all our A Level students leaving college with an A*, A or B grade.

Students studying for vocational A Levels also achieved some amazing results; 99% passed their courses, with 70% attaining grades equivalent to A*, A or B at A Level!

Angela Williams, Principal at Huddersfield New College, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to see that our advanced level pass rates have been maintained at such a high level for the third year running, especially given the more difficult context at A and AS Level with the demise of the January exam series.

“I would like to congratulate all our advanced level students on their fantastic results. They are richly deserved and a just reward after two years of dedicated hard work. And on behalf of our Governors and staff, I’d like to wish them all well for the future.

We all very much look forward to hearing about the great things they go on to do next”.

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INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS VISIT HNC

Ian Murphy Workshop, September 2014

AS and A2 Fine Art students and Art Foundation Diploma students have enjoyed taking part in practical workshops this term with the highly successful and well-regarded artists, Sally Barker and Ian Murphy.

These great workshops give our students the opportunity to ask professional artists questions about their working methods and ideas, with students using these practical sessions to draw inspiration for their own work and portfolios.

Lydia Green, Head of Art at Huddersfield New College said “a visit to the college from a practising artist is always an amazing opportunity for students to engage with the contemporary art world, helping them to gain a real insight into the way they develop ideas, use materials and organise their professional career. We endeavour to make these workshops part of our students’ annual working programme” The Ian Murphy workshop was generously sponsored by the NADFAS (National Association of the Decorative and Fine Arts Societies) established to support and develop the Arts within Education.

Did you know that final year Art and Design students exhibit their work at the end of their courses?

Find out more at www.huddnewcoll.ac.uk/courses

Sally Barker Workshop, October 2014

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Richard Murphy Workshop, September 2014

IT’S SHOWTIME! The Annual Christmas Dance and Musical Theatre showcase was a celebration of our talented Performing Arts students. The show demonstrated the work they had undertaken during the Autumn term and forms part of their final grade assessment.

During the show, students performed songs and scenes from musicals such as We Will Rock You, Kiss me Kate and Copacabana.

As well as performing songs and dances from these well-known musical productions, students also performed self-choreographed numbers.

To prepare for the show, students worked with external practitioners, Thom Meredith and Chris Pulleyn, to learn their songs and were also invited to take part in workshops throughout the term with musical theatre stars such as Richard Murphy from the West End Touring Company.

The evening ended with a fantastic grand finale, with the students performing ‘Let it Go’, choreographed by ex-professional ballerina Fiona Noonan.

Annual Christmas Dance and Musical Theatre Show, December 2014

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HUDDERSFIELD NEW COLLEGE: A SPORTING SUCCESS! The college has a long standing reputation for sporting excellence. This excellence has recently been recognised by the ‘School Sport Magazine’, an influential publication that encourages sporting excellence in state and private education. In their recent top 100 ‘best state sports schools’, Huddersfield New College rolled in at an impressive 33, the highest placed state Sixth Form College in West Yorkshire.

HNC Cricket Academy and guest coach, Professional Cricketer Tom Craddock, November 2014

The past year has seen some phenomenal success, both by college teams and by individual students.

The Cricket Academy saw three students, Jonathan Whiteoak, Daniel Cross and Will Simpson selected for the Yorkshire U19 County Cricket Club, and another student, Hollie Armitage, selected to play for the England U19 Cricket Club; Women’s Football Academy Captain, Alice Linsell, won a full football scholarship to study at Davenport University in the USA; several students represented the College in the British Colleges Regional Finals in 2014, with five students reaching the National Finals in Tennis (Andrew Atkinson), Badminton (Joe Wyke), Swimming (James Reidy), Golf Jonathan Fleetwood) and Cross Country (Bradley Stansill-Todd).

HNC Sports Ambassadors 2014-15

Alice Linsell, Women’s Football Academy Captain 2014

Recent additional individual sporting highlights of 2014 also include Piers Boden, who claimed a double gold medal in the recent Racketlon World Championships, Jessie Slater, who claimed a silver medal in the Archery GB Junior Indoor Championships, and Amira Mellor, who after a very successful 2014 season, came 28th at the UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup in the Czech Republic- at only 17!

Sporting provision continues to develop at Huddersfield New College, with a Women’s Rugby League Programme being introduced in September 2015, and the continuing development of the Women’s Cricket Academy. With these new additions, we can’t wait to see our next ranking, which will be published in December 2015.

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The Makatones

Zoe Shackleton

HNC’S GOT TALENT! We don’t need to be told that we’ve got talent… but it never hurts to hear it from the professionals!

We’ve recently found out that we have not one, but two acts through the first two rounds of auditions for Britain’s Got Talent!

We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for The Makatones and Zoe Shackleton, the two acts who will find out later in February whether they have been successful in gaining a place in the third round of auditions.

HNC and the Makatones, who auditioned in Manchester on December 8th, are a group put together by the college’s Health and Social Care Department. Head of Department, Chris Madej sang ‘you raise me up’ by Josh Groban, with staff members Anna Butterfield and Theresa Mellor, and students Lucy Myers, Megan Hirst, Katie Gallagher, Beth Gill, Corann Angus, Aimee Madden and Grace Bonner, signing the lyrics.

The college’s other Britain’s Got Talent hopeful is Assistant Principal, Zoe Shackleton, an accomplished solo singer. She performed ‘a spoonful of sugar’ from the classic film Mary Poppins.

We’d like to wish our Britain’s Got Talent hopefuls the very best of luck!

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CELEBRATION EVENING CLASS OF 2014 Former students of Huddersfield New College started the new year in style, as the Class of 2014 gathered at Huddersfield Town Hall for the college’s annual awards evening.

Special guest, Professor Bob Cryan CBE, The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield and fellow Huddersfield New College alumnus, attended the event as a guest speaker and to present some well-deserved awards.

All the students in attendance had an extra reason to celebrate this year, as they all played a part in helping us post our best ever exam results in August 2014, ensuring that we remained in the top 10% of sixth form colleges nationwide for student performance on A Levels and BTEC qualifications.

Over 350 students were recognised for their achievements, receiving certificates, vouchers and plaques to celebrate and reward their success.

Five of those students were also given special awards for their exceptional performance inside and outside of college.

Philip Hume presents Shauna Halstead with the Sheffield Hallam University Annual Academic Achievement Award, January 2015

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HNC GIVES BACK

Christmas Jumper Day, December 2014

HNC staff and students have raised a fantastic ÂŁ2000 for charity since the start of the academic year in September 2014.

From Children in Need to National Christmas Jumper Day, everyone in the College community has been involved with our charity fund-raising events and have helped us to raise much need awareness and funds for both local and national charities.

With plenty of events planned for the rest of the academic year, we’re hoping to raise even more funds for charity and play our part in helping to make the world a better place.

Health and Social Care Christmas Fayre, December 2014

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Children in Need, November 2014

POETRY IN MOTION Following on from Saliha Khadim’s success in being chosen to represent the College in the regional heat of the ‘Poetry by Heart’ competition held in Leeds, we’re pleased to announce that she has now won the county heat and will go on to represent West Yorkshire in the National Regional Semi-Finals in March!

This year’s competition was stiff; Saliha was up against other student ‘Poetry by Heart’ champions from Castleford Academy, The Co-Operative Academy of Leeds, Crofton Academy, Leeds Grammar School, Ossett Academy and Sixth Form College, Woodkirk Academy and Roundhay High School. Each student recited three poems in front of an audience consisting of the competitors’ friends and family, and the competition’s judges, at the Leeds Central Library. This year’s judges were of a high calibre and included Ursula Holden Gill, a storyteller and actress, James Nash, and Peter Spafford, both published poets.

The three poems that Saliha chose to recite were ‘Slavery a Poem’ by Hannah Moore, ‘It’s Work’

by Benjamin Zephaniah, and ‘Stretcher Bearer’ by Tommy Crawford – coincidentally the same WW1 poem that the HNC 2014 National Semi-Finalist, Jennifer O’ Sullivan, picked.

Saliha’s triumph in Leeds makes it the second successive year that the College has had a student representing West Yorkshire in the National Semi-Finals. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that Saliha will excel in the National Semi-Finals in Cambridge in March and that 2015 will see our first ‘Poetry by Heart’ finalist!

Saliha Khadim, West Yorkshire ‘Poetry

by Heart’ champion, January 2015

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HIGH FLIER JACK RETURNS TO HNC! HNC Alumni, Jack, recently visited the Sports Department for a career talk with current students. Jack, who graduated in the summer of 2012, came back to talk about his career training as a commercial pilot, helping to inspire our current cohort to aim high.

Jack, who studied a mixture of BTECs and A Levels in Sport, Sociology, Psychology, and Law, had always wanted to be a pilot. He wasn’t sure if his dream would be possible though, as it costs tens of thousands of pounds to train, and often the training is self-funded, so he chose a wide range of subjects to give himself the very best possible employment chances he could, whatever his chosen career was to be.

Luckily for Jack, he was fortunate enough to be offered the money to complete his training by his parents and grandparents, so in November 2012, he sat the tests required to kick start his flying career. After passing the tests and completing his initial training, Jack successfully landed a position flying with Ryan Air as First Officer, and will be undertaking his final training, and building up his flying hours, from March.

Come May, Jack will be co-piloting his first commercial flights and hopes to be a Captain by 2019- when Jack will still only be 25!

Jack said “I loved my time at HNC, it’s a good learning environment and atmosphere. I’d recommend students coming here again and again, and my advice to the current students is to work hard… it pays off in the end!”

Jack Slater Huddersfield New College, January 2015

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