The New Wittonian, Spring 2023

FOOTBALL: Sir John Deane's women make their debut for College

PLUS: Spotlight on careers

The New Wittonian

Issue 5, Spring 2023

Students dazzle in Little Shop of

Horrors

Sir John Deane’s students have sights set on future

Sir John Deane’s students are preparing for their next steps as many have now received university and apprenticeship offers.

More than 700 students have made a UCAS application, with more than 2,500 offers now received for courses, from accounting, engineering, business and computer science to criminology, graphic design, nursing and midwifery.

Eleven students have been successful in their applications to Oxford and Cambridge Universities, while 21 students have received at least one offer for highly competitive medicine, veterinary and dentistry courses, with many more students awaiting news of

their success after attending an interview earlier this year.

Students are also looking beyond the UK with offers to study abroad, including Stella Shellard, who will be heading to the USA in September having received offers from Virginia Tech and James Madison University, to study biochemistry and chemistry.

Many others will be heading straight into industry, with 14 students already receiving firm offers for degree and higher level apprenticeships at some of the UK’s top firms with many more offers yet to be confirmed.

The official newsletter of Sir John Deane’s Sixth Form College

After months of rehearsals, the residents of Skid Row took to the stage for the much-anticipated cult musical classic, Little Shop of Horrors. Selling out three nights, the cast and crew received a hat-trick of standing ovations for their high energy performances, which included a feast of well known hits from the original movie.

Students secure top UK apprenticeships

A number of Sir John Deane’s students have been successful in securing highly competitive degree apprenticeships from some of the UK’s top firms.

14 students have already received offers for degree and higher-level apprenticeships across a number of sectors, including law, finance and aerospace engineering, with many more students awaiting news of their success.

Careers Manager, Danielle Oultram, said: “To receive so many offers at this point of the year is fantastic news for our students and reflective of all their hard work and dedication over several months. We look forward to hearing the outcome of many more applications over the next few months.

Earlier this year, students embraced the opportunity to meet with Sir John Deane’s alumni currently working in degree apprenticeship roles, when they returned to the College as part of our

2023 Apprenticeship offers

National Apprenticeship Week celebrations.

Danielle added: “We have an incredible network of Sir John Deane’s students in roles across the country, which is growing every year. It was wonderful to welcome them back to the College and for them to share their knowledge and experience to inspire current students.”

Elliott McLean Degree Apprenticeship, Retail Banking Relationship Management with Barclays

Evie Bradley Degree Apprenticeship, Creative Design with Unilever

Leo Sefton Degree Apprenticeship, Accountancy with WR Partners

Harry Wakefield Higher Degree Apprenticeship, Finance, Accountancy & Business with PWC

Students celebrate Oxbridge offers

Eleven students have received prestigious offers from Oxford and Cambridge Universities

Sir John Deane’s students have been successful in securing offers from prestigious Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

Eleven students from the College recently received news of their offers, following a highly competitive application and interview process.

Oxbridge co-ordinator Robert Palin said: “Once again our students have done incredibly well to secure such highly competitive offers.

“They have all worked incredibly hard and have demonstrated a commitment and passion for their subjects beyond the A level syllabus.”

The College supports students considering Oxford and Cambridge universities through it’s Oxbridge readiness programme. Students are guided through the application process with expert one-to-one mentoring, discussion groups, research projects, interview preparation and extensive UCAS support.

Those set for Oxford and Cambridge come from a number of different schools across Cheshire, including the College’s partner high schools, Hartford CE High School, Weaverham High School and Bridgewater High School. The successful candidates also include twins Grace and Tom Hey, former pupils at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School.

Across the year group, more than 700 students have applied to university with the majority now receiving offers from their first-choice destinations.

2023 Oxbridge Offers

Alisha Bushnell (Lymm High School) Medicine at Cambridge

Emily Bromley-Davenport (Hartford CE High School) Chemistry at Oxford

Grace Hey (Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School)

English at Cambridge

Alice Frecheville (Sale Grammar School) English at Cambridge

Naomi Rushton (Weaverham High School)

Geography at Oxford

Araminta Rowley-Fox (Manchester High School for Girls) Geography at Cambridge

Robert Turner (Bridgewater High School) History & Politics at Oxford

Oliver Lavery (Sandymoor Ormiston Academy)

History at Oxford

Lewis Stokes (Helsby County High School) History & Economics at Oxford

Tom Hey (Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School)

Modern Languages (German and Czech) at Oxford

Leon Moorhouse (Tarporley High School) Italian & Linguistics at Oxford

Hat-trick of standing ovations for residents of Skid Row

After months of rehearsals, Sir John Deane’s students took to the stage in the much-anticipated musical production, Little Shop of Horrors.

The College’s wickedly talented cast, band and technical crew brought the devious cult musical to life, during three sell-out shows in February –each receiving a standing ovation.

The 40-strong cast were supported by a band of talented musicians, expert sound and lighting engineers and a skilled stage management crew, working behind the scenes.

Narrated by Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon (Gracie Radulovic , Rose Mendham and Zara WilliamsPattison), the story centres around a flower shop assistant, Seymour (Zak Marmont) who falls for co-worker Audrey (Lillie Rigby).

An amateur botanist, Seymour discovers a mysterious new plant with killer potential.

The growing plant feeds only on

human flesh and blood and attracts a great deal of fame and fortune as well as the attention of kind, sweet Audrey. Soon enough, Seymour feeds Audrey’s sadistic dentist boyfriend (Ben Mather-Dodd) to the plant (Charlotte Braka) then later shop owner Mushnik (Josh Bennett).

The show was jam packed with high energy performances, humour and a large dose of 60s rock n’ roll and doo wop, including well known favourites, 'Downtown', 'Somewhere That’s Green' and 'Suddenly Seymour'.

Principal Christopher Atherton, said: "We know how incredible our students are but were still completely blown away by their talent and the professionalism of the whole production.

"To put on a show of this standard takes a huge amount of energy and committment and I'd like to congratulate and thank the whole cast and crew for creating such a special and memorable moment for the College."

Spotlight on careers

A month-long spotlight on careers has provided inspiration for students at Sir John Deane’s Sixth Form College.

As part of National Careers Week, the College welcomed more than 40 national and regional employers to take part in the annual Careers Fair, including NHS, Airbus, BT Group, AstraZeneca, Bentley and Sellafield, to name just a few. Students discovered more about the opportunities available to them post A level and degree.

Later in March, more than 50 students considering degree apprenticeships were invited to attend a mock interview event at the College. Taking part in the event were representatives from a wide range of employers

Danielle Oultram, Careers Manager, said: “Events like this are all about creating opportunities for students to meet with employers, network and gain valuable feedback in preparation for their upcoming interviews.

“The students taking part were extremely impressive, so much so that two of them were offered paid summer internships and others were invited to begin the formal application process for a top law firm, which is fantastic news and a huge confidence boost for those students.”

including Fisher German Priestner, Balfour Beatty, Barclays, Myerson Law, The Access Bank and The Very Group.

Sir John Deane’s appoints new Senior Students

Sir John Deane’s has appointed its new Head Students. Sana Rukhia, Broghan Robertson, Amber Clayton, Oliver May, Chili Cheung and Aaron Rohium, will lead a wider group of more than 40 Senior Students in a number of celebrations and activities over the next 12 months, including campaigns around diversity,

neurodiversity, sustainability and wellbeing. The College’s Senior Students and Head Students also act as key ambassadors, representing the College at a number of events, and work closely with the College’s Senior Leadership Team as the student voice.

Charity thrift sale

Students from the College’s Charities Committee did their bit to combat fast fashion and raise awareness around sustainability with a pop-up thrift shop sale. Students from across the College donated their unwanted items of clothing, which were then sold in College over two days. All monies raised will be donated to the committees’ new chosen charity of the year, Women for Afghan Women.

International Women’s Day

As part of it’s International Women’s Day celebrations, Bentley Headquarters, in Crewe, invited three Sir John Deane’s students to join them for a day of activities, workshops and a tour of the site, in a bid to inspire more women to join the automotive industry.

Danielle Oultram, Careers Manager, who also attended the event said: “We were thrilled to be invited to this event. It was a great opportunity for our students to learn more about the industry and meet some of the leading female figures paving the way for the next generation.”

Sports News

SJD Women make their debut for College

Young female footballers made history in March as they became the first Sir John Deane’s women's football team.

They played a debut friendly match against Holy Cross missing out on a win at home, with a 3-2 defeat. Coach Ryan Fitzsimmons said: “The girls played a fantastic game, with two great goals from Josephine Etheridge,

player of the match, and Izzy Fenton.”

Training sessions will be taking place every Monday afternoon on the astro turf and are open to anyone wanting to play. Two further friendly matches are scheduled for April and May before the team look set to join the North West College’s League in September.

Round up of the North West College’s League

Sir John Deane’s sports teams have had an action packed term as they approach the end of the sporting season.

There were impressive wins for the basketball team in both matches against Ashton Sixth Form College, beating them 75 - 50 at home, and 61 - 72 away. They also stormed to victory away at Aquinas College, beating them 49 - 68.

The football first team celebrated wins at Aquinas and Bury as well as beating Rochdale Sixth Form College 3-0 at home, while the second team also put in a great performance against Ashton Sixth Form College Second, beating them 5-4.

The netball team are set to finish in the top half of the table after strong wins against Rochdale Sixth Form College, Aquinas Sixth Form College and Bury College.

You can keep up with all the latest results, players and league standings via the College's dedicated sports Instagram page, visit @SJDsport.

From left: Alina Ivashchenko, Charlotte Magrane, Evie Nicholls, Isabelle Fenton, Faye Winstanley, Hannah Rich, Emma Buckle, Beatrice Garvie, Josephine Etheridge (also pictured below), Emma Hough, Ella Woodman, Chloe Bond