6THSIXTH FORMPROSPECTUS
The Bishop’s Stortford High School
TBSHS Sixth Form:Opportunity, Responsibility, ExcellenceWherever one looks, the Sixth Form of The Bishop’s Stortford High School provides the
sort of opportunities to suit individual needs and desires. Whether it be scoring a try
for the First XV, practising hard in the school band, performing a leading role in the
school play, studying in the library, thinking, writing and discussing with vigour in the
classroom, you will find life in the Sixth Form is a full and worthwhile experience.
How often do we hear the request from universities and employers for a well-rounded
personality? That is precisely what we hope you will achieve by taking up the
opportunities we offer.
Our Sixth Form will, therefore, bring a new dimension to you both in terms of
privilege and responsibility; the two sides of the same coin. In return, we expect a
high level of self-discipline and personal responsibility along with a willingness to take
leading roles within the running of the school. We expect all our Sixth Form students
to set a good example to the younger members of the school and the Student
Leadership Team, led by the Head Boy, Head Girl and their deputies, makes a
significant contribution to the day to day running of the school.
All is before you and I look forward to welcoming you to our Sixth Form.
Tom Capewell
Head of Sixth Form
Welcome from the Headof Sixth Form
“The Sixth Form brings change, challenge and
opportunity and your response to these will go a long
way to determining the quality of your life after you
leave school”
6Dear Student,
As you approach the end of your time in compulsory education many exciting avenues
open up to you. The Sixth Form brings change, challenge and opportunity and your
response to these will go a long way to determining the quality of your life after you
leave school.
Sixth Form students study fewer subjects in greater depth. They are given more
responsibility for their own work and enjoy greater freedom to organise their own
time. We live in a world where change has become the norm. New technologies
succeed each other at a bewildering speed – what is high-tech today will be obsolete
tomorrow. It is essential therefore, that as tomorrow’s workforce, you acquire the
finest personal and academic skills to face the challenges of the future and to gain the
necessary qualifications for Higher Education or employment. We can offer you that
chance.
We have an extremely well qualified and talented staff with a long tradition of
successful teaching at this level and our wide range of courses is second to none.
The vast majority of our Sixth Form move on to Higher Education. With over 350
students in the Sixth Form and a breath-taking programme of extra-curricular
activities, life is never dull!
We expect our students to work hard because examination success has never been
more important for our future career prospects, but we also offer many opportunities
for our Sixth Form students to develop personal interests, take on roles of
responsibility and to become involved in the wider life of the school. Our Sixth Form
students are senior members of our school community and this brings both privileges
and responsibilities.
The school has a reputation for excellence in academic results across the board, and
for the outstanding variety of extra-curricular activities of the highest quality in many
disciplines including Music, Sport and Drama. We offer “a truly all round education”.
If you are excited by these challenges and opportunities, and are the sort of person
who is determined to make the most of them, then we hope you will apply for a
place in our Sixth Form.
Andrew Goulding BSc
Headmaster
Continuing your study at The Bishop’s Stortford High School
www.tbshs.org I The Bishop’s Stortford High School
At TBSHS we are able to offer the very best in Sixth Form provision. As you consider
where to follow your Sixth Form studies you will be looking for a school or college
that offers good teaching and a track record of successful examination results.
In the Sixth Form at The Bishop’s Stortford High School we offer the broadest
possible education to the highest possible standard. We therefore provide expert
tuition in a wide range of subjects, high quality academic standards, and a wealth
of opportunities to achieve your full potential. We are able to achieve this through
close personal support and guidance.
Our Sixth Form Centre has been extended and modernised in recent years to
include a discrete study area and easy ICT access for all students at school and from
home via our Virtual Learning Environment.
The school has a large and well-equipped library to support students in their study.
The school library has an extensive careers section, a comprehensive collection of
university prospectuses and a wide-range of computer databases. The library also
subscribes to newspapers and many academic and cultural journals. Students use
the library’s discrete Sixth Form area during private study.
The best in Sixth Form provision
“I gained research skills, and learnt
about the importance of statistics &
quotations. There is a lot of reading
to be done and the library is a
fantastic resource”
www.tbshs.org I The Bishop’s Stortford High School
The key to success in the Sixth Form is hard work.
Advanced level study requires significant commitment each week in addition to the
time you spend in school. This requires careful planning to ensure you make the best
use of your time. Your teachers and tutor are there to advise you on how to adjust to
the increased workload and, for example, how best to allocate time for revision
throughout the year. Your study schedule will also need to plan for the time you
spend in the band, on the stage, debating, or on the sports field. You must make
good use of the library in private study – all subjects stress that wider reading is
essential in deepening your understanding.
In addition to your chosen subjects, Citizenship and the Sixth Form enrichment
programme allow you to broaden your education. Prestigious outside speakers play a
vital role in enriching the Sixth Form experience. Recent speakers include politicians
John Bercow and Boris Johnson, journalists Alastair Stewart and Martin Bell,
sportsmen Stuart Pearce and Stephen Hendry and Radio 1 DJ Greg James. Outside
speakers include pressure groups, environmentalists, authors and academics.
Hard work is the key to success
Your form tutor is a key person in helping you to settle in to the Sixth Form and in
ensuring your all round success.
At The Bishop’s Stortford High School we place great emphasis upon the central role
the tutor plays in a student’s social, personal and academic development.
Every tutor works hard to ensure that each student has the best possible pastoral
support while at TBSHS. The tutor is a confidante, advisor and role model. We also
believe in the important part the tutor plays in the academic development of every
student. Through our Tutoring for Learning programme we ensure that every student
is taught not only what to learn, but also the best way to learn it, taking into account
their own preferred learning styles and methods.
Your tutor will guide you in your progress, and will be there to offer help and advice.
As you move into the Upper Sixth you will be able to draw on their experience to
assist you in making a choice of career or university. The relationship between the
student and the tutor is one that we are particularly keen to foster and regular
individual meetings with your tutor will therefore take place.
Tutor guidance and support
Music and Drama flourish at The Bishop’s Stortford High School. Students
with an interest in performing artistically are provided with a wide range of
opportunities during their time in the Sixth Form.
The school’s music department runs an extensive array of orchestras, bands
and groups for musicians, supplemented by a full calendar of concerts. All
musically-minded students are provided with manifold opportunities. Choral
singing is very important at the school and our choirs sing at the school’s
annual services and several termly concerts. The school runs an annual Music
Festival, and recent Music Tours have visited Holland and Germany
Students are also provided with opportunities to participate in school drama.
Through our many productions, Sixth Formers are encouraged to take leading
roles both on and off stage. The school recently opened Broadway, a brand
new purpose-built music and drama centre with its own studio theatre.
Recent school productions have included: Guys and Dolls, Godspell, Jesus
Christ Superstar, Tom Sawyer, Oliver, Lord of the Flies, Romeo and Juliet,
Macbeth, Kes, Nicholas Nickleby, An Inspector Calls, Les Miserables, A Chorus
Line and Days of Significance.
Sixth formers are also encouraged to lend their support to the school’s
annual House Drama competition, and they are encouraged to present and
organise their own shows. Through the school’s many productions students
are provided with opportunities to develop skills in direction, lighting, set
design and stage management.
Music and Drama at TBSHS“Your study schedule will also need to plan for
the time you spend in the band, on the stage,
debating, or on the sports field”
www.tbshs.org I The Bishop’s Stortford High School
Sport at The Bishop’s Stortford High School is outstanding. The school offers
a varied sporting programme, supported by the excellence of its facilities and
the dedication and commitment of its staff.
Sport is a key part of the Sixth Form curriculum. It helps foster an enjoyment
of sports and promotes an active, healthy lifestyle. The Sixth Form Enrichment
afternoon offers the opportunity to take part in rugby, football, cricket,
athletics, aerobics, badminton, basketball, golf, squash, swimming, table-
tennis, tennis, and yoga.
Centrepiece of the school’s sporting facilities is the £1 million Jobbers Wood
sports complex. Built on 35 acres of land on the edge of Bishop’s Stortford
the prestigious complex provides the school with seven winter rugby and
football pitches, as well as three cricket wickets during the summer.
We regularly provide two and sometimes three teams in the major sports.
There is strong competition for places in each of the three senior rugby
teams as well as 1st and 2nd XI cricket and football, A & B netball and boys,
girls and mixed hockey teams. In recent years Bishop’s Stortford High School
students have represented England internationally in football and rugby.
Students have joined Premier League and Championship football teams and
several train with Premiership rugby clubs.
The school runs regular national and international sports tours for its Sixth
Form students, including rugby tours to Australia, New Zealand and Hong
Kong, and cricket tours to the Caribbean.
Sport at TBSHS
“The tour was amazing. You get to play against
some of the best schools in the world, experience a
different culture and make friends for life, both on
and off the field”
The school is proud of its extra curricular provision. Through the range of clubs
and activities provided students are given the opportunity to develop leadership,
collaborative skills and responsibility. As well as sport, music and drama, the
school offers many clubs and societies.
The school offers the opportunity to follow the Duke of Edinburgh Award
Scheme to Silver and Gold standard. Many students have found this immensely
challenging and enjoyable.
Sixth Form students have the opportunity to take part in World Challenge
expeditions which helps them gain a perspective on life lived in very different
circumstances to their own. Sixth Form students have recently supported projects
in Ghana and Tanzania.
TBSHS has popular Debating and Public Speaking Societies. The school enters local
and national competitions, and has enjoyed considerable success in recent years.
Students in the Lower Sixth are also able to take part in the Young Enterprise
scheme that enables them to create and run a business of their choosing.
Many students choose to give up their time to help others through voluntary
work. Students provide assistance to younger children either in our lower school
or at local playgroups and primary schools. Others volunteer to work with the
elderly or with people with disabilities.
In addition to this, there is an extensive Community Service programme and
opportunities for students to become peer mentors and/or members of Interact,
the Senior Prefect Team, the Sixth Form Committee and the Sixth Form Council.
Extra curricular provision
“There is so much going on, even if you are not
particularly sporty or musical. My advice would be to
get involved as much as possible, make new friends
and gain new skills”
www.tbshs.org I The Bishop’s Stortford High School
The Bishop’s Stortford High School is proud of its extensive programme of
Sixth Form community service and charity work – the fulcrum of which is
the charity Interact, which is supported by the Rotary Club of Bishop’s
Stortford.
Membership of Interact is open to everyone in the Sixth Form. It aims to
raise money through various events and activities for local, national and
international charities.
The club organises diverse charity events. There have been Auctions of
Promises, Sleep Outs, non-uniform days, editions of “The Weakest Link”
and “Deal or No Deal”, and other quiz nights. A highlight of the Interact
year is the annual Showcase talent show, which presents the performing
talents of TBSHS students.
All proceeds from such events go to Charity. In recent years, Interact has
raised money for Operation Christmas Child, The Railway Children Charity,
The Red Cross and Shelter.
Sixth Form students organise annual events to raise money for CRY, Caztest
and Help for Heroes, which help to foster a real sense of togetherness and
community spirit. The commitment of Sixth Form students to fundraising for
these charities in particular is something the school is immensely proud of.
Charity at TBSHS
“Sixth Form charity events are a huge amount of fun and
helping to organise them gives you a real sense of
achievement. They are the days you remember at the
end of your Sixth Form career”
6The majority of our students, approximately 90 per cent, go on to study in Higher
Education. Most of these students obtain places at the university or institution of
their choice.
The Bishop’s Stortford High School has an experienced and dedicated team in place to
help all our students make the best choices at Post-18. Whether your choice is to
continue to study at university, or to enter the field of work, we offer
comprehensive support.
The Sixth Form Management Team organises an extensive programme to help students
in making their choice of university or college. This programme includes:
• University visits
• Opportunities for current Sixth Form students to meet former students
who are now at university
• Expert advice and guidance
• Support with research into degree courses, universities and entry requirements
• Specific advice for Oxbridge, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and
Dentistry applications
• Individual guidance for students choosing to enter employment Post-18
In addition, staff provide individual counselling about career choices, and provide expert
advice in filling in application forms. We recognise that interviews can be daunting; so all
our students have the opportunity to produce a Curriculum Vitae and to gain experience
through a mock interview. We are also there to support students on results days.
The school has enjoyed great success in recent years in preparing students for Oxbridge.
The school encourages ambition from its students and is able to provide excellent
guidance and support with such applications.
Universities and careers programme
The Bishop’s Stortford High School is committed to the highest standards.
A place in our Sixth Form is conditional upon students agreeing to abide by a
contract outlining the following expectations:
MALE:
Formal jackets and trousers or suit
Formal plain shirt
Formal plain dark v-necked jumper
Sixth Form or Prefect’s Tie
Dark socks
Black formal shoes (not boots)
Hair must be neat and respectable with no extremes of style*
Students must be clean-shaven
No earrings or studs
Definition of neat and respectable:
• Clean hair, no longer than collar length and not covering the eyes
Definition of extremes of style:
• Hair should be its natural colour
• Hair should not be shaved and no shorter than a hairdressers number 3 style
• Hair should be no longer than collar length
• Hair should not cover the eyes
• Hair should not have ‘tram’ lines cut into it
• Hair should not have coloured streaks
• Hair should not be sticking up with an excess of gel
FEMALE:
Formal jacket and skirt (on or below the knee)/formal trousers or suit
Formal plain shirt-style button-up blouse but not a shirt
Formal plain dark v-necked jumper
Sixth Form or Prefect’s brooch
Plain dark tights and black formal shoes (not boots)
Hair must be neat and respectable with no extremes of style*
No jewellery except stud earrings/very small hoops and plain hair bands/clips
Definition of extremes of style:
• Hair should be its natural colour or one colour
• Hair should not have coloured streaks
The
Bish
op’s
Stor
tfor
d H
igh
Scho
ol d
ress
cod
e
The Bishop’s Stortford High SchoolFoundation School. Chairman of Governors: Mr R Stock
London Road, Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire CM23 3LU
t: 01279 868686
f: 01279 868687
w: www.tbshs.org
Top Related