e t u o r on

Issue 5 • July 2011

One of the

This Issue

in the UK the examinations and we are expecting some outstanding results. So far, the results from our BTEC students are record-breakingly good!

Paul Rispoli reflects upon the College’s continuing success

Welcome to the summer edition of On Route, Reigate College’s termly newsletter, written for the benefit of both existing and soon-to-be students and their families, to keep you up to date with what’s happening around our College. We’re approaching the end of what’s been a very successful year for the College, which continues to be ranked in the top ten of some 400 Colleges in the UK (taking success rates as a measure). Using the Government’s value-added score, I can report that last year’s leavers have made more progress at Reigate College, than in any other state-maintained school or college in Surrey, an achievement of which we can all be extremely proud. Over 600 of our students have applied to university this year, which makes us one of the largest single providers to the university system in the UK. Our students have been given offers at all the major institutions, including Oxbridge and Russell Group universities. Comments from our staff indicate that students have worked really hard up to

As an inclusive College we pride ourselves on helping to advance students across the full spectrum of abilities,from those who are already academically thriving, to those who perhaps under-achieved before they started with us. Around 100 students have successfully completed their Level 2 courses this year (GCSE and BTEC First courses) and of these, around 80% will stay on to do Level 3 courses (A Level and BTEC Nationals).

Page 3 Re-vamping old clothes for new

Page 4 Jamie Gamache on route to success

Formal qualifications are only part of the whole College experience, as you’ll see from the contents of this newsletter! This term has seen a frenzy of extracurricular activity, including Activities Week (see page 8) and Arts Week (see page 9). A record 18 of our students have gained their Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award this year and there have been many outstanding sporting achievements, some of which are reported on pages 10 and 11. This will be the first year that examination results will be emailed to students rather than collected, and I for one, will miss seeing the rapture on so many of our students’ faces when they come in to College to pick up their results.

Page 6 Equality and Community Day 2011

Best of luck to College leavers and do keep in touch! Enjoy the summer holidays.

Page 10 Dr Paul Rispoli, Principal

Meet Nick Blanchard, Olympic hopeful

Out and About French Twinning Association visit

Hitting the right note with children from Holmesdale School

At the beginning of May, a group of language students from the College took part in the Reigate and Banstead Twinning Association’s annual visit to Brunoy, a town south of Paris. Reigate College student Kayzia Ballantyne explained: ‘We were taken on a tour of Paris and we saw everything. You name it, we saw it! One of the highlights of the trip was going to a buffet meal, laid on by the Brunoy equivalent of the Twinning association, Le Jumelage. We returned home having made life-long friends who we now keep in touch with via Facebook.’ Holmesdale school children recorded a special CD at Reigate College

‘Entente cordiale’ Reigate College students and French friends at the Eiffel Tower

Residential trips galore! As well as the Twinning Association trip there’ve been thirteen other residential trips this year and around a hundred day visits. Without the space to list all of them, here’s a selection of just some of the over-nighters: Language students went on a study visit to Salamanca, Art students flew off to New York, Business and Economics students discovered Prague and Public Services students took the plunge on a trip to the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham. Thanks to everyone involved in organising these trips.

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Business students in Prague

Back in May, over 100 children from the Reception Year at Holmesdale Community Infant School on Alma Road in Reigate, made the journey from their school to the College, to record 10 of their favourite songs, using the recording facilities at the College. The songs were put onto CD and sold at their school fair on Wednesday 22nd June, as part of the school’s enterprise week. Lloyd Russell, the College’s Music Technology Teacher and several Music Technology students oversaw the recording and were thoroughly impressed that the

youngsters almost managed to sing all ten songs through in one take. Sarah Skitt, a teacher at the school said, ‘We’re really grateful that the College agreed for us to use its excellent recording facilities. It’s been a lovely experience for all of us. When we work together with other institutions and people in the community we find a huge pool of resources around us. We’d never have been able to produce a CD of such high quality without outside help.’

Gifted and Talented Year 9 students from the College’s four partner schools, Reigate, Warwick, de Stafford and Oakwood took part in a Gifted and Talented morning at the College on Wednesday 22nd June, to give them a flavour of what might be in store for them on different courses at the College in the future. The 80 students spent the morning either making a multi-media recording of themselves to broadcast on YouTube, doing an open air physics experiment involving a rocket, pitching for business with ‘Space Style,’ or making a Health and Social Care leaflet giving advice to travellers. It sounds like a pretty action-packed morning!

Kane Rodney wins a place in the National Youth Theatre Congratulations to Kane Rodney, a Lower Sixth student, who has recently won a place in the NYT. Kane, who’s studying Theatre Studies, Biology, Chemistry and English Literature and is intending to study medicine at university, said ‘Over 4,500 students applied, so I was bowled over when I found out I’d got a place’. Kane will spend two weeks on a National Youth Theatre course in Greenwich in August and will then have the opportunity to audition for a variety of NYT productions.

Kane Rodney looks forward to appearing in future National Theatre productions

Re-vamping Earlier this term, students on the first year of the BTEC Art & Design (Fashion) course were busy working on an ‘Alter Ego’ project, where they were asked to create a new garment by revamping old ones. Students hunted for suitable materials at home, in charity shops, or in friends’ wardrobes and then re-fashioned them into garments that displayed a style opposite to their own personality. Laura Morrissey, who is doing A Levels in English Language and Literature as well as the BTEC in Art and Design

Laura Morrissey working on her ‘Alter Ego’ garment

(Fashion) explained, ‘I’ve really enjoyed the project, as it’s really pushed me to experiment and work outside my normal comfort zone. I’ve tried to make my garment sophisticated and refined, something a rich, wellgroomed lady might wear. I think Lilly Cole’s perfect, doll-like face would work well with my dress. A friend gave me lots of things to work with and I cut them all up and then mixed them together! The top’s made from chopped up t-shirts and the lining of a handbag!’

Equality and Community Day

She went on, ‘The project has definitely helped my sewing and construction skills but has also taught me that with a little effort it’s fairly easy to produce something new and stylish at a fraction of the cost of buying it new.’ Garments from the project were modelled by BTEC Art & Design (Fashion) students at a fashion show on Equality and Community Day on Tuesday 28th June.

A BTEC Art & Design (Fashion) student shows off her work on Equality and Community Day 3

Jamie Gamache, with Mowgli band members at the College’s Spring Concert

On Route to Jamie Gamache has just finished the Upper Sixth, having studied BTEC Music and A Levels in Music Technology, Physics and Maths. Earlier in the year, he spoke to On Route about studying music at the College and how the last two years have helped put him on the road to success. Jamie will be starting the Tonmeister Sound Recording course at the University of Surrey, one of the UK’s most sought after music courses this autumn, and for the third year in a row, will be playing at Guilfest over the summer, with his band A Wolf Like Me.

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‘I’d planned to stay on at my school Sixth Form and then came to one of the Open Evenings at College and got speaking to Music Technology teacher Lloyd Russell. He’d spent several years working in the music business and when I explained what I was interested in, he mentioned the Tonmiester

course, at Surrey University. I’d already heard about it, but Lloyd seemed to know all the ins and outs about what the course involved and what combination of subjects and grades you needed to get a place there, so I pretty much immediately changed my mind about staying on at school and decided to go to Reigate instead.’ ‘The atmosphere in the Music Department is unique. It’s like nowhere else in the College which is why I think, students achieve such good grades. It’s very relaxed but at the same time everyone works hard. The A Level Music Technology and BTEC Music courses have both been great. The emphasis on the BTEC course is performance, and we’ve had loads of performance opportunities. Playing every week, often with different people, really helps build your confidence. Lloyd

Battle of

Above: Adam Payne, bass player of winning band Xenicibis Right: Indie pop band Laissez Faire

success and the other teachers Graham Jenkins and Ellie Skipper have helped me enormously. Lloyd would tell me straight when a performance wasn’t good enough, and he rammed home the need to develop stage presence. I’ve realised that you have to work hard if you want to be any good. When I performed with my BTEC band Mowgli at the College’s winter and spring concerts, we put in loads of rehearsal time, but judging by the response we got afterwards, it definitely paid off!’ When quizzed about what he wants to do longer term, Jamie didn’t even need a moment to think about it, ‘I’d like to be in a band, go on tour all the time and make millions of people happy by playing my music. Obviously that’s a bit ambitious, but I will have recording to fall back on, so who knows!’

Photos by student Emily Matthews.

The College’s annual Battle of the Bands took place back in the spring, with seven bands going head-to-head in one of the College’s most popular musical events. Judges picked the best four bands and the audience decided who came first, second, third and fourth, by cheering for their favourite band. To make the judging fairer, Music Technology teacher Lloyd Russell used a dB meter to measure the volume of the cheers! The winning band was Xenicibis, who received the highest score from the judges and the loudest cheers from the audience. Lloyd commented: ‘Xenicibis, a heavy metal band, got the crowd going with a heavy mosh pit and were well deserved winners. They played together really well as a band and were led amazingly well by lead singer Aaron Strachon.’ He went on: ‘City in Silhouettes

came in second place, with excellent drumming by Joe Martin; the AntiEggberts, a BTEC band whose performance was assessed as part of their course, displayed astonishing vocal harmonies and acoustic arrangements finished third, and Laissez Faire, an indie pop band came in fourth. Great performances were also given by the Salamanders, Priority Seat and Owl City.’

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Union Wednesday 29th September: Superheroes and Villains Freshers’ Party in the College Refectory. Everyone entered into the spirit of the evening. Batman and his trusty companion Robin, together with villains and Wonder Woman, were out in force.

Nearly £5,000 raised for charity so far this year Thanks to everyone who’s taken an active role in the Students’ Union this year and come along to support the huge range of SU events. Last year’s SU did a fantastic job creating the perfect combination of crowd-pleasing parties and worthwhile charity events. The year got off to an awesome start with the Superheroes and Villains Freshers’ Party on 29th September and ended on 28th June at the Leavers’ Event aboard the Dixie Queen Boat Cruise on the Thames. We’ve had so many charity events that it’s hard to pick out one or two, but the Christmas Charity Event on 16th December and Red Nose Day on 17th March were definitely among the best.

28th June: Equality and Community Day. A day when students came together to learn about the important topical issue ‘Respect’ and have some fun. Subjects under discussion included cyber-bullying, homophobic bullying, sexting and youth discrimination with students producing ‘Respect’ leaflets as part of a cross-College competition. The day also involved live music, a Fashion Show, Dance Show, performances from the Bounce Theatre Company and a lunchtime barbecue. This year’s designated charity was Barnardo’s.

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Hello and goodbye We’ve raised nearly £5,000 for charity so far this year, which is a fantastic achievement and one of which we should all be really proud.

directly to Wellingara Nursery School to pay for staff training, playground equipment and a school refurbishment project).

£4,677 has so far been donated between the following charities: £360 to Jeans for Genes, £930 to Adam’s Appeal, £360 to Crisis at Christmas, £360 to CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young), £326 to the British Heart Foundation, £726 to Comic Relief and £1,800 to The Gambia Project (going

Thursday 17th March: Comic Relief. Dress code pyjamas or ‘onesies.’ Lunchtime event in the Refectory involving red noses, live entertainment and competitions. Dodge Ball Competition in the Sports Hall.

Farewell to our 2010 Student Officers

Student Union elections were held on 18th May, so it’s time to say hello to the new Union Officers and goodbye to those who served their student body so superbly last year. Welcome to: Imogen Chase, Dominic Meehan, Alistair Ross, Rebecca Odih, Mario Duran, Aiden O’Halloran, Verity McCullagh, Rachael Scarsbrook, Isabel Suddek, Tom Li, Emily Ingram, Leah Mursaleen, Chloe d’Costa, Rachel Farrell, Aneka Sowman, Miatta Olutola, Anne Okpanachi, Ruth Connolly, Vickie Tennyson, Georgia Brown, Kyla Tucker, Jake McQuillan, Tobin Jardine, Natalie Street, Jack Hinton Thanks and farewell to: Manou Campbell, Deana Hassanein, Monalisa Ndlovu, Will Thorp, Millie Moore, Addington Agbepa, Jade McEachron, Maddison Fletcher, Ria Boxall, Amy Green, Jolie lam, Eloise Finn, Kirstie Boon, Emily Matthews, Emily CanessaDavies, Hannah Larn, Nadia Lavardo, Beth Souter, Hannah Souter, Emma Sachdev, Gabriella Helden, Tadhg Mccarthy, Stephanie Gooch, Clarissa Chay, Titomi Sokoya.

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and over fifty activities to choose from Lower Sixth Students were involved in a flurry of activity between 14th and 17th June, when they had a break from timetabled lessons and had the chance instead to pick from over fifty activities, from A Taste of Spain to Yoga. Take a look at the A – Z of Activities to see the full jaw-dropping selection!

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Anne Edwards who works alongside Sophie McKenzie, co-ordinating the programme explained: ‘Activities are designed to be educational as well as fun and include overseas residential trips and external day visits, together with a variety of College based experiences. The week follows a tough couple of months for our students, who’ve been studying hard for their AS levels exams and completing coursework on their BTEC courses. The time-out from the classroom is a welcome break for many.’

Jack Hinton, a Lower Sixth student added: ‘I signed up to do the Performing Arts Photo Shoot and the Dance Work Shop. Both were brilliant. The involvement of outside theatre companies added to the interest and we all got a lot out of it.’

Now in its fourth year, Activities Week gives students the perfect opportunity to enrich their studies, mix with people from other courses and pick up some new skills along the way. A special thank you goes to all those involved in creating this year’s line-up.

The Dance Workshop had a focus on physical theatre

Drumming for Beginners English Department Visit to Sussex University Fencing Frontiers of Physics Fun Fitness Go-Ape Treetop Activity

H-L Handel House Museum History for Life Horse Riding Ice Skating/Bowling Indoor Climbing Jewellery Making Knitting Workshop Legally Blonde Theatre Trip

M-P Marwell Wildlife Park Mercedes Benz Driving Experience Mind Exhibition at Science Museum Mock Trial National Watersports Centre Residential New York Art & Design Residential O2 British Music Experience On Safari in the City of London Students try their hand at Fencing

Paediatric First Aid Prague Residential

The A - Z of Activities Week 2011

A-C

Professional Portfolio Shoot

Q-S Quiz-a-Vicar Roundhouse Experience

Street Dance Workshop

Blitzkrieg Chess Tournament

Studio Work Experience

Brighton Treasure Hunt

Surrey Hills Walk

BTEC IT Level 3 Practical Work

Survival Skills for University

Careers Department Visit to Surrey

T-Z

Circus Magic Workshop

D-G

Here’s what the week had in store: Monday 20th Open screening of Media Studies Students’ show-reels. Tuesday 21st Reigate’s Got Talent. The College’s answer to Britain’s got Talent. For many, this was the highlight of the week. Talented Jack Hinton opened the show by playing a set of awesome ballards on piano, with singersongwriters Ollie Plank, Will Adolphy, James Vickery and Jack Hinton (again) later wooing the audience in their own alluring style. Comedienne Meredith Mason gave a sharp, witty and highly entertaining performance and also deserves a special mention. A supportive and spirited audience added to the atmosphere and a highly enjoyable time was had by all those involved. Special thanks goes to Jack Hinton who worked alongside staff and the SU both organising and promoting the show. Thursday 23rd Into the Woods/Much ado about Clubbing. BTEC students staged this entertaining double bill. Thursday 23rd Also, on the Thursday, A Level Art & Design students show-cased their work at the College’s annual exhibition.

Self Defence for the Boys

Aromatherapy Taster

Chocolart Workshop

The College’s inaugural Arts Week, which ran from 20th to 24th June, gave students the opportunity to participate in a variety of arts related events.

Self Defence for the Girls St Johns Emergency Life Support

Chaucer Visit to Canterbury

Arts week

RSC American Trade Theatre Trip

A Taste of Spain

University

Inspiring

Tennis Coaching Trampolining Ultimate Frisbee Visit to Oxford University

Lydia Carnell with her striking self-portrait in charcoal

Thanks to Natalie Kirby for arranging this hugely successful week.

Watersports

Dance Workshop

Wellcome Exhibition

Dish Ceramics Workshop

YMCA Play Leader Taster Day

Dreamweaver

Yoga

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On Route: Tell us how you came to be selected for the British Bobsleigh, Olympic Development Squad. Nick Blanchard: Chris Lowe, the College’s Sports Co-ordinator told me about the Olympic Bobsleigh trials that were held back in March. He knows I’ve run for Surrey in the 100m, 200m and relay squads and so I went along and just ran as fast as I could! By some fluke I got selected for the squad. OR: What’s the connection between sprinting and bobsleigh? They seem like entirely different sports. NB: To be good at bobsleigh you need to be good at sprinting. Most commonly teams are made up of 60m, 100m or 400m runners and rugby players sometimes move in to bobsleigh too, because they’re strong and fast. OR: How have things gone since being selected?

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NB: Badly! I was euphoric at having made it into the Development Squad and started training really hard. I’ve

been training with the GB team twice a month in Bath. Things were going well and then I tore my hamstring for the second time. Everything now hangs in the balance, but I’m hanging in there! OR: What’s your training regime been like? NB: When I’m fit, a normal week consists of two training sessions a day for six days out of seven. I normally have a track session in the morning for a few hours and then spend three or so hours in the gym in the afternoon or evening. It’s pretty gruelling but it’s worth it. If I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t do it. OR: Do you have to stick to a strict diet when you’re in training? NB: Yes. I have to eat six meals a day, plus three or four protein shakes, fruit and nuts and then drink five or six litres of water a day. Some days I can’t face eating at all because I’m just not hungry. I get through tonnes of whole chickens and usually eat eight to ten eggs a day. That’s a lot of eggs and there are days when I just can’t face

eating eggs at all! OR: What’s the hardest thing about being an athlete at your level? NB: Dealing with the uncertainty. The threat of injury is always there. You can train hard and do everything your coaches tell you and then suddenly everything changes. I seem to have been pretty unlucky with injuries. OR: What are you favourite subjects and why? NB: I loved doing English and P.E. and really liked Biology, but I wasn’t very good at it! I love everything about Gemma Osborne makes the squad for the World Age Games Lower Sixth student Gemma Osborne, has recently secured a place in the trampolining squad for the World Age Games, the equivalent of the Olympic Games, but for thirteen to eighteen year olds. Gemma, who’s studying PE, Psychology, Media Studies and History at the College, commented: ‘I didn’t take up gymnastics until I was twelve and only started doing trampolining

Beautiful Basketball

Meet Olympic hopeful Nicholas Blanchard

The Boys’ Basketball Team remained unbeaten in the League this season, which is a truly amazing achievement and retained the Surrey Sixth Form Colleges League Shield. The team, led by Dwayne Allen and Kareem McKenzie, played some beautiful basketball and cleared the board, beating all the Surrey Colleges, as well as other Colleges in the South East Area Championships, to claim The Plate Trophy.

In the

Hockey heros (and heroines!) Congratulations to the College’s Mixed Hockey Team which won the South East group of the British Colleges Sport Mixed Cup, and finished 8th in the National League.

OR: What are your plans for when you leave College? NB: I’ve got a place to do Sports Science at Brunel University. I quite fancy becoming a P.E. teacher, because I enjoy working with people and love all sports, but I’ll probably also look into doing physiotherapy or sports rehabilitation work with athletes as well.

OR: What’s your biggest ambition?

Battling 1st Team so close to honours

NB: I don’t have any big ambitions. I tend to live by small, short term goals and as soon as I’ve reach that goal, I then focus on the next one, then the next one and so on. I try not to focus on the long term but naturally I’d love to compete in the Olympics one day, who wouldn’t!

when I was sixteen, so I guess I’ve achieved quite a lot in a short space of time.’ ‘I love everything about trampolining and get so much out of the training. I train really hard, but am always on the look out to do more! My mum tried to get me interested in dancing, but I was rubbish at it! Trampolining just comes really naturally to me.’

It’s been another good season for our Boys’ 1st Team Football, though the season has ended without a trophy. The team beat the Richmond Academy side in the semi-final of the County Cup, but narrowly missed out on a victory in the final, losing to Strodes College at Egham FC, 4-3.

SPORTS ROUND-UP

sport so P.E. has definitely been my favourite subject. I’ve enjoyed learning about biomechanics and how the human body moves and different muscle groups function together.

The players of the year were Nathaniel Crawley for the boys and Jenny Wijsmuller for the girls.

Cross-country success for Helen Congratulations to Helen Wilson who came fourth at the British College’s final in Bath back in April. Helen seemed to take the whole thing in her stride, saying: ‘I did ok, but there were lots of runners who seemed quite a bit better.’

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dates

Did you know? Reigate College is fast-becoming one of the leading centres for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award in Surrey. A record-breaking 18 students completed their Gold Award earlier this year. In a bid to get one step closer to achieving their Gold Award in the next couple of years, 47 Duke of Edinburgh students are gearing up for this summer’s expedition to the Peak District from 6th to 10th July 2011. ‘Expedition’ is just one of five different sections that students are required to complete to achieve their Gold Award. The other parts are: Volunteering, Skills, Physical Recreation and Residential.

What

When

Where

Introductory Day (for students starting in September 2011). A chance to try out some subjects and firm up course choices.

Thursday 7th July

College Campus

End of term

Tuesday 19th July

Choices Day (for students starting in September 2011).

Wednesday 31st August

College Campus

Enrolment (for students starting in September 2011).

Thursday 1st, Friday 2nd and Monday 5th September

College Refectory

Upper Sixth Enrolment Day

Wednesday 7th September

College Refectory

Tutor Sets A and M 9.00 am Tutor Sets E and S 1.00 pm Teaching starts for Lower Sixth and Intermediate students

Friday 9th September

College Campus

Normal timetable for all students

Monday 12th September

College Campus

Open Evenings for entry 2012

Monday 3rd and Thursday 6th October 6.30pm to 8.30pm

College Campus

Reigate Sixth Form College Castlefield Road Reigate Surrey RH2 0SD Tel 01737 221118 Fax 01737 222657 News [email protected] 12

www.reigate.ac.uk

Have a relaxing summer break and remember, seawater spoils books