Sixth Form

Sixth Form

Life in the Sixth Form at Hillcrest has its own distinct flavour and it comes with special privileges, opportunities, and responsibilities. These include a common room for students to relax, a study room for secluded study purposes, optional game disciplines, and more. Additional benefits include:

• Advanced and challenging academic work with fewer subjects and higher expectations of students standards of work.
• Greater involvement in your year group’s school and social activities. Seniors are expected to take on responsibilities for suggesting and organising school activities.
• Independence and a greater appreciation for time management with a number of private study periods and assignment deadlines with longer deadlines to work towards.

The Head of Sixth Form is responsible for all the senior students, overseeing academic progress and pastoral care. In addition to progressive academic guidance, the school is proud of its high standard of pastoral care.

Upon enrolment, each student is allocated a Form Tutor with whom they will register and liaise on a daily basis. Tutors work closely with students, not only to improve understanding, but also to help them build confidence and develop as socially responsible young people. There is much to gain from and give to life in the Sixth Form. Within this mature and friendly environment, students are encouraged to develop a sense of independence and to take responsibility for everything, including their studies. Above all, the key element to a successful senior school career is openness and honesty. If students are experiencing pastoral or academic difficulties or are behind with work deadlines, they are encouraged not to ‘suffer in silence’; but to talk to Tutors and subject teachers.

GL CAT 4 (Cognitive Abilities Test) assessments

The GL CAT 4 (Cognitive Abilities Test) assessments are a series of tests that assess students’ aptitudes in key areas that support educational development and academic attainment. We administer them internally not only to find predicted indicators for our students, which help teachers in target setting, but more importantly to provide very helpful insights into students’ learning styles. CAT 4 reports also provide a bank of suggestions for teachers and parents to implement in order to help their students achieve their potential. In CAT, a value of +1 indicates that the student achieved a grade higher than their Minimum target grade from their baseline assessments.