A message for Year 11 students from Mr Slack and Miss Arthur
Hi everyone,
We realise it’s all been a bit of a strange end to your Year 11 experience with us and a lot of you are asking good questions about what you should be doing with your time now exams have been cancelled. Hopefully this email will outline some things you can be doing.
For everyone
You should be using some of the isolation time you have at home to put yourself in the best possible position for further education/job interviews when things kick back into action. Why not pursue an external online course (also called Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs) in something you find interesting or in a subject relevant to your future aspirations. Below are a list of some of the best providers we have come across:
www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses
For example, if you are interested in Biology (and possibly taking A-level Bio next year), why not undertake a course like ‘How Does the Body Use DNA as a Blueprint?’ on Future Learn. Or more generally you could do a skills course such as ‘Basic First Aid: How to Be an Everyday Hero’ on the same website.
These are great courses and will give you something to get your teeth into and focus on over the summer.
For those coming back to Sixth Form or going to College
1. Revision
We are not advocating people starting general Level 3 courses early officially, however, the message would be get prepared! Look into the subjects you want to study and make sure you know what the course involves by looking at the syllabus. If there are any Level 2 courses that you need to get into your Level 3 course, then make sure you are revising and consolidating the content you have covered using platforms such as:
2. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
In addition to this, you can also undertake a course on one of the websites above in your favourite subject to help compliment your studies and show your commitment to reading around and enriching your knowledge. If you are unsure if a course would be a good one/relevant for your course, why not contact your subject teacher or the head of department and see what they think.
3. Level 3 qualifications
EPQ - You could look into preparing for an EPQ, a recognised Level 3 qualification (worth UCAS points) that we offer as part of our enrichment time in Y12 and 13. To prepare for this you could undertake the course ‘Succeed in your Extended Project Qualification’ and start researching a topic of interest perhaps by even combining this with one of the above subject specific courses talked about previously and reading around the subject you are interested in as much as possible (think books, magazines, TED talks, Blogs, academic papers https://scholar.google.com/)
Other qualifications – Other qualifications that students have undertaken independently during their time at Sixth Form include things like ‘Critical Thinking’, ‘Core Mathematics’ or some not commonly offered languages courses. These courses are not ones that are supported with lesson times at school, however will count for UCAS points and could help you stand out from the crowd.
For those looking to apply to jobs
You could once again use Future Learn to undertake the course ‘How to Succeed at Interviews’ with the University of Sheffield on Future Learn. This might help you get yourself in the best possible position for an interview. Alternatively, The Isle of Man Job Centre appears to be offering some free online training in Health & Safety, Business, Leadership & Management, Health & Social Care and Child Care. You need to email jobcentre@gov.im for further information.
Whatever you are thinking of doing next year we hope you agree that this time you now have can be used really positively to help you get ahead of the game. I trust this email has been useful to focus your thinking and would ask that you complete this short survey to let us know what you are thinking of doing.
Stay safe and please get in touch if you have any questions or ideas to share with us.
Kind regards,
Miss Arthur and Mr Slack
