News

A Letter to Parents, Guardians & Carers from the Principal

Dear Parents/Carers and Guardians

Thank you for all your support and encouragement of our students over the last academic year. 2021/22 has brought with it a range of challenges, not least Covid! The students of 2021/22 have been incredible and as a staff team we are hugely proud of the way they have developed in their practical skills, knowledge, online learning techniques and personal skills. They have proven to be some of the most resilient students we have had the privilege to teach. They have flexed and adapted to the challenges the country has faced, and they have also grabbed opportunities with both hands. Their achievements are a testament to their determination, and I am confident these attributes will be skills they will draw on as they progress through their careers.

End of term

Term will finish on 20 June 2022. Curriculum teams have organised a range of celebrations to recognise some of the achievements of our students. Some external achievements will be announced at the end of July, so please keep an eye on our social media channels to hear more about those.

Results Days, Careers and Next Steps

For Level 3 qualifications, results will be released on 18 August. Our Exams Department will send details nearer the time about how students will be informed of their results.

For Level 2 qualifications and GCSEs, results will be released on 25 August. Again, our Exams Department will send details nearer the time about how students will be informed of their results.

A number of students will hopefully be returning to College in the new academic year and we very much look forward to welcoming them back from 5 September. Further details regarding the start of term will be sent out in August.

For those students who are progressing to employment or university, we wish them all the best of luck and ask them to please keep in touch with us and let us know how they are getting on or volunteer to come and speak to students about life after John Ruskin College.

Students have been encouraged to consider a number of options for next year and have had presentations from the careers team (who cover UCAS, employment, CV writing, job interviews etc). If your young person would like to discuss their options further, please ask them to contact the careers team via email: careers@johnruskin.ac.uk, or ring 020 8651 1131 and ask to speak to the Careers Team. They can also access our Careers Hub on our website.

Continuing Students

As we return to more normal ways of working in September 2022, we expect all our students to access a substantial work placement of at least 35 hours. The aim of these placements is to give students real experience of working in the vocational area in which they are studying or developing identified personal skills which will support their future employment. For example, students who identify that they wish to develop their confidence may look for placements where they will be required to work with people, such as shops, schools etc. Many students will be able to source this placement themselves and we expect students to work independently to do so. We will also be supporting this for students if needed using our employer contacts.  You can support students by offering work placement opportunities in your own place of employment; this can be as little as a single day or something much more substantial.  To register your interest please contact our work placement coordinator Marilyn Munns at MMunns@esc.ac.uk.

We will also benefit from an increased number of teaching hours in 2022/23, and our returning learners will notice that they have more time in College and on their core programme.  This will very much benefit their progress and achievement and may mean that they attend College for four days a week rather than the current three. Course tutors will provide more details as timetables are finalised throughout the summer.

Wishing you all a lovely summer break, now the sun is shining.

Kindest regards

Dr Lindsay Pamphilon
Group Principal John Ruskin College