YEAR 10 WORK EXPERIENCE...
Last week Year 10 were out on their work experience placements and went into a number of industries across Swindon, Wiltshire and further afield. It has been fantastic to hear such positive feedback from both students and employers about the skills gained and experiences had. Please see below an article which was published internally at Prospect which shows two of our students experiences;
We were delighted to welcome two work experience students from Ridgeway School to Prospect this week; Millie who helped deliver patient care on the IPU and out in the community, and Jack who worked on reception, in clinical admin, as well as prepping meals in the Heart of the Hospice kitchen (I’m sure you know me well enough by now to realise that I can’t let the “Jack of all Trades” opportunity go). Both were a credit to their school, their families and indeed young people in general who often get a bit of a bad rap from some quarters. I caught up with them both yesterday and was delighted to hear about their experience:
Millie: “I enjoyed having exposure to a medical setting, learning how to speak to and approach people according to their situation. We treat them as individuals, whether they wanted to smoke a cigarette in the gardens or sit with their dog. We were treated equally and not made to feel inferior due to our lack of knowledge. I genuinely enjoyed it and am now interested in the idea of a career in medicine. Several of my friends thought it was odd doing work experience in a hospice but I can tell them it isn’t and will shout about Prospect from the rooftops”
Jack: “I learned about how a workplace should be, I became more confident in asking questions to help me learn how things are done and what I can do to help. For example, I could have just been told to wash up in the kitchens but was trained on how to prepare meals for patients, which made me feel I was playing my part in the hospice. Many of my friends already know about the work that Prospect does as my Mum (Sam, our Admin Team Leader) works here, so we talk about it regularly”
Huge thanks to you both – your confidence in talking about hospice care is so valuable in terms of educating the wider community about end of life care, as is the help you provided this week. A bright future awaits you both.
Mrs G Allbrook-Dunn
YEAR 7 GIRLS ATHLETICS TEAM - DOUBLE WINNERS
I am pleased to report that our fantastic Year 7 girls Athletics team, won the Year 7 Swindon Schools Athletics Championships held at the County Ground. In these Athletic championships, for each event points are scored based on the position you achieve (13 Swindon Schools). There were notable performances from:
Esha Bhalareo who won her 70m Hurdles in 14.24 seconds.
Freya McMeeking, who won both her 150m sprint in 21.25 seconds, and the Long Jump with a best of 3.70m.
Ellie Charlesworth, won her Javelin competition with a best throw of 24.06m and came 2nd in her 1200m race with a time of 4mins.22 seconds.
Arabella Penny-Griffiths came 3rd in her 100m in a time of 14.77seconds.
The Year 7 girls followed up their Swindon Schools success by also winning the Swindon Schools Super 8s Athletics competition. In this event each student had to compete in a Track and Field event and 4 of the 8 students also ran the 4x100m relay. For each event there are points allocated for the time achieved, distance jumped or thrown!
The girls will now represent Swindon at the Wiltshire Schools Super 8s competition that is being held in September!
Well done girls, for your commitment at training, great teamwork and spirit and brilliant performances!
CONGRATULATIONS TO ISSAC...
Huge congratulations to Isaac in Year 12 who represented the England U19 Volleyball team.
A wonderful achievement for Isaac, we hope you have continued success playing Volleyball!
FANTASTIC ATHLETIC ACHIEVEMENT BY HOLLY AND JONATHAN...
On behalf of the Ridgeway School and the Wiltshire Schools’Athletics Association (WSAA), I am delighted to inform you of the considerable success and achievements of Holly and Jonathan, Year 9 students, who were selected to represent Wiltshire at the English Schools Athletic Association National Schools’ Track and Field Championship, in Birmingham on Friday 30th June and Saturday 1st July.
This is a very considerable achievement, and we are sure you will join us in congratulating both students involved.
Jonathan competed in the Junior Boys 100m, where there were 4 Heats that progressed to the Final. Jonathan gained a spot in the 100m Final where he came 6th in a time of 11.43 seconds, an amazing performance in an incredibly popular event!
Holly competed in the Junior Girls Hammer, where in the Final, all competitors have 3 throws, and the top 8 performers are then invited to have 3 further throws. Holly achieved this and came 4thwith a throw of 39.28m, a fantastic effort in a very technically demanding event!
Both students train incredibly hard and belong to the Swindon Harriers Athletics club based at the County Ground.
Well done to you both and we wish you all the very best for the remainder of the season. Mr M McMeeking
AWARD WINNERS...
We are really proud that our school librarians Mrs Day and Mrs Tonkin form part of a larger team of Swindon school librarians that help plan and deliver the Swindon Youth Festival of Literature every year. LitFest has been recognised by our national body, the School Library Association for its work in sustainable high quality and impactful working partnerships and collaboration by awarding the prestigious Community Award to them. Since LitFest’s inception 15 years ago, over 130,000 students in Swindon, in both primary and secondary schools have experienced author talks, trips to the theatre, poetry and illustration workshops and many more activities all reading and literature related. Long may LitFest continue!
https://www.sla.org.uk/community-award
DANCE WORLD CUP IN PORTUGAL...
We would like to share this wonderful news with all our students and staff and to congratulate the dance group and especially our students who particpiated....
Dear Ridgeway School,
We are writing to share some exciting news about our team's recent success at the Dance World Cup in Portugal. We are thrilled to report that our team achieved great results and made our school proud.
Our team's success was remarkable, and we are pleased to announce that we placed highly in our categories. We were awarded a silver medal as a whole team which included Beth Evans & Bethany McEwan for our Large Senior Group in the world, and one of our Senior Duets performed by Beth Evans who attends Ridgeway Sixth Form & Emma Hulin who attends Liverpool University also came 2nd place in the world. Our Senior Lyrical Group placed 5th in the world in a huge & extremely challenging section, and most of our groups came between 7th place and 12th place out of the world which Beth was in all of 10 groups & Bethany was in a total of 6 groups. We also had two soloists who did exceptionally well. Maya Colon, who attends Rendcomb, came in 15th out of 72 competitors in her Acro Solo and then was chosen in the Top 10 for her Show Dance Solo, which meant she got to perform a second time at the Gala. Melody Chan, who is now a WORLD CHAMPION for her tap solo, got to perform her solo again at the Gala and was then chosen by The Patron of Dance World Cup, Bonnie Lythgoe as the Best Overall Soloist out of the Mini and Children categories of the whole competition. We are also pleased to mention that Dance World Cup is the second-largest event after the Olympics which makes it THE largest dance competition in the world! There was 7,500 competitors & over 50 countries. So for these girls to qualify in the first place was a huge achievement, but now knowing they are World Champions & World Runner Ups is just a dream come true for all of them. Especially as a lot of them want to persue this as a career, it’s amazing that they have these opportunities.
We are proud of our team's accomplishments and grateful for your support giving them permission to attend Dance World Cup. We are thrilled to share this news with you.
Sincerely, Frank Patt, Vicky Lawrence & The W|B Faculty
