Three-year courses to help students catch up
FRANKLIN COLLEGE AIMS TO MITIGATE EFFECTS OF PANDEMIC
FRANKLIN Sixth Form College is offering extended courses from next year to help students whose time at school has been severely impacted by the pandemic.
The Grimsby college has taken the decision to offer courses with an extra year of study to help pupils improve their GCSE grades and also engage in extra study for their diplomas.
Extended courses include (but not limited to) Travel & Tourism, Public Services and Business Studies with each providing students the opportunity to retake GCSE English or Maths or both alongside their studies.
College principal Peter Kennedy has described the move as a “safety net”.
Mr Kennedy told the BBC: “For the greater part, young people have really stepped up and adapted but, as in any other year, some haven’t been able to keep up.
“The first year is really about pushing on in English and maths, but also doing some more interesting diploma work across a range of subjects.”
GCSE qualifications in maths and English were “the most important in terms of a platform from which to build”, Mr Kennedy added.
By taking the additional time to improve GCSE grades, students would better be able to fulfil their potential and achieve higher A-level results, he said.
According to the IFS, by the time the pandemic is over, most children across the UK will have missed over half a year of normal, in person schooling. That’s likely to be more than 5% of their entire time in school.
They also suggested the negative effects of missed school time are over 50% larger for disadvantaged children. In England, A-levels, AS levels and GCSE exams have been cancelled again for this year and teachers’ estimated grades will be used instead as a response to disrupted learning.
Results will be published earlier in August to allow time to appeal. Primary school SATs will not go ahead this year, nor will phonics or times table testing.
The college said on their website: “Franklin Sixth Form College are pleased to announce an incredible offer for supporting students who may need a little extra time due to disrupted schooling because of Covid-19.
“We have made the decision to extend our provision by adding courses to our fantastic Level 2 programme. This is to support students who may need an extra year to ensure the best level 3 outcomes and so they can maximise their academic potential with us.
“We are therefore offering a diversified provision by offering 3 years of study at Franklin.
“The courses now on offer as part of our Level 2 programme include Travel & Tourism, Public Services, Business Studies, Creative Media, IT & Computing and Health & Social Care.
“We are also pleased to be providing students with the opportunity to retake GCSE English or maths or both, alongside one of our fantastic Level 2 courses during their first year. We hope that by offering this new extended provision this will fully support students who want to progress to higher education, higher level apprenticeships or straight into employment.”