It’s a big week for 16-year-olds across the country. With GCSE exam results released this Thursday, many students will be feeling anxious about their grades, and the implications their results have for their post-16 course placements in September.
The Future Frontiers team is here to prepare, guide and support both pupils and parents in this important week.
From today until results day on Thursday 25 August, we are calling all the Year 11 students we worked with this year, as well as their parents, to make sure they feel well equipped to navigate results day and the practicalities of course enrolment.
On results day itself, we’ll be all-hands to the phones again to ensure those students who need our help most get the practical support they need to get into good quality post-16 courses that will set them onto their chosen career path.
As the recent landmark study into education inequalities by the Institute for Fiscal Studies highlights, the UK has a long way to go to close the stagnant disadvantage gap in GCSE attainment. That gap has hardly narrowed over the last 20 years, and nearly half of pupils who have not achieved at least five good GCSEs or equivalent by age 16 have still not obtained them by the age of 19.
A successful post-16 transition – by which we mean entering and sustaining a suitable course at an appropriate level – plays an important role in closing this attainment gap and has a long-term positive impact on future education and career options. Providing clear and robust guidance to pupils as they make these crucial decisions is vital to that successful transition.
Dominic Baker, Future Frontiers’ Founder and CEO, says, “The post-16 education landscape is complex and quite frankly bewildering. How can we expect pupils to make informed and appropriate choices about education providers, course subjects and types of qualification without providing clear guidance to navigate the vast array of options?”
“I know many pupils will be feeling apprehensive right now.” Says Miriam Keith, Head of Information, Advice and Guidance at Future Frontiers.
“Results day can feel chaotic when there’s a mad scramble between finding out your grades and having to quickly enrol onto courses. That’s why I’m looking forward to reassuring and supporting the students as they navigate some potentially challenging decisions.”
This year Future Frontiers piloted its new extended programme of support to 80 Year 11students across London From next academic year, 2022-23, we will be scaling up this pilot and delivering the Year 11 one-to-one career information and guidance, as well as results week support to 1400 young people.
Dominic comments, : “We’re really excited to be offering this comprehensive two-year programme to all our schools. It’s a significant step towards empowering less advantaged young people to enter great post-16 courses that will enable them to level up their qualifications and boost their earning potential in rewarding careers of their choice.”