University (UCAS) Guidance at Harris

The Harris Sixth Form has a strong ethos of sending students to university and we give every student the opportunity to apply to study at a Higher Education/Further Education institute. We average at sending 80% of our students to university in Year 13/14 which is twice the national UK average.

All Year 11s receive a copy of the ‘Year 11 Booklet’ which contains lots of up to date information and guidance on subject choices, sixth form education and qualifications and also on university and apprenticeships. In addition, the Harris Experience runs its own bespoke programme about the advantages of applying to Russell Group universities.

From the beginning of Year 12 onwards, university guidance is built into the tutor and assembly programmes. All Year 12s receive a copy of the ‘Year 12 Guide to Higher Education’. In the springtime of Year 12, all students are given the opportunity to visit universities and later to attend university summer schools, courses and taster days. As part of our career enhancement weeks in July, we provide guidance on applying to university and writing personal statements.  

From the beginning of Year 13, we ensure that we are guiding students on making the right university choices and writing strong and viable university applications. We have strong links with many universities, including those in the Russell Group and we work regularly with Oxford, Cambridge and many more. This enables us to give our students the most up-to-date and expert advice on their applications. We also have a strong UCAS staff inset programme to ensure that our staff are equipped to give helpful and relevant advice.
 

It is important that students make the right choices and we ensure that they are able to do this through:

• Sixth form tutor programme
• Work-related programme
• ARR programme
• Career enhancement week
• Harris Experience Advanced programme

 

Key advisors for students in this process are:

• Federation Vice Principal of Federation Sixth Form responsible for UCAS
• Assistant Principal of sixth form at base campus
• Sixth form coordinator at base campus
• Sixth form tutor at base campus
• Careers advisor at base campus
• Harris Experience Advanced coordinators

We are committed to ensuring that the quality of our students’ university applications is outstanding and that all of them have the opportunity of accessing the very best opportunities once they leave our academies.