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Sixth Form Taster Day

Sixth Form Taster Day

On Monday we welcomed our Sixth Form 2021 cohort for our annual A level lesson taster day. The event was launched, after warm pastries and a drink in our Sixth Form Centre, by a host of enthusiastic speakers. Karen Kimuara, from the Trust office, spoke about the benefits of being a GDST Sixth Former; one particular benefit  – the online careers forum Rungway – has recently received much-deserved attention in the national press. We were also delighted to welcome back alumna Katie Tompsett, graduand of Oxford and on the cusp of an impressive career in the commercial law sector, who spoke honestly and passionately about the confidence that Croydon High gave her.

This session provided a launchpad into a series of Taster A level lessons from Maths to Music, Art to Economics, Theatre Studies to Psychology. Every girl also had a session on the Extended Project Qualification – the Sixth Form-specific programme whereby students sharpen their scholarly armoury by writing at length on a topic of their choice. Both Mr Burnie and I were especially impressed with the intellectual curiosity on display; students spoke animatedly on subjects ranging from climate change to Netflix, criminal intent to vascular surgery, the glass ceiling to veganism. The topics proposed were as diverse as the students themselves.

At just five terms, a girl’s Sixth Form career is notoriously short. Our emphasis on knowing each and every girl and their way of working, thanks to small class sizes and our strong pastoral bent, means that the transition from GCSE to A level is both smooth and successful.  If the excitement, ambition and positivity displayed at the A level Taster Day is anything to go by, our A level cohort of 2021 are destined to succeed.

Dr Philip Purvis

Head of Sixth Form