Opera Singers Lead Masterclass at KEVI

16th February 2024Jump Marketing
Two professional opera singers from Samling Academy, which trains young singers from age 14 to 25 in classical singing delivered a masterclass to our students this week.
Over 40 students were involved in the sessions which ended in a performance.   It was the performance of Summertime by Gershwin by Armenian soprano Anush Hovhannisyan which absolutely blew the students away due to the power of her voice. They will not forget this in a long time!
As a result of this, four of our 6th Form students are all going to see a production of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen at Newcastle University next week, completely inspired by the masterclass.
We are planning on becoming a Samling Singing School from September which means that we will get 6 weeks of choral / vocal tuition from Samling.

Aim for Oxford Programme

12th February 2024Jump Marketing
We are delighted that one of our students has once again participated in the Aim for Oxford programme this year. The access programme is run by Christ Church and St Anne’s College Oxford for year 12 students across the northeast of England.
It’s a very competitive program with only 67 spaces, and aims to introduce students to undergraduate style teaching, helping them decide if a highly selective university, such as Oxford, is right for them. https://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/study-here/undergraduate/outreach/aim-for-oxford/ 
Year 12 student Dylan said “I was very glad to be offered a place on this programme, and attended the first event at the Hancock Museum, where the access officers for both colleges explained the basics of applying to Oxford University. Afterwards, I attended a computational biology lecture delivered by Oxford PHD student Tom Wilson, an amazing introduction to undergraduate teaching.”
There are three further northeast events this year, followed by a summer residential and further supported progression if students choose to apply to Oxford. Dylan said “this opportunity has made highly selective Higher Education feel like a real possibility to me, and I am confident the upcoming events, along with support from Sixth Form will do the same.”
We are delighted that seven of our current Year 13 students have received conditional offers to study at either Oxford or Cambridge in the next academic year.

Red and Black – February Edition

8th February 2024Jump Marketing

The February issue of the student-run School Newspaper is here! In the first edition of 2024, we explore a Valentine’s theme. Keep an eye out for some of our student’s latest achievements as well as references to some important topics like social media safety and of course a bit of fun in our monthly quiz.

Read the February issue here.

Badminton England Regional Finals

1st February 2024Andrew Baxter

Congratulations to Ollie Beale, Charlie Sandeman, Stephen Glennie, Finley Curtis and Declan Tate on their victory at the Badminton England Regional Finals. The students competed against five schools from the region and worked hard to secure a place in the final. The group battled hard and secured a 4-1 win against Ponteland to claim victory overall.

They are now through to the Northern Finals in York later this year. We wish them the best of luck in the next round.

Sixth Form Local History Group

30th January 2024Jump Marketing
 
Students interested in our local history continue their education and development of their local history project by meeting key people from Northumberland County Council. The group met with Steven Hodgson, ITT Lead at County Hall, Dai Richards from Greater Morpeth Development Trust and Frances Povey from NCC Green spaces, and it went very well. 
 
The students are now taking another step forward in preparing the content for the new signage on Lord Collingwood, Emily Davison, William Turner, the Polish war graves, the Commonwealth war graves at St Mary’s churchyard, and Morpethian Ralph Bullock.
 
Steve encouraged our students to explore and understand the intricacies and differences when using QR or similar style codes on signage. The importance of security, the role of content developers and administrators was also covered which helped everyone gain a deeper understanding of these steps. Not only is this project deepening their local history knowledge, they are developing important employability knowledge and skills. 
 
The group, supported by Sheila Clark, will continue their project by meeting up to discuss further with 1st year degree students and their lecturer Jack Hepworth  in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Newcastle University. They will also get to join the conversation at The Collingwood Society in Newcastle and obtain a private viewing of their archives. 

KEVI Student Shapes Future of Exams

29th January 2024Jump Marketing
Year 12 student Dylan successfully applied and gained a place on the AQA Student Advisory Group. It was a competitive process and we are thrilled Dylan has been successful. An active member of the school community, Dylan will represent the views of young people on a much larger scale.
On January 24, Dylan attended the reception event for the AQA Student Advisory Group (SAG) held on the parliamentary estate. This is the group’s fifth year of operation, and the primary aim is to communicate directly with the exam board in tri-annual meetings, giving advice and feedback on their current operations and future plans.
During the reception event, Dylan was fortunate enough to hear from a range of speakers from across AQA, including the CEO Colin Hughes and Co-Chair of the SAG Elizabeth Kitcatt.
Dylan said “this experience has reinforced the importance of well-designed assessment to me and brought into focus the amount of work required to facilitate the incoming digitalisation of exams. I’m truly grateful for this opportunity and cannot wait to see what the group accomplishes in our first meeting next month.”
More context for the event, can be found in this article.

Sixth Form Students Go Litter-Picking

22nd December 2023Jump Marketing

Thank you to our Sixth Form students for their recent litter pick.  Senior Student, George Liddle, organised the pick with Keep Britain Tidy Ambassador Dai Richards. They gathered 10 bags of rubbish on the day to help keep our site tidy.

 

Calling all former students!

14th December 2023Jump Marketing

We are really keen to grow our network of alumni and in order to reach as many as possible we are working with Future First to build our alumni community.

Future First is a charity that coordinates communication between us and former students in an accessible way.

Amongst our former students is a whole host of talented role models who we want to connect with in order to celebrate their success and inspire our current students. From doctors to dancers, pilots to plumbers, we need alumni from a range of careers, employment and entrepreneurial backgrounds to open our students’ eyes to what’s possible.

If you’re a former student can you please sign up using the link below. Similarly, if you are still in touch with any alumni, or you can contact them via your social media platforms such as LinkedIn, can you please share these sign up details so we can recruit as many former students as possible?

www.futurefirsthub.org.uk/register/king-edward-vi-school

Once signed up you will receive an email outlining the various ways you can support us. These may include:

  1. Providing information for an inspiring poster outlining your career path
  2. Supporting KEVI Inspires
  3. Speaking to students in person or virtually
  4. Providing a student with work experience
  5. Hosting a site visit

 

KEVI Student Reflects on Representing England in ISF World Schools Winter Games

13th December 2023Jump Marketing

We are very proud of our student, Amy Stokoe for her achievements in skiing and being on the England Alpine U18 Squad.

Amy was selected to represent England at the ISF World Schools Winter Games held in Turkey, but unfortunately, the event was cancelled due to the devastating earthquakes.

Amy still reflects on her past year as a success, especially since she has now been selected for the U21 England Alpine Squad 2023/24.

Whilst focusing on three A-levels, coursework, assessments, and exams, she has also been doing the Diploma in Sporting Excellence through Loughborough College and Snowsport England (equivalent to 2 A levels). It is clear that Amy still values her education, despite plans of becoming a full-time athlete next season!

In an article with the Ladies Ski Club, Amy mentions KEVI, “My school, King Edward’s VI High School in Morpeth awarded me the Elite Sports Performance trophy at the End of Year Awards evening; I was extremely proud to receive this accolade.”

We are happy to have helped Amy grow through education, and are excited to see where she goes in a professional setting throughout the next few years!