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

AS results: All students achieve between 1 and 3 A grades!

August 18th saw all our students achieve between 1 and 3 A grades across a broad range of subjects. A grades were achieved in: Maths, Further Maths, Psychology, Chemistry, Law, Photography and French. Many congratulations to all. It cannot be easy to be the first 'guinea pigs' in a new Sixth Form ,without a year 13 to pass on the benefits of their wisdom but their results show just what can be achieved by determination and listening to sound advice.
With such a supportive and knowledgeable teaching staff and excellent facilities, a St Catherine's Sixth Former knows she can excel in any subject she chooses.

Sixth Form go goggle-eyed over Google

I have had previous experience of visiting offices, but Google was a unique experience for me. It would not be an exaggeration or inappropriate to say I could live there! Indeed Google encourages its staff to stay for long periods by having a creative environment. The environment is very open apart from a few private areas if needed.

We started the day by receiving a free breakfast.

Professor Poole delivers enthralling Siena Society lecture

On Thursday, 30^th June the Siena Society was delighted to welcome Professor Alastair Poole from Bristol University's Pharmacology and Cell Biology department and listen to his lecture on the role of platelets in the battle against thrombosis.

Even for the non-Biologists amongst the sizeable audience, Professor Poole managed to explain the important function that platelets, (those small ‘stickey’ sentinels that travel along our arteries and veins looking for damage) in a way that did not patronise his audience, nor go too far over our heads.

In a clear and expert lecture, graphically illustrated by colourful slides and videos, we gained an understanding of how artherothrombotic plaques can build up in the arteries owing to too much cholesterol in our blood system. These can lead up to a build up of platelets that may be relatively small (embolism) or larger and more serious (thrombosis) that can lead to a blockage, causing either angina or heart attack.

It became clear that platelets are obviously essential in their clotting function when we sustain an injury but when they clump together inside our arteries, they can cause serious and potentially life-threatening problems.

Professor Poole described the work that he and his lab are doing to combat not only coronary heart disease but also Type 2 Diabetes which is clearly becoming more prevalent in our society.

For us all it was a highly stimulating evening, especially for those either hoping to study Medicine or Biological Sciences at university.

Siena Society Recital postponed

Owing to numerous musical productions that she is directing at the end of this term, Heather Boyes (our departing Head of Music) has sadly but understandably decided to postpone this Friday's recital. We are hopeful that she will return in the Autumn to perform.

Megan Wheating Photography Exhibition now on display

St Catherine's Head Girl, Megan Wheating who studies photography as one of her A level subjects has now completed her AS exhibition entitled Mystery and Imagination. This highly impressive display of work comprising photographs of her course work as well as exhibition pieces, is now on display in the Sixth Form Study Room. Do see either Mrs Jones or Mr Pearson if you would like a private view!