Current Students

Not all students who study here at Farnborough continue to Higher Education at university.  We see increasing numbers of students choosing an alternative option such as:

• An apprenticeship

• School Leavers programme

• Full time job

• Gap year programme.

Take a look at the Alternatives to Higher Education slides for more information and get in touch if you have any questions.

The careers team at College can give a lot more information, advice and guidance on these options.  Students can make an appointment to meet with the team or email them on careers@prospecttrust.org.uk .

It is important to maintain the following throughout the second year at College: 

• excellent attendance levels

• complete a minimum of 9 hours of study each week per course (4.5 hours in class and 4.5 hours in idependent study)

• carefully manage your workload and ring fence time to complete tasks and consolitate learning

• Maintain attendance at Tutorial and Tutorial +

• Use your LRC study period wisely to assist with workload management.

Students from Farnborough progress into study at the most prestigious universities across the UK and beyond and they achieve great things when they get there. Each year students from this College go on to achieve better degress at university compared to other sixth form colleges and the state sector generally.

Things are changing in the Higher Education landscape, the demographic growth in the number of 18 year olds along with a rising participation in HE rate and some reduction in the courses on offer means that it is no longer a buyers market.  Universities want to recruit the best possible students which means that considered course choices are really important.

Read more about applications to Higher Education and UCAS process on the College website.

Presentation about how student finance for univesity works

Watch a presentation from the University of Portsmouth 'A complete guide to student finance' - the passcode to access the recording is: 9uQZ$t%F 

The Review Data Cycle

There are set times throughout both the first and second year of study when students progress is assessed, this may be through an informal assessment or mock exam.  Following these assessments, each student's review data will be updated and available to the parent/guardian to see (via the Parent Portal) once the assessments have been marked and recorded.  See more about when review data will be available in the Review Data Cycle.

What is reviewed and what the ratings mean

Students are reviewed on the following areas: 

• Attitudes - This gives an indication of their commitment, motivation and involvement in their class.

• Deadlines - This captures homework completion and their management of deadlines.

• Understanding - This tells you how well they understand the material being studied. In many subjects, this will also involve the acquisition of key skills.

• Retrieval - This is an indication of whether they are able to remember what they have learnt. This is less about innate memory and more about the techniques being used to ensure short term memory is converted into long term memory.  At the College, we describe this process as ‘consolidation’.

• Application - This is used to highlight to the student how well their understanding and memorisation is being applied in exam conditions and, very importantly, meeting the exam board requirements.

These five areas are rated either 1, 2, 3 or 4 (explained below):

1. Key strength - This is exceptional and where the student has gone above and beyond and made a strong impression

2. Working well - Students can be really pleased that they are meeting, and possibly exceeding their teachers expectations.  There may be some areas for fine tuning. 

3. Areas for improvement - This should not be a worry, but it does indicate an area of their study that should be targeted.  Teachers will be initiating support and advising the student on actions to take.

4. Significant concern - This means changes need to be made, and quickly, to ensure the student gets on track to meet the demands of the course (and the expectations of the college). Again, teachers will initiate support which may also involve the Personal Tutor. 

You will also see the following listed in the table:

• Currently Working at Grade (CWG) - This is simply the most recent grade from the past term. This is a snapshot of the level of work being produced.

• Anticipated Final Grade (AFG) - This is what we expect the student to achieve based on their current progress and study behaviours. If this is not the grade they are hoping for, then something will need to change in order to achieve their goal.

The Department for Education requires all students in post-16 education to undertake work experience which is planned, meaningful and supports their progression into employment, training, apprenticeships and higher education. 

Find out how we support students at the College with their work experience in this presentation.