Sixth Form News

Flag Raising Day

On Tuesday, we commemorated the National Flag Day which celebrates the anniversary of the inauguration of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan as President, Commemoration of the founders of the UAE. Two Year 12 students led the ceremony: Shamma Almheiri gave a short speech reminding us of the historical importance of the occasion and Mohammed Bujasaim Alfalasi raised the flag.

We are delighted to be part of this nation’s proud history and encourage our students to appreciate the fact that we all live in such a dynamic country. 

Year 13 Internal Exams

Year 13 have now completed their delayed internal exams. The examinations were challenging as they tested content from both Year 12 and academic work from this term. We are delighted with the behaviour of our students, who clearly took the examinations very seriously indeed. Results Day is scheduled for Sunday, 15^th November and students will be able to check their examination results online.

Higher Education

Early applications

The early applications for UCAS have now been sent off. These include Oxbridge applications and students who have applied to study Medicine. In addition, Early Decision applications for the United States have also been completed and dispatched. These are highly competitive places and much time has been sent redrafting and polishing them. Admissions tests for Oxbridge and the BMAT (Medicine) took place in the school on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Once again, these are extremely challenging examinations and we wish our students the best of luck. From Sunday, 8^th  November to Monday, 30^th November, there will be mock-interviews for all Oxbridge applicants.  Due to the pandemic, these will be held online this year, but training for them is as important as in previous years.

UCAS Applicants

All UCAS applicants should now have finished their personal statements and have loaded these onto Unifrog. Tutors and members of the Sixth Form Team will be checking these but, ultimately, it is the responsibility of students to ensure that they are of a high calibre and are free of technical errors. The College’s deadline for UCAS application forms is Thursday, 26^th November. Parents are expected to sign a checklist before the UCAS form is submitted and this will be available online.

Other applications

We are currently organising a Webinar for applications to Dutch universities and further details will follow in the near future. In addition, Canadian applications have now opened and several students are currently in the process of applying. All students are encouraged to see our Transition Manager, Mr Burke, if they have any questions.

Sport and Leadership

House Leaders are currently being recruited from Years 11-13. The House system is a key aspect of life in the Sixth Form and these students will have a vital role in mentoring and administration. In addition, Mentoring Prefect roles have been advertised and this offers a further avenue to cultivate leadership qualities in our students. In the field of College sport, there has been an important development this week. Year 12 and 13 have had the opportunity to join recreational football, rugby and netball. We are delighted with this positive development and very much look forward to the re-introduction of our extra-curricular programme when conditions allow.

Life Lessons (Year 12)

The Life lesson this week concerned an exploration of cultural and gender stereotypes. For the first time, this lesson was entirely designed and written by Year 12 students. We are very proud of this development and believe that, not only does it show that our students are capable of independent work, but also that they are responsive to the world around them. We want our Life programme to be socially relevant and resonant with our students and this is surely a positive development in terms of achieving this.