GOING PLACES
The St. Edmund’s Sixth Form is a wholly immersive experience designed holistically to ensure that each individual student reaches their chosen post-18 destination.
Progression: Aspire and inspire
The sixth form progression programme is a weekly programme commencing at the start of the Lower Sixth year designed flexibly to inform students about the following post-18 options:
- The UCAS university process
- Apprenticeships
- Gap Years
- Employment
The UCAS process, led by Mr. Symaka, our Head of Sixth Form, is efficient and based on the central tenets of aspiration and inspiration.
We believe in an efficient process that starts early in the Lower Sixth, allowing our students to fully research and consider the potential pathways available to them. Our students are guided to be aspirational, but importantly realistic, when thinking about their post-18 options.
They are also inspired, through our ever-growing super-curricular programme, to consider career paths and university courses that they may have never considered before.
The UCAS process at St. Edmund’s is also centred around the individual, ensuring that we gain a full picture of each pupil’s needs and skills, so that tailored one-to-one support can be provided for all university applications.
One-to-one support is the defining feature of our university programme. The time devoted to each individual student by the Head of Sixth Form is unlimited in nature and available for all aspects of the application process:
- Completing the online application form.
- Detailed discussions about course choices and universities, based on achieved and anticipated academic progress.
- Bespoke personal statement meetings and feedback.
- Support for Conservatoire applications, in conjunction with the Director of Drama and Director of Music.
- Personalised and individual support on A-level results day for students requiring UCAS Clearing.
We also continue to support alumni students with their post-A-level options after they have completed their Upper Sixth year. This is beneficial particularly for students on gap years, as they are able to access the same level of support as they would have done whilst in the Upper Sixth.
The Oxbridge and Elite University Stream
This small support group is identified primarily through GCSE grades and anticipated A-level academic performance. It meets regularly and is designed to equip students with a super curricular outlook required for competitive courses, such as Law and Medicine, and the most competitive Russell Group institutions.
However, this programme is open to any student determined to realise their ambition to apply to a competitive elite university course.
Progression Timetable:
Our progression timetable is centred around the UCAS process, outlined below for 2024 entry:
Lower Sixth Form:
January – Potential Oxbridge applicants are identified and invited to join the Oxbridge & Elite University Stream.
January – EPQ Programme commences.
February – The UCAS programme is formally launched.
March – Oxford and Cambridge Student Conference
All students receive their initial UCAS prediction grade. This is reviewed at regular interviews and based on current and projected academic performance.
May – All students begin to complete their online UCAS application form
Oxbridge and Elite University stream students are matched with personal subject mentors
June – All students attend the UCAS Discovery Exhibition
Mock exams (UCAS predicted grade review period)
June/July – Personal Statement workshops commence for all students.
Upper Sixth Form:
September: Final Progress Testing (final UCAS predicted grade review).
All students hand in an initial personal statement that has been drafted over the summer. Upper Sixth One-to-one meetings commence with Head of Sixth Form.
September (Oxbridge and Medicine applicants): Final personal statement is submitted for review.
Mock admissions tests.
Registration for pre-interview admissions tests
October: UCAS application deadline (16 October 2024)
Supplementary Application Questionnaire deadline (Cambridge only)
November: Mock interviews
December: UCAS internal deadline for all students (15 December 2023)
During the 2022-2023 cycle, our students applied to 20 of the 24 Russell Group institutions.
We are delighted that conditional offers have been received from many of these Russell Group institutions, including:
- University of Birmingham
- Cardiff University
- Durham University
- University of Exeter
- Imperial College London
- King’s College London, University of London
- University of Liverpool
- University of Manchester
- Newcastle University
- University of Nottingham
- University of Oxford
- Queen Mary, University of London
- University of Sheffield
- University of Southampton
- University of Warwick
- University of York
| Subject | University |
| Business Management | University of Surrey |
| Popular Music Performance – Drums
|
Institute of Contemporary Music Performance |
| Economics | University of Bath |
| History | Cardiff University |
| Consumer Behaviour and Marketing with Placement Year | University of Reading |
| Business and Management | Oxford Brookes University |
| Economics | Royal Holloway, University of London |
| Geology | Birkbeck, University of London |
| Computer Science with Industrial Placement | University of Exeter |
| Philosophy | University of Manchester |
| Operational Yacht Science | Cornwall College (University of Plymouth) |
| Criminology | University of Sussex |
| Ethical Hacking | Abertay University |
| International Development | King’s College London, University of London |
| Management with International Business | Royal Holloway, University of London |
| Politics and International Relations | University of Bath |
| Neuroscience | University of Sussex |
| Electronic Engineering | Royal Holloway, University of London |
| Foundation in Humanities | Oxford Brookes University |
| Business | University of Exeter |
| History and International Relations (with placement year) | Loughborough
University |
| Economics with a Year in Industry | Queen Mary University of London |
| Politics and International Studies | University of Warwick |
| Drama | University of Exeter |
| International Development with Economics | University of East Anglia UEA |
| Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies
|
University of Essex |
| Animal Biology and Conservation | Oxford Brookes University |
| Materials Science with an Integrated Foundation Year | University of Manchester |
| Songwriting | ACM (The Academy of Contemporary Music) |
| Animation | University of Portsmouth |
| Music Production | University of the Arts London |
| Sport and Exercise Science | Oxford Brookes University |
| Business Management with Marketing | University of Brighton |