BHASVIC Year 11 Transition Plans

Will BHASVIC provide learning content for Year 11s who have completed their Level 2 (GCSE, etc) studies early in the summer term?

Some Year 11 students and their parents, carers and secondary school teachers have been asking whether they could or should begin to study for their Sixth Form courses now that the GCSE syllabus has finished and there are no GCSE exams to revise for. Year 11 students do not need to begin their Sixth Form studies early. The journey to academic readiness for Year 11s transitioning to Sixth Form study this September will follow our normal approach, which is:

1. Ensure you have completed and mastered the content of your GCSE courses to the best of your ability. Reviewing aspects of these courses which link to your course choices at BHASVIC, especially content you found more difficult, will be highly beneficial to your success at Sixth Form. Complete any work, including project work, that your schools have set you and these will provide fantastic opportunities to hone the transferable skills you will need for your next steps.

2. BHASVIC Moving on Day – Tuesday 6 July – on this day you will attend a lesson in your chosen courses, and you will be set some work to do over the summer. This summer work is not designed or intended in any way to ruin your summer holiday (see below), but will enable you to keep your mind and other skills going and for you to be able to start in September with a little more confidence and familiarity with your chosen course. Our students enjoy and like the work our departments set you over the summer.

What should I do with study once my GCSE courses have finished? Our strong recommendation for Year 11 students is to use the remainder of the summer term and the summer holidays to conduct hobbies and enrichment activity, to socialise, have fun, to be outdoors and follow your wider interests… or develop new ones. These activities bring incredibly valuable wellbeing and personal development opportunities and are valued by all educators as a demonstration of engagement, dynamism, and a healthy lifestyle. This summer is one of those rare opportunities in your life where you will not have lots of study and looming exams or assessments to be prepared for – make the most of it!

We encourage as much safe social and outdoors activity as possible, having been stuck indoors for so much of the recent past. However, we know that many young people are fascinated by, and deeply enjoy, activity which occurs indoors, such as digital activity, reading or making. This is OK too, of course, and these interests are incredibly valuable – just try to limit the social media and computer games time and ensure you connect with friends and head outdoors as well each day.

I want to keep my mind and study skills going - what do you advise I do? For those young people who love to study and develop their minds, and before our summer work becomes available to you, there are some fantastic online learning courses and wider reading opportunities. If you stick to established and reputable sources, such as exam board reading lists and recommended platforms (all our BHASVIC courses have the link to the exam board specification from the course page on our website) you can take this time as an opportunity to proactively broaden your skills and interests in all sorts of fascinating topics and areas.

If you are unsure whether an online course (‘mooc’) is worth your time, any course which broadens your critical thinking skills will always be advantageous for Sixth Form study. There are a wide range of providers such as FutureLearn, iTunes U, Coursera, Khan Academy, Alison and the slew of Universities in the UK and USA, who have lots of different courses that can be studied for free.

I feel like I have not learnt as much as I should or could have done due to lockdowns and know that everyone is saying that students through Covid are now at a disadvantage. I am worried that, despite meeting the GCSE entry requirement grades for my sixth form courses, I will still struggle and be behind - what should I do about this? For those young people who are concerned they may have fallen behind in their academic abilities and feel they may be at a disadvantage when starting Sixth Form, we have three key reassuring points to make to you:

1. We’ve got this for you! Our teaching teams and staff are experts in what they do and our curriculum delivery for you when you get to BHASVIC will enable you to regain your momentum and will support the closing of knowledge and skills gaps. There is time at sixth form to do this and you will catch up.

2. If you feel you are lacking in any critical aspects of your Level 2 (GCSE, etc) learning, which form important building blocks for sixth form study, then do take the time and opportunity to use the extensive revision content available from your school and from central locations such as the exam boards and BBC Bitesize, to practice and close any knowledge or skills gaps you are concerned about. However, our advice is to not worry about this and to enjoy this break in academic demands whilst you have your end of secondary school summer holidays, which you have earnt!

3. The independent study skills you will have been developing due to lockdown learning put you in a more developed position than past students. Each phase of education requires a jump in independent learning skills and the jump from secondary to sixth form is a notorious one (as is often the jump from sixth form to university and from any education to the world of work). We believe you will be an advantage here – even if you have not fared so well during lockdown learning. Despite national media rhetoric about lost learning, which has of course occurred, we’d stress at BHASVIC that this is overplayed and there are other skills that have been developed. Also, the need to take up those social opportunities with friends and family and to follow your hobbies and interests are more important to your future success.