New College launches “Kick Start to College” programme for Year 11 pupils

With disruption to Year 11 GCSE study and exams during the COVID pandemic, New College Swindon wants to help pupils stay in the education loop.

The ‘Kick Start to College’ programme is designed to help Year 11 pupils prepare for the next stage of their education journey. It consists of a dedicated website containing resources for prospective students to access, explore and study from home between now and September, with material for those studying A Levels, GCSEs, or vocational courses at Level 2 or 3.

Pupils can search for subjects that they plan to study and access material including videos, recommended reading, TV programmes, podcasts, quizzes and other online resources. All of these will be relevant to the subject, in order to help them get off to a flying start when they begin post-16 study from September.

Adam Fahey, Deputy Principal for Curriculum and Quality at New College said:

“As soon as the Government announced that GCSE exams were cancelled, we realised that many of the students due to join us in September might be out of school for over five months. Even if schools re-open in June, Year 11s are unlikely to return, as they would not usually go back this academic year. This is an incredibly long time to be out of education and we wanted to help our new students stay engaged with learning and be as prepared as possible for when they continue their learning journey in September. Our aim is to provide access to interesting and useful resources to keep students in the right mind-set for when they continue their learning journey in September.”

The ‘Kick Start to College’ programme is not just for students that hold current offers for New College. Any Year 11 pupils can access the website and resources, if they feel it would be beneficial to their learning. The ‘Kick Start to College’ website can be accessed from the New College website at www.newcollege.ac.uk. Year 11 pupils who are still considering their options for study this September can also find information on courses and make an online application.