INSPIRED Sixth Form Update: Year 12 UCAS & Online Learning

23/05/2025

Building upon last week’s successful UCAS Day, Year 12 have continued to focus their attentions on their aspirations this week. Post Covid, the world of work experience has become an interesting dynamic, with fewer opportunities available to students in person and a much greater offering online. With the new personal statement format on UCAS clearly marking out an area for students to showcase evidence of work experience and wider involvement in their chosen course, we have been encouraging students to develop these areas throughout the year.

With focused sessions in form groups, Year 12 have been encouraged to embark upon wider academic reading through online platforms such as JSTOR and Google Scholar, listen to podcasts and TED Talks on their areas of interest, as well as signing up to MOOC’s (Massive Open Online Courses) that are run by universities across the globe in all subject areas. Through the careers platform Unifrog, which enables students to take a personalised approach to their research into Higher Education, Year 12 are now at the stage of pulling all of their experience and wider skills together as they prepare the first drafts of their personal statements.

This week, they have also been signing up to online work experience opportunities through Springpod, whilst accessing virtual webinars and lectures as part of their wider preparation. As part of their preparations for their examinations in June, this focus on wider academia around their A Levels is certainly of huge benefit, with students being encouraged to analyse, think critically, debate interesting topics and immerse themselves in their curiosities, all essential aspects of developing every child and ensuring their success both academically and in their wider skillset.

Mr Oracz