Sixth Form
All our students access a wide range of opportunities to develop their skills, qualities and attributes to make them stand out from the rest on application to university and/or employment. Our Enrichment and Voluntary Programme is an integral part of the experience for our Sixth Form students. Whatever a student enjoys, there is something for them in the clubs, teams and societies at Shireland Collegiate Academy Sixth Form. The enrichment programme ensures that all pupils reflect on their participation and learn from each experience through the Sixth Form, building them into a confident young person well prepared to continue their passions into adult life.
Student quote: “I thought the Personal Statement Conference was really good. I got a chance to talk to a specialist adviser who gave me lots of tips on how to make my personal statement better”.
We strive to follow the Gatsby benchmarks throughout our enrichment and voluntary opportunities.
Futures Programme
Each week, a timetabled hour is dedicated to our Futures Programme. The Sixth Form Futures Programme has three main aims for our students:
- Developing themselves through careers, employability and enterprise education
- Learning about careers and the world of work
- Developing their career management and employability skills
Some of the highlights from our Futures Programme are listed below:
| Autumn Term | Post-18 options – Students attend workshops delivered by external experts from the World of Work, Higher Education, College, Voluntary sector, Apprenticeships and Gap Year
Professional Pathways commence |
| Spring Term | Employability Skills
Mentoring Programme Preparing for Oxbridge application |
| Summer Term | University Open Day visit
Work Experience Week UCAS application Nuffield Research Group |
| Autumn Term | Personal Statement Conference
Mock Interviews |
| Spring Term | Student Finance
University course confirmation Preparing for apprenticeship and employment application |
| Summer | University course confirmation
Results Day |
Transferable and life Skills Programme
In order to be academically successful, students need to understand how to study at Sixth Form. They complete a Transferable Skills Programme during their tutor time, focusing on such topics as effective time management, good organisational skills, effective note-taking, becoming IT literate, developing resilience and responding effectively to feedback. We are introducing the Vespa Academy model from September 2024, a pioneering A level mindset curriculum.
Personal, Social, Health and Relationships Education (PSHRE)
During morning tutor time, students explore a wide range of topics which are relevant to them. These are:
- Core theme 1: health and wellbeing
- Core theme 2: relationships
- Core theme 3: living in the wider world
Work Experience Opportunities
To further develop our students’ readiness for future workplaces, we run a dedicated work experience week where students attend valuable subject guided placements. Students have the opportunity to attend additional placements throughout the year, if they are directly involved in our exceptional voluntary programme.
In July 2024, 90% of students secured and attended a placement, with 6% attending two or more. Some of the experiences included Barrister Chambers, the NHS Trust, Birmingham Hippodrome, Boots, SCAT Accountancy, Pharmaceuticals, Mott MacDonald and Cura Animalis in Athens, Greece.
“Absolute credit to the academy.”
“… Ever so helpful…”
“They became one of the team by the end of the week”.
Enrichment Programme
Here, at Shireland Collegiate Academy Sixth Form, we make it our mission to give you the best opportunities to carve your future pathways. We have put together a programme of co-curricular opportunities for our students to choose from as part of an enrichment and voluntary programme. This could be in the form of giving back to the school community, working with some our partners, finding yourself additional accreditations and qualifications or supporting in your subject areas. Each experience will be in valuable to the next steps of University, an Apprenticeship or the world of work.
We are always open for more suggestions to increase the experiences here, so if there is something you would like to add, please ensure you reach out to the Sixth Form team who would be happy to discuss this further.
Enrichment Programmes are additional opportunities that often work with one of our partnerships. These are usually spread across the week as additional sessions on your timetable or after school.
Voluntary experiences are one-hour sessions per week that will take place in one of your independent study periods or after school. You can partake in both an enrichment activity AND a volunteering experience.
Our Sixth Form Enrichment Programme is a unique experience amongst sixth forms in Sandwell and it is expected that all students take part. The programme is formally launched in the Autumn Term, with an expectation that students will partake in the programme for a minimum of one hour a week.
