Life in the Sixth Form
The Sixth Form has a pre-university style culture with extremely high expectations and challenges, but equally high rewards at the end. It constitutes the best days of school at Sandringham for many students.
‘Sixth Formers are wonderful role models for younger students, through their responsibilities in the school, the day to day support that they give to younger students and their involvement in community activities’. Ofsted We have very high expectations of our students as we want you to make the most of every opportunity on offer. There are a firm set of procedures to ensure that the high standards are met at all times. Attendance is monitored very closely and procedures are in place to contact parents and carers if there are any concerns. We have a large, purpose built Sixth Form Centre and opened two new extensions in December 2012; the upstairs silent study area and the Starbucks Cafe. The downstairs quiet study zone was also extended in 2019. This means that students can choose where they want to study during the day (and after school), similar to a university style environment. A structured programme of tutorials and progress monitoring helps students to fulfil their potential in chosen specialist areas. Apart from the Sixth Form block, students have the full use of the school Learning Resource Centre which stocks a wide range of subject journals aimed at A Level and undergraduate level, as well as a careers section. The school is also well served by WiFi and communications technology and we would encourage all students to bring in a laptop or other device. Many subjects make full use of Google Classroom and Google Docs to share resources and undertake tasks. Our fantastic whole school facilities in all areas, including the Sandpit Theatre for the arts, our new state of the art sports hall, new 3G pitch and the brand new computing, maths and science block are used extensively by Sixth Form students. All Sixth Form students are expected to set an example to the rest of the school through their high standard of business like dress and the way they present themselves. We believe that this is appropriate to our whole Sixth Form work ethic of focus whilst students are on site and also removes some elements of peer pressure which can occur in informal dress codes. The intention of the Sixth Form dress code is to maintain the smart appearance of the lower school years but allows a degree of flexibility, in acknowledgement of the role of the Sixth Former and their progression towards higher education or the world of employment. A Sixth Form student should be able to leave the school site and immediately attend a formal interview without having to change their appearance. The dress code can be downloaded here: Students in Year 12 have to attend school full-time, 8.30am-3.00pm. The day starts with a Form Time so that tutors can support students daily and distribute necessary information. There are five lessons each of one hour. Students will have some supervised study sessions in their timetable when they don’t have a lesson, they will need to sign in with the Learning Supervisor in these sessions and work in the study areas. All students are expected to use their study periods effectively and complete at least five hours of independent study per subject per week – so time management is extremely important. We recommend that students do not engage in more than 8 hours of paid employment per week. In addition, there is one hour of Year 12 Games scheduled per week for most students, where there are a wide range of activities on offer, and one lesson of Personal Development, to support students with a wide range of input about careers, health and preparing for life after school. You could get a bursary to help with education-related costs if you’re aged 16 to 19 and: – studying at school or college in England – on a training course, including unpaid work experience. What a bursary is for: A bursary is money that you can use to pay for things like: – books and other equipment for your course – transport and lunch on days you study If you would like more details about the 16-19 Bursary visit the government website here. You can download a copy of the Sandringham 16-19 Bursary Fund guidance and application form below. All students who attend Sandringham Sixth Form require a laptop device. Rather than a tablet device, research and experience has shown us that sixth form students find laptops invaluable. This reflects the increased duration and complexity of tasks in Sixth Form that are harder to accomplish with a smaller touch-screen device, including extended writing and coursework. You can choose which laptop device you wish to bring to school, this might be a Windows Laptop, Chromebook or Mac Book. It is not necessary to purchase a new device if you have one which is in working order. For some particular subjects, you will require a Windows PC or MacBook and not a Chromebook due to the specialist software you will use during the course of study. These subjects are: By bringing your own laptop, you will have access to the following benefits that will support your learning: Our intention is to get you used to the normal ways of working in a university or employment environment before you leave school. Your laptop may not be used for every part of a lesson, though the ability to conduct research, access online resources and complete coursework and homework and pre-reading in some subjects will be crucial. This is what we call ‘Blended Learning’: new technologies are combined with traditional teacher instruction and media. The choice of which approach to use at a particular point in a lesson is down to the professional judgement and experience of your teacher.
Sixth Form Facilities
Sixth Form Dress Code
The School Day
16- 19 Bursary Fund
Bring Your Own Device
More information can be found in the Blended Learning/BYOD pages elsewhere on this website and in the document below