Sixth Form Enrichment: ASDAN Universities Award

The ASDAN Universities Award enables students to gain accreditation for the extra-curricular activities they pursue during Year 12 and 13.  To gain the award students must complete either three separate challenges lasting thirty hours each or six challenges lasting fifteen hours each or a combination.  The student must therefore cover at least three of the following modules and compile a portfolio of evidence for verification purposes.  The six areas the challenges are chosen from are:

Module 1 – Active Citizenship
Module 2 - Work Related Activities
Module 3 – Career Planning
Module 4 – Global Awareness
Module 5 – Enrichment Activities
Module 6 – Research and Presentation Skills

For module 1 many students may either choose to devote time on a regular basis to the Envision project, where they pursue voluntary work outside of school or involve themselves in the paired reading scheme with Year 7 or assist classroom teachers in lower school lessons.  All Year 12 students are strongly encouraged to use the last two weeks of the summer term to find a placement in the field of work, which they would like to gain employment in at some future time.  The Sixth Form has contacts students can use or, alternatively, they may arrange their own placement. Work-shadowing opportunities exist in medicine, marketing, theatre, Foreign Office and education to name just a few.  Students also have the opportunity to participate in the Young Enterprise scheme starting up their own school based business.  Either of these activities would meet the requirements for module 2.

85 percent of all Sixth Form students at The Grey Coat Hospital go onto Higher Education and as part of the ASDAN Universities Award students can use the evidence they generate from their application for module 3.  The Modern Foreign Languages Department at GCH offers Sixth Form students who are studying a language at AS/2 level to undertake a work placement abroad and they can use the experience and evidence towards the global awareness module of the award. 

To complete module 5 students can choose from a range of extra-curricular activities provided in school.  Many students are selected to become prefects and carry out a range of duties dependent upon their role.  Students can also choose to learn an additional language: at present GCSE Italian and a short course in Mandarin are offered.  Alternatively, they can brush up on their ICT skills or join in with the sports on offer like basketball and fencing. 

The final module requires students to keep evidence of the research they carry out to meet the requirements of the pastoral programme, delivered during the Autumn Term. This is when all Sixth Form students are required to participate in a Model United Nations debate.  Tutor groups are allocated a country to represent and over a number of weeks during tutor period tutees research the topic area to be debated on a specific day at the end of the Autumn Term.

If students choose to follow the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award then the four modules that need to be completed to gain the certificate can all be used to complete the minimum three modules and 90 hours participation for the ASDAN Universities Award.  Many universities look favourably on students who have gained the ASDAN award and it is worth 40 UCAS points (grade C at AS level) at some institutions.