Sixth Form | Higher Education
CAREERS EDUCATION IN THE SIXTH FORM
The school has a thriving Sixth Form Centre and a good deal of the work carried out by the Careers Department involves sixth formers.
During Year 12 students will participate in a block of careers lessons aimed at helping them to focus on whether they should be considering university or employment after their sixth form studies. Students also have the opportunity to refer themselves for a careers interview. This gives them the opportunity to discuss their personal needs with one of our IGEN Careers Advisers (formerly Connexions).
Towards the end of Year 12, the school hosts a careers event involving a variety of workshops covering aspects of higher education, further training and/or employment and taking a gap year. Typically around 25-30 guest speakers including a number of universities and ex-Richmond Sixth Form College students take part in this successful event.
During Year 13 a detailed programme of careers education and guidance is operated in the Autumn Term. The majority of our Year 13 students will apply to university and extensive support is in place to facilitate this. This support includes direct staff guidance as well as tailored printed material issued to everyone.
Some students decide that university is not for them whilst in Year 12 and a separate programme of support is operated by the IGEN Careers Advisers. The focus of these sessions is on preparing letters of application, curriculum vitae writing and job searching.
An increasing number of students are choosing to take a gap year before going to university. We also offer advice and guidance on the opportunities available.
As university entrance becomes ever more competitive we aim to help as many of our students as possible gain offers from appropriate institutions. In order to assist with this we run a “Redbrick Group” at lunch times during the Spring Term in which students in Years 11 & 12 are prepared for applying to more competitive institutions. There are also specialist sessions for potential medics and vets. Some students also benefit from vocational work placements set up for some of their private study time.
USEFUL INFORMATION
The following power points from the recent Careers day contain a lot of useful information for students who are preparing their UCAS application:
Researching HE (pdf)
Choosing your university (pdf)
How to write your personal statement (pdf)
Getting started on your personal statement (pdf)
If students wish to check subject choice against any university choices then they need to visit www.ucas.co.uk. Also of course the individual University websites.
For those students considering Oxbridge courses or applying to the more competitive universities they should look at the information about the “Redbrick Group” which is a school based support group.
Any students considering applying for Dentistry,Medicine or Veterinary Science can also get targeted help. They should click on the following link: DMV Group
Students can access the information/videos and links about hundreds of Careers and thousands of HE courses on www.pathfinderlive.co.uk This site also has a job matching section which will provide an individual profile. The first time that students visit this website they will need to register using our school access code which is: 44598dbdce77 After this they can create their own username and login password.
Other very useful sites for those researching HE are:
www.unistats.direct.gov.uk Enables you to search/review and compare statistics about university entrance, facilities and employment prospects/destinations
www.coursefinder.co.uk and www.coursediscoveronline.co.uk help with HE course choice.
www.opendays.com to assist with fact finding visits.
www.icould.com has careers films about different work areas.
www.direct.gov.uk has a “Next Steps” section which includes a skills health check quiz.
For those in some doubt a visit to www.notgoingtouni.co.uk is also worth a look
University Finance
Currently this information is still being finalised. Information can be found on the individual university websites but also an excellent objective summary can be found on Martin Lewis’ financial website: www.moneysavingexpert.com