Your Day as a Sixth Former

Your day will be quite different from the school day you are used to. The majority of your timetable will be scheduled classes for your chosen subjects, but you’ll also have set periods for Games, Open Forum and Foundation Studies. The rest of your time is for private or supervised study. The management of these study periods is down to you and will help you to succeed in your subjects. Remember, the timetable doesn’t account for the work you should be doing outside of the classroom.

Classroom Lessons

Typically, A Level subjects will have 12 class periods per fortnight. These classes are usually small, allowing students to benefit from high teacher support. Depending on the subject and curriculum, students can expect to engage in presentations, debates, group work and challenges.

Games

An active lifestyle is key to our well-being and yet we know that there is a societal trend showing a reduction in physical activity, particularly amongst teenage girls, as they get older. At King Edward’s, we make time for sport, knowing the huge value it has for our pupils in terms of physical health, mental well-being, stress relief and team building. Therefore, every Sixth Former takes part in our Wednesday afternoon games programme, which includes a wide range of activities, including: Hockey, Rugby, Canoeing, Climbing, Football, Cricket, Netball, Weights, Basketball, Golf, Squash, and Sailing. Many of the Sixth Formers, who wish to play at a more competitive level, are members of the senior sporting squads, playing fixtures during the Wednesday afternoon games sessions, and also on Saturdays. We have a full fixture list in all the major sports, and Sixth Formers are encouraged to challenge themselves to contribute to these squads.

Private Study

The aim of Private Study is to provide time for you in school to build on what you do in class in a relatively independent manner - by reading around your subjects, researching topics in depth or preparing written or other assignments. Of course, it’s not expected that you will spend every minute of every such period working: you need to take time to have a break and have a coffee, read the paper or talk with friends. But you will be expected to manage your time sensibly and organise your independent work effectively.

You will find the Sixth Form study area, the Library and Resources Centre are good places for this kind of study. It may be possible to use other areas, e.g. Art, DT, Music or IT facilities by arrangement with the appropriate staff.

Your teachers may set you particular pieces of work to be completed in those periods or expect you to have done some reading or research in them. The key thing is that they - and you - will expect there to be an outcome, which might be a completed piece of work or evidence that you have increased your knowledge or skills.

Additional Study

The teacher-guided nature of supervised Additional Study for those taking three subjects in the Lower Sixth will help you work on additional subject specific skills. If you are uncertain about how best to manage your Additional Study time, your tutor and subject teachers will be able to give you good advice.

Open Forum

Open Forum is a programme of presentations, usually given by guest speakers, to the entire Lower and Upper Sixth. These take place in the Dobson Theatre throughout the Autumn and Spring Terms. The Open Forum guest list is continually updated every year to provide a mixture of reliable favourites and exciting new speakers. Informative, entertaining and inspiring, Open Forum provides students with the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of some extraordinary individuals.

Open Forum recent speakers include:

• Felicity Aston - Leader of the largest all female group to ski to the South Pole. • Martha Holmes - Series producer with the BBC wildlife unit in Bristol. • Mike Hurst - Guitarist and pop producer. • Francis Benali - Saints legend. • Steve Bull - Olympic Sports Psychologist. • Martin Taylor - Stage hypnosis without hypnotism. • Erwin James - Former convict now a successful writer and prison reformer. • Emma Cole - Living with HIV for nearly 20 years. • Jeremy Hunter - Life in North Korea. • Rick Finder - War photographer.

Foundation Studies

The Lower Sixth Foundation Studies programme consists of a series of short courses designed to equip students with the key skills necessary for Sixth Form success and to help prepare them for life after school.

The sessions include:

• Presentation Skills • Exploring Health and Social Issues • Finance and Budgeting • Introduction to Politics • Reading for pleasure and research • Road Ready; a guide to car ownership • Applying to University • Into work; getting a job • First Aid • Living Sustainably In the Upper Sixth, Foundation Studies is less about the delivery of what we judge to be vital key skills and is more about offering students the chance to learn something new whilst enjoying a break from academic work. Depending on other timetable commitments, students may undertake as many as five Foundation Studies courses in the Upper Sixth year. Each course usually takes place over a period of four Tuesday afternoon sessions in the Autumn and Spring Terms. Students choose courses from a wide range; some are practical in nature and some more intellectual, but they all are intended to be stimulating and fun.

The courses on offer this year include cookery, dance, digital photography, team and leadership skills, model rocketry, robotics, philosophy, power boating and self-defence.