Sixth Form Courses

Sixth Form corridor

Ensuring Success

Students’ progress is of paramount importance to us and we do not leave it to chance. A wide range of support structures are in place to ensure that students achieve their potential and can access guidance if and when they need it.

Students’ progress is monitored closely throughout their time in Sixth Form with termly reports and an annual Parents’ Evenings. Students are also monitored through the provision of internal examinations in October and July (Year 12) and January (Year 13) to ensure that they are making expected progress. Students who are identified as needing additional support can access Student Support Mentoring where they work with their tutors, subject teachers and parents to enable them to make the progress needed. All students are given aspirational target grades and these are used to help monitor student achievement at all stages. We expect students to demonstrate the learning behaviours that will enable them to achieve their target grades. We monitor this through the R2LI system which we report termly. Students not demonstrating successful learning behaviours will receive additional mentoring and monitoring through their tutor.

Each student is placed in a tutor group within their year group0. The tutor is a key person in a Sixth Form student’s time at Matthew Arnold School as they mentor and work with students to help them to achieve their aspirations.

The Curriculum

A range of information is available from the school to assist students to:

Choose a range of A-Level courses, which will enable them to progress onto their desired destination after the Sixth Form.
Develop their wider skills, which will broaden and enrich their outlook and abilities.

More information on the curriculum can be found in our Sixth Form Course Guide Booklet.

Applicants may also wish to consult our non-examination assessment policy for further details.

Extended Project AQA

Students can apply to be considered to take an extended project when they start their A-Levels. This qualification is an externally assessed qualification which is equivalent to half an A-Level. The extended project is viewed very positively by universities and students develop very good research and independent learning skills whilst undertaking the project. More information is available in the Sixth Form Course Guide booklet.

Enrichment Programme

In addition to their chosen A-Level subjects, all Sixth Form students attend enrichment activity sessions for two hours per week. All students follow the Compulsory Core Programme (CCP) as part of this package. This covers a range of study skills, PHSE, citizenship, world affairs, careers education and the UCAS process. Students also have one hour of PE scheduled every Wednesday afternoon, in which we offer a wide range of interesting activities such as Ultimate Frisbee, ping pong, dodge ball tournaments and our own Sixth Form Sports Day, as well as team sports and fixtures.

Students are expected to opt for one of the Sixth Form activities available to them during their time with us. These activities include paired reading, producing the Sixth Form magazine, Sixth Form Council, Sports leadership and Debate Club. All students are expected to take an active part as a member of the school community, perhaps by teaching younger students or working as MAPS (Matthew Arnold Peer Supporters), with training and support from the school counsellor.

Opportunities

There are a considerable number of activities and opportunities open to all students who join our Sixth Form to develop their extra-curricular strengths and interests; Duke of Edinburgh Award, debate club, charity committee, art trips, theatre trips, school council, diversity committee, community service both in and out of school, Matthew Arnold peer supports, head prefects and senior prefect positions. Whatever their interest, we will find a project to stretch and encourage each individual student.