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“Ranked Top Sixth Form College and Top Co-Educational Boarding School in the UK for A Levels” The Spectator 2012

CSFC Newsletter Issue 1 December 2012 Welcome!

Dear Parents,

Welcome to CSFC’s first newsletter. Through

these newsletters we will keep you up-to-date with

what’s been happening at CSFC – including

competitions, trips, special events and awards.

We have a rigorous calendar of activities which

occur throughout the year, which add greatly to the

students’ learning and development whilst at

CSFC. We have selected our favourite moments

from Term 1 to share with you here.

From all at CSFC we wish you a Merry Christmas

and Happy New Year!

Cardiff Sixth Form College

CSFC Student Achieves Scholarship to

study at Top UK University

CSFC graduate, Lai Zong

Bao, formally of Lodge

National School, Malaysia,

was honoured at a

scholarship celebration event

at The University

of Nottingham’s Senate

Chamber this November.

Lai received the High Achievers Scholarship

from The University of Nottingham in

recognition of his hard work and dedication

throughout his 2 years of A Levels. Thanks to this

hard work Lai received 3 A* grades and 1 A in

Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology and Physics,

and is currently studying medicine

at The University of Nottingham.

Lai paid tribute to CSFC's teaching and university

application process, stating:

"CSFC places a great deal of emphasis on ensuring

that every single student makes a competitive

application to university. I have greatly benefitted

from the large amount of individual support

provided. Through the college I have had the

chance to carry out work experience in a wide

variety of medical settings; from GP surgeries to

hospitals. I have also been part of several visits to

distinguished universities, which have been

invaluable in helping me make my university

choices. Interview workshops and mock exams

organised by the college have also greatly boosted

my self-confidence and have excellently prepared

me for my university interviews."

European Youth Parliament Competition Congratulations to the following AS students for

their superb win at the European Youth

Parliament Competition, South Wales Forum on

Friday 30th November at the National Assembly

for Wales:

Mompati Seete, Adrienne Tong, Nadia

Chaudhury, Natasha Chaudhury, Serati

Nthobatsang, Kaene Disepo, Cecilia Iglesias,

Kevin Sin, Carlos Li, Virut Hemnilrat, Amber

Summerhayes, Thamani Mazhani, Krishna

Ramesh, Aimee Blair, Zen Foo, Sarah Foong,

Karima Gadalla, Jamie Coombes and Kamogelo

Thutoestsile.

The students took the proposition stance on the

question of the role in the EU in enforcing

intellectual property rights, with Hawthorn High

School in opposition. They also contributed in

debates on topics regarding the EU’s role in:

reducing youth unemployment; reducing the

threat of terrorism; empowerment of women in

the Middle East and Northern Africa; and the

future of embryonic stem cell research.

The students impressed the judges with their

debating skills, and ability to ask probing

questions, as well as their ability to work as a

team. They beat of stiff competition from some of

the UK’s top school debating teams, and will go

on to participate in the UK-wide Selection

Conference, from which a team will be chosen to

represent the UK in the international sessions.

UBS Award for Outstanding Student A2 student, Karima Gadalla, currently studying

Mathematics, Biology, History and Economics at

CSFC, is celebrating being awarded the prestigious

UBS Award for Outstanding Students.

Karima was one of only

30 students selected to

receive this award, from

hundreds of applications.

She impressed the

selection committee with:

her grades - 8 A* grades

and 1 A grade at GCSE

(which she achieved in

only 1 year), and 5 A grades at AS; her extra and super-curricular

activities – including participation in the

International Space Settlement Design

Competition, European Youth Parliament and

Young Enterprise; and her selflessness in giving

back to the local community through her

voluntary work with Barnardo’s and Islamic

Relief.

The 17 year old, who’s originally from Estonia, is

the first in her family to have the opportunity to

attend university, and hopes to read law at the

University of Cambridge in September 2013.

The UBS Award is a collaboration between Pure

Potential, an independent organisation which

raises the aspirations of thousands of sixth-

formers, and UBS investment bank. It recognises

and celebrates the achievements of the brightest

sixth form students in the country.

CSFC in Debating Matters Victory There were scenes of joy at CSFC this

December as the AS students celebrated their

victorious win at the West and South Wales

Qualifying Rounds of Debating Matters. CSFC

beat off strong competition from other top schools

to be announced the winners in a hard fought

campaign.

CSFC were up first, facing Howell’s College on

the topic of state regulation of funding for party

politics, with CSFC arguing for the proposition.

The students debating, Kaene Disepo and Carlos

Li, argued strongly, calling for greater transparency

in party funding, and a limitation on the amount

an individual can give to a party. They expertly

fielded questions from the judges, including a

highly topical question regarding the low funding

for the campaign for police commissioner – which

resulted in low voter turnout.

After defeating Howells College they then faced

the round two winners, St Albans RC High

School. CSFC and St Albans debated the

proposition ‘genetic screening of embryos

devalues human life’, with CSFC being for the

motion. The round was expertly fought by Nadia

Chaudhury and Cecelia Iglesias. The judges

praised CSFC’s content and depth of knowledge,

and commended them on commanding the

debate on their own terms – which often put the

opposition on the back foot.

As well as winning the overall competition both

Cecilia and Kaene received individual awards -

Cecilia for Best Individual Debator and Kaene

received a commendation from the judges. CSFC

will now progress onto the Regional Finals in the

spring.

UKMT Senior Maths Challenge Congratulations to the following students who

achieved awards at the UKMT Senior Maths

Challenge:

Gold Award:

Elaine Xie, Ryan Yan, Kelly Choi, Bao Son

Vuong, James Liew, Joy Wang, Ben Taekasem,

Izyan Aziz, Gim Kwok and Shu En Lee

Silver Award:

Bonnie Man, Joe Morgan, Tommy Leung, Lynn

Lin, Andrew Limavady, Corinna Tse, Fong Yee

Liu, Jason Hui, Tiro Modibedi, Raymond Cheng,

Nadia Chaudhury, Jeffrey Liaw, Esther Modise,

Carlos Li, Ambrose Chan, Anita Wu, Ryan Sin,

Eric Wu, Ivan Kan, Humaira Bhadelia, Danyal

Green, James Wang and Morgan Jones

Bronze Award:

Maxine Zhao, Asem Kaewluang, Tony Chang,

Yao Wu, Yujin Cheon, Mompati Seete, Althea

Amaris, Kwok Ho Wan, Hilary Chung, Arthur

Yan, Alex Lau, Punika Ratchachittapo, Newz

Chungyingruang, Fiona Shia, Carmen Leung, Ili

Haji Zulkipli, James Tlhomole, Ella Warner,

Tommy Rattahasirivil, Dumisani Gwakuba, Judy

Lee, Aaron Chong, Cecilia Padilla, E-Wen Wong,

Erind Maho, Paivyn Lee, Ali Malik, Wilson

Wong, Kago Relaeng, Fiona Hu, Ayobami

Abikoye, Elisa Moroka, Zayana Mohamad, Micky

Jariyaporn, Mable Kamodidi, Kevin

Ko and Temogo Dibonwa

The challenge involves answering 25 multiple

choice questions in 90 minutes and is sat in school

under normal exam conditions.

The UK Mathematics Trust (UKMT) is a

registered charity whose aim is to advance the

education of children and young people in

mathematics.

CSFC 2012 Cultural Event CSFC celebrated its 2012 cultural event in style at

Cardiff's magnificent City Hall on Saturday 1st

December. The event, which was organised entirely

by the AS students, was a great success and was very

much enjoyed by all. Highlights included Bollywood

and Hip Hop dance performances, music recitals, and

drama performances, as well as a CSFC spin on the

world-wide hit ‘Gangnam Style’.

The audience of over

300 people enjoyed a

delicious three course

dinner alongside the

performances and

presentations.

In acknowledgment of their hard work and dedication

to their studies, the following students received

individual awards:

Starburst Award for Best Newcomer

Morgan Jones and Tiro Modibedi

Comet Award for Most Improved Student

Jeffrey Liu and Ahmed Fazeel

Honour Award for Exceptional Pursuit of Ambition

Kamogelo Thutoetsile, Boago Mokgatle and Jia Rui

Chow

The Victory Award for Academic and Non-

Academic Excellence

Amber Summerhayes and Virut Hemnilrat

Leadership Award

Amber Summerhayes

Best Student Award

Krishna Ramesh and

Samantha Chan

English and Humanities Award

Karima Gadalla and Virut Hemnilrat

Social Sciences Award

Euchine Ng and Barbie Wong

Maths and Science Award

Jerome Poon and Martin Mak

Soul Award for Most Embodying School Spirit

Dumisani Gwakuba

Debate Awards

Kaene Disepo, Cecilia Iglesias, Virut Hemnilrat,

Thamani Mazhani and Krishna Ramesh

Goodwill Ambassador Programme Best

Ambassador Awards - Bahrain

Ake Kanjana, Calvin Chong, Dylan Tan, Janice

Lim, Mavis Cheng and Dumebi Ochem

Goodwill Ambassador Programme Best

Ambassador Awards - Malaysia

Title Kulteeratawat, Martin Mak, Amber

Summerhayes, Boago Mokgatle, Dipesh Sahi

and Jacob Cross

International Space Settlement Design

Competition Winners

Jamie Coombes, Martin Mak, Krishna Ramesh,

Kamogelo Thutoetsile, Zen Foo, Stephanie

Lim, Thamani Mazhani, Karima Gadalla, Kutlo

Kebaikanye and Dipesh Sahi

Young Enterprise

For the 5th consecutive year CSFC’s students have

participated in the Young Enterprise Business and

Enterprise Scheme. Student recently undertook a

Christmas sales challenge, in which they were

required to market and sell a product of their

choosing, as well a design a business plan for that

product. This event took place at IKEA in Cardiff

Bay over two days.

One student involved in the scheme, Yao Wu,

described his experience of Young Enterprise:

“Young Enterprise is brilliant! It provides me with a

first class understanding about how a real business is

run. By attending the programme I learnt how to

run a real company, how to sell and market

products, how to communicate with people and

how to work as part of a team. All these experience

have been invaluable to me and also inspired me to

be successful in my career.”

“As the Financial

Director of our

company, Zelus, I

gained lots of

experience directly

related to finance by

having to take care of

the assets that we made

from selling our product - Fish Bone Earphone

Holders. They were made out of dust-repelling soft

silicon, and were lightweight and convenient to

carry. So far we have sold a great amount of them,

and have actually sold out! Although the team was

nervous about selling our first product at first, once

we got the hang of thing it got better and smoother.

This experience has really given us a huge

confidence boost!”

Young Enterprise's mission statement is "to inspire

and equip young people to learn and succeed

through enterprise”. Its guiding principle is to do

this through 'learning by doing.‘ This links in

ideally with CSFC’s holistic approach to learning –

combining academic success with a myriad of work

experience opportunities, and super-curricular and

extra-curricular activities.

WJEC Honours Top Students

Three former students of Cardiff Sixth Form

College have been honoured by WJEC for

attaining the highest A level results in

Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology.

Magdalene Ting, who has now gone onto study

Medicine at The University of Cambridge,

received the highest A Level results in Biology

and Chemistry, with 599/600 UMS points and

597/600 UMS points respectively. Mico Chai,

who is currently studying Mathematics at London

School of Economics and Steffi Chong, who is

currently studying Medicine with Surgery at The

University of Hong Kong, both achieved the

highest Mathematics scores in the country, each

with 600/600 UMS points.

The students received their certificates and £50

prize from WJEC Subject Officer for Chemistry,

Jonathan Owen, at CSFC’s annual Cultural Event,

which was held this year at Cardiff’s spectacular

City Hall, in front of a crowd of over 300 people.

Mico paid tribute to her time at CSFC, saying

“CSFC instils academic strength in its students.

The amount of effort that the tutors put into

helping us is inspiring. I believe my time here at

CSFC has been an incredible experience, and it is

both an honour and a pleasure to be able to study

at such a respectable institution.”

Cambridge Chemistry Challenge Congratulations to the following students who

achieved awards at the Cambridge Chemistry

Challenge.

Gold Award

Samantha Chan, Steffi Chong, and Jerome Poon

Silver Award

Jason Mak, Yu-Qian Ng, and Dylan Tan

Bronze Award

Tiffany Chan, Mavis Cheng, Jamie Coombes,

Rosie Craddock, Karima Gadalla, Lesago Basego

Gosenyang, Calvin Kiang, Patchararapee

Kulteeratawat, Chanoknun Liengudom, Martin

Mak, Thamani Mazhani, Anh Nyuyen, Dumebi

Ochem, Edger Olehnovics, Pearl Pabale,

Shengdu Poon, Dipesh Sahi, Aone Sethibe,

Winson So, Kamogelo Thutoetsile, Yin Laam

Tsang, Hinton Wat, Ini Yee,and Alik Vodyanov

The Cambridge Chemistry Challenge aims to

stretch and challenge students interested in

chemistry, and provides an excellent experience

for anyone considering taking their studies

further. Set by an experienced team of teachers

and university chemists, it is designed to be

accessible to Year 12 students but will take them

significantly beyond the syllabus and encourage

them to think about science in the way they would

at university.

This competition is open to students studying in

the UK in Year 12 (Lower 6th) or below. It takes

the form of a 90 minute written paper which

students take at school.

British Physics Olympiad A2 Challenge Congratulations to the following students to

received Merit commendations in the British

Physics Olympiad A2 Challenge.

Merit Awards:

Dylan Tan, Chow Jia Rui, Samantha Chan, Anh

Nguyen and Elaine Xie

Congratulations also go to the following students

who were acknowledged for their participation in

the British Physics Olympiad A2 Challenge.

Participation:

Ini Chan, Jamie Coombes, Hinton Wat, Winson

So and Yeo Ying Qi

The British Physics Olympiad (BPhO) has run for

25 years and is entered annually by over 1,600

talented young physicists. The examination-based

competition has a dual purpose: to challenge and

reward the best physicists in British schools and to

select the UK Physics Team for competition at

international level.

Students enjoyed the

annual trip to

Shakespeare’s

birthplace Stratford-

Upon-Avon.

Students took part in university lecture sessions at

Cardiff University, University of Exeter and New

College of the Humanities.

Students continued to undertake regular university

preparation workshops, including entrance exam

testing and interview workshops.

In Other News

Evolution of CSFC

State-of-the-Art Accommodation

Cardiff Sixth Form College now offers fantastic

student living space at our newly completed

accommodation at Student Castle; a brand new

development, only 5 minutes from the college

campus.

The hall is

warden

controlled, and

has 24 hour

security. The

building is

divided into

separate flats

for boys and girls. Students can choose from studio

flats which have private kitchen facilities or cluster

flats. Each cluster flat consists of 4/5 bedrooms

which are single occupancy and have en suite

bathrooms. These flats share a communal kitchen

which contains a comfortable seating area with a flat

screen TV. All rooms have broadband and WIFI.

Students benefit from on-site catering at the college.

Students also have a shared common room which

has pool table and table-top football, as well as a

large 50 inch flat screen TV with Sky TV and

WIFI. There are also laundry facilities on site.

New Catering and Library Facilities

CSFC always

strives to provide

students with the

very best, which

is why over the

summer CSFC

invested £750,000 in updating its facilities,

including constructing a brand new library and

canteen.

CSFC’s library facilities now rival those at any

top educational establishment, with a wide

variety of books, journals and university

prospectuses available for the students’ use.

The canteen is

now an impressive

6000 square feet

in size, and has

room for 200

students to dine

simultaneously. In order to provide a delicious and diverse

menu CSFC employs three professional chefs

(one Chinese, one Indian, and one English),

with meals provided three times a day, seven

days a week.

1&3 Trinity Court 21 – 27 Newport Road

Cardiff CF24 0AA

Tel: +44 (0) 2920 493121 Email: enquiries@ccoex.com

Web: www.ccoex.com

CSFC – College Life in Pictures