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• Spotlight | Post-16 Personal Development

  Fri 22 Mar 2024

  Exceptional Personal Development (PD) is a key cornerstone of our ethos here at BG6, alongside curriculum and aspirational destinations. We strongly believe that exceptional, personalised PD experiences allows students to leverage their curriculum pathways to unlock those ambitious, aspirational destinations. 

   

  Without the highest expectations and participation in attendance, behaviours, welfare, and holistic enrichment, we cannot reach the heights of our wildest dreams. We can knock on the door of our Post-18 opportunities with our grades, but the key in the lock will only turn through being well-rounded, articulate and confident. 

   

  Attendance 

  We’re incredibly proud of how our Post-16 students have risen to the challenge of regaining pre-Covid levels of attendance and eradicating absences categorised as ‘Persistently Absent,’ meaning anything lower than 90%. This may only be one session, morning or afternoon a week, but the impact of this becoming a norm is significant in achieving their dreams. We know that every minute means a potential mark gained, marks mean grades, and grades mean choices. The gift of having a choice with our next steps for Post-18 education, employment or training is the greatest privilege and empowerment we can give ourselves.

   

  Behaviours 

  We have had lots of visitors looking for good practice at interview, or quality assuring our provision at BG6 this past term. The feedback about our students is always a highlight for me as Director. In our last governor visit, students were described as polite, driven, mature and overall as 'quite remarkable'. This is a testament to them and how they live and promote our values every day. I’ve been blown away by the lobby peer teaching space that has really taken on a life of its own, and the amount of free classrooms used for peer revision and study sessions. It isn’t just the level of personal self-study that is remarkable; it’s the team spirit - generosity and resilience of students pulling together to not leave anyone behind, which forms part of our Trust values.

   

  Welfare 

  PSHCE has been focused on women’s health, healthy personal relationships and taking care of ourselves both mentally and physically this term. As a core facilitator for our safeguarding work, students have been active in sharing their views on safety in and out of school. There are big projects in the making to extend our fundraising efforts, including Save the Children and St Martin’s Hospice, commemorating the tragic loss of one of our own, and creating a wellbeing space for students. Watch this space for more on this during the summer term.

   

  Enrichment 

  Enrichment, work experience and the Supra Curricular engagement have been incredible over the past term. We held over 58 different wider curriculum experiences for our students to engage in over the year, and we’re just over half way through the academic year. Year 12 are in the midst of finding and finalising their work experience placements for Transformation Fortnight in July and we’re looking forward to visiting them during this time. The Enrichment programme continues to go from strength-to-strength; and with Year 13 focussing on their examinations, the Enrichment programme changes gear for our Year 12 students as they look to the UCAS and Apprenticeships processes, as well as developing those critical financial literacy, and personal survival skills for Post-18 life. 

   

  As ever, I like to end on some food for thought and this time it comes from Maya Angelou. I discovered this while researching our upcoming assembly on wonder, which is one of our values, and for me wonder really is rooted in empowerment:

  “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

   

  Laura Dixon, Director of BG6

   

• Values Spotlight | Generosity

  Mon 04 Mar 2024

  At BG6 we live our values every day so that we make progress to achieve every opportunity for excellence. We are made up of a multi-cultural, multi-faith community with a rich tapestry of motivations and personalities and one of the golden threads that unites our BG6 community is that we give our time, empathy and compassion without the guarantee of receiving something in return. As Ramadan approaches, I’m reminded of this first core value, and it’s great time to look at how BG6 students have been exhibiting generosity in our community. 

   

  Generosity exists here in many forms outside of the classroom; through our form time programme, our student leadership, and our enrichment programme.

   

  As part of our form time programme, it’s been a pleasure to see our BG6 Paired Reader programme flourish where both Year 12 and Year 13 students are sharing their love of reading with Year 7 and Year 8 - raising the profile of this life changing core skill. BG6 students are equally volunteering their time to support World Book Day this year in the much anticipated Nero Novels' store. 

   

  Our student leadership teams in Year 12 and Year 13 drive the Student Voice across the whole school, as well as within BG6. They coordinate our charitable work, supporting local, national and international causes and also support school events representing the student body. Our elections for Year 12 executive leadership will be starting in the near future to give our wonderful Year 13 ambassadors a handover period before their examinations; we can’t wait to see the candidates and I’m sure the process will be highly competitive. 

   

  Our enrichment programme has three different facets where students are living and breathing the act of generosity. The first is our Sanctuary project, where a group of students are working with refugee groups in our local area. The second is our volunteering group who have created an impressive project working to create ‘MOM’ents for young and single mums, transforming our study centre, filling it with 'Batley buzz' from; candle painting, origami, colouring and games to - developing the social and emotional skills of the children, while also working with our mums on digital literacy skills and a space to develop connection and community. While work experience has natural benefits in enriching our students’ experience of the workplace, I’ve been really impressed in placement reviews by how our students are going above and beyond, giving up much more than the 90 minutes a week of their core enrichment lesson. Without a doubt these work experience placements are developing the moral and holistic basis of our highly successful women of the future.

  
  Students and staff know that I love a quotation, and particularly one from an inspirational woman, so to wrap up the blog this week, I’d like to leave you with Eleanor Roosevelt’s words:

   

  “To me who dreamed so much as a child, who made a dreamworld in which I was the heroine of an unending story, the lives of people around me continued to have a certain storybook quality. I learned something which has stood me in good stead many times - The most important thing in any relationship is not what you get but what you give.”