Parents and staff are warmly invited to take part in the Social and Quiz taking place on Thursday 17 November at 7 pm in the Great Hall. The evening will be hosted by our Quizmaster Extraordinaire, Mr Griffin, with a drink and snacks on arrival and prizes throughout. Tickets £10. For more information and to book please click on the link below:

Booking Form

The VCPA Annual General Meeting and next Committee meeting are due to be held on Tuesday 8 November. It will both be in person and by Zoom (please follow the link below to login.)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89833274473?pwd=bUp0RjlqWFIxUnNnUldEcjhDVEMxUT09

Please click on the link to view the proposed agenda:

VCPA Annual General Meeting Agenda

Customer and Local Services (CLS) would like to make sure that as many people as possible are aware of the Community Costs Bonus (CCB), which is an annual one-off payment households may be eligible to claim.

Islanders can apply online. 

As part of our ongoing programme of parental support sessions, we are holding a counter bullying workshop on Wednesday 16 November from 6-7pm in the Great Hall. You will be able to hear from key members of senior staff about how we strive to prevent bullying and deal with it when we see it. As with all matters relating to the development of our young people, parental support and engagement is essential. Please register your interest here.

Our Christmas concert returns on Thursday 1 December to get the festivities started. Please follow the link below for more information and to register for your free ticket:

A Christmas Cracker 

The Harmony Men and our own College Choirs join together on Thursday 24 November for their "Men Aloud" concert to celebrate the Harmony Men's 30th anniversary. 

Men Aloud - Harmony Men and VCJ Choirs

Music event for parents: Come and Sing Requiem by Gabriel Faure on Saturday 19 November and will be conducted by our own Director of Music, information can be found below:

http://jerseyislandsingers.co.uk/

Victoria College invites you to Planet Mall 2304. Live Music has been banned across the planet and all civilians have been chipped to conform to Planet Mall's dystopian legislations. We invite you to follow the journey of Galileo and Scaramouche as they fight to bring back the Music through the classic hits of Queen. This year's Christmas Musical starts on Monday 5 December and goes on until Thursday 8 December. Each performance begins at 7pm with doors opening at 6:30pm. Come and visit Planet Mall this Christmas or face the wrath of Killer Queen. Tickets - £10 General Admission, £6.50 Concession. Please follow the links to book your ticket:

5 December - https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/victoriacollegearts/t-dvkonyq

6 December - https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/victoriacollegearts/t-galgnxx

7 December - https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/victoriacollegearts/t-lndmykd

8 December - https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/victoriacollegearts/t-yazkrll

The deadline to sign up your son has now been extended. Please click on the link below to find out more and sign up by 7 November.

Music Tour to Italy 2023

The West End is coming to Jersey! In December, the Horrible Histories show will be coming to Jersey housed in a fantastic state-of-the-art performance tent at the Jardim de la Mar. The History department is hoping to take all of Y8 to see this on Thursday 15 December at 2pm. We will leave the College at 1.30pm by coach to watch the 2pm performance- a wonderful way to end this term. The cost of this trip will be £20.

Please watch out for the letter and further details in next week's newsletter.

We are very pleased to advise you of three Off Island trips which are being planned for this academic year. Please see the attached letter for further details.

PLEASE NOTE: There are still a few spots available for the Ski trip this February half term. Please see link for more information. The cost of the trip is £1650 all inclusive. please email Mr Akers by Sunday evening if you would like more information.

Off Island Trips 2023

We have had a number of emails and expressions of interest in the proposed Iceland Trip in the summer of 2023. Sadly after confirming dates and flights, we received a phone call from the travel agent last week that the cost of flights on our planned route had increase significantly. The trip remains very much on, however the department is working hard to find alternative arrangements to get us to Iceland at a realistic price point. Not unlike events elsewhere, we plan to get back to you shortly with a fully costed plan. 

Please keep an eye on this part of the newsletter as we will be putting on updates and a video with frequently asked questions regarding how to support your son. Thank you for the many forms returned to school and of course for the payments!

As payments are processed, we will start the enrolment process. Hopefully the first batch can be started next week. Once your son has enroled:

• They will be sent an email with their username and password so that they can access the D of E website
• Here they will need to record their contact details and D of E UK will send them a booklet and their discount card. In the booklet it will give them some support and the all-important assessor reports which will need to be uploaded when they have completed their volunteering
• It is really worth the students installing the D of E app as it is so much easier to use than a desktop

Mrs Blackmore is hoping to go into year 9 tutor groups next week to help students get started and will continue to do so over this year. She is also often in her classroom before, after school and at lunchtimes (not Tuesday) so your son can always pop in and speak to her. The video should hopefully answer your questions but if you need any further help, please email Mrs Blackmore - m.blackmore@vcj.sch.je

Last half-term you will have received the parent letter and questionnaire about Career Guidance meetings for all Year 9 students - link below.

A reminder that interviews will begin next week - 7 November.

To find out more please follow this link. 

To access the questionnaire which students have been asked to complete before the interview, please click here.

Year 10 pupils will be taking part in the Trident work experience scheme from Monday 5 June - Friday 16 June 2023. All the boys have now accessed the database and started selecting their 6 placement options of which they will be allocated 1. Once completed they should print their form and get parents to sign it to be returned with a personal statement letting the selectors know a bit more about them. The deadline for these forms is Friday 11 November. Own placements are also encouraged using family contacts and boys can collect an own placement form from their tutors. Please contact t.hutton@vcj.sch.je with any questions.

We are delighted to invite you to a parent study skills evening on Wednesday 23 November. This 60-minute session will be delivered by Elevate Education, who will also be working with your children to support them in preparing for their forthcoming mock and final examinations.

Please click on the link to view the letter:

Elevate Training Study Skills Parent Letter

We have the pleasure this year to invite your son to attend a six-week French workshop, starting 31 October through to the end of term.  The aim of these workshops is to help him improve and prepare for his French GCSE exam. However, spaces are limited.

If your son is interested in any of the following workshops, please email your son's name and choice of workshop(s) to Mrs Harris (s.harris@vcj.sch.je).  Please be aware that we will expect full commitment from your son to attend each week.

Workshops:

Monday 1.15pm - 1.45pm Foundation Speaking 

Tuesday 1.15pm - 1:45 pmHigher Speaking 

Wednesday 1.15pm - 1.45pm Foundation Writing 

Thursday 1.15pm - 1:45pm Higher Writing 

We hope your son will embrace this opportunity to make some substantial progress.

If you need further information, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Perestrelo - m.perestrelo@vcj.sch.je

We have the pleasure this year to invite your son to attend a six-week Spanish workshop, starting 31 October through to the end of term. The aim of these workshops is to help him improve and prepare for his Spanish GCSE exam. However, spaces are limited. 

If your son is interested in one of the following workshops, please email your son's name and choice of workshop to Mrs Perestrelo (m.perestrelo@vcj.sch.je). Please be aware that we will expect full commitment from your son to attend each week. 

Workshops: 

Monday 1.10pm - 1.35pm Higher Speaking?& Writing 

Monday 1:35pm– 2.00pm Higher Speaking & Writing  

We hope your son will embrace this opportunity to make some substantial progress. 

If you need further information, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Perestrelo - m.perestrelo@vcj.sch.je 

Please find the links below to the letter and mock examinations timetable which will run from Friday 6 January until Tuesday 17 January 2023.

Mock Examination Timetable Letter

Mock Examination Timetable

Year 11 students and parents are warmly invited to attend the Sixth Form Open Evening on Tuesday 15 November. This evening will provide you with the information required to make an application to Victoria College, as well as offering you the opportunity to speak to as many subject teachers as you may wish to, to assist you in deciding which subjects to choose for A Level studies.

For more information, please see the attached flyer and letter, which includes information about how to register for this evening.

Sixth Form Open Evening Flyer

Sixth Form Open Evening Letter

Starting after half-term the Geography department will be running a weekly workshop (Tuesday lunchtime) for pupils preparing for their GCSE's this summer. We'll be in NB2 (Geography classroom) details have been published in the school calendar and in the pupils Show My Homework page.

Year 12 students will be taking part in an employment exercise which involves a 1:1 interview with a representative from an industry in Jersey.

Please click on the link to find out more about this opportunity.

Year 12 Interviews Letter

In recent years, a number of Victoria College and Victoria College Preparatory School staff have taken part in ‘Movember’ - an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men's suicide. We are once again taking part in this initiative this year, growing moustaches of varying sizes, shapes and quality, and we are also inviting our Sixth Form students to take part.

As well as fundraising during the moustache-growing effort, we also aim to educate students and engage them in conversation on the above mentioned topics. We are doing this through assemblies and tutor-time content. We are hopeful that our continued efforts to highlight such issues will encourage young people to be open to discussing and tackling such problems.

Should Sixth Form students still like to take part, we are asking boys to contribute a minimum of £10.00 to our fundraising efforts, the same amount that staff will pay. This can either be paid in cash or using our online donation page - link below. We will be taking more photos during Movember so that we can track the progress being made by those taking part. Those not participating should continue to adhere to the usual Sixth Form policy for facial hair.

Money raised will be donated to Movember UK. You can find out more about the work that they do to support Men’s Health here. Should you wish to support the Victoria College students and staff with their fundraising by donating, then you can do so here.

As always, please do not hesitate in contacting me either via e-mail (a.falle@vcj.sch.je) should you wish to discuss this further.

A reminder to Y13 parents that the deadline for the completion of UCAS applications is Tuesday 15 November. If you have any questions or require any further help, then please contact Ms D Murphy, Deputy head of Sixth Form at d.murphy@vcj.sch.je

Please find the links below to the letter and mock examinations timetable which will run from Wednesday 18 January until Thursday 26 January 2023.

Mock Examinations Letter

Mock Examinations Timetable