Welcome to the fourth edition of our half-termly cross-Trust newsletter. It’s been another busy few weeks and we’re continuing to achieve lots of wonderful things across the Trust – the newsletter showcases just a few of them.
Once again, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank all staff, students and communities of Wickersley Parntership Trust for your continued hard work and support this half term.
Over the last few weeks, two Wickersley Sixth Form students, Elicia and Lucie, joined Wickersley Partnership Trust’s Primary PE Department for their Get Work Ready short-term placements.
They chose to do their placement in PE as it will help them gain experience for their future study and careers – with one going on to study Sports Therapy at Sheffield Hallam University after Sixth Form.
Some of the things they have been doing during the placement include:
David Walker, Elicia’s PE Mentor at Wickersley Partnership Trust said: “Elicia has been supporting the Year 5/6 tennis lessons at Aston Hall Junior & Infant School and took an active lead – running a warm up for the children independently.
“In the few short weeks Elicia has been supporting my PE sessions, her engagement with the children has been positive and they have enjoyed having her in the PE lessons. She has taken an active role assisting children with the different skills and drills associated with tennis, which has helped the students with their progress, confidence and overall enjoyment of PE.”
Stevie Speakman, Lucie’s PE Mentor at Wickersley Partnership Trust said: “Lucie has been amazing in the lessons. She has lead a cricket bowling activity to a group of 30 Year 3/4 students. She is doing really well and is building strong relationships with the students, offering them lots of support.”
Two Wickersley Sixth Form students, Elisha and Rebecca, have joined Wickersley Partnership Trust’s Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Departments – at Brinsworth Whitehill Primary School and Aston Hall Junior and Infant School – for their Get Work Ready short-term placements.
The reasoning behind their choices to join the EYFS Department are quite different – Elisha’s is a stepping stone on her path to become a teacher and Rebecca’s is to get some experience with children to open up more doors to aid her ambitions of becoming a psychologist – potentially specialising in child psychology.
Some of the things that they have been doing in EYFS are:
Jackie Heydon at Aston Hall Junior & Infant School said: “Rebecca has settled really well into the unit. She has worked really well during the science activities and has engaged so well with the students, encouraging new vocabulary and developing the children’s responses using key questioning skills.
“Rebecca has such a lovely, calm manner and approach with the children – they respond so well and she was able to encourage them to record and present their work in different ways.”
Eleanor Palmer, EYFS Teacher at Brinsworth Whitehill Primary School said: “Elisha has been an asset to have in our classroom. She has helped the children with letter formation as well as helping with creative tasks. She has established good relationships with the children in a short period of time and is confident to ask questions to ensure she is providing children with correct information and learning.”
Meet the students!
Rebecca Tyler
Dance, PE and Psychology student and budding psychologist, Rebecca Tyler has joined the EYFS Department at Aston Hall Junior & Infant School for her Get Work Ready placement.
Due to not knowing which direction she wants to take with psychology, she wanted to give education a go. She’s interested in child development and some of the avenues that are available in child psychology.
Rebecca commented: “The programme has been good so far – really organised too. I’m excited to see how things go over the duration of the placement.”
Elisha Haigh
Elisha is currently studying English Language, Law and Sociology and has joined the EYFS Department at Brinsworth Whitehill Primary School to complete her short-term placement.
She wants to become a teacher and her next step is to go to university to study Primary Education. This opportunity is perfect for Elisha to get some experience in a primary school, before she even heads off to uni!
Elisha commented: “I absolutely love getting involved in creative tasks with the children and getting to know each child. So far, I’ve learned so much and I’m getting involved in the daily routines and tasks in EYFS.”
A Year 7 student at The Gainsborough Academy, Lucas Artiss – who has recently walked 930k steps for The Ambulance…
Ashwood Primary School has recently received a donation of 10 laptops and support bundles – containing headphones, dongles and data – from Asda Parkgate to support the students’ learning.
The aim of the donation is to help out those students and families who would otherwise not be able to finance similar tech equipment for learning in school and at home.
Ashwood was nominated and chosen by staff at Asda Parkgate to receive the tech bundle and the donation was possible thanks to Asda Stores and Asda Foundation’s partners, Dell and Vodafone.
Helen Marshall, Headteacher at Ashwood Primary School said: “We can’t thank Asda and Dell enough for choosing our school to receive these laptops, they will go a long way in helping to break down digital barriers and help with learning now and in the future.”
A big thank you to Asda and its partners for the generous donation to one of our primary schools!
Wickersley Sixth Form Student, Owen Gundry, is the first student on the Get Work Ready scheme to join forces with Wickersley Partnership Trust’s Premises Department to get some hands-on experience in construction and premises-based projects – including a primary school renovation! 
Owen’s aspirations after Sixth Form is to do a degree apprenticeship, preferably in quantity surveying so he felt – out of the departments WPT offered – that the Premises Team was the best fit for him and his future.
Owen will be based at Rawmarsh Community School working with mentors in Premises on various school premises projects.
The things that Owen has been learning so far are:
Patrick Morley, Site Manager at Rawmarsh Community School said: “I have explained to Owen what a Site Manager does and how this is budgeted for when managing multiple budget headings. We have also had a thorough talk about the Health & Safety of the site, giving examples of asbestos, legionella, COSHH etc and I have showed him how these are used in the budget to keep users of the site safe.
“He showed a great interest in this and how facilities management could be used as a gateway into his chosen career.”
Ann Dunphy, Parent/Carer of Owen Gundry said: “He’s really enjoying it. The two guys he’s worked with so far have a wealth of experience, and it’s really opened Owen’s eyes to further possibilities.
“Thanks so much Wickersley School for arranging the work experience. Very much appreciated.”
Meet Owen Gundry
Owen is an aspiring Quantity Surveyor, who is currently studying A Level Maths, Sociology and IT. He doesn’t plan on going to university and instead would like to enter the world of Quantity Surveying through a degree apprenticeship but will happily wait for the right opportunity.
He chose to do a placement in the Premises Department because it will put him in a similar environment to what he will be faced with when he starts an apprenticeship.
Owen commented: “During my placement, my mentor has suggested we go to a local school that’s being renovated so I’m looking forward to seeing the project from an external viewpoint. The idea of seeing a project through from start to finish really interests me.”
Last week saw the start of the first Get Work Ready programme, in which eight Wickersley Sixth Form students started a short-term work placement within different departments across Wickersley Partnership Trust.
Over the next few weeks, three of the students – Alisa Ali, Millie Rose and Ria Rajesh – will continue working in the Finance Department with a team that operates across eight primary schools and five secondary schools. By half term, the students will have accumulated between 12 and 15 hours worth of work experience to put on their CV and personal statements.
The range of work carried out by the students in the Finance Department will be vast and will include:
Steve Clayton, Senior Finance Manager at Wickersley Partnership Trust said: “We’re excited to give the Wickersley Sixth Form placement students an insight into the WPT Finance Department over the coming weeks. Millie, Alisa and Ria are doing really well so far and have been great additions to the team.”
Meet the students!
Alisa Ali
Alisa is an aspiring accounting, who is currently studying Economics, Politics and Geography at Wickersley Sixth Form. She hopes that her next steps into Accounting and Finance will be through a Degree Apprenticeship, so has joined the Finance Team at WPT to get some work experience under her belt to aid her application.
She wanted to get some experience in different areas of Finance and is intrigued by how everything works in Finance in the education sector.
Alisa commented: “The Get Work Ready programme has been really interesting so far as it’s given me an idea and some top tips for the future on how to become more employable. Before the placement, I really enjoyed the careers lessons and learning about how to act in a professional environment.”
Millie Rose
Head Girl, Millie is currently studying Maths, Economics and Double Applied Sport at Wickersley Sixth Form and is thinking about which route to take – either University or a Degree Apprenticeship – after Sixth Form.
She has chosen the WPT Finance Department to test the waters of the working world of Accounting and Finance to see if it is something that she could do and enjoy as a career.
Millie said: “Whilst careers lessons and workshops are useful, it doesn’t compare to real-life office experience. I’m finding the placement really useful so far for many reasons and I’m excited to work with adults who are passionate about what they do.”
Ria Rajesh – an aspiring Actuary – is a Maths, Further Maths and Chemistry student at Wickersley Sixth Form. As she is unsure which path to take to become an Actuary, she is going to take a gap year after Sixth Form to think about whether she would prefer a university or apprenticeship route.
She jumped at the opportunity to join WPT’s Finance Team as the job market is quite bleak and competitive at the minute due to Covid so thought it would be a good chance to get some work experience.
Ria said: “The Get Work Ready programme has been really organised – all of the mentors seem on top of everything. I’m enjoying working in real-life situations in the Finance Department, which is a lot more practical and useful than just learning about it in a lesson.”