Year 12 Higher Education Day – Tuesday, 22nd June 2021

Dear Year 12 Parents, Guardians and Students,

I am writing to remind you that all Year 12 students will have a dedicated HE Day (off timetable) on 22nd June 2021. Students have one full day off timetable to work on university applications, personal statements and/or college essays.

Also, I wish to clarify some of the details related to university predicted grades as some students have expressed concern about these. The predicted grades will be sent to universities when they apply. Please note that these are not the same as their current working grades, although term three working grades will be a strong indicator of academic potential. The university predicted grades, released in late September are the subject teacher’s estimate of the likely diploma score that a student will achieve in the final examinations. It is a professional judgment moderated in discussion with the heads of subject and subject colleagues. The university predicted grade takes into account: The student’s current and past performance in the diploma, including internal assessments, class tests, performance in lessons and examinations and the teacher’s experience and understanding of how performance can develop throughout the diploma.

On 21st June (prior to our HE Day), after the students are able to see their current working grades they are encouraged to speak to teachers to better understand how to improve their grades before the final predictions are made in late September. Discussions regarding these grades are welcomed when focused on ways to improve. However, we discourage students from attempting to ‘negotiate’ and or ‘plead for’ better grades as this tends to be counterproductive.

Finally, there are many career related assessment tools within the UNIFROG higher education software package and we encourage students to explore these online activities. Each tool aims to help students to better understand themselves by surveying preferences, aptitudes, and interests and consist of an Interests Profile, Personality Profile and a Careers Library, all of which are user friendly and offer potential career matches. Like all of the assessment tools that we use, these are intended to be suggestive rather than prescriptive and are meant to be a starting point for further reflection, discussion and research.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns related to the contents of this letter and/or the planned events for the Year 12 Higher Education Day.

Kind regards,

David Stott

Head of Careers and Higher Education