Sixth Form Tutor Time
Key Stage Five enrichment curriculum
We recognise the importance of offering a programme of enrichment that extends the experience of students who attended HAGR in KS4 as well as students new to HAGR as they join us in Year 12. To ensure our values are explicit and embodied by students and staff in our daily culture we explicitly teach what these values are and how to embed them in assembly sessions weekly.
Our key goal in sixth form is to help our students to step into their greatness so they are successful in university, apprenticeships or full-time employment. Beyond teaching our values, we ensure students are given the time and space to learn more about career pathways and engage in meaningful approaches with institutions, professionals and powerful knowledge in these fields. We co-ordinate students participating in the Harris Experience Advanced programme that offers students direct instruction on key careers such as Medicine, Law and Engineering as well as work experience placements. We also work with Career Ready in Year 12 to pair students with professional mentors in their chosen field along with further work experience. Students are also given the opportunity to join different societies that largely run outside of assembly time where they work with well-known institutions within fields such as Media, Economics and Medicine to engage with the professional industry but also develop their personal attributes, such as presentation skills, confidence and communication, to develop their own professional identities.
Year 12
In the first half term we introduce key routines and habits that centre around our school values of ‘working hard, taking responsibility, being kind’ and explicitly teach students what this looks like as a sixth form student here and how they can develop these behaviours. The first half term gives students the opportunity in assembly workshops to implement the instruction around these values with scenarios and then focus in their own behaviours in the following weeks before reviewing their progress in following assemblies.
Towards the end of the first half term we speak to students about the importance of the super-curricular activities and link this to their future personal statements and applications, sharing how to progress towards their goals. Students are able to choose from enrichment groups on offer from their tutors such as debate club, stock trading, politics, excel training and mindfulness.
In the second half term we revisit the key values again, focusing on refining their implementation of these with further direct instruction around how to enact these values. This term develops more moral agency and focuses on the value of ‘being kind’ with Citizenship Service scheme launch, Prevent training, Safe sex and positive relationships, sexual harassment, FGM and British Values all being covered. These assemblies pick up the themes of being kind alongside taking individual responsibility for our actions and understanding shallow and deep diversity within the UK.
Half term three shifts to taking responsibility and addressing any habits that have not effectively formed in the first term. We explicitly teach students time management skills, goal setting and SMART action steps to achieve these. Students revisit British values when they cover an introduction to elections and how to enact change and have a voice. Towards the end of the term students have tasters for their enrichment sessions the next term. These include Extended Project Qualification and book club.
Half term four revisits the value of being kind and ensuring individuals are well rounded and healthy. We run enrichment during this half term and in 20 minute assembly slots we address issues such as mental health and symptoms of imbalance, driving rights and responsibilities workshops, drug awareness, sexual health and social media including the influence of sexual harassment on new platforms. This half term is also an opportunity for students to choose from tailored enrichment sessions based on the career pathways of the year 12 cohort that academic year, these extend the extracurricular opportunities already on offer and assist students in exploring their chosen discipline further through lectures and workshops on particular roles and phenomena in their area. We choose to give students this further opportunity so they are further informed ahead of their UCAS and apprenticeship applications in the next term; students are at this point also supported with further careers guidance from our in house federation careers team where their pathway is unclear or undecided.
Half term five coincides with preparation for the Pre-Public Examinations for Year 12 and the term focuses on how to work hard in this phase of learning – revision. We explicitly teach how to revise, effective habits and strong recall strategies. We believe that it is key students can practice forming new habits and improving existing ones so we also include time to do this in a supported environment where feedback can help students secure strong progress in their habit forming. We also utilise teacher expertise in this half term and re-group students so that their feedback is tailored to their current barriers to effective revision.
In the final half term, half term six, we focus on taking responsibility, CV building and the transition into Year 13. We launch Unifrog, a platform for careers advice and university information as well as tailored apprenticeship and degree apprenticeship information and resources. We directly teach students what is required for different routes, the application processes and action steps they now need to start taking. Students develop their personal statements during this term with guidance and time with their tutor to receive feedback and support. Students attend book clubs during enrichment this term to explore their chosen disciplines further and to complement work experience they complete towards the end of the half term. We ensure students leave for the summer having completed meaningful exploration into their current career interests and with action plans of further career exploration activities to undertake during the summer holidays. We also complete an SRE drop down day during this term to revisit the values of taking responsibility and being kind, students are exposed not just to careers this term but to other social groups values, experiences and beliefs to ensure they can be successful in their interpersonal skills as well as academic.
Year 13
In half term one we focus on the theme of taking responsibility and revisit some key skills for university and apprenticeship applications. We work with university outreach departments to give students practical guidance as well as exposure to different universities. Students are also taught about the logistics of student loans, financing university and the costs associated with living at university.
In half term two students focus again on being kind and moral agency. We explore the meaning of toxic relationships and safe sex, stress management in collaboration with the NHS clinical psychologist outreach programme, religion and tolerance, Prevent training, sexual harassment and female genital mutilation awareness. We also run a workshop with external speakers on money management to equip students with skills in their adult life to manage their personal finances.
As academically half term three focuses on mock assessment preparation, we develop the value of taking responsibility this half term and how to embed resilience for revision. Students are given direct instruction on effective revision strategies and provided practice opportunity in assembly to ensure they can embed these habits in their weekly studies. Students also develop resilience by experiencing problem solving workshops that centre around scenario based learning and links are made to how they can take responsibility in being an active citizen and their voting rights.
Moving into half term four we revisit the value of being kind and personal wellbeing as well. Leading up to the exams it is vital students cement healthy study habits and maintain work/ life balance that is sustainable for the exam period and their adult life. We share research and practical advice on the role of sleep, stress, mindfulness, self-efficacy and the psychology of resilience.
In their final full half term, year 13 are given time and space to revise in a supported environment and we space revision with activities that encourage healthy habits and balance for students. These sessions are an opportunity for us to focus intervention with key students to address challenges they are finding with maintaining positive habits. We also begin our ‘leaving series’ which celebrates the success students have achieved during their time in sixth form as well as providing them with further enrichment sessions on topics such as money management, transitioning to independent living and managing challenges independently. These series of workshops are scheduled sensitively around the exam period and ensure we support students in the next transition in their lives.
