It is the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, made milder by a persistent southerly air flow over the UK and the influence of climate change surely. Evenings are drawing in fast, the Rugby season has moved into the second Act post-half term break and exams for Year 11 are really not that far away. The School Play is in late rehearsal, preparations for the Carol Service are under way and Year 11 are getting into revision mode for their pre-Christmas prelims. There is familiarity in the pace and pressure of this time of year in school.
Another job of sizeable scale during the autumn term is supporting the Sixth Form students at Bishop’s through their applications for their next steps, whether this is through UCAS and on to university, or preparation for degree apprenticeships or getting them to think through how to productively spend their Gap Year. The mountain to climb is one of considerable proportions, as there are around 200 students in each cohort, and this autumn 85 of them qualified as priority cases, whose applications need to be finalized and submitted by mid-October. Those are the boys and girls who are aspiring to Oxford or Cambridge, or those who are aiming for some of the top flight vocational courses (Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Science for example). They constituted the foothills of this year’s application uplands, whereas now there is a steady flow of more ‘routine’ applications to be processed for the bulk of the universities at home and abroad. Every one of those UCAS digital entries contains a subject reference from every teacher, a testament from the academic mentor and then a personal statement from the students him or herself. All this has to be checked through, formatted and prepared for submission mainly by Sally Armstrong (BWS’ Careers Advisor) and me.
The personal statement can be a bit of a window into the soul for each student, as it invites them to talk about their motivation for their chosen subject, their curricular and supra-curricular engagement and (to a limited extent) their other skills and knowledge that will make them a sound prospect for higher education. There they will be tested – to be sure by the intellectual demands of the academic discipline, but also in terms of their soft skills of organization, prioritization, taking the initiative and teamwork. For many subjects contact time has dwindled, much of the work is now online and there is far more emphasis placed on being a self-driven learner.
As the rain streams down once again outside the window I work on those references at the living room table; Keats they may not be, but it is fantastic to read about youngsters’ aspirations once again this autumn…
SDS
