Former prisoner enthralls Siena Society audience

The Siena Society got off to a riveting start to the year with a sizeable audience being treated to a rare and uncompromising talk by a former convicted robber, Mr John Bowers. Mr Bowers reminded us that 86,000 people are locked up in our prisons today and much of his talk was an attempt to answer the question: Why?

Sixth Form Open Evening, Sep 21st, 6:30pm

St Catherine's Sixth Form will be hosting an Open Evening for interested students and parents this Wednesday, 21st September from 6:30-8pm.

Please come armed with questions, enjoy our tours of the facilities and get to know the staff and students!

Come to the Drama Studio at 6:30pm for a welcome presentation from the Headmistress and the Head of Sixth Form.

Students avoid humanities in favour of vocational degrees. But are they wise?

UCAS statistics reveal that applications to study subjects like law, teaching and accounting increased this year, whilst interest in courses in English, history, classics and philosophy reduced. Applicants are, it appears, increasingly choosing subjects that they think will offer them the best chance of a guaranteed career. However, humanities courses have always helped prepare students for jobs, via the transferable skills learned during them. The majority of graduate-entry jobs are, as always, open to graduates of any discipline.

World Skills London 2012

 Groups of young people and individuals attending the World Skills event at ExCel  London 5^th - 8^th  October can:

• meet hundreds of top employers including BT, Cisco, Dermalogica, Honda, L'Oréal Professionnel, Travis Perkins and many others
• find out about the wealth of inspiring career and job opportunities
• have a go at over 50 different skills and hundreds of interactive activities
• watch 1,000 young people compete to be world champions in one of 46 skills

Individual students can register on the Worldskills website: www.worldskillslondon2011.com/info/resources

Sixth Form begin year in high spirits

6^th September, 9am. The Sixth Form Common Room is full of chatter and a buzz of excitement as we unite again after the summer holidays – and to start the term off, what better than to take a trip to Thames Young Mariners that afternoon!

 “It was an extremely exciting day – everyone got to know each other in a smooth, easy and relaxed environment” (Tamasum)

After a morning of team activities from fashion shows to informal interviews, and a delicious hot lunch, the Sixth Formers and Mr Pearson went to learn some new skills in raft building and systematic thinking. Once our teams had built two rafts, the ten of us paddled across to the other side of the canal – with a couple falling into the icy water on the way!

“The fashion task was definitely my cup of tea; I enjoy fashion very much and this activity was a perfect ice breaker – and brilliant fun!” (Ambar)

After a couple of group games, which greatly encouraged our strategic thinking skills, we trekked back up to the changing rooms in order to get out of our sopping wetsuits and back into dry clothes.

“I thought it was a good way of learning and trying out something new as well as getting to know everyone – after all, its not something you get to do every day!” (Megan)

What a way to start the year – certainly not one we can easily forget!

by Ambar Syed, Lower Sixth