News, Press and PR

The call has gone out for volunteers who want to inspire Dorset’s young people by leading the county’s first volunteer police cadet unit.

The scheme, being set up by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset, will be based at the Bourne Academy and will start taking its first recruits this summer.

Volunteers are now being sought to become police cadet leaders who will work directly with Dorset Police to run the scheme.

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner Martyn Underhill said: “We’re looking for people who want to give something back, who can inspire young people to thrive and play a positive role in their communities.

“We want to hear from people who can encourage a young person’s spirit of adventure and, above all, be a role model and help build their confidence as they prepare to go into the world.”

The cadets will be aged 13-18 and be recruited from a wide range of backgrounds across the Bournemouth and Poole areas.

As well as taking part in regular sports and fitness activities, they will also gain a practical understanding of policing and developing their own leadership skills by taking part in community  projects – such as supporting older people to understand cyber crime, fundraising for local charities and assisting with road safety campaigns.

Volunteer leaders will work with the local neighbourhood police team to run the unit, which will also be involved in providing safety and crime prevention advice to the public.

Anyone who wants to apply must be aged 18 or over, have good communication skills and be reliable and self-disciplined, and must be willing to take part in training led by Dorset Police.

Martyn Underhill added: “Volunteer police cadets aren’t about trying to recruit police officers of the future. Far from it – the unit is a marvellous way of enabling the police to engage with young people and the wider community – as well as giving our young people valuable opportunities to learn and be heard.

“I look forward to seeing this unit become a great asset to our neighbourhoods and I hope it goes on to be the first of many across Dorset.”

James Vaughan, Chief Constable of Dorset Police, said: “I’m a great supporter of this initiative to bring young people closer to their local police force.

“I know young people across our communities have a huge amount to offer policing and this is an opportunity to embrace that.”

Anyone who wants to apply to become a volunteer cadet leader should go https://www.dorset.police.uk/recruitment/volunteers/volunteer-police-cadet-leader-unit-leader/

for more information

Local MP Conor Burns visited The Bourne Academy last week. He met with a group of Year 7 and Sixth Form students. Mr Burns was introduced by a member of Youth Parliament and the session started with a short poem about what makes a good school, written by three Year 7 girls. Later Conor Burns answered a mix of personal and political questions with grace and humour, including: What’s your view on Brexit? Did you do well in school? and What made you want to become an MP?

The session ended with a mock vote on a series of three bills that would fund either developing schools, fighting crime or protecting the environment… the schools bill won! The session finished with more questions and photos.

Teacher, Mr Schmidt said “The Bourne Academy Year 7 and 6^th form students were engaged and blessed with the opportunity to meet and hear from our local MP Conor Burns. We’d like to thank our MP for the opportunity to hear, honestly from a local politician, about life in Parliament, national issues and personal reflections on how to achieve. The session was as informative as it was inspirational.” All students were fully engaged in the session and were delighted by the experience.

 

The Bourne Academy is delighted to have received a generous donation of over £700 from J.P. Morgan Chase Bank towards the purchase of two new iPads to support our new automated slip system, in time for the new term.

The new system will log attendance anomalies during the Academy day, or it will log any number of different issues that occur during lesson times.  With the provision of ipads, teachers are now able to send an instant alert directly to Heads of House on walkabout duty. This new system allows for quicker action to assist teachers in managing any issues or queries they may have, it avoids delayed messages, loss of learning time for the students who used to act as messengers and also saving on printing costs of the old paper alerts.

Caroline Gobell, Business director at The Bourne Academy, said, “We are incredibly grateful to J.P Morgan Chase Bank, once again, for their support to the Academy. This new system will be hugely beneficial to staff and students, it will lessen the impact upon learning time and save both time and money for the Academy.”

  The Bourne Academy Success – Sixth Form Results  Best ever A Level results:   ·         100% A* to E grades achieved for the third year running (national average is 9

 

The Bourne Academy was chosen to host a group of celebrities visiting from BBC Radio 4 last night. Jay Rayner and the BBC came to Bournemouth to launch a new series of the popular panel programme ‘The Kitchen Cabinet,’  featuring experts Dr Annie Gray, specialist in the history of British food, Tim Hayward self-confessed food geek, Sophie Wright,  a self-employed chef and food writer and Tim Anderson, Masterchef winner 2011.

The audience, who bagged tickets on the BBC website, were given the opportunity to put their food questions to the panel and they were delighted with the responses. There was a real emphasis on local food history and the evening included plenty of good-humored conversation about cooking and eating.

Students from the Bourne Academy Media and Food Departments were carefully selected to help on the evening – they were involved with set up, sound, cabling and wiring, food questions, audience participation, hosting the celebrities etc.   They were extremely proud to have had that level of work experience with the BBC.

There was a fantastic lighthearted atmosphere and this was great opportunity to show case The Bourne Academy.  Vicky Spence, Lettings Administrator for the Academy said ‘It was a pleasure to be contacted by the agent for BBC Radio 4 The Kitchen Cabinet and to be able to help them secure a venue for the show.’ The Bourne Academy offers state of the art facilities available for community lettings and private hire.

The show will air on Saturday 30th June at 10.30am and will be repeated on Tuesday 3rd July at 3pm.

As part of a campaign to generate support for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) charity, His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex visited Canford School, The Bourne Academy’s sponsor school, on 13^th and 14^th June 2018. Through a combination of DofE engagements His Royal Highness will enable a new generation of young people to start their DofE journey in the UK and abroad.

As part of the visit, His Royal Highness chatted to the pupils from The Bourne Academy and Canford. Both schools deliver the DofE and Canford is an official DofE Licensed Organisation.  The Earl heard about the pupils experiences of DofE and what they have gained from doing their Award.  Currently at The Bourne Academy, 81 students have been involved in the programme so far (Six Gold Award participants, 56 Silver and 20 Bronze).  In May, former Bourne Academy student, Sophie Eaton, attended a presentation at Buckingham Palace where, in the presence of HRH The Countess of Wessex, she received her Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.  The Academy’s Deputy Head, Carol Harrison, was also invited in recognition of the Academy’s active involvement in the South West Region.

Mark Avoth, who accompanied the students on the visit said:

“I was truly proud to accompany our Gold DofE participants to our sponsor Canford School whilst they met and chatted with HRH The Earl of Wessex as part of his two day visit.  Our students had just returned from their Gold DofE expedition, paddleboarding in Scotland, and have the honour of being first group from the South West region to achieve this. Our students spoke to His Royal Highness with great enthusiasm about their journey of self-discovery over the last 12-18 months whilst undertaking their Award.  We are delighted to work so closely with Canford School on so many initiatives, this being one of them – both our schools work diligently to promote resilience, independence and ambition.  Our students should be extremely proud of their achievements.”

Canford Headmaster Ben Vessey commented:

“We were delighted to welcome colleagues and pupils from The Bourne Academy to our meeting with His Royal Highness this afternoon.  Staff from both schools have collaborated regularly over the development and running of the courses to ensure that we offer the best possible support to our young people as they undertake these very rewarding DofE challenges.”​

For young people aged 14-24, doing a DofE programme offers a unique opportunity to grow as young adults and gain valuable life experience whilst developing essential employability skills such as confidence, resilience and drive. After achieving an Award the journey doesn’t end and many Award holders go on to continue volunteering, honing skills or improving their fitness.

Heather Thompson, DofE Regional Director in the South West said:  “As a DofE Charity Trustee and Gold Award holder, HRH The Earl of Wessex is passionate about supporting young people to reach their potential, whatever their background or circumstance.  We are grateful for his dedication to the Charity and taking on this fundraising challenge. HRH’s support, and the generosity of so many local partners, will help us extend our reach and work towards our ambition of all young people having the opportunity to do their DofE.”

About the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) is the world’s leading youth achievement award that is currently helping over 430,000 young people to develop for life and work in the UK. In 2017/2018, over 275,000 young people started a DofE programme, including over 60,000 from disadvantaged backgrounds.  Founded by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in 1956, the DofE is currently being delivered in 10,014 DofE centres such as schools, youth clubs and prisons, supported by over 3,000 partner organisations and approximately 40,000 adult volunteers from all walks of life.

In total, over six million people have participated in DofE programmes in the UK and achieved over 2.8 million Awards since 1956. In 2016/2017, 142,961 achieved a Bronze, Silver or Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

The DofE is supported by UK employers including Amey, St. James’s Place, Tarmac, British Gas, DFS, Heathrow and RSM who endorse the skills and attributes developed whilst doing a DofE programme such as resilience, commitment, self-motivation and team working.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a Registered Charity No 1072490 and in Scotland No SC038254 and a Royal Charter Corporation RC000806

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation is a Registered Charity in England and Wales, No 1072453. There are more than one million young people currently participating globally in 141 countries and territories.