STUDENT GUIDANCE POST A LEVEL
Dear Leaver, This booklet is intended to help you find your way through the process of receiving your results and confirming your chosen pathway into higher education or professional training. The information you will find in this booklet is supplied by the Student Guidance Faculty, the Examinations Office, and The Development Office. These three sources of support and information will be important to you as you receive your A Level results, move towards the next step of your career, and become part of the much wider Edwardian network. Your connection with KES does not cease at the moment you leave the School; many Edwardians return to use our Careers Guidance facilities during their GAP year and beyond. Many of you will be making Post Qualification Applications (PQA) through the School from September.
If you are adopting a PQA strategy, please make sure you read the information in this booklet, and give your email address to your tutor, as you will need our support in your university application.
When you receive your Advanced Level results in August, the Student Guidance Team will be in School to offer any advice you may require regarding your higher education choices and your current position. Please refer to the times of the Post Examinations Clinic, which are published in this booklet, on the website and within recent termly bulletins. If you have any concerns regarding the UMS scores you have been awarded you will need to refer to the Post Results Help and Services information within this booklet or to the appropriate section of the School’s website. We all wish you the very best for your examination success and your future career, and hope that this final advice booklet will be of use to you. You will find a list of contacts at the beginning of each section. Good Luck!
Advanced Level results are published on the third Thursday in August Results will be available for you to collect in person from the VI Form Study Centre. If you wish to make any other arrangements for receiving your results, please contact the Examinations Office, well in advance. Please attend the Post A Level Clinic in the Guidance Centre at the times indicated, if you require any help or advice. We are unable to offer guidance by email or any other means at this time. You will need to know your UCAS number, your TRACK pin, and you may find it helpful to have a copy of your institution and course codes. Please bring with you any correspondence relating to your HE offer, particularly if you have names and telephone numbers of university staff, as this may expedite any clarifications that are needed. Remember: you can use TRACK at any time to check the status of your application: you may be able to determine your CF/UF status before you collect your results. 2
POST A LEVEL CLINIC
All Upper Sixth pupils are advised to be available when their results arrive. The results will not be issued to anyone other than themselves without prior written notification naming a designated recipient, preferably a parent. Please contact the Examinations Office if you require this service. Results should be available in the VI Form Study Centre from 9.30am. on the third Thursday in August. Students are reminded to update their contact details on Track in case universities need to contact them. Due to necessary building and maintenance work, there is often limited access to the School during the summer vacation. Please check the School website to discover which point of access to use.
Day
Times
Staff
Venue and service
Third Thursday of August
9.30am.-12.30pm.
RMG, NDC, RJLW, CJM, KJ
Student Guidance Centre
and 2.00pm.-3.30pm.
Third Friday of August
Following Monday
Post examination guidance. Students currently holding university offers will be given priority
9.30am.-12.30pm. and 2.00pm.-3.30pm.
RMG, NDC, RJLW, CJM, KJ
Student Guidance Centre
Morning only until 12.30pm.
RMG and NDC
Student Guidance Centre
All students welcome
Post A/S, PQA and Oxbridge
Some initial advice about results day is provided within this booklet. However, each case will need to be considered individually and for this reason, our HE Guidance staff will be available for personal consultation at the times above. As already stated, we will not be able to offer this service via email. 3
ESSENTIAL INFORMATION FOR UNIVERSITY APPLICANTS CONTACT: Your Tutor, Ms. Greenwood, Mr. Culver, Miss Jordan, Mrs Mandley, Mr. Wood You can consult TRACK from midnight, the day before your get your results, to see the outcome of your application. On Results Day you may need to contact your CF or CI University. For this reason, it is important that you know your UCAS number and your course codes. Please bring all this information with you when you come to collect your results if, having looked on TRACK your CF offer has not been confirmed. The morning on which results are published is one of frantic activity for UCAS and University Admissions Offices, and having information and codes to hand will make your progress much smoother. You can, of course, use a print out from TRACK if you prefer.
Seek advice from someone on the University Guidance Team. DO NOT SIMPLY GO HOME, if, when you receive your results, they are not as you hoped.
PLEASE INFORM THE SCHOOL OF YOUR FUTURE PLANS once they are finalised, either by telephoning the Faculty Secretary at the beginning of the Autumn Term, or by sending an email via kj@kes.hants.sch.uk. This information is urgently required by the Head Master, as various Government returns have to be completed before the end of September. It is also of enormous value to us in our attempts to improve the service we offer from year to year. Within this publication we provide details of sources of information that you may wish to use once you know your results.
It would be sensible to bring a mobile phone with you on Results Day, but our experience tells us that most university telephone lines become congested on this day: you will require persistence and patience. University admissions tutors prefer students (not parents, nor School staff) to take the initiative in the matter of their university courses. The School cannot undertake to influence university decisions, but will be able to offer you advice on how you should proceed.
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SOURCES OF INFORMATION VACANCIES Institutions dealing with enquiries about course vacancies in Clearing will be listed as follows:1. Newspapers One newspaper will be designated as the official source of University Clearing information. In past years, The Independent has been the official conduit for UCAS. The Parents’ Guide; Gap Year Guide; Clearing Guide; Finance and Bursaries information are supplements that appear at this time in most newspapers. 2.
World Wide Web UCAS will publish lists of vacancies updated daily. The UCAS web site is www.ucas.com. The Student UK website can be accessed on www.studentuk.com, but all universities will publish vacancies through the web eg: www.brad.ac.uk for the University of Bradford or www.nottingham.ac.uk .
3.
UCAS Track Service This gives access to your individual record of applications via the UCAS website: www.ucas.com, by using your application number and a unique password. It is updated regularly so that changes to status can be seen.
4. The UCAS Helpline A special hotline is set up each year and the number published on the website. This service is always very busy so be prepared to try several times. Please have your personal ID ready. The UCAS website has several pages dedicated to FAQs on confirmation and clearing. 5. The School website - Academic menu/University and Careers - has useful links for you. HELPLINES AND ADVISORY SERVICES: BBC RADIO, TV AND TELEPHONE The information regarding BBC radio and television programmes is subject to change and update. The UCAS Clearing instructions sent to applicants will contain more accurate information and applicants are advised, in the first instance, to use www.ucas.com and Track. In previous years local radio has given air time to announcing vacancies: Radio 1 and 1Xtra and Radio 2 (www.bbc.co.uk/onelife and www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/Studentessentials). Such websites have information on entering university, clearing, gap years, finance and more. The Student Room. This is essentially a chat room and not necessarily reliable, but can be a reassuring point of contact.
Most importantly, come into School for the clinics where you will not be alone, and can benefit from our many years of experience.
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CLEARING AND AJUSTMENT We strongly recommend that you come into School on the dates indicated if you require either of these schemes, so that the Guidance Team can give you individual advice. Subject specific advice should be sought from the appropriate Head of Department. Once you have received your results, you will need to confirm your place at your CF choice university if you have met the requirements of their offer. If you have not quite made the grades required, you will need to wait for that university’s decision before your application is considered by your CI university. This information will be available to you through TRACK. If you have not met either your CF or your INSURANCE offer, you will become eligible for CLEARING. This is a system whereby you may still be able to negotiate a place at a university for this year. Ms. Greenwood and her team have many years of experience at your disposal. Come into the Guidance Centre to discuss your options, and also contact the Head of Department for the relevant subject. All heads of academic departments are required to be contactable by the School on Results Day. If you have exceeded your offer by a considerable margin, you have 120 hours of ADJUSTMENT, during which time you can research alternative courses and explore any unexpected vacancies. However, competitive courses and institutions are unlikely to have vacancies at this stage. Please discuss your situation with a member of the HE Guidance Team and let us know if you decide to register for this scheme. If you are eligible to register for ADJUSTMENT a button will appear on the bottom right hand column of your “Choices” section of TRACK. It is your responsibility to contact a university to discuss an “adjustment” place and there is an additional application fee. You will NOT be eligible to use ADJUSTMENT if: 1. 2. 3.
You are confirmed UF, but did not exceed the conditions of the offer. You have a confirmed place, but on a changed course. Your original offer was unconditional.
NO applicant can “adjust” his or her CI place. You must consult the exact nature of your offer before you proceed with ADJUSTMENT. You will waste your time and energy if you have exceeded in one grade, but underachieved in another grade. There is a fee payable to UCAS to use this service. IF YOU SUCCESSFULLY “ADJUST” YOUR PLACE, THE SCHOOL WILL NEED TO KNOW, OR OUR RECORDS FOR YOU WILL BE INCORRECT. PLEASE EMAIL YOUR FINAL DESTINATION TO YOUR TUTOR OR MISS JORDAN (kj@kes.hants.sch.uk).
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ESSENTIAL INFORMATION FROM THE EXAMINATIONS OFFICE CONTACT: Mrs S. Owen, Mrs C. Owen, your subject Head of Department, Mr. Courtney RESULTS INFORMATION The Statement of Results, once received, must be regarded as the official notification of results gained and should be retained carefully. No results information may be obtained by telephone from the School Office or Members of Staff (teaching and non-teaching including the Caretakers).
CERTIFICATE COLLECTION Certificates for the Summer external examinations will be delivered to the School in the Autumn term, and the Examinations Office will notify you regarding the issue of these. POST RESULTS SERVICES FOR ADVANCED LEVEL GCE EXAMINATIONS All post result enquiries must be made on the relevant form(s) available from the Examinations Office and the School Website and submitted - with signatures - to Mr R T Courtney and/or the Examinations Office by the dates and times indicated. All signature boxes on each respective form must be completed.
Enquiries about results should be referred, in the first instance, to the Head of Department in that subject.
The School will endeavour to provide all the post results support necessary, but the Awarding Bodies issue strict deadlines and therefore it is vital that pupils submit their forms on time and preferably before the dates given in this booklet. Please do not hesitate to contact the relevant person for advice at the earliest opportunity.
PRIORITY ENQUIRIES ABOUT RESULTS This is a fast track version of the above procedure if a candidate’s place in further/higher education depends upon the outcome. An urgent request for this type of enquiry must be submitted within a few days of the publication of results. Signatures will be required from the Candidate, Parent & School Department Representative and then given to Mr R T Courtney within five days of results. Please consult the Examinations section of the website for deadlines and details of costs. 7
PHOTOCOPIES OF SCRIPTS Candidates who may wish to submit an Enquiry about Results, or see how their script has been marked, are recommended to request a photocopy of their script. This will be beneficial in their discussions with Staff at the start of the academic year. Ordering a photocopy of a script will still allow an Enquiry about Results to be submitted. Photocopied scripts can also be ordered and paid for by candidates, for learning purposes, at a cost of ÂŁ15.00 per unit script, if the request is received by the Examinations Office, within five days of results. Please consult the Examinations section of the website for specific details. Photocopied scripts may also be requested by the School Heads of Departments with a view to recommending to a candidate to pursue an Enquiry about Results. Candidates who would prefer the School not to request copies of their scripts must write to Mrs S M Owen in the Examinations Office in advance of the results.
ENQUIRIES ABOUT RESULTS Enquiries about results can only be initiated by the School. Only genuine enquiries will be encouraged and the School Staff will advise on these. Through this enquiry process, Subject Grades and Unit Scores may be raised, lowered or merely confirmed and therefore both candidate consent and School approval must be given before any enquiry is submitted by the School to an Awarding Body. The School will initiate all such enquiries. Signatures will be required from the Candidate, Parent & School Department Representative and then given to Mr R T Courtney. Please consult the Examinations section of the website for deadlines and details of costs.
ORIGINAL SCRIPTS These may be ordered and paid for by candidates. A charge of ÂŁ12.00 per script usually applies. Application forms are available from the Examinations Office and must be submitted with the correct payment to Mrs S M Owen. Please consult the Examinations section of the website for specific details.
RESITS Discussions about the possibility and advisability of resitting GCE units in January should take place between Leavers, Subject Teachers, Heads of Departments and Tutors. Clearly, a Post Qualification Application would result in a conditional rather than an unconditional offer if examinations are pending. There will be no resit opportunities within School for Leavers. The Examinations Office can advise of alternative examining centres. 8
PQA AND GAP STUDENTS MAKING AN APPLICATION FOR NEXT YEAR CONTACT: Your Tutor
If you wish us to process your application form or provide a reference you MUST register as a student of the School: our system does not access independent applications. If you are making a Post Qualification Application you should apply for university through the School, just as if you were still in the UVI. As long as you have access to the internet, you can make your application any time from
1st September in the year you leave School. Our Edwardians’ Deadline is the penultimate week of the Autumn term: DECEMBER of the year you leave School. If you are unsure how to proceed at any point, use the Student Guidance section of the School website where you will find the power point presentations used to help members of the Lower Sixth Form to register and process their application. Most importantly, keep in regular contact with your tutor. All you need to do is log on to www.ucas.com, wherever you happen to be: Firstly, you need to click on the APPLY link within the UCAS site and then select “STUDENT LOGIN” for the appropriate year. The next stage is to REGISTER. Do this by selecting the link (usually at the bottom of the page). You will then need to identify that you belonged to King Edward VI School SOUTHAMPTON (please remember there are many King Edward VI Schools). The “buzzword” that you need to enter is SPUD in upper case followed by the year of entry, without a space between the initials and the date. You must also register as part of a Group (eg. S20), so that your tutor can “see” your application. Please email your tutor (now ex tutor) to allow him/her time to collate your references. As you know, it will take at least 10 working days to get your application to UCAS even after you’ve pressed “send”. 9
Remember to enter both your AS and A Level achievements in their separate sections. You do not need to enter unit grade results. Any re-sits that you decide to do will make some of your results ‘pending’, but you must, in any case, enter ALL the examinations you have taken with their dates. You cannot simply ignore any unsatisfactory results. “Unclassified” does count as a result.
RESITS AND PENDING GRADES If you are taking re-sits of any examination units, you will need to enter the examination centre you have chosen to use. Enter your grade as pending in the August rather than the January of the following year, even if you have booked to take the examination as soon as possible.
Please note that whilst the School provides predicted grades for UVI students, it cannot do so for students who are no longer registered as being taught here.
You may be contacted by the universities to which you have applied requesting your GAP year examination centre to provide such predictions separately and directly. This is not unusual and should not cause you any uneasiness. You will need to liaise with your examination centre and your university.
ACCESS AND PRIVACY Keep a note of your username and password and remember that there are filters on the UCAS system that will prevent you from re-accessing your data if you use an offensive password! The School is not privy to this information and cannot help you out if you forget your password.
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR OWN TUTOR IF YOU REQUIRE HELP OR ADVICE IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF YOUR APPLICATION. ALL EMAILS AND TELEPHONE MESSAGES WILL BE DIRECTED TO HIM/HER IN THE FIRST INSTANCE. If you are likely to be away from internet access for long periods of time, you may want to ask your parents to have nominated access to your UCAS application.
ENTERING YOUR COURSE CHOICES The system will prevent you from making contradictory mistakes, but it cannot distinguish between your intention and reality if you select the wrong course. Course details can be checked via the course search element of the UCAS website or through the UCAS Directory. You are welcome to return to the Guidance Centre to use the facilities there.
TIPS AND FAQ ANSWERS If in doubt at any point, use the School website for online advice. Select the Academic menu and University and Careers. 10
The fee code you should enter on your application is most likely to be 02, unless you are not a UK national. Use the Entry Profiles to help make realistic choices and match your achieved points to the points required for that course. Universities don’t need to accept students with grades lower than the published requirements for a course. Telephone Admissions Tutors with details of your grades to find out whether or not it is worth your while to make an application before completing your form. (They are unlikely to dissuade so use your common sense before wasting a choice.) Compose your personal statement in a word processor (approximately 600 words) then copy and paste it into APPLY. Keep your tutor informed of your HE intentions. Please stay in email contact with your TUTOR. If there are any problems your tutor will refer the situation to RMG as appropriate. If your tutor has retired or left the School, he/she will have informed you of his/her successor. The School runs a PQA evening clinic on the same evening as our Open Evening. You are welcome to attend if you are having difficulties with your personal statement. Please check our website for further details.
PROCESS Once you have completed the form, and paid UCAS, YOU must send it through to your tutor, who will then confirm your academic results, add the reference and forward the form to RMG for final checking before being sent on to UCAS by the Headmaster. This process takes a little time, and we cannot guarantee to process a form immediately. If your tutor is not happy with an aspect of your application he/she will return it to you and the process begins again. Check regularly and don’t make any assumptions until you see “sent to UCAS”. Applications are more frequently returned than immediately approved, so remember to factor-in this element when considering the time scale. Unless you keep your tutor informed of your intentions, he/she may not even be checking to see if your form has arrived. Allow at least ten days after you have submitted your form for it to be sent on to UCAS.
DEADLINES
You will be aware that UCAS deadlines are not the same as ours. This is simply because we need time to process and check applications, allowing for a teaching framework that extends below the Sixth Form. Once current Upper Sixth students have completed their applications, tutors have to focus their attention on training the new Lower Sixth students. Please respect our deadlines if you wish to use the School’s system and obtain a reference. 11
If you wish to apply for Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Sciences or Oxbridge colleges, you will have to submit your completed application by SPEECH DAY. We recommend that applications should be submitted by OCTOBER to maximise the efficient forwarding of your choices to UCAS, and increasing your chances of gaining a place in competition with the next academic year. The internal deadline for OXBRIDGE applications is Speech Day. If you are applying to Oxbridge you will need to have a draft personal statement for your tutor by the beginning of the School’s Autumn term. The sooner your application is ready to be reviewed, the more guidance the School can give you. If A2 results have yielded a pleasant surprise and you are thinking of an Oxbridge application for the first time, and thus have not attended previous preparatory meetings, please feel free to come in and speak to Mr Culver about it. Similarly if you were considering an Oxbridge application and in the light of your grades or UMS marks are now not so sure, come in and ask for some advice. In any event, Mr Culver will need to be aware of your application intentions, and if relevant your College choice, by the beginning of the School term. The post results clinic would be an excellent opportunity to discuss this with him. Please look at the information in this booklet for suitable times. Once you have all your universities’ replies, remember that you must respond to your offers or you will lose them.
WE CLOSE DOWN OUR UCAS SERVICE A WEEK BEFORE THE END OF THE AUTUMN TERM
YOUR RESPONSIBILITY When the School term ends in December, all UCAS processes here are closed down. Obviously, if you want your application to be processed, you should not be submitting in the last week of term. As you have your results and are competing against the next year’s intake you should aim to process your application as soon as possible. If you can remember, the School switches its focus to HE training for the LVI in the spring term. Your tutor will have been instructed to focus upon LVI students, as he/she did upon your year. Forty per cent of our students opt to take the PQA route, so you have nothing to fear and everything to enjoy for 14 months. Try to get the whole UCAS business sorted out asap, so that you can enjoy your GAP experience. 12
THE EDWARDIAN SOCIETY CONTACT: Mrs Hooper
This is it: you have come to the end of your time at King Edward VI School and you now join the realms of all those ‘old’ Edwardians who have gone before you. However, just because you are leaving, it doesn’t mean you are forgotten.
THE EDWARDIAN MAGAZINE All former KES pupils automatically become members of the Edwardian Society. You will receive a biannual alumni magazine detailing news from the School and containing stories and articles on other past Edwardians and their exploits. We are always pleased to hear from you and receive contributions and updates. The news snippets section of the magazine is just one other way to let us, and others, know what you are up to. Big or small, make sure you keep telling us your news and sending us your photos.
REUNIONS We also hold regular reunion events for our Edwardians. As well as your 10 year reunion that will take place a decade from now, our aim is to expand our network and run reunions in university towns around the country. We have recently held events in London, Bristol and Oxford.
FACEBOOK We are increasingly using Facebook to stay in touch with our leavers. Become a fan of the School Facebook page and keep up to date with all the news from KES, details of what other Edwardians have been up to and dates of reunions.
WEBSITE Edwardians have their own section of the KES website where you can purchase Edwardian merchandise, read about sporting events, see photos from the reunions and find out about fund-raising. You can access the webpage via the Alumni section of the new KES website.
SPORTING EVENTS We hope to increase the number of sporting events involving former pupils. Watch out for news on Facebook and on the website on matches against the senior teams and please join us if you can.
CAREERS ADVICE Many former pupils, especially those adopting a PQA strategy return to use the facilities during their Gap Year. You will always be welcome and maybe in years to come, you may wish to join us at one of the working lunches and impart your wisdom to other younger Edwardians. Eventually, we hope to establish a “Contact Point” for Edwardians to benefit from the wisdom of others in their chosen profession. 13
STAYING IN CONTACT So, stay in touch. Remember to drop us an email when you change address details, telephone number or email so that we can still contact you. Suzanne Hooper, Development Officer, deals with all Edwardian events and mailings and can be reached in the following ways: Telephone: 023 80 704561 Email:
edwardians@kes.hants.sch.uk
Website:
www.kes.hants.sch.uk
Address:
The Development Office King Edward VI School Wilton Road Southampton SO15 5UQ
We hope that you have enjoyed your time at King Edward VI School and playing your part in the School community. You now join another larger community as you become a member of the Edwardian Society.
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