It also encourages and rewards students to continue their study in this subject beyond A Level and at university interviews or open days students can talk about their Olympiad successes. The certificates run in the following order: Gold, Silver, Bronze, Highly Commended and Commended.

Chemistry Olympiad

Pictured here are the Silver and Gold Olympiad winners, from left to right: Juinn Lim (silver), Laura Martin (silver), Lei Xia (gold), Stanislau Yatskevich (silver), Tung Dang (silver) and Derrik Lim (silver). We also had seven students who achieved Bronze level.

Maths Olympiad

Pictured here are largely the Gold Olympiad winners, from left to right: Adrian Chow (gold), Baba Bob Soile (gold), Teresea Wang (gold), Lei Xia (silver), Terry Li (gold) John Cheng (gold) and Jereon Saccheri (gold) not pictured. A special mention also goes to John CHENG who gained best in year and best in college. We also had four students with a certificate of merit, six students at bronze level and twelve students at silver level.

Biology Olympiad

Pictured here are the Bronze and Silver Olympiad winners from left to right: Stanislau Yatskevich (silver), Derrick Lim (bronze) and Gary Wan (bronze). Bosworth also had seven students at commended and six students at highly commended levels.

Physics Olympiad

Pictured here are the Bronze and Silver Olympiad winners from left to right: Gary Wan (silver), Baba Bob Soile (silver) and Teresa Wang (bronze). Bosworth also had three students at commended levels.

Thirteen students from Botswana had the opportunity to travel to Paris during the spring break. During their 3 night stay, the students enjoyed exploring the many tourist attractions the city has to offer.

With so much to do and see it was not easy to choose, but the sights chosen included: the Eiffel tower, a boat trip on the river Seine, the Louvre museum (home to the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci), the Arc De Triomphe, Avenue Des Champs Elysees (the main shopping avenue), Notre Dame cathedral, Paris Saint Germain football stadium and the Museum of Science and Industry, which included an Imax cinema where the students watched ‘Born to be wild’ a film following wildlife in the tropical rainforests of Borneo.

The students had a real adventure navigating the metro map as well as lots of walking around the city and felt by the end of the trip they knew many areas of Paris well!

The journal consists of articles by leading academics and specialists giving students fresh perspectives on key A-level topics and analysis of sociological issues and supporting statistical evidence to help improve evaluative skills.

In the April 2013 edition, Haleema Khanum, an A Level teacher at Bosworth Independent College had an article published on ‘Racism and policing’. In her article Haleema covers the main questions: How much racism is there in policing in Britain? And what is it like for black officers serving in the British police today?

The three page article goes on to outline her research, including interviews with serving officers on their experience of day to day life. Interview 1 ‘There is racism in the police service but it’s that thing you can’t put your finger on it. It’s covert: canteen culture. It’s very much alive but in a different form, words are softer but meanings are still there.’

Read a copy of the: Sociology Review here >>

Haleema believes, ‘This article will help students to make the connection between current sociological topics and research methods studied. It will also encourage students to apply sociological concepts to real life issues. As well as valuing the difficulty involved in conducting primary research i.e. gaining the trust of individuals in specific institutions at various levels and that to gain first-hand knowledge of current practices will always be a sensitive and difficult task.’

As well as teaching A Level Sociology at Bosworth Independent College, Haleema is also a part-time lecturer at the University of Northampton. Her master’s thesis was on racism in the police and her main teaching areas are race and gender.

Pictured here, Ms Haleema Khanum teaching her AS Sociology group

Malcolm believes strongly that learning Self Defence:

“Is a good way to improve self-confidence, self-discipline, agility and fitness.”

Students have commented below on their thoughts about the class:

“What a great way to keep fit”

“Wakes me up for the day ahead”

“Makes me feel safer because I know what to do”

The Self Defence sessions take place an hour before brunch is served so why not take part, it is a great way to work up a healthy appetite. Karen Inman (Non Sporting Activities Co-ordinator) tells us, ‘It was great to see the students having so much fun, the only trouble, was getting the photographs as the movements are so quick and the image blurs!’

They had the chance to spend a day at the London office on Fleet Street, with the aim of achieving an insight into the world of financial services. Goldman Sachs aim is to encourage female students to be more involved and aware of the ever-changing world of finance.

The placement day included a combination of presentations, interactive business games and skills sessions to assist them in preparing for both university and future employment. Students were able to meet with industry professionals and develop skills to aid their transition from school to university and also from university to the world of work. They were also able to find out more about the career opportunities available to them across the various divisions.

All participants of this event will be able to apply for an internship with Goldman Sachs, once at University students can apply for a 2 week internship in the spring of their first year at or for a 2 month internship in the summer of their penultimate year. Either internship provides a unique and exciting opportunity in this market.

Oluwadara (Dara) Ayoade, currently studying: Maths, English Literature and Economics, is looking to study Law at university and Olayemi (Elizabeth) Otukoya, currently studying; Chemistry, Biology and French, is looking to study Biomedicine with French at University.

Dara enthused about her experience, ‘I found it very enlightening to find out so much about an industry I previously had not considered and had very little knowledge of. Everyone was very welcoming and it was very refreshing to see a company that valued its staff to this extent. I would now consider working in a legal department with a company like Goldman Sachs and will apply for the internship and hope to be successful.’

Elizabeth also only had positive comments, ‘The day really opened my eyes to preparing for the future and the level of enthusiasm and interest that the staff displayed for their company was exciting. Everyone talked about ‘we’ not ‘I’ and they were all highly motivated. As I am studying science based subjects I had never previously considered this career choice, but they explained they are looking for the right people to invest in and train up. This is a great opportunity and one I would encourage any future students to take seriously.’

Nataliia with her parents

Bosworth Independent College is a member of an organisation called CIFE (Council for Independent Education). This is an organisation made up of 18 independent colleges in the UK, dedicated to pursuing excellence at GCSE and A Level. Every year an Awards presentation is held at the House of Lords in London, which is hosted by Baroness Perry of Southwark (former Chief Inspector of Schools). 

Nataliia Kondratii received the Bosworth Independent College CIFE prize for her success in Humanities and  English Literature. Nataliia joined Bosworth Independent College in September 2009 to take a one year intensive GCSE course. She had been previously educated in her home city of Kiev. She successfully completed GCSE examinations and went on to sit her final A level exams in June 2012. Nataliia achieved A* in English Literature, History and Russian and A grades in Mathematics and English language. English is Nataliia’s third language and at Bosworth we were in awe of her deep understanding and enjoyment of an eclectic choice of literature. She is currently studying English language and literature at Kings College London.

Gloria with her mother

Gloria Olatunji received the Bosworth Independent College CIFE prize elected by the teachers and this year it was a very tough field, which highlights how exceptional Gloria is. Gloria joined Bosworth College aged just 14 to take a 2 year A level programme; she achieved A* in Maths, Further Mathematics and Biology and A grades in Chemistry and Physics at the age at which most students are taking GCSE exams. She achieved A grades in 30 of the 31 units she sat with no resits.  The 31 st unit was mechanics 5 which she took as an extra for ‘fun’! Gloria also achieved a silver award in the Biology Olympiad. Gloria previously attended school in her home city of Lagos. She is currently studying Biomedical engineering at Imperial College London.

Mr John Bromilow (Director of Studies) and Gloria

Nataliia receiving her award

Bosworth Independent College has been running Summer School Language programmes for over 20 years, and this year, July 2013 we are launching our Junior Academic Programme.

Students from Bosworth recently joined with the Alzheimer’s society to cheer on their runners in the Silverstone Half Marathon. Karen Inman, Activities Co-ordinator, tells all:

 ‘We arrived at Silverstone and the sun shone, albeit briefly, we found the Alzheimer’s Team at the meeting point, which was full of the runners and supporters. As soon as the 10,000  runners set off we then made our way off down the “hallowed”  track where Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton had raced those few months before (unfortunately none of the students knew anything about the formula 1 drivers, I felt it necessary to fill this gap in their education!) towards our cheering point.

 We arrived at mile 11 (we did not walk this far I may add, we took the short cut) and donned the T-shirts and gathered our hand clackers and got into position and waited.

Then the lead runner appeared with the time truck showing just 54 minutes! Wow, the students gave him a large cheer as he shot past.  Then slowly but surely the rest of the field started to come round, we cheered non-stop for about an hour.

 The Alzheimer’s Team thanked us “We were all very impressed with the students’ enthusiasm cheering the runners on and they all helped to make a big difference on the day.” Also, one of the runners commented, “the students were a very welcome sight at 11 miles and made a huge amount of noise which really picked me up and spurred me on”.

 The students felt they helped in some small way to get these runners home, their commitment in the cold was outstanding they made sure everyone got a cheer, guess who got the prize for the loudest cheer leader? (the picture below shows it is (Zee) Nnyaladzi Nyeku).  I am still sad that they don’t know Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton, but there is always next year.’

(Zee) Nnyaladzi Nyeku