During Terms 5 and 6 Year 12 students start thinking about their next pathway - either it be university (higher education) or apprenticeships and employment. Our careers team will work alongside students and support them in their pathway, but we start the process during Year 12 to ensure Year 13 gets off to a flying start.
For university, it is important that students and parents are clear on the admissions process and what is required from applicants on their personal statement. Students have been provided with a range of resources on their Microsoft Team and have been informed about university and apprenticeships since starting Year 12 with help and guidance from our careers team and the UCAS coordinator, Ms Thorne.
Students will need to send drafts of their personal statement to their tutor for feedback, before sending final drafts to Ms Thorne and Ms Hall.
Applications to university should aim to be completed by 15th October, to allow for students to focus on their studies and preparation for examinations. The final deadline for applications is the 15th January 2021, but we would like to alleviate some of the pressure early on.
For apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships, personal statements are also an important part of the application process. Even though you may not wish to continue in education, a personal statement offers employers a profile of who you are. For those students wishing to take up the apprenticeship route, we also have a range of materials and opportunities which we will personally direct to those who are we have identified as wanting to apply for this pathway.
Personal Statements
All students have been given new tutors who will appear on their Go4Schools. These are the tutors students should be sending their personal statements to by the deadlines below:
- First draft - by the 13th June
- Second draft - by the 24th July
- Final draft - 18th September
Students will have 3 weeks at the start of term to polish up their statements and get their applications ready for sending off.
In the resources section on this page you will find links to a range of useful resources from UCAS and universities. There is also a really important parent guide from UCAS which should answer all your questions. We would advise reading all of the provided resources. The most important thing about starting this process is being informed. We would advise having a look through the university website of your chosen institutions and really researching around, using the 'Higher Education Plan' as a tool to organise your thoughts.
Please advise students to continue to check in their Y12 Microsoft Teams' group as we will be updating them with valuable opportunities we would encourage them to take up to support their application to either university, an apprenticeship or employment.