As you will see from the great variety of activities represented in these pages, the Partnership remains vibrant and diverse in its work, and young people in Darlington continue to mak
Trang 1Welcome
Darlington 11-19 Practitioner Newsletter
Issue 22, October 2016 © Darlington 11-19 Partnership
In This Issue…
Euro links - Polam Hall School
Splash-a-thon - Carmel College
Footballers do the Triple - Hummersknott Academy
Pet Physiotherapist - Darlington College
Ingenious Engineering - Foundation for Jobs
Against the Odds - Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College
Diamond Anniversary Reunion - Hummersknott Academy
Motor Vehicle—Learning & Skills Service
Investors in Careers Awards - Hurworth
School
Tees Valley Skills Event - Teesside University
Claudia Smith - Carmel College
The Flat - Darlington College
Apprenticeship Success - Queen Elizabeth
Sixth Form College
Open Day - Teesside University
Luca Cara - Darlington College
Regional Sailing Award - Carmel College
Superb A Level Results - Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College
It is a great pleasure to introduce the first Practitioner
Newsletter of the academic year
Once again it gives me great pleasure to recognise the first
class academic achievements of all of our students in the
secondary and post 16 sectors; Darlington continues to build
upon its reputation for academic excellence and my
congratulations go out to all of the staff, whose hard work,
dedication and commitment have ensured that the students
have optimised their potential and thus given them the best
possible chances of success when they move onto the next
stages of their lives
As you will see from the great variety of activities represented
in these pages, the Partnership remains vibrant and diverse in
its work, and young people in Darlington continue to make a
contribution not only through their own personal successes
but also by supporting the success of others
Even a brief glimpse at this edition of the newsletter reveals
just how much 11-19 year olds in Darlington do to help others
At a time when our young people face so many great
challenges, it is inspiring to be reminded of their capacity to
make such a positive difference to their world
I’m confident that this strong platform will be built upon
in the academic year 2016/17 and we will all enjoy
another first class year
Dean Judson
Head teacher,
Hurworth School
Chair, 11—19 Partnership
Trang 2Eurolinks at Hotel Bannatyne
All of Polam Hall’s year 10 linguists recently participated in a ‘Eurolinks’ day in which they used
their foreign language skills to promote the north east region and experience the challenges of
producing advertising material for local business
This ambitious project was held at Bannatyne’s Hotel in Darlington who generously offered their
conference facilities for the day to ensure students experienced a professional environment where
teamwork and tight deadlines could be experienced first hand
Keynote speakers for the morning included two Student Ambassadors from Routes into Languages
at Newcastle University Their opening address highlighted the wide ranging career opportunities for students with language skills in today’s competitive markets It was also interesting to learn how many well known celebrities are in fact linguists themselves Myths concerning the use of English
around the world were tackled and there was an interactive session which was much enjoyed by
participants Students, as ‘employees’ of the Eurolinks company, then went to work in offices to review action plans to tackle the various challenges found in their in trays Dealing with telephone enquiries, writing business letters and producing presentations - all in a foreign language had to be completed in the morning session!
During the afternoon, promotional work focused on the north east region as an area for inward investment This proved to be a particularly enjoyable part of the day with some highly creative advertisements being produced The day culminated in each group demonstrating the results of their efforts to all participants Christine Harvey, Head of Languages at Polam, commented, “Eurolinks is always a challenging but highly enjoyable day which enables students to gain important insights into the value of language skills in the workplace Inviting students to step out of their comfort zone develops their self confidence and helps them realise they often know more than they think they
know linguistically” The Languages Department wishes to express a sincere thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make the day a success
Trang 3Footballers do the Triple
Splash-a-thon
Lent this year saw Cafod launch its
“Make a Splash” campaign and
Carmel jumped right in
World-wide it is estimated that
women and girls spend 140 million
hours a day collecting water That
can mean walking several hours to
and from a water point when they
could be going to school, studying or
playing with friends
Cafod’s aim is to build wells, pumps
and water facilities across Africa and
get girls back into education In order to raise money for “Make a Splash”, Carmel hosted the first Splash-a-thon, an event which saw teams from years seven, eight and nine running the length of the football pitch whilst carrying two full buckets of water, with the aim of winning the race
without emptying their buckets of water! The event was a great success with students from all year groups and forms taking part, having fun and raising money for Cafod In total the
Splash-a-thon raised more than £200 for Cafod which will go towards improving the lives of
thousands of young girls across Africa Well done to all involved
“We’ve done the triple this year, what should we aim for next year?” was the comment of one of the year 7 footballers The group of year 7 boys have had a spectacular start to their football careers at Hummersknott Academy Coming from several different primary schools the boys have worked hard
to get to know each other and their styles of play and have built a highly successful team
The team competed in the Darlington Town League, Town Cup and 5 aside competitions and were unbeaten throughout Along their way to silverware the boys have beaten teams from Carmel, DSMS, Education Village, Hurworth, Longfield, Polam and St.Aidan’s schools
Alasdair Tatham, PE teacher, said “The players have been brilliant and all have made important contributions to achieve their unbeaten record”
Trang 4Pet Physiotherapist
An animal lover is set to get a new leash on life after defying the odds to train as a pet physiotherapist Darlington College graduate Hollie Thornton has been accepted to study a degree in veterinary physiotherapy after securing a triple star distinction in BTEC applied science despite being diagnosed with an allergy to pet hair
“I’ve always wanted to work with animals since I was very young,” said Hollie, a former student at Carmel College “We had hamsters, rabbits and a dog and I never had any problems, but during my final year at college I noticed that when I played with my dog and two cats I would come out in hives and get snuffley.”
A blood test revealed that Hollie had a severe hypersensitivity to animal hair and fur which doctors said could be a danger to her health “I was devastated, I’d worked so hard and now I thought I was going to fall at the last hurdle and lose the chance of my dream career I’d originally wanted to be a vet but wasn’t making the grades at AS level that I needed so I researched vet physiotherapy and saw that you needed a human physio qualification to get onto a course.”
Despite being one year into her A levels Hollie left school and enrolled on a sports therapy and rehabilitation course at Darlington College “The year long course was great and I learnt loads about anatomy and physiology as well as it boosting my confidence and giving me new skills but it didn’t count towards any UCAS points which I needed to help me get into a university,” said Hollie
After speaking to career advisors at Darlington College Hollie was advised to take a two year BTEC course in applied science which would help with her application for higher education
“I was really disappointed at first that I needed to spend another two years studying before I could get
to university but I got great support from my tutors and even managed to secure work experience at
my local veterinary practice which really jelled with my university application I finally thought
everything was coming together then I got the news about my allergy and I was devastated Being a veterinary physiotherapist means I would be treating pets and working with animals including race horses and greyhounds even farm and zoo animals, so having an allergy was a big problem, but after speaking to my GP I discovered that as long as I was sensible, wore latex gloves when dealing with any animals and took my medication as and when I needed it I should still be able to pursue my
dream.”
Hollie will start her BSC (Hons) course at Warwickshire Agricultural College in September “I’ve overcome so much to get here it still feels a little unreal, but I couldn’t have done it without the help and support of all of my tutors at college I’m so happy that I kept going over the four years and my parents are so proud that I’m finally getting to where I want to be.”
Darlington College graduate Hollie Thornton, with her pet Jackawawa Gus
Trang 5Ingenious Engineering
Hundreds of Darlington school pupils took part in Foundation for Jobs engineering activities held over a week designed to boost their understanding of the important North-East industry sector More than 120 pupils attended Foundation for Jobs annual Ingenious Engineering event on Friday
8th July to take part in a range of practical activities delivered by engineering companies A further 40 pupils at Hurworth School submitted Mars Rover engineering designs that were judged at the event, while year five pupils at Red Hall Primary School submitted a collage for display at the event
outlining the history of the town’s Lingfield Point
The following week around 200 pupils at Longfield Academy spent four days (11th to 14th July) with Foundation for Jobs staff building mini underwater robot kits as part of activities designed to increase their understanding of the subsea sector, a significant growth area for the town The activity is supported by Darlington based Modus Seabed Intervention which works on a variety of projects across the globe using underwater robots known as ROVs (remote operated vehicles)
The Ingenious Engineering event, now in its fifth year, saw staff from Darlington based companies and organisations including Cummins Engines, Modus Seabed Intervention, Mech Tool (MTE Ltd), Cleveland Bridge and Darlington College, running practical activities ranging from building weight bearing structures, to subsea robotics, computer aided design and making a torch
In addition Go Ahead Training at Newton Aycliffe and Ben Haddon, formerly of the Engineering Development Trust, ran tasks around robotics, computer coding and
preparing a Mars mission The aim of the annual event, which was
held at the Dolphin Centre, is to challenge young people’s
perceptions of the skills needed and opportunities available in one
of the North-East’s most important employment sectors, which is
facing impending skills gaps with thousands of engineers due to
retire over the next few years
The event, which this year formed part of the wider Festival of
Ingenuity in Darlington, was attended by Richard Maudslay, a
Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and managing director
of NEI Parsons Ltd, prior to its merging with Rolls-Royce
Earlier this year Foundation for Jobs secured funding and support
from the Royal Academy’s Ingenious programme to support more
opportunities for young people from primary school age upwards to
work on practical projects with engineers that fire their interest in
STEM and working in the sector in future
Continued
Trang 6Ingenious Engineering continued
Councillor Chris McEwan, chairman of Foundation for Jobs, said, “The Ingenious Engineering event and other recent engineering activities have once again been a great success and that is down to the continuing support of the businesses and schools for what we are doing The businesses continue to release staff and come up with some fantastic ideas for activities that inspire the young people involved and the schools realise the importance of releasing pupils to participate so I would like to thank both
The event was particularly special this year because of Mr Maudslay’s presence, marking our new partnership with The Royal Academy of Engineering It was a pleasure to meet him and the
enthusiasm he showed for what we are doing and the inspirational advice he gave us will drive us
on to make Foundation for Jobs an even greater success.”
Foundation for Jobs is a joint initiative involving The Northern Echo, Darlington Borough Council, schools, colleges and the Darlington Partnership of private firms and public sector organisations, which has also enjoyed support from businesses and industrialists across the whole North-East region
Its overall aim is to reduce youth unemployment by matching young peoples‘ aspirations with those sectors such as engineering which are vital to the North-East’s economy but which many young people are not pursuing because of incorrect perceptions of the type of work involved
For details on Foundation for Jobs contact programme manager Owen McAteer at owen.mcateer@darlington.gov.uk or visit www.foundationforjobs.co.uk
Tom Young of Modus Seabed Intervention demonstrates subsea robotics to Hurworth School pupils at the Ingenious Engineering event
Thank you to Ian Lemming for providing all the pictures
Trang 7Against the Odds
Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form student Jonathan Raiseborough
achieved impressive A Level grades in English Language,
Graphics and Spanish and his experience is inspirational; a
credit to his commitment and determination to succeed
Jonathan was diagnosed with OCD during his time at
secondary school and had some time out of school because of
the stress he was experiencing He continued to study and
achieved a good set of GCSEs which enabled him to come on
to A level study It was decided that Jonathan would benefit
from some ground-breaking treatment for OCD which was
only available in London Jonathan and his family felt that
this was important and so, for a period of some months, Jonathan balanced his treatment and his studies Both have been successful with Jonathan’s pleasing grades success showing real evidence of both his and his family‘s determination
Alongside this Jonathan has found time to illustrate a children’s book for a friend of the family The proceeds of the book will go to the National Autism Society Jonathan is a very talented artist and hopes to pursue a career as an illustrator in the future He will now progress to Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College’s Foundation Art course
Vice Principal, Laurence Job, comments on Jonathan’s achievements, “We are all delighted by and extremely proud of Jonathan’s success He is always a very positive person, is incredibly polite and a delight to have in College He is very unassuming and has an excellent future ahead of him Jonathan also thoroughly deserved to be recognised in the local community by being awarded the “Exceptional Student” trophy at the Vibe Awards.”
Diamond Anniversary Reunion
Past students of Hummersknott Academy, Hummersknott School and Darlington High School for Girls gathered at Hummersknott Academy one afternoon in June to celebrate 50 years of education on the Edinburgh Drive site
Guests travelled from far and wide and an enjoyable time was had reminiscing about past schooldays, renewing old
acquaintances and admiring the facilities of today’s school
Trang 8Motor Vehicle at Learning & Skills
As a result of great partnership working
with local employers, Learning & Skills
learners Liam Taylor and Philip Coglan are
enjoying Apprenticeship success in their
chosen careers of Motor Vehicle
Maintenance
When Liam left college after completing a
Level 2 Diploma, he was unsure what to do
next Learning & Skills supported him in
finding an employer to enable him to join
an Apprenticeship Liam completed his
Apprenticeship in record time and, due to
his hard work and dedication at local
garage S&L Motors, was quickly signed up
to do his Advanced Apprenticeship
Phillip left St Aidan’s C of E Academy and
decided to follow in the footsteps of his
older brother Kevin, who through the
Diploma and Apprenticeship schemes with
Learning & Skills, has gained full time
employment in a local garage Phillip
successfully completed his Level 2 Motor
Vehicle Diploma course whilst on
placement with S&L Motors last year This
allowed Phillip to show the employer that
he had what it takes to become a mechanic
The garage saw his potential and took him
on as an Apprentice
S&L Motors is a great supporter of the
Apprenticeship scheme It is owned and
operated by Steven Mair, who has in excess
of 18 years’ experience working within the motor industry Steven believes that his business has gained so much through the Apprenticeship scheme “Not only has it enabled us to take on more work, but we are actively contributing to the future of the motor trade whilst being supported by Learning & Skills” Steven Mair, Owner - S&L Motors
Continued
Trang 9Hurworth School achieves Investor in Careers Award
Motor Vehicle at Learning & Skills continued
S&L Motors works in partnership with Learning & Skills, which has a motor vehicle workshop
containing all the equipment found in a modern motor vehicle servicing and repair workshop The
workshop includes:
Lifting equipment including 2 and 4 post ramps, hydraulic jacks, engine cranes and transmission jacks
Recovery, recycle and recharge Air Conditioning unit
Vehicle scanners to read engine management, SRS, ABS and other systems fault codes, read live data, diagnose potential faults and erase vehicle fault codes after the repair
Four wheel laser wheel alignment equipment
Latest electrical diagnostic equipment
Latest up to date version of Auto data
Wheel balancer and tyre machine with arm assist
A variety of motor vehicle repair tools and dedicated vehicle system equipment
Learning & Skills offers Apprenticeships and Level 2 Diplomas in Motor Vehicle Maintenance and
Repair and is recruiting now If you are interested in completing an Apprenticeship or Diploma in
Motor Vehicle, please contact Learning & Skills on 01325 405601 or l&s@darlington.gov.uk You can
apply on line at: www.darlington.gov.uk/apprenticeships
Hurworth School is the first school in Darlington to be awarded the prestigious Investors in Careers Accreditation
The inspector highlighted that the school “demonstrates an outstanding commitment to supporting its students to develop their core career management skills and to make well-informed career choices.”
They found that the “careers team strives for continuous improvement and this results in an outstanding model of evaluative practice.”
Trang 10Tees Valley Skills Event 2016
A highly interactive skills exhibition enabled over 2,000 young people
from across Tees Valley to meet their potential future employers and
learning providers to understand the skills and qualifications needed
to build a career in a number of different sectors
The Tees Valley Skills Event, was held at Teesside University on
Tuesday 20th September for its fifth year attracting nearly 400 students
from Darlington schools
Delivered by Tees Valley Combined Authority, in partnership with North Yorkshire Business and Education Partnership, Teesside University and Tees Valley Learning Provider Network, it is one of the largest events of its kind in the area
One of the employers at the event included Darlington based Curo Marketing, Mark Blacklee, Managing Director said, “It was fantastic to see such enthusiasm and engagement from the young people visiting the event It is vital that employers get together to inspire the next generation and make them aware of the vast opportunities available in Tees Valley.”
Mayor Dave Budd, Chair of Tees Valley Combined Authority, added, “In order for the Tees Valley economy to grow and achieve future prosperity it is vital that young people leave school and college with a knowledge of the skills and qualifications required by different sectors The event
demonstrated the wide range of fulfilling careers that young people can pursue in Tees Valley and the first class training facilities we have in the area.”
Claudia Smith
One of Carmel’s most gifted and talented dancers has had success at the highest
level recently In order to compete in the national finals at Blackpool
Winter Gardens, Year 12 student Claudia Smith firstly had to qualify in the top
12 from a competition that was held in the regional area
There are 7 regions throughout the country which take part in the
IDTA ballroom and Latin competitions so these areas encompass a wide area
and therefore had a lot of dancers competing in this qualifying
competition, which Claudia won She was then placed 1st out of 38 competitors
at the national finals in the ‘Ballroom 16-20 age category’
Claudia said, “This was a real honour for me, especially as it was my first ‘adults’ competition”
We are extremely proud of Claudia and it is a just reward for all the hard work and determination she puts in night after night