YEAR 12 & 13


As you may well be aware, last summer many of our Sixth Form students achieved some outstanding results, with a number of students achieving A* and A grades and/or Distinction* in their A levels, Extended Project Qualifications and BTEC qualifications. This allowed them to secure many places on impressive university courses such as History at Southampton, Zoology at Bristol, Psychology at Cardiff, Mathematics at Surrey, English at Nottingham, Human Biology at Plymouth and Football Management and Coaching through the University of Buckinghamshire (but based at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium!).


Our current Year 13s are now going through the university application process, applying for courses as varied as Aeronautical Engineering, Politics, Veterinary Science, Mathematics, Criminology and Law. Completing the application is the easy bit; now the hard work really begins! We wish all our students well.


Over the summer holidays, Dan Mead (current Year 13, and mad-keen geologist) completed an absolutely amazing few weeks as an active member of the Black Sea Project. This is a highly prestigious placement, organised by the University of Southampton, which was open to students across the nation. Dan won a place, and spent his summer aboard a hi-tech research vessel on the Black Sea, using multi-million pound submersible vehicles to map the sea floor. In the process he worked with a number of world-leading scientists, watched dolphins play as the sun set, and had a selfie with the Bulgarian prime minister who dropped by while on a fishing trip!


At the same time, Callum Langley (current Year 13) was spending his summer at the University of Bath on a research project with students studying for a doctorate in engineering. Callum secured this fantastic placement after applying to the Nuffield Trust, and


www.matravers.wilts.sch.uk


as with Dan, seeing off competition from across the nation. Both boys have put themselves into a fantastic position with these prestigious experiences in terms of their futures. We are to be visited by a representative of the Nuffield Trust in December to introduce similar opportunities to our current Y12 STEM students.


Over the past few years, the Sixth Form has been fortunate enough to be visited by a number of VIP speakers, many of whom have gone out of their way to support our students beyond their visit. One such example was a first-rate work experience placement undertaken by Joey Medway (Year 13) in September at John Fingleton Associates in London. In December, a number of Sixth Formers are due to visit the House of Lords as guests of Lord Rosser who visited us in the Spring. These fantastic opportunities are valued by many students and can make a real difference to their lives.


In September we were visited by Sir Geoffrey Owens, former editor of the Financial Times. It is not every day any of us gets to spend time with someone who regularly dined with Margaret Thatcher and other political leaders, and to hear from someone who has done just that was fascinating. Not only that, but Sir Geoffrey spent the formative years of his career reporting from the Kennedy White House! Sir Geoffrey has volunteered to support any of our students who are studying political developments of the late twentieth century – not a bad person to be getting support from!


This autumn, we have also been visited by a representative of the University of Bath to introduce one of their out-reach programmes, by our old friend Richard Wiltshire from Cardiff Metropolitan to advise on student finance and a representative of the Wiltshire Community Foundation, a local charity who have supported many of our students in higher education over the years. In addition to this, all of Year 12 attended the harrowing, but crucial, ‘Safe Drive Stay Alive’ roadshow in Trowbridge. This impressive presentation is backed by the local emergency services and is aimed at delivering a hard-hitting message to young and inexperienced drivers on the need to drive carefully and to take road safety seriously.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68