S5/6 Wider Achievement

S5 wider achievement

Next session you will have a range of Wider Achievement Opportunities.  The list below gives an overview of what sort of things are being offered and to which year groups.  We hope that many young people will want to make use of the time to be physically active whilst gaining a qualification being offered by PE in a range of areas.  There are also a number of departments offering alternatives that may be of more interest.    

When completing your choices for next session you will be asked to choose 3 options in order of preference.  One of these must be from the PE offering.  We hope to allocate by first choice if we can.  

S6 wider achievement

To allow opportunities for volunteering and study, all S6 learners have 3 periods each week which are not timetabled to a class.

In addition, those choosing to study 4 rather than 5 subjects in S6 will find they have more time (another 6 periods) to develop their skills and independence. 

To support this, we offer a wide range of activities, which involve a commitment of around 2 or 3 periods/week, and ask all our S6 to indicate their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices from the list provided.  One of these options will form part of their timetable in S6. Please note this exception: learners studying 5 subjects in S6 are not expected to choose a wider achievement option, unless they wish to.

If a learner wants to be involved in more than one wider achievement option, they can discuss with guidance/year head in June 2026 to sign up to other options. These could be from the list below, or may reflect a new leadership opportunity the learner wants to be involved with/initiate, following discussions with staff at the school.

The YASS courses (see below), offered by the Open University, are a different kind of wider achievement option, focused on deepening learning in a specific area and requiring a greater commitment of time than the other wider achievement options we offer. They are well suited to learners wanting to study at level 7 (Advanced Higher) and prepare themselves for the self-discipline and drive needed to succeed at university. The YASS courses listed below are those available in previous years and we await the release of the 2025/6 courses, although they are likely to be very similar. If a learner chooses YASS as their main wider achievement option, we will meet with them in June to discuss the course options and how to apply.

Additional detail on YASS

YASS (Young Applicants in Schools Scotland) is a scheme run by the Open University. It allows learners to self-study online modules in a range of areas, gaining an Open University module, improving their knowledge and developing their independence. These courses are suited to very self-motivated S6 learners who already have at least 2 Highers from S5 and are looking for something to complement their other qualifications, support their future plans or deepen their learning about a topic of interest. They are broadly the same difficulty as an Advanced Higher, although shorter and with less content. These courses are self-taught with the support of an on-line tutor and so require considerable self-discipline and commitment. Module choices are detailed below. The Open University uses a system called ‘credits’ to indicate the size of the course: 30 credit courses require around 10 hours/week for the period of the course (most modules run from Oct to March), 10 credit courses require around 3 hours/week.

URSES 2021/2022

Arts (30 credits)

English for Academic Purposes

Making Your Learning Count – Arts Pathway

Business & Management (30 credits)

Communication Skills for Business and Management

Fundamentals of Accounting

Engineering, Computing & Technology (30 credits)

Engineering: Origins, Methods, Context

Introduction to Computing and Information Technology 1

Technologies in Practice - Higher Computing required

Health & Social Care (30 credits)

Making Your Learning Count – Health & Social Care Pathway

Languages (30 credits)

Exploring Languages and Cultures

Beginners’ French

Beginners’ German

Beginners’ Spanish

Intermediate French - Higher French required

Intermediate German - Higher German required

Intermediate Spanish - Higher Spanish required

Law (10 credits)

Law Making in Scotland

Maths (30 credits)

Discovering Mathematics

Introducing Statistics

Essential Mathematics 1 - Higher Maths required

Science (10 or 30 credits)

Contemporary Topics in Science (10 credits)

Physics and Space (30 credits) - Higher Maths or Physics required

Social Science (30 credits)

Economics in Context

You and Your Money (personal finance focus)

Making Your Learning Count – Social Sciences Pathway

Sport & Exercise Science (30 credits)

Making Your Learning Count – Sport and Exercise Pathway

For more information on these courses, please visit:

www.open.ac.uk/scotland/study/young-applicants-schools