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.
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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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