What happened last year?
The last couple of years have been unusual and challenging, of course, and many of our customary programmes have needed to be adjusted to suit the times, but in a typical year, we might see much of the following taking place:
Once again, our Year 13 students are attending Community Involvement placements across the region. In recent years they have volunteered at organisations such as Karibuni Children, Queen's Park Arts Centre, Aylesbury Food Bank, Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, Aylesbury Youth Action, Milton Keynes Museum at Tring, Florence Nightingale Hospice, many charity shops and a wide range of schools.
Our oldest students are our school leaders and despite Covid, they have been exemplary in the way that they support the school and the younger students in their different roles. And our new Sixth Form students will very quickly start thinking about taking on roles like Cabinet, Subject and Student Ambassadors, and House Captains too.
Students would typically attend a range of university summer schools, including courses at Bath, Southampton, Oxford and Sheffield and each year we have a number of students on the Reading [University] Scholars programme, and often a couple of who earn places on UNIQ summer schools at Oxford.
We always run sessions on driving education for all Year 12 students to increase their awareness of the road safety and safe driving. The Pandemic meant no visit to the ‘Safe Drive, Stay Alive’ presentation at the Wycombe Swan, but this year it has been replaced by an online film and tutorial progamme.
Students typically complete a wide variety of work shadowing placements. Recent years have seen students working at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, in the House of Commons and at companies both in the UK and overseas. Our students often participate in the 'Pathways to Law' programme at the University of Oxford and in recent years other have been to Berkhamsted School for Medicine and attended Law Taster sessions.
We usually visit Nottingham University and hold our own Higher Education Fair as part of our comprehensive and wide-ranging higher education programme for all students. A virtual ‘Future Success’ Day was held in July for Year 12 students, using speakers from various universities and other organisations. Students attended online taster courses at various colleges at the University of Cambridge and University of Oxford, and a large number attended taster courses at universities and colleges across the country.
In more settled times, we would expect to see students on curriculum, enrichment and extracurricular trips around the world. A Level Art students have visited galleries in Amsterdam and London. Modern Language students often go on exchanges and trips to France, Germany, Spain, and we also had a trip to our partner school in Italy, and the History and Politics trip to Washington has been a highlight for many students.
We organised an information evening for aspiring medical students and their parents/carers, another for those interested in the most competitive universities and courses, and a similar event for students considering applying to study in the USA.