If you are unsure what course you think you should choose or what career you would like to aspire towards then contact us (lines open Monday to Friday, 9am – 4:30pm)
The City of Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College is committed to equipping students with the knowledge, skills and attributes that they need to make informed decisions about their learning and progression into education, employment or training through a cohesive programme of careers education.
Students are supported through personalised information, advice and guidance that will enable them to build the confidence to take charge of their career development and effectively manage their own progression through learning and work.
We are committed to inspiring students to consider a broad and ambitious range of options to move them on to achieve their full potential.
The College’s Futures Coordinator is Sally Spencer: sspencer@sfc.potteries.ac.uk
All students will have the opportunity to:
The College Futures Programme is designed to provide all students with the best opportunities and support to ensure you achieve your maximum potential in your chosen subjects and careers.
Where “Futures Programme” appears on your timetable this will be dedicated time for you to focus on you and YOUR FUTURE (for example, researching university courses, writing a personal statement or a CV, webinars, online courses, podcasts, etc)
The SFC-STUDENT FUTURES TEAM (In Microsoft Teams) is where you will find information and resources that you can use to work on your personal development.
You can:
All students at The City of Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College are supported to undertake work experience throughout their time at the college. This may be face to face and/or virtual work experience.
This helps to improve employability skills and get that vital hands-on experience.
Some courses include significant work placements to allow students to develop key skills required to have a successful career.
Our Work Experience Coordinator will provide guidance for you to follow to find a placement opportunity. She will work with you and the employer to ensure it is a safe place to gain an insight into the career of your choice.
A work placement will give you the opportunity to:
Apprenticeships and employment with training are a popular options for our leavers.
To be successful you will need:
In exchange for your commitment, the Futures Team will support you to find an apprenticeship or employment in the industries that you want to work in.
All students have their own personal login for the UNIFROG careers platform. Unifrog brings into one place every apprenticeship, university course and college course in the UK, as well as resources to help students extend their studies and stand out from the crowd when it comes to applications. The platform makes it easy for students write their CVs and Personal Statements and record their key skills.
It also gives students access to local labour market information, providing an insight into local and national sectors of growth, salaries and the skills that employers are looking for.
This is an important consideration when you are planning your future career, it helps you to understand where future growth is predicted to be which means better employment opportunities. It also helps you to understand what kind of salaries can be expected in different sectors and for different jobs, this means you can make a realistic future career plan linked to what you want to achieve in your life.
Our students have access to local labour market information via the UNIFROG portal. This provides an insight into local sectors of growth, salaries and skills that employers are looking for.
Included below is a tool called LMI for All. This portal connects and standardises national sources of high quality, reliable labour market information to help inform your career decisions.
As employers look for increasingly higher skill levels and new and exciting job opportunities emerge requiring highly skilled employees, we prepare our students to be well placed to take advantage of these opportunities.
We support our students to progress their education to higher and degree level where it is appropriate to do so. We provide opportunities to showcase what is on offer from a wide range of universities and from higher and degree level apprenticeship providers.
The Futures team and Progress Coach Team provide information and support to enable our students to progress. This includes:
You can book an appointment to speak to our careers advisor throughout the academic year on a one-to-one basis. You can drop into the Futures Zone and book yourself an appointment.
We can support you to:
We have an annual awards event for students who have displayed outstanding attainment, achievement and progress. We would welcome sponsorship for specific awards from employers and will be happy to discuss what specific subject/awards would be most appropriate for businesses on an individual basis.
If sponsoring an annual award by providing a small voucher of £25 or £50 is of interest to your business, please get in touch with our events and Marketing Team: marketing@sfc.potteries.ac.uk
We are pleased to share with our students, opportunities for both part time and full time employment in the local area and beyond.
If you would like us to advertise your opportunity, please contact Vicky Astley on 01782 848736 or vastley@sfc.potteries.ac.uk
We are always looking for local employers to support Sixth Form College Students by offering work experience opportunities.
Students across all courses benefit enormously from a short period of work experience of between 5 and 10 days (either in week blocks or 1 day per week). This time provides students with an insight into a business and sector, in order to help them gain some entry-level skills, to experience the ‘soft-skills’ required in the workplace and to help build confidence. Work experience is also a useful tool to help students to identify where their future career interests lie and is therefore invaluable in its contribution to our students at this stage of their education.
If you would like to explore the possibility of offering work experience to our students, please contact Vicky Astley on 01782 848736 or vastley@sfc.potteries.ac.uk
The College Futures Team are always looking for opportunities that will allow our students to interact with local and regional employers. These interactions allow students to get an insight into local job and career opportunities and provide valuable insights that can help as they make key decisions on the career paths that they want to explore. Meeting students provides businesses with a platform to increase knowledge of their business within the student community and can provide fruitful links for part time employment and long term training and career opportunities.
We welcome businesses in to College on a regular basis to attend either Futures Events evenings or to present to students on their businesses. We also welcome the opportunity for our students to visit business premises to get a feel for the workplace, it’s requirements and culture.
If you would like to explore the possibility of your business attending a Futures event, delivering a presentation to students on your business or inviting students in to visit your premises, please contact Vicky Astley on 01782 848736 or vastley@sfc.potteries.ac.uk
At Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College we were proud to be among the first providers in the country to offer the exciting new T Level qualifications. We started to deliver the first T Level programme in September 2020, with new programmes available from September 2021 and more to be added in September 2022.
T Levels or ‘Technical’ levels, as it stands for, mark a milestone in the Government’s plan to transform the UK education landscape. Equivalent to three A Levels, these rigorous courses are ideal for students who have an interest in pursuing a career in a particular sector, either through skilled employment post 18, or following further study at university.
Aimed at school leavers, the content for each T Level has been developed in collaboration with employers and businesses to provide students with the skills and knowledge that they need to progress to higher education or to skilled employment, higher technical qualifications or degree apprenticeships. T Levels are unique as they offer students a mixture of classroom learning and ‘on-the-job’ experience during a mandatory industry placement of at least 315 hours (approximately 45 days).
T Levels are a key part of the government’s reforms to revolutionise skills and technical education, generating the skilled workforce that businesses need for the future and giving students the experience they need to progress into well-paid jobs, further study or an apprenticeship.
To support our T Level programmes, and to ensure that emerging local skills gaps are addressed, we are looking for forward thinking and supportive employers to partner with us with the commitment to offer 45-day Industry Placements for our students. The opportunity to put into practice the skills and knowledge that they have learned in the classroom, is an essential element of the course, therefore support from local and regional businesses is vital. Employer partnerships are central to ensuring that our students have the opportunity to explore career aims, develop the right skills and knowledge and can effectively network in their chosen sector.
In turn, in addition to contributing to your Corporate Social Responsibility, there are many benefits for employers to hosting a T Level Industry Placement.
From September 2022
We want to make it as easy as possible for you to support T Level students – we will provide and assist you with all paperwork and you will have a single point of contact for all matters – our Industry Placement Co-ordinator.
If you would like a no obligation discussion about the possibility of hosting a T Level Industry Placement student, please contact Vicky Astley, our Industry Placement Co-ordinator on 01782 848736 or vastley@sfc.potteries.ac.uk.
Further information can be found on the GOV website here
Former School: Discovery Academy
Results: A Accounting, A Mathematics, A* Computer Science
Next Step:Higher Level Apprenticeship with BDO
Joseph is a very hard working and talented individual, whose work ethic is bound to serve him well in the future. He has been able to balance his studies with his love for Basketball, representing the college in a team. Since joining the college Joseph has demonstrated a strong desire to become an Accountant, he has participated in work experience placements with local firms and has managed to secure a Higher Level Apprenticeship with the prestigious and Global firm BDO. A fantastic achievement, well done and good luck Joseph.
Former School: Clayton Hall Academy
Results: A* Maths, A* Further Maths, A* Computer Science
Next Step: Cambridge University to study Economics
Highly skilled and naturally analytical, Tyler will undeniably thrive at University. He is focused, passionate and has developed a fierce commitment to his studies. Achieving grades A* Maths, A* Further Maths, A Economics, B Computer Science, Tyler has consistently been a high performer and his results are a true reflection of his academic ability. Tyler’s hard work has certainly been fruitful, he has received an offer to study Economics at Cambridge University. We are extremely proud to have had Tyler as a Sixth Form College student.
Will has shown great character this year and has been an excellent role model to other members of the Football Team; demonstrating enthusiasm and commitment by training and helping the team.
Will is a very talented leader and, away from the field, shows fantastic research skills. Even in adversity, Will is a mature captain of the football team with excellent communication skills.
Shanyce has worked hard to overcome her personal battles and obstacles and we are extremely proud of her. Shanyce’s subject teachers always have great things to say about her, such as:
Shanyce has worked very hard in GCSE Art and always comes to the lesson with a smile ready to try a new challenge! A pleasure to teach!
We have no doubt that Shanyce will build on this success and go from strength to strength in her continued studies.
Sam is a modest student who, when receiving her first year French A Level result, was close to tears of joy; she had achieved above and beyond her expectations. She has shown great improvement with her French reading and listening skills.
Sam has clearly shown the will to succeed and her confidence continues to grow. Any doubts that she may have had of her ability were quashed through her determination to do well through sheer hard work. We are sure that Sam will continue to flourish in French and her other subjects.
Former School: Alleynes High School
Results: A Maths, A* Biology, B Chemistry
Next Step: Keele University to study Medicine
Lauren is a thoughtful, dedicated and meticulous student who has a true devotion for the sciences, particularly Medicine. She is a logical and insightful student who has a strong determination to succeed. Lauren’s biological acumen will certainly see her flourish at University. Since achieving an amazing set of A Level results we wish Lauren the best of luck as she joins Keele University to study Medicine.
Results: BTEC Applied Science D*D*D*
Next Steps: Taking a gap year and aims to study Medicine with a Foundation Year at Plymouth University.
Leyla is a very determined student who is looking to become successful within the medical sector. She is hardworking and always challenges herself so that she can achieve the best results. Whilst studying, Leyla has been working part-time and completing work experience within the health and social care sector and has developed her communication skills and resilience. Leyla is not only a great academic, but she is also a valued member of the college’s netball team. Her ability to juggle her studies and extracurricular activities has seen Leyla achieve D*D*D* in BTEC Applied Science. Leyla intends to take a gap year, but her desire to become a doctor remains the same. Leyla hopes to study Medicine with a foundation year at the University of Plymouth. Well done Leyla, we will watch this space!
“I am so happy and relieved with my results. The staff at the college have always believed in me. I have received non-stop support throughout Covid, which has helped me achieve the results that I wanted.”
Results: A* Criminology, A Sociology, B Law
Next Steps: Policing Degree Apprenticeship with West Mercia Police
Katie is a highly intelligent student and is committed to her studies and future career goal of becoming a Mounted Police Officer. Katie is a confident student who exudes confidence. She has a great attitude towards learning, tutors at the college have found her a pleasure to teach. Katie is very proactive; she has researched her future career options to gain a good understanding of what she needs to do to get there. Katie’s work ethic and ambition have enabled her to achieve an A* in Criminology, A in Sociology and B in Law. Katie has received an offer to complete a Policing Degree Apprenticeship with West Mercia Police. What an achievement! Well done, all the best, Katie.
“I am so overwhelmed with the results that I have achieved; my hard work has paid off; it has 100% been worth it. My future career goal is to become a Mounted Police Officer and my tutors and careers advisors always gave me the right advice on how to achieve this. Thank you so much to my teachers who have supported me so much over the last two years.”
Results: A Maths, B Biology, B Chemistry
Next Steps: University of Bristol to study Medicine
Eleanor is a positive, approachable and hardworking individual who has shown dedication and diligence to her work. Eleanor’s future career goal is to become a doctor; she has a devotion for science subjects. Not only is she gifted academically, but she also possesses the skills needed in the healthcare profession; patient, caring, pleasant and personable. Eleanor has gained a great of results and a place to study Medicine at the University of Bristol. Best of luck, Eleanor.
“I am extremely happy with my results; I couldn’t have wished for better. The college has been great and so supportive. Teachers are always willing to help students in any way that they can. The MDV programme was incredible in supporting my UCAS application and ensuring that I achieve the grade that I needed and admission test results. The STEM facilities are also beyond incredible and allow for great practical lessons.”
Results: A* Biology, A Maths, A Chemistry, A Extended Project Qualification
Next Steps: University of Birmingham to study Medicine
Lucy is an exceptional student whose work is always exemplary. She has shown a great deal of determination and effort throughout her time at college. Lucy has a passion for medicine and has taken part in multiple activities in a variety of settings such as different universities, different professional settings and completing MOOCs. She has therefore developed a fully rounded and detailed understanding of her chosen field. Lucy also participated in multiple aspects of extracurricular life in college including, Student Parliament, Course Rep and MDV Society. She has also completed a variety of work experiences in multiple settings to develop her transferable skills further. Lucy’s diligence has seen her achieve A* in Biology and three A’s in Maths, Chemistry and Extended Project Qualification and an offer to study Medicine at Birmingham University. Incredible Lucy, well done.
“I am really pleased with my results; all my hard work has paid off. I was supported in many ways by the college, for example, the MDV society which helped with interview preparation, UCAT support, guidance on choosing universities and personal statement reviews. The lab facilities were amazing for science subjects.”
Results: D* Music Performance, A Levels: B Business, C History
Next Steps: Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts to study Management of Performing Arts, Theatre, Dance, Music and Events
Aimee is a polite, hard-working and conscientious student who is deeply passionate about her work. As a keen electric guitarist, Aimee could often be found developing her skills in one of our studios. As well as her musical talents, she is also a natural scholar who is focused and self-motivated, consistently producing work of high quality. Aimee’s tenacity ensured that she achieved a fantastic set of results and an offer from the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts to study Management of Performing Arts, Theatre, Dance, Music and Events. Great work, Aimee. Well done.
“The results that I have achieved are exactly what I wanted, and it feels amazing. My favourite Sixth Form College memory is how the staff made me feel daily – welcome, confident and challenged.”
Results: A* Maths, A* Biology, A Chemistry and A* Extended Project Qualification
Next Steps: University of Exeter to study Medicine
India is a truly outstanding student with a logical mind and an unrivalled enthusiasm for academic study. She is a pleasant and personable student with a natural flair and ability that has impressed all her teachers. India has thrived in MDV society, where she enjoyed many practice interviews and extra revision/support sessions. Her hard work has culminated in 3 A* in Maths, Biology and Extended Project Qualification and an A in Chemistry. These grades have resulted in India receiving a place to study Medicine at Exeter University. Good luck India, we cannot wait to hear about your success at university.
“I am incredibly happy and relieved at the results that I have achieved. The college has amazing facilities, the LRC’s provide a great place for independent learning and being able to use university science labs has positively impacted my learning within the science department. The MDV society supported me with many practice interviews and revision sessions.”
Results: B Physical Education, B Biology, B Psychology
Next Steps: AECC University College to study Chiropractic
Lauren is a sociable and lively student who has consistently demonstrated commitment to all her subjects and thrives for success. Lauren aims to become a pediatric chiropractor; with her tenacious attitude and strong work ethic, we are sure that her future aspirations become a reality. Laurens grades have gained her a place to study chiropractic at AECC University. Good luck Lauren, we know that you will be great.
“I am absolutely amazed at the results I achieved, and my teachers were amazing! My confidence has improved a lot during my time at college through leading sports activities with primary schools. My aim is to become a pediatric chiropractor.”
Results: A* Accounting, A Maths, A Economics
Next Steps: Higher Apprenticeship at PWC
Owen is a highly motivated and innovative student who demonstrates all the positive attributes of someone who aspires to take their learning to the very top level. He has a passion for sport, especially badminton and football, where he has reached a high level. Owen is naturally analytical and has a flair for accounting. Through diligence and motivation, he has gained an excellent set of results with an offer to study a Higher Apprenticeship with PWC in Accounting. Wishing you the best of luck Owen.
“My results are better than I anticipated, so I am happy with them. The excellent facilities provided, and enrichment activities gave me a real taste for the workplace and helped me to reach my full potential.”
Results: A* Maths, A* Further Maths, A* Computer Science, A Physics
Next Steps: Degree Apprenticeship at Bentley Motors in Chassis Engineering focusing on Driver Assistance Systems
George is a personable, highly intelligent, articulate, and independent student. His strong work ethic and perseverance have been demonstrated from an early age with an extraordinarily successful high school career achieving the OAT Award for Academic Accomplishment, gaining a first in his Brilliant Club dissertation, and becoming Head Boy. George loves a good challenge; whilst completing his A Levels he gained his gold Duke of Edinburgh award. His greatest passion is for mechanical engineering; he explored this through a work placement at Bentley Motors. George’s incredible results and work placement have secured him a Degree Apprenticeship at Bentley Motors in Chassis Engineering, focusing on Driver Assistance Systems. We are so proud of you George, well done!
“I am very happy with my results; the teaching has been excellent, and support is always available. My favourite subject was maths, my teacher was so passionate and enthusiastic and was great at teaching it! It was also made possible for me to study 4 A levels and complete one day a week work experience at Bentley Motors.”
Results: A* Religious Studies, A English Literature, D* BTEC Performance Arts
Next Steps: Chichester Conservatoire at the University of Chichester to study Musical Theatre and Cabaret Performance
Charlotte is a self-motivated and dedicated student. She has a devotion for musical theatre and is a highly valued member of the Musical Theatre Society. Charlotte has done incredibly well to balance her busy college workload alongside being a member of the North Staffordshire Operatic Society and an amateur performer at the Repertory Theatre, appearing in numerous shows across the region. Charlotte’s organisational skills combined with her incredible talent will see her succeed at university. Charlotte has been offered a place at Chichester Conservatoire to study Musical Theatre and Cabaret Performance. Well done Charlotte, there is no business like show business!
“I am elated with the results that I have achieved and worked so hard for; my teachers have all been amazing throughout my college experience; they were always available for a one-to-one chat. The dance studios are very spacious, and I was able to train privately in preparation for auditions.”
Results: A* Chemistry, A*English Literature, A* Mathematics, A* Further Mathematics and A* German
Next Step: Pembroke College, University of Oxford to study Biochemistry
Lily is a confident, organised and hardworking individual who is very passionate about science. Her research into Biochemistry as well as attending external activities have enabled Lily to develop her scientific knowledge. Lily has an unquestionable abundance of talent, she has achieved an incredible set of results; five A* respectively in Chemistry, English Literature, Mathematics, Further Mathematics and German. Lily’s hard work has resulted in her receiving a place to study Biochemistry at Pembroke College, University of Oxford. Well done Lily, we are immensely proud of you, and we look forward to hearing all about your future achievements.
“I am so happy with the results that I have achieved. Everyone at Sixth Form College has been incredibly supportive. The enrichment opportunities offered have provided me with both university and work experience and have helped me prepare for the future. A huge thank you to all staff at the college.”
Results: A* History, A* Classical Civilisation, A* English Literature and A* Extended Project Qualification
Next Step: Magdalen College, University of Oxford to study History
Katharine is an excellent student and a natural scholar, she fully immersed herself into her subjects and college life and has excelled in every aspect. Katharine is very independent and hardworking and will certainly prosper at university. After receiving four A* respectively in History, Classical Civilisation, English Literature and Extended Project Qualification, Katharine has accepted an offer from Magdalen College, University of Oxford to study a degree in History. We wish you the absolute best of luck and look forward to hearing about your future success.
“I am really proud of myself for achieving such success during the midst of a pandemic and for all the hard work that I have put in. The teachers have all been amazing especially with issues that have resulted because of Covid, they have provided support, advice and resources whenever needed.”
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