March 2023 Newsletter

Newsletter Easter 2023

Principal’s Message

I am proud to write about the many achievements, activities and hard work completed by our students and staff this term. As I reflect on these, a clear theme emerges:  Variety

Our aim is to send every young person into the world able and qualified and we have a better chance of doing so if students are provided with a range of experiences. Often without knowing it, students pick up all sorts of skills and knowledge. It is this ongoing accumulation that equips our young people to successfully tackle challenges outside of school and after leaving AUTC. I like to think of this as a healthy diet of experiences.

Several of our older students have been part of our first mentoring programme. This has included sessions with professionals focussing on anything from future planning and CV writing to personal reflection and interview practice. Some Year 10 students have recently completed a 12-week ‘Breakout Course’ with a focus on skill development, social awareness and positive decision-making. They and their families should be very proud of the mature approach often taken by students. As well as having visits from Cisco and BMW Group, many of our computing students took part in the Amazon Challenge Day, with one group going forwards to the next round in this national competition. Students demonstrated outstanding teamwork, communication, creativity and problem-solving during the event. Some of our building studies students have taken part in work experience and also got their first opportunity to visit the site of our Health & Social Care Suite project. This project is well underway now and we are all excited to start using this state-of-the-art facility later in the year. Links have been made between our Health department and some local employers. This resulted in our HSC students trying out some learning through VR headsets and visiting the Royal Bucks Hospital to spend time with industry professionals. Our Year 11s successfully completed mock exams, experienced their ‘envelope opening’ event and are up and running with revision plans in preparation for the summer exam series. Many students have completed some external assessments / exam in school as part of their vocational qualifications. We know that these aren’t always easy to navigate and we are proud of students no matter what the outcomes. Similarly challenging has been the University and Apprenticeship application processes for our Year 13 cohort, but as expected, many of these students have secured offers or places already. They, and other students, have been very well supported through our careers programme including presentations from Bucks College Group, a visit to the Bucks Skills Show and a focus on Apprenticeships.

Overall, Aylesbury UTC remains a busy and forward-thinking school. My hope is that our hard-working staff continue to create a varied range of opportunities, that students get involved in as many activities as possible and that families provide ongoing encouragement and praise for those who take part.

I hope you all have a fantastic Easter break and return ready to continue our efforts next term.

Nick Lamb

Principal

Employer Engagement

Open Events

Our Open Events have been popular and we have received more applications than ever. We are grateful for the support from some of our employer partners, including: CISCO, Alcom IT, Home Instead, Buckinghamshire NHS Trust, VSK Test Solutions.

Also, a huge thanks for the student ambassadors that attended these events, setting a professional first impression for our visitors.

There is one last Open Event for the year on 18th May and for anyone who has applied and not yet visited our school. We welcome our new families joining our Aylesbury UTC community to explore the facilities and meet the staff and student ambassadors before coming along to the Induction days.  See other open events and events for parents on our Upcoming Events page.

• Year 10 Induction days are 4th and 5th July
• Year 12 Induction day is Monday 10th July

Jan Lloyd,
Student Recruitment

Health and Social Care Update

Hello everyone, I hope you are all looking forward to a well-earned rest this coming Easter. It has been a busy term this Spring. Our health students have been working hard to complete their first unit and will be deserving of a break.

We have enjoyed two very purposeful visits to the Royal Bucks Hospital and the Aylesbury Short breaks centre. The RBH was a great opportunity for the students to see and hear what goes on in a spinal/brain injury rehabilitation centre. They learnt about the different roles that exist and saw some inspirational equipment used to help give service users their independence back.

The Aylesbury Short breaks centre is a respite care centre for people with learning disabilities. It was amazing to see our students so engaged and inspired by the team, some have expressed keen interest in completing their work experience in the summer there.

The students also had an opportunity to see how healthcare simulation will change the way practitioners will study and train in the future, we welcomed James from Metaverse learning. He brought along a VR headset for the students to try and I can honestly say it was a great experience. James was so impressed with our students that they used a quote from one on their social media. We are looking forward to hopefully integrating this technology into the students’ learning very soon.

Finally, it is my pleasure to announce that our health suite construction has begun. For the last two weeks there have been significant changes in the area, and I know that the students and staff are excited to see how it will look in the summer term.

Tom Devey,
Head of Health and Social Care

Computing Update

Time has flown by this term and as usual the department has had lots of things going on. We received our results from the exam series we did in January and many students were happy with their grades. The Year 11’s got their results back and this has made them reflect on their next steps in preparation for the final exams next term. We had a Computing fair where students and parents came in to speak to current professionals in the fields related to Computing. It was a great opportunity to tap into those strong links with our employer partners and provide this priceless information to our current and prospective students. Our team is growing and we will have better capacity at the start of the academic year to ensure we deliver an exciting curriculum.

Daniel Lubinga,
Head of Computing

Building Studies – WEX

Jan Lloyd,
Careers Lead

World Book Day

World Book Day

Take your hat off to World Book Day was lots of fun for students and staff. Everyone in school was invited to wear a hat and donate to charity.  At breaktime, the was a very popular cake sale to raise money for charity.

Throughout the day there were exciting activities related to literacy and books . Reading sessions, a book swap in the LRC,  online sessions delivered by WBD in classrooms  with authors speaking from personal experience and Computing students were asked to design next year’s WBD token in a  national competition.

Careers

Careers and Next Steps

This Term has been full of careers activities, National Apprenticeship Week and National Careers Week. students have experienced employers visit and been to the Bucks Skills Show. Next Steps Meetings for  all Years, 10 – 13 have been completed with feedback sent to students and home.  Applications for University, Apprenticeships and College have been made, with exciting offers rolling in and will continue to roll in until Summer term ends. I am so proud of each and every student that manages to navigate their way this far.  In addition, we held, for the first time,  Careers Workshops by specialism. One for Computing, Health and Social Care and Construction,  with excellent feedback.  We will definitely be doing this again next year.   Hopefully families have taken on board the steps that were recommended. If you require further assistance then please contact me on  jlloyd@aylesburyutc.co.uk

Work Experience

There has been a big push  for our year 10 cohort for week commencing 3rd July.

To reassures parents that we are going about things properly and that your child will be safe, there is some paperwork to be completed and held on school records. The only thing Students/Parents need to provide the school is the company name, contact person and contact details, and we’ll do the rest! The school must give advanced permission before work experience can take place in term time.

For transparency here is a list that will be requested by the school in order for the student to be allowed on site .

• Copy of the Company Public Liability Insurance that is in date and includes the age range of the student taking part
• A Risk Assessment for the student partaking in the work.
• A clear list of tasks and skills that the student will do and learn
• Contact details for the person responsible for our student at the company

April Careers News

The latest Bucks Skills Hub Newsletter with lots of great information for students, families and staff  including webinar opportunities. Don’t miss out. READ HERE

Wishing all our families and community, Happy Easter

Jan Lloyd,
Careers Lead