ENRICHMENT COURSES 2023

As well as your academic studies, you can also choose to take up enrichment courses which you would find both interesting and fun! It is also a chance to broaden your Sixth Form experience and meet new people. The courses are useful additions to any university or job application; some can also lead to further external accreditation. The majority of enrichment courses run for the whole year, although some are termly or half-termly. All enrichment courses are optional; however, once committed, all sessions must be attended. You may choose a range of courses if you wish; most courses will, however, be timetabled to take place at the same time.

Please note that all courses are subject to final timetabling and demand – there is, therefore, a possibility that some may not end up running

TWO YEAR COURSE

International Baccalaureate Mandarin Chinese

IB Chinese is a language acquisition course for students with some previous experience of Mandarin. It exposes students to a range of topics from environmental to cultural issues and either a literature, film study or topic based component. The core topics are experience, identities, human ingenuity, sharing the planet and social organisation. The course is examined over 4 core areas; Listening, speaking, reading and writing—25% for each skill. Authentic materials are used in class, and pedagogical textbooks and online resources regularly introduced as supplementary exercises. This qualification is equivalent to AS Level and achieves UCAS points. Each week there are 3 hours of lessons and 1 hour of self-study. Successful applicants may choose to study in China for short courses, with the support of a scholarship.

ONE YEAR COURSES

Bicycle Maintenance

Many Sixth Form students ride pedal cycles to school, and some of them look a bit unsafe at times! Most weeks I have a number of students asking me if I can do a quick repair of a puncture, brake cable, gear alignment or something more major! I thought it would be useful for students to learn how to complete basic maintenance procedures themselves so for an hour a week, I’ll show you how to complete such tasks! Tools will be provided so you just need to turn up with your bike. If there’s nothing wrong with your bike, we can take it apart, strip it down, re-grease it, and have it working better than when it came out of the factory! If you are a proper bike enthusiast, I can also help you to do advanced procedures such as bleeding hydraulic brakes, replacing bearings, rebuilding pedals, servicing suspension, or even building a complete bike from scratch!

Certificate in Financial Studies

The Certificate in Financial Studies provides a comprehensive, practical introduction to personal finance through developing your knowledge and skills to make informed financial decisions. A must-have skill which looks at the risks and challenges involved in financial decision making, giving you the tools for effective planning for your future. This course will explore themes such as borrowing, budgeting, financial planning and cash flow forecasting as well as covering the importance of financial capability at all stages of your personal life cycle. Completion of the CeFs will give you indispensable life skills and can give you up to 28 UCAS points, leading to further study opportunities in personal finance and banking.

Chess

From complete beginner to Grandmaster, chess enrichment offers you the opportunity to develop your chess strategy whatever your current ability. For just a small sacrifice in time, you can learn new openings, tactics, and chess essentials, as well as being able to challenge your peers for the right to crown yourself ’Ruler of the board’ in the yearly Bay House chess championship.

Creative Ceramics – Bay House’s Great Pottery Throw Down!!

Would you like to learn a new skill or refresh an existing talent? Creative Ceramics offers clay and glazing techniques, in a relaxed atmosphere, offering the chance to design and create a couple of pieces for display within your college and home environment; also a perfect gift! This course has a proven track record for enjoyment, stress-busting, confidence building, course satisfaction and a yearning for more!! The only qualification needed is enthusiasm.

Creative Writing

Always wanted to start a novel? Or do you prefer flash fiction? Whatever type of creative writing you would like to do, this course will help you develop your ideas and techniques. We will set up an online magazine to share our work, enter writing competitions, even put on a Poetry Slam. The intention is to facilitate whatever form of creativity club members would like to pursue, so come, share your ideas and be inspired by others!

Debating

The Sixth Form Debating Society provides an opportunity for you to engage in the issues that really matter. From gambling to EU membership, gun crime to Christmas adverts, we’re always on the lookout for new members to join our opinionated team! The society meets weekly to hold a structured debate on a motion selected by its members and we ensure that no point is left unpicked! We regularly take part in national debating competitions, such as ‘Debating Matters’, and stage competitive debates with other colleges. If you like voicing your opinion and don’t shy away from a controversial topic, then the Debating Society is for you. Maybe, with your help, we’ll finally get to the bottom of the trickiest debate of all: is the Jaffa Cake actually a cake or a biscuit?

Filmmaking Club

Now that everyone has a camera in their pockets, social media is filled with people using video to communicate in new and exciting ways, meaning that making your own short films is more achievable than you may think. In this course, we’ll go over the basics of filmmaking: from shot types and camera movements to editing and post-production. Once you have an understanding of the basics, you’ll put these skills to practice by working on short projects to match a brief. It might be to make a short film that matches a prompt, relies on a particular prop, or perhaps challenges you to recreate the style of a famous filmmaker (like the current Wes Anderson trend on Tik Tok). This course would be useful for Film Studies students but is open to anybody that wants to try their hand at making short films with their friends.

Football (Hampshire Colleges’ League)

Matches take place each week against other colleges in the Hampshire League. Trials for a place in the First or Second team take place during the first week of term – further details will be given out nearer the time.

Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award

The Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award (DofE) is an amazing opportunity for personal development. Our students who take up the challenge of their Gold DofE develop essential skills for life. With a focus on five areas; volunteering, physical, skills, residential and expedition, the DofE expands the horizons of young people in so many ways. Working together and overcoming challenges in the outdoor environment develops self-reliance and confidence, with participation in these shared experiences allowing initiative and teamwork to flourish. Students are able to make a difference to the lives of those in their community, as well as learning new skills throughout the programme. Beyond your academic achievements, universities and employers want to see evidence of ‘soft skills’ that you have developed through extracurricular activities, such as communication, commitment, leadership and teamwork. Your DofE Award is a fantastic way to demonstrate and evidence these skills in practice and it is an important addition to your UCAS application or CV.

During the course, you will receive support in completing each section through drop in sessions and training days. You will develop skills of navigation, first aid and campcraft in preparation for your expedition. We use an external provider to facilitate our expedition section.

The cost of the DofE Gold Award will be in the region of £450. This cost includes enrolment for the award, two expeditions and training sessions. Full details about the DofE can be found at www.dofe.org

Introduction to Teaching

Thinking about a career in teaching? This course will provide you with the opportunity to gain an insight into the role of a teacher and develop the skills needed to create engaging and meaningful activities to improve learning. This will develop your understanding of both the theory and practice of teaching in either the Primary or Secondary classroom, learning from the wide range of experts in the GFM you will gain experience in classroom settings and be coached in preparing a teaching application for the future. You will have the chance to make resources that will be used in lessons and develop your skills of the Google Suite to make interactive quizzes, videos and slides.

Level 3 Mathematical Studies

Mathematical Studies is a one-year course which puts the focus on developing and consolidating the mathematical understanding and thinking skills of the student. It is an excellent complement to many A Levels and has the potential to help lower the grades required for University places. Mathematical Studies is also good preparation for the mathematical demands of higher education where there are mathematical elements involved which do not stretch quite to A Level. Course content will include Data Analysis, Personal Finance, Estimation, Probability, Critical Path Analysis and Cost Benefit Analysis.

Model United Nations – Step into the shoes of World Leaders

Each year more than 400,000 students from primary school to university participate worldwide in Model UN conferences. These events involve role-play of UN meetings and are usually based on the Security Council or General Assembly committees. This enrichment course will allow delegates to work together towards their own Model United Nations conference which may be held either within school or countrywide at a national conference. Each delegate will represent a particular country and tackle real world problems and situations. The delegations represent the views of ‘their’ country, reflecting that country’s national interests, rather than their own personal opinions on an issue. The topics are issues of global importance – such as the Ukraine conflict, the provision of clean water, nuclear weapons, human rights, economic justice or the Syrian or Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. You will work towards a re-enactment of a UN meeting, negotiating with other delegations through formal and informal debate. This is particularly of interest to students studying Politics, Economics, Geography or intending a future career in journalism, international business, the civil service, NGOs or in a diplomatic field.

Netball (Hampshire Colleges’ League)

Performing Arts and Drama-Let’s Create!!

Missed the theatre recently? Are you itching to tread the boards once more? Or have you always been interested in being a part of a performance but have never had the chance to do so? This short course is an opportunity to build on your knowledge and performance skills in the Drama and Theatre industry and create performances of your choice. Whether it is opportunities to create your own pieces of work from scratch using subject content you are interested in, or to come together to explore and bring to life a script that will challenge and excite you in a way like you have never done before, this course will allow you to do so. Interested in the backstage workings and responsibilities? Again this is something we can explore. Our aim is to facilitate whatever type of performance work is of interest to you, so come, be creative and be inspired by others!

Recreational Esports

This year we competed in the British Esports Student Champs, where we competed in Overwatch 2 and Rocket League. Looking ahead to the 2023—2024 season, we have plans to expand our team roster by including a VALORANT team. Enrichment time will be used for training, practice and scrims with other students from around the country. This presents an exciting opportunity for you to potentially join one of our school teams and compete in the Student Champs. In our inaugural year, our Sixth Form Rocket League team achieved significant success, reaching the semi-finals in Division 2 of the Student Champs, surpassing 91 other original teams. As well as playing there will be opportunities to assist in live streaming and producing content for our social media platforms.

Recreational PE

If you’d like to keep fit and have fun in a relaxed environment then you can choose to participate in a variety of sporting activities such as table tennis, volleyball, badminton, basketball and more!

Sixth Form Tabletop Society

Tabletop Roleplaying Games like Dungeons and Dragons, The Witcher TTRPG and Cyberpunk RED engage players in collaborative storytelling, where pivotal moments in the plot are decided by the roll of the dice. The hobby has exploded in popularity over the past few years with players and audiences alike. By playing Tabletop RPG’s you’ll be developing and improving a wide array of valuable and transferable skills such as co-operative communication, group problem-solving, lateral thinking, improv, shared storytelling, acting/voice acting, game design and creative writing/worldbuilding. Interacting with the game world through the lens of a personally created character also provides players with a safe environment to step out of their comfort zone, allowing you to boost your self-confidence and empathy skills (according to the research, at least!). If you want to develop all of these interpersonal skills and tell incredible stories along the way, then sign up!

Virtual Share Trading

Virtual Trader is the UK’s largest investment game. Each individual will be given a virtual £100 000 to invest in shares found on the UK Stock Exchange. You will manage and create your own portfolio and we can either join a national league or compete against each other. We will learn together from invited experts, newspapers, specialist publications and the internet to help you decide which shares will make the best profit. Learn valuable and exciting new skills and gain experience in investment markets.

TERMLY COURSES:

Haematology – The Study of Blood

A brief race through Path Lab rather than Dracula’s Den. The sessions will look at normal Red Blood Cells, White Blood Cells and Platelets and investigations into associated conditions/problem areas. Using anecdotal evidence from General Hospital work, these will include investigations into the Anaemias (Iron deficiency, Sickle Cell etc), Blood Groups/Rhesus, Infection, Leukaemia, Blood Clotting and Anticoagulants. Not just of interest to students wishing to read Biological Sciences/Medicine in future, but to anyone who has ever had a Full Blood Count investigation. Subject to confirmation, we may be supported by Portsmouth Hospitals Trust to examine blood films under the microscope. Blood film making (using fake blood and bone marrow) will also be demonstrated with attendees encouraged to have a go too.

Introduction to Law

Thinking about a career in law? This course will provide you with the opportunity to gain an insight into the legal profession and the business world by working with the Macfarlanes Legal Academy. You will be able to look inside a commercial law firm and practise the skills needed to succeed in a career in law, achieving a certificate at the end of the course.