See all our latest news and announcements here.

• Common room refurbishment and aspiration events

  Mon 16 Oct 2023

  Common room refurbishment

  We are embarking on an extensive refurbishment programme of the BG6 common room and eatery so that the holistic student experience matches our academic ambition for your child. Consequently, the BG6 eatery is closed during the works, with the common room refurbishment taking place during the two week October Half Term.

   

  We are very excited to welcome you to Parent/Carer Evenings and Stronger Together forums when you will be able to see the new facilities.

   

  Aspiration events

  As we have a close partnership with the University of Huddersfield, we are running a visit there on Wednesday 18 October to showcase a University open day to all BG6 students. For Year 13 who have completed the progression module this visit will be the pinnacle to that programme of study, and for Year 12 it is an exciting opportunity for a first glimpse of one future pathway option. Students should meet their tutor in form at 8:25 in readiness for departure.

  We are also running a trip to Cambridge University on Thursday 23 November for students interested in applying to Russell Group and Oxbridge. Places on this trip are extremely limited and competitive and as such places will be allocated by ballot. Further information will follow.

• Study periods and attendance protocols

  Mon 09 Oct 2023

  Study periods:

  In order to support your child develop the resilience, grit, and the independent learning habits in order to manage their workload, maintain high levels of wellbeing, and  be highly successful in her aspirational next steps, we have created supervised study periods where they can concentrate on the third strand of the Curriculum Handbooks to extend their learning. The expectation of student conduct in this room is silent working just like a university student would be expected to study in a University library.

   

  Attendance protocols:

  Attendance in post-16 education is the fundamental cornerstone of your child's achievement in Year 13. As with GCSEs, levels of absence have a direct correlation with decreased attainment and opportunities for future study and employment.
  Our aim therefore is to maintain 97% attendance. Over half term one this means your child should miss no more than two days of college. By Christmas, no more than 3 days in total, by February, no more than 4 and so on. Should your child have an attendance of 90% - 93%, the research suggests that they will underachieve by one grade per subject from their minimum expected grades. Having an attendance of 85% to 90% could mean that your child could underachieve by two grades per subject. Once students maintain 97% attendance, earned autonomy in the form of study sign outs from college will be granted by me. This privilege will start after Week 4, week beginning: 2 October. We ask for your support in encouraging and securing the highest percentage attendance so that we achieve every opportunity for excellence.

  Should you wish to discuss your child's attendance and how we can support them to address any gaps in knowledge from below expected attendance previously, please do not hesitate to contact the team.

   

  Laura Dixon, Director of BG6

  

• Curriculum Handbooks

  Mon 02 Oct 2023

  Course Handbooks are a regular feature of University academic life, and adapted study support handbooks have been created and well established in the highest performing sixth forms in the country. Building on the research of creating confident, independent sixth form learners, your child has received a handbook per subject that she studies, and is currently working through a series of student development lessons on how to best use them to impact her outcomes. 

   

  These handbooks outline the subject content over the year, how the assessment of each course works, any key deadlines for students, as well as their weekly Independent Review sheets. 

   

  Research suggests that by Year 13 high performing students do an additional 6 hours of study per week, per course they study in addition to their taught curriculum. This can seem daunting for students, and as such we have supported students by splitting this into 3 sections:

  1. Review 

  Students should spend 90 minutes over the week consolidating their lessons and preparing their revision starting points. This could be by making flashcards, summary pages of the learning, mindmaps, quizzing, or knowledge organisers. 

  2. React

  Students should spend 2 hours per subject each week on a range of homework activities which have been designed to embed learning and support student recall and application skills to the exam specifications. 

  3. Research

  Students should spend 90 minutes a week extending their learning beyond their lessons and homework. We are supporting them to structure this by providing a week-by-week list of activities that your daughter works through in her supervised study period.

   

  Our expectation at BG6 is that students fill out each section every week, and their tutor, course teacher and the BG6 team will sign off each section.

   

  Laura Dixon, Director of BG6