At St Ninian’s High School, staff are very proud of the curriculum and the enrichment opportunities available to sixth form students as well as the supportive and nurturing pastoral system that is in place. Here, assistant head teacher Angela Daugherty outlines some of the latest initiatives to be introduced at the Douglas school.

Pastoral system

At the heart of the pastoral system lies the VESPA A Level Mindset Programme, which was launched as part of a team building day in September and is delivered by a team of trained tutors.

VESPA is a five-stage programme made up of group and individual coaching sessions with activities which are designed to develop key attributes in sixth form students.

These are vision (setting goals), effort (focusing on the amount of work students are doing), systems (supports students in developing, time management and organisation skills), practice (focuses on ’how’ to study) and attitude (what/how students think).

Although still new, tutors have seen many positive effects in the students who have found the transition to A Level study easier due to the process.

The school is looking forward to welcoming Martin Griffiths, an expert in this area, who is coming to the island to work with our sixth form in March.

Students responded with great enthusiasm and interest to their introduction to VESPA.

Hannah Sayle, who is a member of the Student Leadership Team, said: ’The VESPA scheme not only helps you get the most out of your education but develops skills that will not only benefit you throughout school but throughout life.’

Student welfare

At St Ninian’s High School we place student welfare as an essential aspect of the sixth form strategy.

Earlier this month, all students engaged in a health and well being day, including sessions on mindfulness led by Mike Kewley, stress management, safe driving and CRUSE.

In addition to this the UK charity MyBnk delivered financial education to the students providing them with the understanding, skills and confidence to manage their money.

All students have the opportunity to develop their employability skills as part of our enrichment programme through which students can opt to work with Junior Achievement, the Live at Home Scheme and Charity Challenge.

They can mentor younger students, coach others or engage in a work placement.

Kevin Schofield, head of sixth form, commented: ’As a sixth form provider, we pride ourselves on the numerous enrichment opportunities we have available for our students.

’We prepare our students for life beyond sixth form; employers and universities are continually looking for well-rounded individuals.

’Our students have the opportunity to work with outside agencies to gain a wider understanding of the local community and world of work, as well as broadening their overall experiences and life skills.’

Curriculum

Students at St Ninian’s have access to an ever-developing curriculum, which this year saw the introduction of media A Level, BTEC health and social care and BTEC business and enterprise.

In September the BTEC Sport programme will be expanding, offering students an Extended Certificate (equivalent to one A Level) a Diploma (two A Levels) and an Extended Diploma (three A Levels).

The introduction of the AQA Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) has been very popular and is highly regarded by universities as an indicator of strong research and independent learning skills.

The project requires students to choose a topic they feel genuinely passionate about, create a report and deliver a presentation.

Their choice of topics has been wide ranging and the presentations fascinating.

Visits

To support their learning, students have had some great opportunities for educational visits.

The physics department recently took almost 40 students to visit the world’s largest experiment, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, in Geneva, Switzerland.

This unique opportunity allowed students to meet the team of researchers and analyse the results from the massive particle accelerators.

Later in the term, geography students are travelling to Iceland where students are all looking forward to seeing volcanic features and the country’s unique culture.

Religious studies students attended a philosophy and ethics conference, textiles students went to the Clothes Show in Birmingham, history students are due to visit Northern Ireland and a modern foreign languages and a university visit are planned for later in the year.

Decision makers

Sixth form students play a key part in the decision making process at key stage 5.

This ranges from running a successful coffee shop to organising a lively Debate Club.

The Student Leadership Team runs a variety of committees and focus groups are currently developing a sixth form rewards policy and reviewing the sixth form PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education) policy.

Head teacher Andy Fox said: ’I am extremely proud of the diverse experience and pathways students can follow through our Key Stage 5 provision.

’This means students can find courses that suit them, we can value their individuality and help enable them to achieve their future goals.

’Developing a love for life long learning lies at the heart of everything we do in this school and our Key Stage 5 provision certainly allows this to flourish.’