Mrs Wood, Head of Sixth Form, sends her congratulations to all our Bluecoat Sixth Form students on their results.
As a head of a sixth form which prides itself on knowing our students as individuals, I would like to pass on my heartfelt congratulations to every single one of our students on their hard-earned results.
This year group were locked down during the pandemic when they should have been learning the foundations of year one GCSE content, they faced ongoing disruption in the form of a mixture of remote learning and scheduled cautious spells in school during their second year of GCSEs, and they were assessed using a method that was at odds with the end of year exams they had been expecting.
On entering year 12, these remarkable young people had to face the notoriously difficult leap from GCSE to A Level burdened with pre-existing gaps in their knowledge which they have had to work hard to overcome. They also had to learn, practice and develop exam skills for the first time, culminating in an extraordinarily lengthy exam season, at the end of which both students and staff were utterly exhausted!
Working in the heart of Nottingham city, we serve a community of students with higher than average levels of social and economic disadvantage, offering a curriculum that caters for the most academically aspirational students, as well as those who take advantage of our entry criteria which we ensure allows our students to access Level 3 study. For this reason, every one of our Bluecoat Sixth Form students faced the disruption brought about by the pandemic from wildly different starting points. With this in mind, I will be spending A Level results day celebrating every individual student’s progress and encouraging them to focus on what they have achieved and where their journey will take them next.
Please enjoy a glimpse into some of our success stories from this exam series:
Chong Hai is a young person with the talent, work ethic and academic prowess to absolutely hold a key role in shaping our futures. He has ambitions of using a Chemistry Masters degree to slow down the worsening rate of climate change. Having secured A, A, A* in Maths, Further Maths and Chemistry, he will study Chemistry at Imperial College London.
We are absolutely thrilled that Imaan has secured her place on a medicine foundation course at the University of Leicester. Imaan was driven to pursue medicine as a career having witnessed first-hand the impact of disease as a patient in a remote region of Pakistan. To enrich her application, Imaan organised a number of work experience placements, including volunteering weekly as a hospital mealtime assistant, while also giving 110% to her academic studies. Through hard work and perseverance, she has secured the grades needed to gain her place on this course and we could not be more pleased for her.
Kiran achieved A*AA in Sociology, Biology and Chemistry A Levels, and will go on to study Pharmacy at the University of Nottingham. Kiran achieved A, B, D in her end of Year 12 mock exams, and has shown an incredible amount of determination, resilience and hard work to improve her grades. She is an excellent example of what can be achieved if you put your mind to it!
Mariam joined us from Bluecoat Beechdale Academy to enter our level 2 pathway, resitting her Maths GCSE. Having successfully gained her GCSE qualification, she studied our Health and Social Care Level 3 course, and now holds a grade B (equivalent to three A Levels) and will be going on to study Child Nursing at Demontfort University. In order to give her application to this incredibly competitive course the best possible chance, Mariam secured a part time job supporting elderly people and engaged in a work experience placement. Mariam is a wonderful example of how our Trust can support students to achieve remarkable things.
Shammah is an incredibly charismatic student with a warm personality who is projected to have great success having followed the BTEC route. Having studied Level 3 BTEC Sport and A Level Economics, he is pursuing a course in Sport Coaching and Development at Derby University. Shammah embodies his belief that physical activity improves mental health – he was captain for his school football team at Bluecoat Beechdale Academy, plays for a local rugby team and also plays football and tennis in his spare time – and he is the cheeriest young person you ever will meet! A talented musician who also plays in his church worship band, he is a wonderful example of a student who juggles responsibilities outside of school while also keeping up with his studies.
Chardonae is one of those students that heads of sixth forms dream of! She was selected to represent the sixth form at our open evenings and to co-deliver the opening speech at our celebration of success evening. Having stayed on at the sixth form since being a student at Bluecoat Aspley Academy, she has studied our full time vocational Health and Social Care qualification, and now holds an offer to study Children and Young People’s Nursing at Coventry University. Chardonae has used her past adverse experiences as a teenager needing to be brought into the care system to spur her onwards. She hopes to enter a profession where she can have the kind of positive impact on young people that paediatric nurses had on her as a child. Chardonae is living proof that you are not defined by your disadvantage.
