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Students recently attended seminars entitled ‘Ace your Exams’. This is essentially a study skillssession with a difference and the company responsible ‘Elevate Education’ have spent the last10 years researching into the art of successful exam revision.Each year group (GCSE, AS, A2 & Foundation) attended a separate seminar geared specificallyto them and prior to the seminar students were asked to complete a short online questionnaire

allowing the company an insight into students’ current opinions on exams and exam prep.Elevate seminars are based on 10 years of ongoing research into the habits and techniques of top

students. Developed from the findings of this research the seminars provide students with simple andpractical skills which have already been proven to work for students in their position and which can be usedimmediately.Alongside this, Elevate use young presenters (recent top graduates) who can engage with the students on their leveland they can draw on their own recent stories and experiences. They keep the sessions short and sharp to maximisethe students’ attention span. Most importantly each seminar equips students with ideas that they can put intopractice straight away.We asked students to rate the sessions for us and 99% of AS students would ‘recommend the seminar to friends’and 100% of GCSE students said it was ‘time well spent’.

you will find all the latest news on our website www.bosworthcollege.com

Written by Fiona Pocock MA PGCE (Principal)From September, most A-level subjects will be taught with a linear approach, meaning the end ofthe current modular exams, breaking down the syllabus into bite-sized chunks. Instead,students will be examined on the whole of the two-year specification at the end of theirsecond year. Only the exams taken at the end of the second year count towards a final A-level grade, with coursework minimised.This has led to quite a lot of debate, not only here at Bosworth but further afield too. Willit help raise standards? Is it fair? How will students cope with fewer but “bigger” exams?The consolation for any student or parent is that all students are in exactly the sameposition. The new specifications come in for all Awarding Bodies (exam boards) at the sametime for the same subjects and so no candidate will be either advantaged or disadvantaged.It is anticipated that the level of difficulty will not change and that an A-level grade A takenthis summer or next will be every bit as valuable as an A grade achieved from 2017 onwards. So we shall still be measuring like with like and selection for universities will remain unchanged.There will still be an AS qualification, but de-coupled from A-level. This means that any result achieved at ASdoes not count towards the final A-level grade. Students may therefore ask why they should sit the AS. Our responseis that it provides universities with a valid and reliable measure of an applicant’s potential outcome at A-level, at thepoint of application. Equally importantly, it indicates to a student how well he or she is doing at the end of the firstyear of A-level study and this can be both reassuring and informative, helping a student choose which subjects tocontinue in the second year.GCSEs are changing too from September in English Language, English Literature and Maths. Our teachers are already well-prepared and waiting to deliver the new specifications to this September’s new students.We thrive on change and like to think of ourselves as flexible and ready to adapt to change. This exam facelift is morethan cosmetic and Bosworth teachers’ enthusiasm likewise is more than skin-deep!

Bosworth Independent College is a member of the Council for Independent Education (CIFE). This is anational organisation of independent colleges which specialise in preparing students home andinternational, for university entrance.

Every year an awards ceremony for the most outstanding CIFE students takes place at the House of Lordsand this year we are proud to announce the top prize went to a Bosworth student. The CIFE Gold Awardhas been awarded to Cho Fung Chung (Cliff) from Hong Kong.

Lord Lexden hosted this Annual Academic Awards Presentation on behalf of CIFE of which he is HonoraryPresident. The Awards Ceremony took place in the Cholmondeley Room, House of Lords, accompanied byAfternoon Tea.

Cho Fung Chung (Cliff) - Gold AwardCliff, from Hong Kong, joined Bosworth on a 2-year A-level course. Hisexceptional success of A* in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Psychologywith grade A in every unit and 14 out of 22 papers completed with fullmarks. Alongside this he attained an A grade in Chinese and a B gradein his Extended Project, these accomplishments helped him secure theCIFE Gold Award.

His Extended Project was entitled, “The role of conformity in students’participation in extracurricular activities” and was based on experimentshe had conducted himself in Hong Kong. Cliff was awarded a Silver Medalin the Chemistry Olympiad and a Gold Medal in the Biology Olympiad.When he was 15 years old Cliff reached grade 8 in Piano. In his spare timeCliff enjoys water sports having won medals for kayaking, wind surfing andsailing.

He was awarded a place at Robinson College, Cambridge, to study Psychology and Behavioural Science,Psychology having been his passion for many years. Not only is Cliff incredibly well-organised, he is alsovery friendly, courteous, considerate and inquisitive. Above all, he is enthusiastic about everything he does.His teachers describe him as “astute”, “sparky”, “brilliant”, “driven”, “meticulous” and “talented”.

Omolemo Monyatsi – Bosworth College AwardOmolemo, from Botswana, joined Bosworth for a 2-year A-level course. She

attained A* in Maths and Chemistry alongside A in Further Maths and Physicsplus A in her Extended Project. Indeed, Omolemo was a Bosworth pioneerfor the Extended Project, 2014 was the first year the College enteredstudents in for this demanding qualification. She helped set thestandards with her project, entitled ‘Financial illiteracy and consumerindebtedness’. She was well-organised throughout and met alldeadlines.

Omolemo was a key player in Bosworth’s volleyball team. She wonfirst place in Bosworth’s Fun Run for Sports Aid and was awarded theaccolade of ‘most valued sports player’ at the end of her AS year. Sheachieved 44 Bosworth Merits in her AS year, the highest number in hercohort that year. In the Chemistry Olympiad Omolemo attained a Silver

Medal.

Teachers describe Omolemo as being “kind, mature, dedicated andrespected.” She says she is “ambitious, hardworking and vibrant.”

Hei Wo Law (Samson) – Science & Technology AwardSamson, from Hong Kong, joined Bosworth to study A-levels in one year.He achieved A* in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Physics alongsidegrade A in Further Maths, even though initially he had enrolled to takeonly 3 A-levels! With no opportunity to sit any exams in January,Samson had to take 30 exams between May and June including 6practicals.

Samson attended 32 lessons a week but even so could not attend allrelevant lessons due to unavoidable timetable clashes. This did notworry him too much as he caught up with missed work on his own.In spite of this enormous burden, everyone in the college knew him.Samson was awarded a Silver Medal in the Biology Olympiad.

He played in the college basketball team and won the “Basketball Player ofthe Year” award. He is an amazing young man who is as modest, as he ishard working, as he is clever. Samson hopes to be accepted to study Medicine.

Jaekyeong Lee (Jae) – Science & Technology AwardJae, from Korea, studied Bosworth’s 18 month A-level course. Sheachieved A* in Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry and Physics, which ledto her being offered a place to read Engineering at St. Edmund’sCollege Cambridge.

Jae was Bosworth’s only student from Korea and made friends from awide nationality group. Whilst in the UK she used vacations to travelto many other cities, pursuing her interest in art and architecture. Jaewas awarded a Bronze Medal in the Physics Olympiad.

Jae’s Personal Tutor commented very soon after her arrival that she had“a great deal of mathematical and scientific talent’. Her Maths teacher

similarly recognised her potential noting, “she applies concepts withconsummate ease and skill’.

Omolemo Monyatsi, Cliff Chung, Fiona Pocock and LordLexden by the River Thames & Westminster Bridge

Haleema Khanum, A-level Sociology teacher at Bosworth Independent Collegefirst appeared in the Sociology Review in April 2013, published again inNovember 2013, and then appeared in the November 2014 edition with herresearch into ethnicity and aspiration - They did well, but not “Asian Well”.

The ‘Sociology Review’ is an education journal and is directed at A-levelstudents, consisting of articles by leading academics and specialists givingstudents fresh perspectives on key A-level topics.

In this research Haleema covers the main questions:

What influences British South Asian students to achieve and aspire?

Does this vary between different faith and ethnic groups?

The four-page article outlines her research, made up of 12 semi-structuredinterviews with British Asian students studying in Higher Education or at A-level and GCSE. Five interviewees identified their origin as Pakistani, five as Indianand two as Bengali. All are aged between 15 and 23 years. Seven were female andfive were male.

Haleema’s research takes the popular stereotype that many British Asian students are pressured by family andculture to pursue certain professions, analysing students’ first-hand views about how they cope with thispressure and the aspirations they hold.

Haleema believes, ‘Working at Bosworth provides a fresh perspective on Sociology because I work across somany different nationality groups, opening up many debates particularly around race and gender, my specialistarea. I feel Sociology allows students the chance to understand themselves and others in a wider context,enabling them to understand the society they live in.’

This February Bosworth entered the ‘Poetry ByHeart’ competition with the regional heat forNorthamptonshire and Leicestershire beingheld locally at Melton Mowbray. Competitionorganiser Andrew Motion’s aim is for young

people to connect and understand the value of good literature and with thecompetition now in its third year the standards are increasing year on year.

The brief was to bring the poems to life and truly connect with the storiesbeing told. With this in mind, students had to memorise and then recite twopoems from the anthology. At Bosworth, it was a closely fought school heatwith Odera Bob-Osamor winning first place and Stephanie Reynolds coming ina close runner up.

Mrs Ferraz, English teacher tells us, “It was a pleasure to see our students, from arange of countries and academic courses, devoting some of their spare time to reallyengage with a variety of poetry. It was the first time that we had run this competition andwe look forward to doing it again next year.”

This regional heat was attended by eight local schools and colleges. For this heat the students were asked to recitethe two poems that had won their school heat and then add a third poem selected from the WWI poetry section.On the night all participants excelled at bringing the poems to life, the spectators were provided with a thoroughlyentertaining evening.

Odera did herself and the college proud by winning the regional heat with her recitation of: Porphyria’s Lover byRobert Browning, Dusting the Phone by Jackie Kay and There Will Come Soft Rains by Sara Teasdale. Odera will nowjoin the other forty-one regional winners at the National Semi-Finals in March at Homerton College, Cambridgeshire.

If you would like to see the selection of poems that students could choose from please go online towww.poetrybyheart.org.uk

Ms Haleema Khanum teaching her A-level Sociology group

Each year at Bosworth students have the chance to take part in various Olympiad competitions, including the BritishBiology Olympiad (BBO). The first round consists of two, one-hour multiple choice papers taken online in January. Thisyear at the end of the first round 34% of all entrants achieved Gold, Silver or Bronze awards. We are very proud toreport, from a total of twenty-three Bosworth students entered, 48% accomplished this award level.

Moving into round two of the BBO only the top gold medallists are invited to take part. This consists of a 90-minutewritten paper at their schools in March. The highest achieving students from round two will then be selected to takepart in the British Final at the University of Warwick, from which the UK team will be chosen to take part in the IBOcompetition.

Dr Andrew Treharne MBE CBiol FSB, Chair, UK Biology Competitions said:

“Many congratulations to all those students who have been awarded medals and certificates. Best of luck tothose who now go forward to compete for a place in the UK team which will go to the International BiologyOlympiad (IBO) in Denmark.”A key aim for the IBO is to stimulate students to expand their knowledge beyond the curriculum and to encouragethem to continue further study in this subject; it tests both the theoretical knowledge and practical skill of the top pre-university biology students from over 60 countries.

Dr Judy Fitzsimons (Head of Biology at Bosworth) believes, “the Olympiad is a great experience because it recognisesstudent achievement and encourages young people to challenge themselves.”

The following Bosworth students achieved Gold, Silver or Bronze Awards:

Gold – Huai Ling Tan

Silver – Ivan Hong, Youssef Ahmed & Toyin Ihinmikalu

Bronze – Georgia Jeffrey, Radhika Patel, Miriam Bushell, Lik Theng Ho, Nickhalas Tan, Alex Shabanov & Maryam Jolaade

Odera winning the Regional Heat

Pictured from left to right: Youssef, Toyin, Huai Ling & Ivan

CIFE College QuizThe CIFE College Quiz proved a great experience for all those taking part.Well done to Jun Ong, Matthew McNicholas, Georgia Jeffrey, ToyinIhinmikalu and Youssef Ahmed our final team of 5. Rounds included:general knowledge, music, film, sports, picture, university challenge andpointless. Eight colleges participated and we ended the day in a respectablefourth place.

First Aid CourseStudents took part in the St John Ambulance First Aid Course at Bosworth Hall. A very worthwhile course and allstudents who took part have a certificate that qualifies them for 3 years entitled, “Essential First Aid for all ages.”

Swan Lake BalletBosworth students had a fantastic evening at the Royal & Derngate Theatre,watching Swan Lake by the Moscow City Ballet. Russian Student, DzhalilAbizgildin told us “this is the first time I have been to the ballet, I loved thedancing and thought the music wassuperb.”

Cambridge & OxfordSaturday trips to the two most famous university cities in England alwaysprove popular with Bosworth students, a great opportunity to look aroundeach historic town and part of the university campus.

Culture DayWe have a very diverse cohort from forty different countries and Culture Day allows usto celebrate this wide mix of nationalities. Students are proud to wear their National Dress and to share storiesabout their cultures.

University of SurreyOur A-level students met with Julian Henry from the InternationalOffice, University of Surrey. Not only did he give a very informative talkbut students were also able to ask any questions they had aboutuniversity life.

London School of EconomicsYohei Guy (Student Recruitment Co-ordinator) from the London Schoolof Economics (LSE) joined students at Bosworth Hall. Yohei told us, "Thestudents I meet tend to be very articulate, enthusiastic about theirsubjects and intellectually well developed. LSE is an internationaluniversity with over 60% of our student body coming from outside theUK. At LSE we are looking for top studentsfrom all over the world."

Local Pharmacist visits Bosworth AS studentsStudents interested in following the pharmaceutical route at university were given atalk from local pharmacist Mr Patel, who kindly agreed to give up his time to answer

student questions. Mr Patel has owned his own Pharmacysince 1997 and he has seen many changes to the businessand the NHS system during this time.

Visit from Michael Ellis, MPOur Government & Politics A-level class were able to askquestions face-to-face with Local MP Michael Ellis. Michael is a Conservative Memberof Parliament for the Northampton North constituency having held office since May2010. We welcome Michael's visit and it has given students a first-hand insight intoUK politics.

Become a friend to Otto the Owl our College Mascot. Find him on our websiteunder the ‘noticeboard’ tab. Read some of his recent posts:

Go-Karting – Wow what a weekend! I decided to try go-kartracing with some of our students, I gave it my best but I think I’llstick to flying in future!

Rock School – On Tuesday evening I went along to Rock School. Ijoined in with the singing this time, but I may go back and learn to play

the guitar. I think it’s fair to say I was ‘jammin’!

Enrichment – I joined Mrs Hills’ Enrichment class this week –Knitting! I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to knit and I am thinkingof knitting myself a scarf to keep my neck warm…

Mrs Johnstone allowed me to join the Yoga Enrichment class thisafternoon – it was a great way to de-stress from studying but Icouldn’t quite work out where to put my wings…

If you would like us to send a copy of our newsletter to a relative, friend or local business, please let us know

www.bosworthcollege.comBosworth Independent College • Northampton • 01604 235 090 • info@bosworthcollege.com

Oliver Dancer a second year A-level student at Bosworth hasbeen awarded a scholarship place at LoughboroughUniversity to study Construction Engineering Management(CEM). Oliver originally applied for the Civil Engineeringcourse at Loughborough, but after his application hadbeen reviewed he was steered towards the CEM course.

One of the main advantages of the CEM course is thatstudents chosen will be sponsored by a consortium ofconstruction companies including; Kier Group, LaingO’Rourke, Simons Group and Jackson Construction toname but a few. The other benefit - it is a sandwich degreecourse in which the third year provides a fully paidplacement at one of the sponsor companies.

On the day of interview Oliver met with 3 representatives fromthe sponsors; in his case all of the reps were from Simons Group,but it could have been a mixed panel. It was a formal interviewwhere students were asked questions, such as, ‘What does certifiedmean in engineering?’ and ‘What is your greatest lifetime achievement?’

Sponsors are looking for a keen interest in how the world of construction continues to evolve, and evidenceyou have fully researched the industry. Strong social and leadership skills are seen to be as important asfinal grades, because a project / managerial role will require clear decision making and leadership ability. InOliver’s case it was extremely beneficial that he had already completed work experience at Laing O’Rourkelast summer and therefore could answer with clear examples.

Another string to Oliver’s bow is that he is an accomplished sportsman, counting Rugby, Judo and HammerThrowing as three of his best disciplines. In fact he believes his dedication to his sport is why he came toBosworth. Having done a year of AS at another school, Oliver’s grades were not what he wanted them tobe and he felt this was due to his heavy involvement in sport.

Deciding he needed a fresh start he put Bosworth to the top of his list, feeling we were more focused onacademia; mentioning in particular the quiet study hall sessions that feature in his timetable, enabling himto complete more work in the school day. Needless to say, Oliver is delighted with his offer of BBC andconfident he can achieve it.

With tuition fees on the increase, many British students are debating the pros and cons of highereducation. This type of sponsorship bridges the gap, as students have a clear path to follow without thelarge financial burden.

The advantages to this type of programme are evident; tuition fees are covered (£27,000), living expensesare paid (£3,000 per year) and students are given a wage in their placement year. In essence, anyone onthis course is coming out with no loans to repay and they have a year of work experience on their C.V.Alongside this is the strong likelihood that one of the sponsor companies will look to employ them.

A great start to higher education and indeed the world of work and a fantastic networking opportunitywith some of the largest construction companies in the UK! We look forward to Oliver coming back to talkto future students about his hands-on experience.