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New Sixth News issue 2 executive headteacher raymond friel 12 weeks and counting - part 1: the i.t 12 weeks and counting - part 2: the building 12 weeks and counting - part 3: the launch gateway campaign news - fundraising for phase 2 IN THIS ISSUE, our teams of intrepid reporters from St Gregory’s and St Mark’s will take you on a tour of the New Sixth building development and update you on progress. They have done an excellent job and have mastered a detailed brief like true professionals. We are pleased to announce the appointment of Derek Gormley as Lay Chaplain at St Gregory’s who will be joining St Mark’s Chaplain, Jerry Parr, at the New Sixth from September. Derek and Jerry will be supporting our students on their journey in the New Sixth. We look forward to reading about their work in future issues. We also have an update from our committed fundraising team, who are continuing to explore options for the funding of Phase 2 of our project, which consists of an auditorium, a permanent home for The Well (or chaplaincy) and additional classroom space. If you know of any funding routes, individuals or companies who might be interested in sponsoring or donating to Phase 2, please let us know. At the time of going to print, we are preparing to welcome our first intake of Year 12 students to our first ever Year 12 Induction Day on Wednesday 26 June. This is another significant step towards the reality of running our own sixth form. The teachers and support staff have done an excellent job preparing for next year. Among the students there is a great deal of anticipation. A sixth form has been a dream of the school communities of St Gregory’s and St Mark’s for many years and now it is about to happen. We have also been delighted by the interest from students from other schools who want the kind of ethos and expertise on offer in the New Sixth. As we prepare to welcome our latest group of Year 7 students to the schools in September we hope that for them the New Sixth will be seen as a very natural progression. With thanks for all your support and good wishes. Raymond Friel, MA (Hons) NPQH National Leader of Education
IT Manager, Stuart Hodder with Caitlin & Zac
part 1: the i.t. On Thursday the 13th of June 2013, Caitlin and Zac, two Year 7 students from St Mark’s School, went to St Gregory’s to interview IT Manager, Stuart Hodder, and IT Technician, Joshua Jackson, about the ICT facilities at the New Sixth. The students had a look around the IT areas at St Gregory’s as well as plans for future developments. Mr Hodder and Mr Jackson informed us that at the New Sixth, students are allowed to bring their own tablets and laptop computers for learning benefits. There will also be free WiFi available for students to access. Also, for a discounted price, each student will get a laptop for the two years. St Gregory’s has also upgraded their internet band width so lots of people will be able to use the WiFi at once. Another new thing is the interactive boards which don’t need a projector. The new boards work like a giant touch-screen with HD graphics. The operating system for all computers at the New Sixth will be Windows 7 Office 2010. The main class in IT will be in Computing, taught by our Maths and Computing teacher, Dr Gilson. Students will be able to use computers for every subject and there will be times when they can research things. Students will have to pay for their colour printing and for borrowing a laptop. The colour printing will be a top-up system where you have a bit of credit to print at the start but you have to buy more if you need it. People doing photo graphics will get more credit than others because they will need to print more than someone doing maths, for example. In conclusion, The New Sixth’s IT facilities are of a very high standard.
The New Sixth Administrative Centre Combe Hay Lane, Odd Down, Bath, BA2 8PA Tel 01225 832873 Fax 01225 835848 email info@newsixthbath.org.uk www.newsixthbath.org.uk
12 weeks and counting part 2: the building on thursday 6 june, four intrepid reporters, lily, meghan, niamh and reuben, from st gregory’s year 7, visited the new sixth site to find out how building works are progressing and to ask the all important question...will it be ready on time?!
eam The ReportingT uben iamh & Re Lily, Meghan, N Main structure panels from Switzerland, windows from Poland, doors from the UK, furniture from Keynsham. Nearly 150 different people working on the site over the period of building, fitting out and landscaping. This is what Andy Friendship, the site manager for E R Hemmings, our main contractor, has to coordinate to ensure that the first phase of The New Sixth building is complete and ready for our Year 12 students this September. Apart from concerns over vital weeks lost due to bad weather this winter and occasional windy days hampering erection of the wall panels he is sure that he can hand over the building on time, fully functioning and fit for purpose. From his second floor Portacabin office, Andy shows the plans for electrical and IT cabling and other services which were being installed during our recent site visit. Colour-coded routes in three dimensions for cables underground and on two floors look like a manic intricate underground map. The cables are laid on a sub-floor in tracks, bringing in the data-feed and fibre-link to the main servers and WiFi for students’ laptops. It also facilitates the state-of-the-art interactive touch screens for each classroom. The systems had to be tested before the final floor could be laid and the next team could begin equipping the labs, the photographic studio, learning resource centre, as well as all of the classrooms and offices.
In the site office. . The progress in the sixth form “ buildings has been mixed. Due to bad weather and delays they have lost some time, but are making a good recovery and should soon be back on track. The builders are organised and are working to the best of their ability, overall the progress has been going very well.
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Each stage of the building means a different team of sub contracted skills. Liaison and coordination are the keys to smooth running of the site. Delays could quickly knock on. Deliveries are scheduled so that materials, resources, lifting gear and workforce are all in place at the right time. “There is no space and no benefit in having doors delivered until all the interior work is completed,” Andy said. The day of our visit, besides electricians and plumbers, there were plasterers completing interior walls and applying the second of three screeds to the outside wall of the building. Windows have now been fitted after the first batch had been rejected by quality control.
.. The main entrance
The New Sixth Administrative Centre Combe Hay Lane, Odd Down, Bath, BA2 8PA Tel 01225 832873 Fax 01225 835848 email info@newsixthbath.org.uk www.newsixthbath.org.uk
building is made from sustainable timber which is “ The good for the environment as well as the economy. There are 14 rooms in total - the rest is circulation space. When the building is completed the outside area of the sixth form will be transformed into a luscious place for trees and plants as well as benches for seating.
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Each element of the design has to meet stringent energy saving criteria. The main frame of the building highlights the efficiency of the design by White Design Architects. The sections are manufactured to an exact design specification using timber from sustainable forest resources. Each panel comes completely insulated and interior surfaces finished.
, Meghan r e t r o p e r id p e r Int facilities at the New Sixth “ The are of a very high standard; we have great expectations. There are a wide range of classrooms for a variety of subjects. These include the photography classroom which will have great facilities; the science labs which are going to prove useful for the future. Within the wide range of classrooms, the Learning Resource Centre (L.R.C), also known as the library, will be a big asset to our learning.
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The delivery and erection of the main block was completed over a ten-week period in the early spring, with consignments leaving the Swiss factory at weekly intervals for the twoday journey to Bath. Andy Friendship says that besides the efficiency of the building panels themselves, the benefits come with reliability, speed of building, time and cost saving. “Very little time was lost apart from days when it was too windy for panels to be positioned accurately and safely.” In spite of his busy schedule that day and probably half a dozen missed calls to his mobile while he conducted us around the site, Andy lives up to his name: a friendly, informative guide, answering questions and obviously proud of what he is doing. Asked if everything will be ready in time, he smiled and said that he was “quietly confident”.
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Upper corridor
New classroom
the sixth form should be a great addition “Overall, to the learning of our students. However, we still need all the help we can get for Phase 2 of the New Sixth. Please take all of this into account. Thank you for reading our report.
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The New Sixth Administrative Centre Combe Hay Lane, Odd Down, Bath, BA2 8PA Tel 01225 832873 Fax 01225 835848 email info@newsixthbath.org.uk www.newsixthbath.org.uk
12 weeks and counting part 3: the launch CELEBRATING IN STYLE Like New York – “so good they named it twice” – as the song goes. We are planning not two but three special opening events for the New Sixth! When the students and staff have had time to settle in and feel at home, our official Dedication and Opening will take place on Friday 4 October when we will be joined by local dignitaries and representatives of B&NES Council and the local community, together with friends, supporters and staff of both schools. A week later, on Friday 11 October, it is time for sixth form students, parents and families to come to an evening celebration party at St Gregory’s Catholic College. The event heralds the beginning of collaborative efforts by both school’s PTFAs to work together for our sixth form community. A truly memorable night is planned with fun and frivolity a crucial part of our celebrations! Included in the ticket price is a sumptuous meal, live music from Panama (the name of the band - not the country!), bar, fun auction and, of course, a conducted tour of the building led by our New Sixth students. Special thanks go to St Gregory’s (and New Sixth!) parent, Dick Evry, for providing the band. Last, but by no means least, we will be inviting representatives from the local Christian community and churches to join us for a unique open morning on Thursday 17 October. There will be an opportunity to meet our new Church of England Chaplain, Jerry Parr, who is currently working full-time at St Mark’s School, and our newly appointed Lay Chaplain for St Gregory’s Catholic College. Coffee and cake aplenty!
............................... 11 october - can you lend a helping hand? There are lots of ways for parents, old and new, to get involved and help to organise this momentous event. If you feel that you may be able to help (even if only for an hour or so), please get in touch with your school’s PTFA or the Gateway Campaign Fundraising team. The more helpers we have, the greater the distribution of tasks!
11 october - donate an auction promise or item? We particularly need either real or promised items for the auction. If you could, say, decorate a special birthday cake or dig a garden; do a day’s accounts or knock up a ‘cordon-bleu’ meal for four? Maybe you have a holiday apartment you could offer for a weekend getaway or have contacts for sporting or theatre events. We would be delighted to accept any donations of items that would go down well at our fundraising auction and would help us to get nearer our target for Phase 2 of The New Sixth.
11 october - tickets on sale 1 september Tickets are £10 each, but if you can get five people together they can come for the price of four! Tables of 10 receive a free bottle of wine (when booked altogether). Tickets will be on sale from 1st September.
The Gateway FundraisingNews ............................... The communities of St Gregory’s and St Mark’s collectively make the Bath Christian Federation; a unique inter-denominational partnership, offering students a supportive Christian experience where high academic standards are our goal and where they may grow into caring, well-rounded citizens who will contribute to the common good of society. Fundraising for the Gateway Campaign – the second phase of the New Sixth – is a joint venture between our two schools. With £1,500,000 to raise, every avenue needs to be explored. Our efforts consist of applications for statutory funding both nationally and locally and to charitable trusts, investigating business support, parental giving and our own fundraising efforts, run by the PTFAs and students themselves. We have set a target of raising 10% of the total budget from our own efforts and giving from within the schools. Already we have raised £50,000, if we could reach our target this year, that would be amazing. Parents, particularly those with children joining St Gregory’s and St Mark’s as Year 7s this year, have the most to gain from contributing to the Gateway Campaign. Regular giving, monthly or annually, of a relatively small amount can add up to a substantial sum over 5 years. Tax payers who Gift Aid their donations add 25% - so a gift of £13.33 a month (four coffees at Starbucks?) becomes £160 a year, £800 over 5 years and, with Gift Aid returning the income tax you have paid to the government, that’s a grand total of £1000! This year, for the first time, our St Gregory’s parents, who have supported the College through the Enrichment Fund, will be directly giving towards the fundraising for Phase 2 buildings – a 250 seat auditorium, “The Well”, a chaplaincy centre for students’ spiritual and social life, and additional classrooms, particularly for the performing arts. Gifts made now will bring the Phase 2 development closer – an investment in the future of our children that will pay substantial dividends. Induction packs for our new Year 7 students contain further information and pledge forms.
The New Sixth Administrative Centre Combe Hay Lane, Odd Down, Bath, BA2 8PA Tel 01225 832873 Fax 01225 835848 email info@newsixthbath.org.uk www.newsixthbath.org.uk