Advantages of attending a dedicated Sixth Form College
19th February 21
Independent Colleges, such as Abbey College Cambridge, are a popular choice for students looking for a more mature, independent learning environment and there are many advantages that this environment offers to students aiming gain entry to a top university. Independent colleges follow the same guidelines and regulations as any independent school and are members of the same organisations; Boarding Schools Association, Independent School Association, Independent Schools Inspectorate. Abbey College Cambridge offers the same national standards of care as a traditional boarding school. Here we explore the advantages of attending a sixth form college, such as Abbey College Cambridge.
Care focused around the needs of a sixth former
At Abbey College Cambridge, our pastoral system is designed with sixth form study in mind, so is in line with the needs of students aged 15 years plus. We have a great House system that really works in supporting students. We also have a study support programme, in Abbey Inspires and Pre Degree Diploma and unrivalled UCAS support all included in the price. Sixth Form Colleges are organised to retain the support systems and culture that enable teachers to intervene in a regular and timely way ensuring that students stay on track with their studies and achieve to their maximum. We are experts in understanding the needs of older teenagers and the issues they face, especially being so far away from home and family.
International schools such as Abbey College Cambridge also understand the importance of supplying regular performance feedback to parents and agents. Especially where there is a language barrier and meaning can get lost in translation.
Academic Focus, Wider Offering and Flexibility
Teachers are focused on teaching sixth form years so they are specialist and passionate about teaching at this level and have time to run clubs and extra-curricular activities aimed to stretch and support these students. This means Abbey College Cambridge teachers have more time to supervise and support students with wider reading around the exam curriculum.
Sixth form colleges can have greater academic flexibility with the timetable and subjects offered. Colleges often offer more subjects than traditional schools. This allows a greater combination of subjects to be studied together. Plus, Colleges are able to offer International Foundation Programmes as well as GCSEs and A Level, allowing further choice and flexibility for students.
With the smaller number of year groups, Sixth Form Colleges are able to offer more clubs and activities aimed at older students to support and enhance their subject studies. Making them more attractive candidates to top universities.
Enhanced Support for International Students
Abbey College Cambridge also specialises in teaching and supporting international students. All teachers are vastly experienced in teaching their subject to students who have English as a second language and are aware of the barriers that these students face in their subject and ensure that they receive support to overcome them. All of our teachers are trained to offer subject specific and general English language support to students at the same time as delivering high quality academic teaching.
Friendly and Supportive Boarding Environment
Abbey College Cambridge is nearly 100% boarding from countries all over the world. We have a large intake into the year groups at age 16, this provides a great opportunity to make new friends as everyone is in the same situation. Our teachers do not live in or supervise students with boarding. The boarding team are all trained professional House Parents available to students 24 hours a day. This ensures that teachers have more time to support students academically and provide extra-curricular learning opportunities such as Abbey Inspires.
We organise many activities, from induction onwards to help students mix and make friends, both with students from their own home country and with students from other countries and cultures.
Activities and support every weekend and most holidays.
At ACC there is no teaching at the weekend, Students have a programme of activities they can join, but also given time for independent study and some downtime as it is also important to have time to relax. Abbey College Cambridge has a number of facilities on site, but also has the whole of Cambridge at its disposal. Clubs take place at different venues and Cambridge offers the opportunity to do just about any sport / hobby.
Boarding is open nearly all year, we just close for Christmas (although not for 2020) and the summer holidays. Students can stay for half term and the Easter holidays at no extra cost.
Preparation for University Life
Students have a greater element of supervised freedom than at a traditional boarding school, so preparing them for the independent lifestyle they will receive at university. The wide international mix gives students a truly global outlook and establishes a lifelong international friendship network. This is also good preparation for the international environment at top universities and something that our Alumni do say helped them settle quickly into their university studies.
Abbey College Cambridge students leave us to head to top Universities knowing that they are fully prepared to succeed in the next step of their journey.
