Pastoral Care

Our students have the option to undertake optional qualifications to support their learning and UCAS/Scholarship/employment applications. We actively encourage initiatives from the FA and other sport organisations for our students to gain experience and qualifications and offer FA qualifications, Leader Awards and other relevant courses.

Some students choose to follow the Duke of Edinburgh qualification alongside their studies. The college has an excellent relationship with this organisation. It builds student confidence and self-esteem and allows them to have the opportunity to achieve extra ordinary things enhancing life experiences outside of the classroom.

Our students benefit from our weekly tutorial programme. Each student is allocated a course tutor to support their learning and personal development. We recognise that a personalised approach to learning is necessary for some students which we accommodate where possible with bespoke learning plans. All students are set target grades for their studies, and we encourage our students to achieve these. This progress is monitored throughout their time with us and interventions are used to support this process. We have a SENCO to support those learners with additional learning needs and our staff are highly trained to teach all students regardless of prior achievement and attainment. 

We actively encourage our students to become independent learners. Academic and study workshops are embedded throughout the year within our PSHE & tutorial programme to support students with the skills they need to complete their assignments and prepare them for exams.

Throughout our tutorial programme Relationships & Health Education is embedded into our college life. We actively promote through our approach the fundamental values for students to be prepared for a modern and diverse Great Britain valuing their community and celebrating the diversity of the UK. Through our tutorial programme, appropriate PSHE & RSE sessions deliver the life skills our students will need for their next steps as independent adults. We have excellent relationships with external providers who enhance the delivery of these subjects through workshops and presentations in topics such as online safety, relationships, health screening, nutrition, finance and mental health awareness.

Regular and rigorous assessment and monitoring of each student's progress is a key feature of our approach to supporting student progression. We give students and their parents/carers regular constructive feedback about progress and information on how they can improve their future learning, and the college uses an assessment database to record student progress and set challenging targets based on GCSE results. Students are also encouraged to become independent learners and are expected to monitor and evaluate their own progress against these grades. 

Reports are available for students and parents/carers where appropriate twice a year. In addition to this, parents/carers and students are invited to discuss individual progress at a parents' review day either face to face or over the phone/teams. We use a college management system to monitor attendance and punctuality and assess progress using Firefly and SIMS.