Year 12 Rotarian Interviews & Enrichment Day at Buckingham University 

On Tuesday, 2 April and Wednesday, 3 April 2019, Year 12 students took part in Rotarian interviews. The interviews were held at Buckingham University, in the newly built Vinson Centre. In preparation for the interviews, students prepared a CV and an application for a ‘dream job’ that they are considering a career pathway into.

The students have been coached on how to produce the most effective CV/letter of application and the whole enrichment experience is key to our young people preparing for one week of work experience in July, and for future employment beyond the Sixth Form.

The Buckingham University also hosted all of our Year 12s on Tuesday, 2 April 2019, for a full Enrichment day. Students were given a tour of the facilities and attended a talk about what university life is like and things to consider when applying for universities in the coming months. They also took part in debates facilitated by the Humanities faculty. 

Thank you Buckingham University for such an inspiring and engaging day!

Buckingham School Sixth Form getting involved in politics as shown through an event recently attended by Tom and Lucy.

Being politically aware is something that is always encouraged in Sixth Form as our students approach voting age and it is important they have an understanding of what they are voting for.

Both are pictured here giving Theresa May some clear considered advice, hopefully we'll be just fine now!

Sixth Form at The Buckingham School

Are you considering your Post 16 education options or know a young person in Year 11 who is talking about their next education pathway? If so, have a read of our Sixth Form Options Guide for September 2019 and see what we have on offer.  

If you wish to speak with our Director of Sixth Form regarding Sixth Form, Mrs Pykett can be contacted by emailing spykett@buckinghamschool.org or telephone 01280 812206 ext: 263.  

County Sales Challenge @ Pinewood Studios

A team of Buckingham School Sixth Form students went through to the final of this year's County Sales Challenge which was held at Pinewood Studios recently.

The team had to present to a large audience in one of the theatres at the location. They worked incredibly well together and Mr Cunningham was justifiably proud. The day proved to be a valuable experience for all and will be a useful asset for future university and job applications.

Alex Harwood was chosen as one of the best presenters and has been invited to participate in the creation of a podcast produced by a major sales firm. Amazing work, Alex! 

Linking Subjects with Careers 

Have you seen the Success at School information guides on our website? Success at School is a national careers website for students aged 11-19 and they have published a series of brochures linking subjects with careers.  

We aim to provide our students with access to independent information and guidance about the range of options open to them once they leave us. These include academic, vocational and apprenticeship options supporting our desire to help create well rounded citizens who can achieve whatever they hope for to succeed in their lives.

Linking Subjects with Careers Guides 

Intermediate Maths Challenge 

Oliver, Year 9, pictured here with Mr McGinnes, represented the school at the UK Mathematics Trust Regional Final.  He was awarded Best in School (with a higher score than any of his year or year above) in the Intermediate Maths Challenge.  Oliver also previously attended the Bletchley Park (Royal Institution / Open University) Masterclasses on Saturdays during the Autumn term.

Congratulations, Oliver, for your exceptional performance, and congratulations to all of The Buckingham School team for participating and representing our school so brilliantly!   

Mr B Waine, Assistant Curriculum Leader, Maths 

Student Leadership Team

Earlier in the term, we held interviews for Head Boy and Head Girl. This was a great opportunity for all students involved to gain experience of a formal interview and all presented themselves in a very professional manner. All students who did the interview have a role in the new Student Leadership Team.

As a result, I am pleased to inform you that our new Head Boy is Luis Abreu and our Head Girl is Natasha Goodwin. The Student Leadership Team is made up of the following students who are each taking on specific lead roles: 

Hannah Walker - Student Mentor Lead, Evan Walters - Student Mentor, Lavinia Robertson - Student Mentor, Jessica Herron - Student Mentor, Community Links, Louis Howitt - Prefects, Polly Batt-Rowe - Student Council and Student Mentor, Lauren Scott - Community Links, Molly Aldersley - Student Mentor, Liam Whale - Student Mentor and Rugile Rimeikate - Community Links.

We will update you in the coming months with how their roles are progressing and the projects they will be running. 

Mrs A Wallace, Student Voice Co-ordinator

Race for the Line - Regional Final Competition 

Congratulations to the team of three students (Hannah, Kaitlyn and Will) who represented The Buckingham School at the Race for the Line Project regional final competition held at RAF Benson on Wednesday 3 April.

The students worked hard to win The Buckingham School's own race day earlier in the week by designing and building the fastest car.  Sadly, the regional final was very fierce (only a range of 7 milliseconds between all the competitors) and we failed to take the top spot. However, not all was lost as our students were awarded the Best Design of the competition for their car.

We are very much looking forward to running the project again next year, and taking what we've learned to improve our designs even further - with our three winning students acting as mentors for our next set of students.

All Students worked extremely hard building foam rocket cars and as you can see from the pictures, launching them from the school's MUGA.    

This is a fantastic STEM initiative - inspiring tomorrow's engineers and scientists today! 

Miss L Townes, STEM Leader

The Science department showcased dissections during one lunchtime session. Staff led students in dissecting sardines, a heart, lungs and this enormous tongue as shown by Head of Science, Mr Dunckley!

Stowe Fruit Tree Planting Project

At the beginning of term, our Year 9 and 10 ASDAN students planted 29 trees for the Stowe fruit tree planting project. Working with the National Trust at Stowe, this community project aimed to improve the overflow car park for visitors and schools. All of our students worked incredibly hard and were a real credit to the school. To plant each tree, they needed to remove turf, dig a hole, plant in the tree and a supporting stake, fill the hole back in and add a stake and tree guard.

The National Trust kindly took the time afterwards to write to us to let us know how grateful they were for the students' involvement.