Information on Schools and Colleges

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The Harris Federation encourages all of our Year 10 and 11 to consider staying on at a one of the Harris academies for sixth form.

However, we appreciate that school sixth form is not for everyone and some of our students will prefer to move to one of the local colleges or an apprenticeship. It is important that all students thoroughly research their chosen route by attending open evenings and finding out the content of the different subjects/courses that are on offer.

Research into your chosen route is critical.

Your post 16 choices

Stay at your school and continue onto level 3 courses: A levels or CTECs/BTECs.
Go to a local further education college (16-18) which caters for the kinds of courses you want to pursue.
Go to a different sixth form, eg: a grammar school, a sixth form at another school or another Harris Sixth Form, where you can pursue A levels or CTECs/BTECs.
Go to Harris Westminster Sixth Form (you will need to do an entry examination and an interview for this as well as strong GCSE predictions).
Doing a level 2 or 3 apprenticeship, based in the workplace.

There are three key reasons why you might want to move schools:

1) Your academy doesn’t offer the right subjects for you.
2) Your grades aren’t quite high enough to get you onto level 3 courses (we’ll explain in a later slide).
3 You feel that you would like to be in a different kind of educational institution.

Whatever you decide, make sure that you talk to the Head of Sixth Form and the careers adviser to make sure that you are making good subject choices.

The Harris Federation encourages all of our Year 10 and 11 to consider staying on at a one of the Harris academies for sixth form.

Research into your chosen route is critical.

Some of the benefits of staying on at Harris

1) You are familiar with the environment and the teaching staff. They are already invested in you and care about your future success.
2) There will be minimal adjustment if you choose to stay which is a good thing in terms of getting off to a flying start.
3) Often, the curriculum allows you to remain at your chosen academy and select a subject at one of the other sites offering you the opportunity to continue in your academy while experiencing a new site.
4) In all of our sixth forms, you will find the strength of a federation. We have the same teaching standards, the same data analysis, the same opportunities and we share the same expertise across all of your academies.
5) We have a wealth of enrichment opportunities.
6) We have a very strong and broad alumni group, committed to help you achieve your future goals.
7) The Harris Experience Advanced programme runs across all of our sixth forms. This includes our Oxbridge and medicine programmes and lots more besides.
8) We have been rated outstanding by Ofsted.
9) We have more than 80% of our students progressing on to university which is more than twice the national average.

Click below to find out more about Harris Sixth Form:

Harris Sixth Form

Should you decide that Harris is not for you, then you may find it helpful to look at some of the links below which are in your area:

Thurrock:

USP Palmers College

South Essex College

Wandsworth:

Sixth form schools within the borough

Sixth form colleges and further education colleges

Harris Professional Skills Sixth Form

Students who are borderline to achieve the grades for sixth form should choose an alternative.

Harris Professional Skills sixth form would be an excellent back up plan for students wishing to stay in the Harris Federation.

This is an exciting new sixth form based in South Norwood, offering a vocational route for both level 3 and level 2 courses.

Harrisps6f

Offer a Level 3 Vocational route which may be preferable.
Offer a Level 2 route for students who would like to re-sit their GCSE’s

Moving to an alternative sixth form

Some students prefer to look at an alternative to a Harris academy for a number of reasons:

Your academy doesn’t offer the right subjects for you.

Whatever you decide, make sure that you talk to the Head of Sixth Form and the career adviser to make sure that you are making good subject choices.

Sixth forms may have a speciality, eg: the Brit School. Other sixth forms may have the subjects that you have chosen in different blocks which gives you a greater choice. You may feel that the location of another sixth form is preferable.

You feel that you would like to be in a different kind of educational institution.

Your grades aren’t quite high enough to get you onto level 3 courses.

Useful points with subject choices

Choose subjects which you enjoy.
Choose subjects which you are good at.
Choose subjects that will help you long term in your chosen career.
Research into chosen careers and universities to ensure that the subjects chosen open the relevant doors. www.ucas.com
If uncertain, contact your Career Adviser in your academy.
Establish the entry grades for each chosen subject. Is this realistic?

Useful tips on what to avoid

Do not choose a subject because you like the teacher. There is no guarantee that they will be teaching you in Year 12 and 13.
Do not choose a subject because your friend or even a parent or relative has chosen it/did it in the past. You are a unique learner and will have different learning requirements from others. Make sure you talk to current advisers and make choices based on your own strengths.
Do not choose a subject because it sounds interesting. Do your own research.

College and Sixth Form College

There are a wide range of different colleges to consider:

Some offer the traditional A Levels which allows the continued diversity, where some colleges will only offer a range of vocational diplomas. Please look into the course content as this is important when choosing a vocational diploma.

Colleges offer different entry levels and it is important that you are familiar with your predicted grades. Colleges offer flexibility. If you are unsuccessful in gaining the required grades, then an alternative entry level course can be offered.

It is important that the you attend Open Evenings to find out more about the courses that they are considering before an application is made.

Apprenticeships

With the raising of the participation age, students do need to stay in some form of education.

An apprenticeship is an alternative for those students who would like to enter the workplace while continuing with their education.

It can be a practical way of learning as they will be work shadowing colleagues and observing while having the theoretical back up of a college or Training Provider. There are an increasing number of apprenticeships in a wider variety of careers.

Benefits of an apprenticeship:

Apprentices are paid. The minimum hourly rate is £3.70 an hour which rises to £3.90 an hour in April 2019. The salary rises as you progress through the apprenticeship.
You will be learning in a practical setting.
You can achieve an undergraduate degree through an apprenticeship scheme at no cost to you while earning.

Negatives of an apprenticeship:

You are choosing a career pathway at 16 with just GCSE’s to fall back on.
You will be studying while working full time.
No further long holidays.
An apprenticeship can take longer to enter certain careers.

Should the apprenticeship route be the first choice for you, we would recommend that you sign up on the government website so that you can be informed about relevant opportunities. Here you can register with the apprenticeship website and also benefit from the wealth of information about apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships are a ‘hands on’ way of learning and working towards additional qualifications. However, it is important to understand that there is no guarantee of a job at the end of the apprenticeship, the hours can be quite lengthy, and the holidays are reduced significantly as you enter the workplace.

Gov

All students choosing to apply for an apprenticeship must have a backup plan of either a Post 16 provision or a College place.