Careers Advice

Careers Appointments

At any point during Sixth Form, group tutors can refer a student for a career appointment. This may happen in the first instance with one of the career leads or could be with our school careers advisor.

Work Experience

For a number of vocational degrees it is essential that students have some relevant work experience. Certain university subjects, such as medicine, education, engineering, business, journalism, social work, and psychology, often emphasise or require work experience. Work experience provides practical application, industry insights, skill development, and a better understanding of the field. Specific work experience requirements can vary, so it's essential to research individual universities and programs for their guidelines.

Universities like students to have undertaken relevant work experience:

To demonstrate commitment to a chosen career choice
To prove that you are fully informed about the career choice and have seen it first hand

At the end of the summer term, all year 12 students get the opportunity to undertake a week of work experience. This process is launched with students in January of year 12 to allow plenty of time to put the feelers out for opportunities. The process is managed using Unifrog.

Students are also encouraged to take on voluntary placements throughout the academic year. This is a great way to help others and try something new.

Both work experience and volunteering will really enhance a personal statement or a CV.

Careers

From the very start of your time at Thornleigh Sixth Form we will help you to aspire to your chosen next-step. Whilst the majority of our students follow a University degree route, we also encourage Higher and Degree Apprenticeships and acknowledge that some students would like to start an employment route after their time with us.

At Thornleigh Sixth Form we identify students in Year 12 who are interested in applying for Medicine or Dentistry or those who are considering applications to Oxford or Cambridge. These students are offered bespoke guidance for their early application and through partnerships with other providers we have secured personal statement and interview preparation support leading to successful conditional offers.

During sixth form, you will experience various sessions from local and national Higher Education providers, Apprenticeship opportunities and access to our HE planning tool - Unifrog. During this academic year we will expect that you have worked with your group tutor and subject teachers to:

Select a relevant destination and have a back-up plan
Research the destinations you have chosen using Unifrog
Build a record of your competencies that make you appropriate for chosen routes
Attend the UCAS discovery exhibition in Manchester
Attend at least one other open day at a chosen destination
Create a Curriculum Vitae (regardless of your chosen route)
Have an understanding of the student finance process and complete the student finance application
Take an active role in our annual Futures Week in July
Encourage parents to attend the Futures Week information evening in July
Select and organise appropriate work experience placements for July
Complete your UCAS application form including your Personal Statement
Complete applications for Apprenticeships (where applicable)

Please note that we expect all students to complete a University Personal Statement whether they intend to progress to Higher Education or not. In the same way we expect all students to maintain a live CV. Every year students change their minds and so the process of application will not only give us a route to pick up but it will also help to enhance the future application skills of students who fully engage.

Life after Sixth Form can take you in a whole variety of directions. It is important to us that you leave Thornleigh Sixth Form with all the necessary skills and information you need to successfully and confidently enter the next phase of your journey. A large proportion of our students go on to study at University, including many in the Russell group. Some of our students also go on to start apprenticeships and others take a gap year or go straight into employment.