Putting the Mock Examinations into Context 5 th February 2014 The - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Putting the Mock Examinations into Context

5th February 2014

The Mock Examinations

 An indicator of current performance

level

 They need to be taken seriously and

lessons learned

 Are students actually working hard

enough? Or are they fooling us/themselves?

Relating AS performance to Post – Sixth form Choices

 Predicted grades and references will

be based on AS examination results this summer!

 Statistics tell us that students who are

re-sitting exams have less chance of improving the overall grade.

Post-Sixth Form Parent Information Evening

5th February 2014

WHS post-sixth form trends

 Most sixth forms / colleges have to work

hard to encourage their students to aspire to university. At WHS we experience the opposite.

 The significant majority of WHS tend to

assume university is their only option.

 We try to encourage all students to fully

consider all options available to them – as “trying” university carries a cost.

HE application figures

 Increased tuition fees led to a drop in HE

applications in 2011 and 2012. However, this figure rose 6.6% in 2013 when 495600 people were placed into HE by UCAS – the highest number ever recorded.

 WHS UCAS applications did not drop despite the

fee increase. Last year there was an increase to 85% of the Year 13 cohort applying to

• university. At the time of the recent January

deadline, 83% of the current Year 13 cohort had applied.

 Managing this volume of applications is a

complex process – requiring parental support to be fully effective.

Useful sources

 UCAS Parent Guide: published by UCAS.

Please order online.

  www.parentadviser.co.uk: a new

independent website specifically aimed at supporting parents. Covers finance, league tables, the process, course choices, etc. You can also sign up for their regular newsletter updates (free).

Post degree prospects…



Degrees are no longer the “passport to guaranteed success”. However, in April to June 2013 the graduate employment rate stood at 87% which was higher than the employment rate for those educated to A level standard (83%), A* to C grade GCSE standard (76%)and the rates for those with other qualifications (70%) or no qualifications (47%) (Office for National Statistics)



So…graduates still have the competitive edge overall BUT a degree is now more a “licence to hunt” as opposed to offering any guarantees for the future. Nearly half of employed recent graduates were working in a non-graduate role according to the 2013 Office for National Statistics report.



Students must try to differentiate themselves. According to a BBC News report from 2013, around 85 graduates are competing for each graduate position.

What does this mean for our students?

 They should not make assumptions about

their future post-sixth form.

 It is crucial that students are extremely

• proactive. They must take the time to fully

research and explore their options to ensure that they have a long-term strategy.

 We must share the “real world” picture.  They should focus not just on academic study

but also on developing the skills that will help them in the future.

What are HE & employers looking for?

 General knowledge and awareness of

issues impacting the world around them.

 Personal Learning & Thinking Skills (PLTs):

• team workers
• independent enquirers
• self managers
• reflective learners
• effective participants
• creative thinkers

 The “5Rs”: readiness, resourcefulness,

resilience, responsibility, reflectiveness.

Long term motivations?

 Money?  Non-financial rewards?  Intellectual challenge?  Active, hands-on career?  Working as a team?  Leading others?  Security?

Study or earning?

 Do I want to study for a further three, or more,

years? Does this excite me?

 Would I rather be more “hands on”?  Do I want to start earning my own money now?  Should I explore employment training

• pportunities, such as apprenticeships?

www.apprenticeships.org.uk

 If I want an apprenticeship, am I prepared to

travel? (E.g. Trafford, Crewe.) Our students tend to think traditional HE is the

• nly option – many see it as the “easy
• ption”. More than ever, this is an unwise

assumption.

What if I choose not to go to university?

Additional advice and guidance is given to students who decide not to apply for university on:



Other FE routes: college, part time courses, foundation degrees.



Applying for jobs: searching, applying, CVs, interviews.



Applying for apprenticeships.



How can the National Careers Service website help me? The timing of this tends to be later. www.notgoingtouni.co.uk

Not going to uni? Be proactive!

Students not applying through UCAS have less

• f a defined process to follow so need to be

more proactive to identify the opportunities. Prestigious organisations are seeing students deterred from applying to university as an

• pportunity to secure some bright young

people early in their careers. Recent success stories include students securing apprenticeships with organisations companies such as IBM and McCann Ericsson.

Work experience: who needs it?

 Relevant work experience is extremely useful, both

to help decide on a future path and to give “competitive edge”.

 Students considering employment/ apprenticeships

should seek relevant experience to increase their chances of securing a position.

 For vocational degrees (nursing, teaching, medicine,

physiotherapy, etc) evidence of work experience is an integral part of the selection process: students without relevant experience are likely to be unsuccessful.

 Students must allow sufficient time to set up work

experience.

Work experience: practicalities

 Independent learning fortnight – Monday 30th

June – Friday 11th July (inclusive) Opportunity to spend one or two weeks on one or more placements. Documentation and checks need

• completing. Can you help?

drogers@wilmslowhigh.cheshire.sch.uk

 Students can arrange work experience for

Wednesday afternoons. Any other work experience must be arranged for during school holidays.

 A note for the future: work experience during

university degree is now essential for competitive edge on graduation. The degree itself is seldom enough anymore.

Why go to university?

 Are they seeking academic challenge?  Are they seeking to develop as a person?  Do they want to develop independence?  Is it their own decision or aspiration?  Do they have a medium/long-term career

plan? This must be the right decision for the individual student, not for other people.

And the not so good reasons...

 “Everyone else is going.”  “I don’t know what else to do.”  “I’ll earn a lot of money afterwards.”  “My parents will be disappointed in me if I

don’t go to university.”

 “I can’t be bothered researching other

• ptions; it seems like a lot of work.”

 “It’ll be a laugh.”

Is a university degree needed?

 For a number of industries and careers, a

degree is neither required nor necessary; practical experience and “on the job” training may well be preferable.

 If a degree isn’t required, students may still

wish to go on to HE, for the educational and personal experience, but should be clear regarding the practical benefit afterwards. Most students assume that they need a degree to succeed. Research is crucial.

Where to start?

 The important thing is that students don’t

wait for these questions to resolve themselves.

 Every year, students aimlessly drift along

and then submit a university application because they haven’t thought of anything

• else. This is not a good idea…

 Taking proactive and decisive action will

help them to make the right decisions.

Where to start?

 PHSCE day 6th February: introduction to post-

sixth form choices programme and presentation

• n decision to go to university from Llinos

Williams.

 Use the course search function on

www.ucas.com to check entry requirements.

 UCAS fair 12th March: Manchester “Gmex”  “Post-Sixth Form” support booklet to be

covered during tutor time starting in March.

All courses are not equal

 There are often huge variations in graduate

and lifetime earnings depending on the degree subject studied.

 Our students often assume that “any degree”

will be an advantage to them in the future; this is not necessarily the case.

 Research is key: www.unistats.com is very

useful to help compare % of students securing graduate jobs from various degrees.

Researching university options

 Type of course?  What subject to study?  Course requirements in relation to predicted

grades?

 Open Days? (Be selective and sensible)

Independent Learning Fortnight is a good

• pportunity to attend – opendays.com

 Reputation of the university for a particular

course? (E.g. use broadsheet league tables)

 Area of the country – stay near home or move

far away? Cost implications of this?

Key Information Sets

Introduced in 2012, each university must publish these on their website. They help students compare universities and cover areas such as:

 Tuition fees.  Accommodation costs.  Teaching hours and how course is assessed.  Student satisfaction ratings.  Average salary after six months for former

students.

 What have former students done next - work,

study or out of work?

 Is the students' union any good?

Predicted grades

 Choices must be in line with students’ predicted

grades.

 All Year 12 students must declare AS grades

when applying to university. Therefore, predicted grades A2 need to be in line with the AS grades already achieved.

 Entry criteria courses is published in

prospectuses and online. Calling / emailing to check is advised; entry requirements and selection criteria often change within the cycle.

 We advise choosing a “spread” of choices to

be safe i.e. 2 at an aspirational grade level, 2 at a very realistic level and at least one at a lower level.

Predicted grades

 Subject teachers provide predicted grades are

submitted at the end of September based on AS grades, attitude and work to date. It is important that students trust their judgement: there is no benefit to the teacher to either

• ver-predict or under-predict.

 Students are encouraged to discuss predicted

grades with their subject teachers in a mature manner.

 Please note: entry requirements are an

indicator of market forces NOT the calibre of the course or university = “supply and demand”.

Course demand & grade requirements

 Courses with core subject / traditional

names will have higher entry requirements as they attract more applicants (mainly because they are “familiar” to students without requiring additional research)... For example: “English Language” compared with “Linguistics”.

 We know most of our students do not research

the subject options in much depth - they tend to choose “familiar” course titles.

 www.bestcourse4me.com

Money Talks…

 Discussions with Year 13 students reveal that very

few have had a conversation with their parents regarding university costs.

 A significant proportion of students assume that

they will receive all the financial support that they will need from their parents…

 Many students dismiss local universities because

• f this assumption. However, living at home can

save upwards of £20,000 of post-graduate debt. We are extremely fortunate to have a number of excellent universities within easy travelling distance...

Money Talks… Timing

 It is crucial that these discussions take

place sooner rather than later: often students find out too late that their parents cannot provide the level of financial support anticipated.

 Knowing this earlier may change students’

• ptions e.g. they may not have applied to

London universities or may have opted to stay at home.

Financial considerations

Llinos Williams: University of Bangor

University Application Process

 All online via “UCAS Apply” (University &

College Administration System).

 Students will receive sessions on how to

apply and how to write a Personal Statement through tutorial time / PHSCE days: attendance is crucial.

 Students must take responsibility for

ensuring they know what to do and for when: ultimately it is their application.

Personal statement

 Students’ chance to sell themselves.  Takes time and effort: should not be left until

the last minute.

 Form tutors will check personal statements

and give advice, sometimes more than once. However, deadlines must be met.

 Makes clear reference to the chosen course

and why they want to study this.

There will be support for this in the booklet given to students and during form time.

Other considerations

Increasingly, institutions are using additional measures, other than the application, to select students, such as:

 Interviews: very common now to gauge how

serious students are about the course.

 Admission tests: will be flagged on the UCAS

application and the admissions criteria.

 Submission of work: such as portfolios.

Therefore…

 With over 50,000 courses on offer: requirements

vary.

 Students must check: this is their responsibility.

Key deadlines

 Students submit a detailed reference request

letter to their tutor by Friday 20th June.

 Pay UCAS fee by 26th September: payable to

Wilmslow High School. £23 last year: TBC.

 Internal early applications deadline is 26th

September.

 All applications must be received by school by

Friday 21st November.

 Final UCAS applications deadline 15th January.

“Early Applicants”

 Applications for Oxford / Cambridge and medicine /

dentistry / veterinary science have an early application deadline of 15th October: this is non-

• negotiable. The internal deadline to submit these

applications is 26th September.

 Meetings provide further information for these

students to be prepared as they submit applications so much earlier.

 These students must be extra proactive and

prepared; the deadline will come around very quickly.

NB: there is nothing to stop others applying early if they so wish.

“Early Applicants”

It is crucial that aspirations are realistic for such highly competitive courses.

 For medicine / dentistry / veterinary science a

significant amount of regular and varied work experience is crucial.

 To “take a chance” on Oxford or Cambridge could

be wasting a valuable and much needed choice. Haydock information day has been booked – 20th March.

 Early applicants must have a strong GCSE grade

profile.

Gap Years

 Can be useful for students who have not yet

decided what they want to do.

 In the current climate, we advise that

students do something useful with this time: “travelling” not viewed as favourably by future employers as it once was.

 If students do wish to travel, combine with

useful work experience (e.g. volunteering in an overseas hospital).

 Takes time to plan – and can be expensive.

How can you help?

 Encourage thorough research – all options.  Encourage students to have an open mind.  Encourage students to be realistic.  Encourage development of skills. (PLTs/5Rs)  Encourage reading the bulletin for

• pportunities.

 Discuss finances.  Attend open days.  Assist writing Personal Statement / CV.  Remind of deadlines.  Support revision.  Ensure part-time work / outside commitments

are minimised.

Useful websites

 www.ucas.com  www.unistats.com  www.parentadviser.co.uk  www.applytouni.com  www.studentfinance2013.com  www.notgoingtouni.co.uk  www.direct.gov.uk/studentfinance  www.bestcourse4me.com  www.apprenticeships.org.uk  www.bis.gov.uk/studentfinance  www.findfoundationdegree.co.uk  www.prospects.ac.uk  www.opendays.com  www.vinspired.com

What next?

There is a lot to think about!

 UCAS Guides for parents – please order!  We would encourage parents to consider the

ideas covered this evening, speak to sons / daughters and visit some of the websites.

 Email addresses:

hcook@wilmslowhigh.cheshire.sch.uk drogers@wilmslowhigh.cheshire.sch.uk llang@wilmslowhigh.cheshire.sch.uk