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AW6: Future Ready

At AW6 we focus on preparing our students for the future to ensure they are ready for anything at the end of their two years with us. We have a strong team of teaching and pastoral staff at AW6, including Mark Lambert, our University, Careers and Futures Lead.

This ensures students have continued access to a qualified Careers Adviser for expert advice and more informal interactions. He leads our innovative and multi-layered Future Ready programme, that is built upon several key elements.

View our Careers Access Statement here

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Networking.

Students are armed with the confidence and tools needed to form contacts and build professional relationships beyond the classroom. They are encouraged to attend the frequent networking events held at AW6 across the year, including breakfast meetups, with a range of professionals from across industry.

Our University, Careers and Futures Lead holds sessions on the why and how of networking and our students have many opportunities for business visits, and events such as LawFest with the University of Buckingham.





University and Workplace links

We want all our students to have aspirations and to achieve their goals whatever they may be. Our strong link with The University of Buckingham means a regular presence at AW6 to offer students support from mock university interviews to workshops and discussions on university life.

Our programme of Wednesday Webinars allow students to find out online about a range of universities both in the UK and abroad. Many of our students will follow alternative pathways such as workplace internships, degree apprenticeships or go straight into the world of work.

Our expert team will support young people in whatever they need, be it UCAS applications, Oxbridge, BMAT, degree apprenticeship programmes and career options. Whatever their future, we want students to make good and informed decisions about their next step.


The AW6 Enrichment Experience

Students get so much out of their time at AW6 beyond the classroom. Our calendar is packed full of trips, events and initiatives designed to develop character and ensure every opportunity for our young people to become socially and globally aware citizens of the world.  

We organise industry visits and days out to university and careers shows. Our Leadership-focussed trip to the Active Learning Group centre at Cuffley is popular, and our departments organise many curriculum-linked trips. We aim to make sure that the world outside AW6 is fully visible to our students. Our AW6 Student Leadership Teams sit on committees based on our school values to initiate activities linked to the environment, community values, wellbeing and diversity and inclusion. Recent events include a fundraising event for Ukraine featuring a set by our AW6 bands, and a sleepout to support the local branch of the YMCA.


Our Future Ready Enrichment curriculum takes place across the week, where students can get involved in diverse activities such as debating at Verbal Fight Club, being trained as a mentor, participating in sport or engaging in academic enrichment beyond the A Level subject curriculum.

Young Enterprise

This national competition gives students the opportunity to be part of a real business made up of a team of their Sixth Form peers. Young Enterprise equips participants with the skills for the workplace and gives them hands-on experience of running a business which will sink or swim depending on the team’s competence and drive. Each year we have a team of students who get involved with this fantastic project, supported by our AW6 teaching team and external guest experts.

EPQ

An EPQ is an A level standard qualification designed to extend and stretch a student’s abilities beyond the A Level curriculum. Focussing on a topic of their choice, this in-depth investigation is an effective way to work on project management skills and is an invaluable addition to any Higher Education or job application beyond AW6.

Unifrog

At AW6 we use Unifrog to great effect, and it is very popular with our students. It is a nationally recognised career platform that brings all available information all together into one single location for students to make the best choices and submit the strongest applications to their next step. The platform includes UCAS applications as well as apprenticeships and Further Education Colleges and has a section where students can find helpful tips on CV writing, interviews and common application questions.

The platform enables teachers, parents and mentors to keep up to date with an applicant’s progress.

Next Destinations

We are incredibly proud of the sheer variety and breadth of courses, institutions and careers that our students go on to after their time at AW6. We are very definitely not a ‘one size fits all’ establishment, and this range of destinations proves that our tailored combination of academic rigour, comprehensive Future-Ready support and pastoral care allows every student to find their own passion and follow their own path, whatever that may be.

Below is a selection showing the variety of courses that our students have taken up at the following destinations over the last few years:

Course
Universities
Aerospace Engineering The University of Leicester
Artist Blacksmithing Hereford College of Art
Automotive Engineering Loughborough University
Art and Design Foundation Course Central St Martins
Biomedical Science University of Sheffield
Chemistry The University of Oxford
Criminology Sheffield Hallam University
Economics with International Finance and Banking Nottingham Trent University
English Literature Bath Spa University
Environmental Geography University of York
Forensic Science The University of Central Lancashire
History The University of East Anglia (UEA)
Interior Architecture and Spatial Design The University of Northampton
International Relations and Politics The University of Portsmouth
Liberal Arts The University of Nottingham
Management with Entrepreneurship Goldsmiths, London
Music and Sound Production The University of Winchester
Physics with Astrophysics The University of Bath
Politics and Hispanic Studies The University of Liverpool
Professional Policing Birmingham City University
Sport and Exercise Science Nottingham Trent University

Award winning

2022 Award

"A £1m undertaking, the new Sixth Form AW6 site opened in Sept 21 at Tile House Mansion, a grand Victorian estate roughly 15 minutes from the Senior School. With a palpable campus-like feel (no uniforms and purely 17-18 year olds) it offers something very different to most day school Sixth Forms in the area. No surprise that Akeley Wood was judged Highly Commended in our Muddy Stilettos Best Schools Awards 2022 in the ‘Special Sixth Form’ category."

- Muddy Stilettos, 2022

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