Year 10 Mock Interview Event

On Friday 15th March, as part of the school’s ongoing careers programme, 45 local people from a wide variety of occupations volunteered their time to provide Year 10 students with valuable mock interview practice. The purpose of the day was to give each student the opportunity to experience this important process with an adult who they do not know; for the majority of Year 10 this was their first ever interview and many of them were nervous. 

It was a busy event, with approximately 260 students to be interviewed within the space of 2 hours. 

However, the large number of volunteers definitely made this achievable, with each volunteer carrying out 6-8 interviews – some people doubled up which gave students a panel to talk to. After a nervous start, once the first students went into the gym everyone else followed, in groups of 40, for their 10 minutes. The buzz in the room was fantastic, and the conversations flowed.

When we spoke with the students after their interviews, the response was resoundingly positive, which matched the feedback from the interviewers during the ‘debrief’ we carried out at the end. The success of this event was due to the willingness and effort from the students coupled with the adaptability and helpfulness of the interviewers. Whilst the wealth of experience and expertise in the room really benefited the students (and was very gratefully received), the students were an absolute credit to the school. In fact, many of the volunteers were so blown away by those students they spoke to on the day that they have already offered to assist in future events such as more interviews or by running targeted coaching sessions with specific groups of students.  Once again, I was reminded why I teach at Ridgeway, and have done so for over 15 years. In fact, I got a bit emotional and felt immense pride in our students.

Giving students careers advice and opportunities to develop workplace knowledge and skills is vital, and (like every year) we are looking for local employers and businesses to provide our Year 10 and Year 12 students with vital work experience/shadowing placements. The dates for the Year 10 students are Tuesday 2nd – Thursday 4th July, and Year 12 the week beginning Monday 17th June. If you think you can offer a place, please do contact me via email (meredithj@ridgewayschool.com).

Mrs J Meredith

Red Nose Day Bake Sale: 20 minutes…9 students… £150!

Comic Relief supports local community organisations and brilliant change-makers in the UK and across the globe. Donations help fill the shelves of baby banks, community food centres, fund vital community-led services like health workers, local youth safe-spaces, and ensure safe passage for people escaping danger.

On Red Nose Day (Friday 15th March), a mixture of Year 12 and 13 students (including two House Captains) ran a bake sale, completely independently (even providing the float). What a difference 20 minutes and 9 amazing R6 students can make; in just one break time all the cake was sold, and £150 had been raised for Comic Relief. We clearly underestimated how much Ridgeway School students like cake (especially on a Friday)!

Thank you to all those who brought in cakes to be sold (both home-baked and from the local shop), to everyone who bought a cake, and the biggest well done to the following R6 students who were all awarded ‘Star of the Week’…. Imaan Azam, Jaz Cottrell, Emily Francis, Stephanie Harkness, Charlotte Mytton, Nicola Mytton, Lucy Walker, Sophie Walker and Grace Wigley. 

Mrs J Meredith

Term 4 in the LRC

Like the rest of the school, it’s been a busy term 4 with activities for all year groups. Information Literacy sessions have been delivered in the LRC, most of which have had a research skill and source evaluation focus. Climate change was the topic for Science cross-curricular sessions as well as our termly competition where some fantastic persuasive writing pieces were entered into the National Literacy Trust’s Be the Change competition. The results will be revealed on Earth Day in April. Year 10 mentor groups have been picking up hints and tips in our Google Like a Pro session whilst R6 students have been thinking about their time management skills.

Reading for purpose and pleasure has also been promoted in library lessons and more widely across the school supported also this term by author and motivational speaker Joffre White. Joffre spoke to Year 7 and 8 students along with visitors from other Swindon secondary school about The Power of Words. The queue to speak to Joffre at the end of each session was long, testament to his impactful presentation.

World Book Week activities have filled our days in the last week of term. There’s been something for everyone – 

  • Whole school Celebrity Reading Quiz in mentoring

  • Whole school Where’s Wally? Treasure Hunt

  • Launch of The Gr8 Book Debate – an inter school reading group with year 7 students from our school and Devizes School

  • Harry Potter Night

  • Waterstones Pop-Up Shop

  • Best Books Ever vote 

  • Where’s Wally? themed non-school uniform day.

You can always follow what is going on in The Ridgeway School LRC by following @ridgewayread on X (formerly Twitter). 

Mrs Day & Ms Bridgewater