1st March 2021
No lessons on Friday the 5th March - inset day for staff
Tutorials this week
Year 1 groups:
1:1s with your personal tutor (Check your My Varndean home page)
Year 2 groups:
Life Skills: Finance
Remote Learning Support Reminder
Students who do not have a suitable device to access lessons can borrow a Chromebook from the college to access MyVarndean, Google Classroom, Google Meets and complete their assignments.
The College is also able to assist with providing internet connectivity, such as dongles. This is available to all students who attend college on: digitalskills@varndean.ac.uk.
The college is open every day for all students who do not have a suitable place to study at home as well as for students who may be vulnerable or are children of key workers. We are open the following times, as per our timetable, Monday and Wednesday from 8:30am until 5:30pm and Tuesday, Thursday and Friday between 8:30am and 4:30pm. Students can access this by contacting: office@varndean.ac.uk
If you have technological issues or need support in accessing an IT service you can find support at the Digital Skills webpage here https://sites.google.com/varndean.ac.uk/digital; or email the digital skills team at digitalskills@varndean.ac.uk.
Student Union Elections 2021
Your Student Union - Your Voice
We are looking for the next Student Union Executive. Please see the information here and watch the SU President Bo-Min talking about the upcoming elections.
https://sites.google.com/varndean.ac.uk/student-union-elections
Deadline for applications by 5th March
Hustings on Tuesday 9th march at 12.10 and Friday 12th march at 12.10
STUDENT FINANCE Q&A SESSION
If you are a Year 2 students and you would like to join James Barron from the University of Brighton for a Q&A session on Student Finance please email the careers team with FINANCE as your email subject. If enough students are interested , they will email you the date and time of the session - it is likely to be towards the end of March. The information will be about student finance and it doesn't matter where you have applied - you do not need to be planning on studying at Brighton!!
Email careers@varndean.ac.uk
Please use FINANCE as the email subject
Ready Set Connect
Are you 16-25 years old and living in the Sussex area? Do you want the chance to win one of 5 X £20 Amazon vouchers?
Do you want to have your say on how to make phone and video Mental Health appointments more accessible for young people?
Then complete our mega quick survey + Share your views https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RSCfocusgroup
You don't need to have accessed Mental Health services before to share your views!
.
Do you want to take part in a 30 minute zoom interview and receive a £5 Amazon voucher?
Email lucy.chadburn@ymcadlg.org or elena.gelibter@ymcadlg.org to hear more!
CLUBS & SOCIETIES - What's on this week
Enrichment Clubs and Societies
Please see the link to see what societies are currently running and email the lead person if you are interested in finding more about it or joining to receive a google classroom link
WELLBEING
Our wellbeing team are available on: wellbeingzone@varndean.ac.uk if you’d like someone to contact you.
CAREERS NEWS
Careers appointments can be booked via My Varndean homepage or can be requested by email
Any enquiries email: careers@varndean.ac.uk
Get Careers Confident Opportunities
It's National Careers Week (NCW) from Monday March 1st to Saturday March 6th and Get Career Confident has some brilliant opportunities to share with you!
Daily NCW challenge with a prize at the end of the week!
Free medicine, vet science and dentistry spaces through Medic Mentor
New SeeToBe videos (including a filmmaker, an archaeologist, a special FX makeup artist and a bus driver!)
Updated Virtual Work Experience Opportunities and fantastic careers booklets for Sussex based young people and their parents and carers
All these opportunities will be live on GCC social media pages over the week so get following NOW on:
Instagram (for students)
Facebook (parents/guardians)
Twitter for teachers
Apprenticeship Vacancies
Deadlines in early March!!
Oxford Universities Summer Schools Open
Applications are now open for Oxford University’s access programme - UNIQ. This is a free programme aimed at supporting high-achieving students from UK state schools to apply to Oxford, particularly those from diverse backgrounds which are under-represented amongst Oxford and other highly selective universities. **Apply by March 15th** For more details of the programme, eligibility and how to apply, visit https://www.uniq.ox.ac.uk/
Sutton Trust Summer Schools
There's still time to apply for Sutton Trust Summer Schools, held at top universities held during July and August 2021 including St Andrews, Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Nottingham and lots more. A great opportunity to get a taster of degree courses from all academic disciplines, and all courses are free with the costs of travel, accommodation and food paid for by the Sutton Trust and the universities. **Apply by midday on 16th March.** Check out details and eligibility here: https://summerschools.suttontrust.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/sutton_trust/
The Oxford and Cambridge Student Conferences are aimed at Year 12 students (or equivalent) in the UK who are studying for their A Levels/IB (or equivalent) and are beginning to consider their options for study beyond sixth form.
The conferences offer:
Webinars on applying to Oxford and Cambridge (including Student Experience)
Opportunities to chat live with course academics and current undergraduate students
Videos of current undergraduate students from your region talking about their experiences of applying, settling into life at both Universities and their course of study
Information for teachers and HE advisors
Our aim is for students to have the opportunity to gain a deeper insight into what living and studying at Oxford and Cambridge is like, an understanding of how both universities assess applications and the opportunity to ask any questions they may have.
View the full schedule for the Student Conferences, including timings for our live sessions.
Admission is FREE but by ticket only and all bookings should be made online.
How to book
Tickets to attend the virtual conferences are free but you do need to register in advance for an e-ticket. Students and teachers can book themselves on to the conferences.
To book your place, please complete the online booking form.
The London Universities Group Roadshow Webinar
Six London universities in one place, to help with your higher education choices
At the London Universities Group Roadshow Webinar, you can find out more about university opportunities in the UK’s capital city – whether you’re planning to start university this year or in 2022. Two events are being hosted – so please ensure you select the most appropriate one for you.
Which event should you book?
Thursday 4th March @ 6pm – 7pm for students not living in London and interested in finding out more about opportunities studying in the capital offers.
Who are The London Universities Group?
The London Universities Group is a collaboration between six universities that are all members of the University of London – City, Goldsmiths, Queen Mary, Royal Holloway, SOAS and St George’s.
Between them, these universities cover a wide variety of subjects including business, creative subjects (art, design, media, music, theatre), engineering, healthcare (medicine, dentistry, nursing), humanities, languages, law, psychology, sciences (chemistry, physics, biology) and the social sciences.
What to expect during the webinar?
The event will be hosted by UniTasterDays.com and will provide a one-stop opportunity for you to find out more about each of the six London institutions present at the event- as well as key areas of university guidance, including:
The benefits of studying in London
The differences between school and university
Student life
Student finance
LIBRARY NEWS
NEW EBOOKS THIS WEEK
ONLINE RESOURCE OF THE WEEK
ClickView is the college’s video streaming platform. It allows students to watch thousands of TV series, documentaries, plays and feature films that relate to their specific courses. It is similar in format to Netflix, but with more educational content. By far the best way to view content on ClickView is to download the app onto your device, making it quick and easy to get to the programmes and films you want to watch :) Download the app for Android or search the App store on your Apple device.
If you'd like to find out more about how to use this resource Read the Guide.
NEW ON CLICKVIEW THIS WEEK
Amanda 20-year-old David doesn't have many people close to him besides his sister Sandrine. But when Sandrine dies in a terror attack, David suddenly has custody of their 7-year-old daughter Amanda. (15)
French, English subtitles.
Love, Simon
Simon Spier keeps a huge secret from his family, his friends and all of his classmates: he's gay. When that secret is threatened, Simon must face everyone and come to terms with his identity. (12)
A Matter of Life and Death
A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court. (U)
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son, John Connor, from a more advanced and powerful cyborg. (15)
1-1 RESEARCH SESSIONS
If you would like some help with research for a project, why not book a one to one session with one of our subject librarians? We can still do these during lockdown either over the phone or online, and can help you choose the best resources for your research. Contact us on issues@varndean.ac.uk to arrange one.
MOODLE
The Library Moodle page is your one-stop portal to all our amazing resources, including ebooks, magazines, TV programmes, films, research databases, helpful resource lists and more - all accessible on all devices.
FOLLOW US
Follow us on Instagram for our most up-to-date information on new resources and other news: @varndeancollegelibrary
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will do all we can to help. Contact us by email on library@varndean.ac.uk. If you have any items out on loan that are due back soon, please don't worry about them at present - we don't expect you to return your books until it is safe to do so and we will be renewing all student loans to cover the entire college closure period.