Guidance Programmes

Our Guidance Programmes


Your growth from a teenager into a young adult goes beyond academic achievements and to support this we provide a comprehensive guidance programme which is delivered through our tutor groups; led by our sixth form team including our expert tutors. We aim to support students as confident members of society with outstanding academic qualifications, and to encourage them to engage with the wider school community and the community at large, become responsible citizens and look beyond school to their future career paths.

This programme is bespoke to our students’ needs but covers many aspects and engages outside agencies and guest speakers.  Our guidance programme also recognises the important decisions you will be making about your future. Our sixth form team supports you in developing the skills you will need to take you both to university and beyond. The decision regarding what you want to study, and the university you choose, is a very important one. We guide and support you through this decision-making process encouraging you to think about your strengths and interests throughout Year 12.  Our guidance programme helps you broaden your horizons through weekly taster lectures, careers talks and university visits. We have developed successful partnerships with a vast range of universities and our sixth form team have an exceptional understanding of the demands of the vast array of different courses on offer at UK and International universities. We help guide you to make the right choices.  

Our guidance programme offers our students a range of opportunities through both internal and external providers. 
 

UCAS/Apprenticeships


Throughout sixth form UCAS is of huge importance to many of our students as they begin to plan their next steps towards university. Many of our guidance sessions are structured around supporting students with completing their UCAS form and personal statements. We also support our students in researching their desired course and in choosing the right university for them. Some of our students choose to apply to Oxbridge or for medicine based degrees and they are offered interview practice and tailored support to guide them through the application process. Those students who decide that they would rather apply for an apprenticeship have guidance sessions in which they can access the government website to look for opportunities and begin the application process with support from staff.
 

Careers Guidance


We recognise that all our students require expert advice in planning their future and therefore we work closely with Careers Inc. to provide guidance from qualified and experienced independent advisors. All students within Post 16 will be provided with opportunities for one-to-one guidance sessions with a member of the Careers Inc. team.
Careers Inc. provide a menu of careers information, individual advice and guidance services to students, including:

  • One-to-one impartial guidance
  • Personal coaching, including how to write a CV and practice interview techniques
  • Support for both students and their parents/carers on key transition and option choices
  • Careers information and advice on all available options, including apprenticeships, work-based learning and traditional pathways at both 16 and 18+
  • Support following exam results, to help students decide on what to do next

This is especially important for those students who have decided not to apply for university and instead apply for an apprenticeship or job. 
 

Driver Awareness


Road safety is an important subject especially as our students begin to turn 17. Young people in our rural setting are likely to have witnessed risky behaviour on roads and grasp road safety issues easily as they deal with roads every day as either passengers, pedestrians or indeed drivers themselves. They also may have experienced, or heard of, someone in their community being hurt or killed in a road crash, and therefore understand that death and serious injury is a reality on roads. Danger from traffic is also a big factor in whether our young people are able to walk and cycle to school. The safety of our students is paramount and as we are a rural setting many students do learn to drive once they turn 17. One of our guidance sessions is a driver awareness assembly which focuses on young drivers. Issues explored include: 

  • Taking responsibility for others in the context of good citizenship - particularly if driving
  • The differences in levels of risk-taking among males and females, and young drivers and older drivers
  • Alcohol and drugs – including alcohol and drug use among young people, and how this links with the issue of drink and drug driving

Leadership


Many of our students hold leadership roles within the larger school community, this is explored and encouraged in our guidance sessions. In Year 12 students volunteer to support in lessons lower down the school. This gives them a sense of responsibility, increases their independence and confidence and improves their interpersonal skills. It also enables them to develop their own understanding of a particular subject and act as role models for younger students. Throughout both Year 12 and Year 13 our students take part in a paired reading programme, supporting Year 7 students with their reading. This is hugely rewarding for our Post 16 students and beneficial for the Year 7 students and leads to many positive mentor-mentee relationships. 

Political Awareness


We strongly encourage our students to be politically aware and often have conversations about the news and the wider world, sharing newspaper articles and discussing the issues. This is also something that our Post 16 students share across the whole school community. During the Brexit vote we staged a debate and vote within school. Last year we held a mock UK election, with students creating presentations for their party to share their policies and attempt to win the most votes. We plan to have a US presidential debate this year. As we are based in a rural setting it is vital that our students are aware of the wider world issues and have an understanding of politics, especially as they begin to turn 18 and have the right to vote. 

Work Experience


Guidance sessions are used to prepare our students for a range of professional work experience placements. We work closely with NYBEP to offer valuable and quality work experience placements. Placements have included; veterinary practice, schools, local businesses and journalism posts. Some of the skills and opportunities on offer include: 

  • Practice interviews 
  • Opportunity for students to work in multiple areas of the business so they get to experience different types of job roles and understand how they support the company.
  • Real tasks to work on.
  • Help students to understand the importance of ‘transferable skills’ and that basic skills they develop through life (at home / school / with friends) are useful and important in the world of work. E.g. following instructions, problem solving, team working, wearing appropriate clothing (uniforms / professional / PPE), working to deadlines, using communication in an appropriate and effective way – speaking to different people / using emails and social media / using the telephone.
 

Alumni and Local Businesses

 
Broadening our students’ horizons and making them aware of the opportunities available to them after sixth form is very important to us. In our guidance sessions we have had alumni return to school to give talks on applying to university and the real university experience as well as alumni who have gone on the take up apprenticeships in banking who talked to our students about the advantages of apprenticeships. We have also had talks from local entrepreneurs and businesses including winners of an investment from the Dragons on Dragons’ Den.
 

Health and Wellbeing


The health and wellbeing of all our students is at the forefront of all our work and our guidance sessions reflect this. We have guidance sessions structured around meditation/mindfulness to help combat the stress at exam time. We also believe that sport is a great way to create team bonds and help relieve stress therefore guidance sessions have included team games of rounders, cricket and basketball amongst other activities.