Study Overview
The curriculum in our Sixth Form is designed to allow you to choose from a wide range of subjects including A Levels and BTEC Level 3.
This can promote diversity in terms of your subject selections or allow you to specialise. Flexibility is the great strength of our academic provision.
We expect the majority of our Sixth Form Students to follow a programme starting with three subjects in Year 12 and continuing with these subjects in Year 13. For the highest attaining students at GCSE, there is a possibility of studying four subjects in Year 12 and then dropping down to three in Year 13. Sixth Form students will also have the opportunity to broaden their learning through the Extended Project Qualification.
A-Levels are academic qualifications that require a rigorous approach no matter where they are taken. At RRSF, you will be expected to commit to your studies both in and out of the classroom. Each subject in the Sixth Form is allocated 10 hours of teaching time over a two week period. In addition to contact time, you will be expected to work during private study periods in the Sixth Form Centre, the Learning Resource Centre or other free classrooms.
Independent learning is a key ingredient to success at Sixth Form, and you will be set challenging independent learning tasks designed to supplement and extend the learning that takes place in the classroom. If you want to be a successful student, you should expect to complete one hour of private study for every hour spent in the classroom for each subject. To support you, you will be assigned three hours of Supervised Study with our Learning Mentor Mrs Ellsworth in the Sixth Form Centre.
Sixth Form Courses
The majority of courses within Sixth Form sit within a seven year programme of study and details can be found on here on the modules studied and examination boards. Information on those subjects that are new to Sixth Form are below:
- Criminology
- Politics
- Sociology
- Psychology
- Law
Support & Guidance
Student Support
We are committed to the belief that effective pastoral care should be immediate, personalised and sustained. We regard ensuring our students’ happiness and well-being as our most important responsibility. The role of the Sixth Form tutor is absolutely essential in this. Students see their tutor at least once a day and will have the opportunity for individual support with our Learning Mentor on a regular basis. Mr Howarth (Director of Key Stage 5) and Mrs Ellsworth (Learning Mentor), both work closely with our tutors to ensure that students maximise the opportunities available to make the most of their talents and realise their ambitions. Students are encouraged to complete an online ‘Level Up’ assessment each week to feedback their progress and concerns to Mr Howarth directly.
Academic Support
We provide a wide range of academic support to ensure that students are making the most of their time in the Sixth Form. At RRSF you can expect to be in classes that are smaller than Sixth Form colleges, thus getting plenty of support from subject teachers. In addition to this, most subjects provide after school support sessions and weekend sessions in the run up to examinations to enhance learning.
Alongside support from teaching staff, we run an Academic Mentoring scheme that allows Sixth Form students to work with fellow Sixth Formers in a less formal setting.
Academic Monitoring
We take our responsibility of providing the best educational experience for our Sixth Formers very seriously, and part of that is monitoring the academic performance of individual students. This is done regularly and involves collaboration with teaching staff and, where necessary, parents or carers.
More information on our Expectations and the Graduated Response systems can be found by following the link.