Higher Prior Attaining Students

How will we meet the needs of pupils with a high learning potential at The Henry Box School?

At The Henry Box School, we believe in the importance of providing challenging and stimulating learning experiences for all students and creating an ethos of striving for excellence.

 

What is our philosophy and rationale for pupils with high learning potential?

We aim to achieve the following objectives:

 

• To identify pupils with a high learning potential
• To address the needs of pupils with high learning potential by providing support and teaching which makes their learning challenging, engaging and enables them to reach their full potential
• To provide enrichment activities outside the classroom to support self-reliance and independent learning
• To raise aspirations of pupils with high learning potential

 

How will we identify pupils with high learning potential?

Our pupils are identified through various sources of information, including:

• Accelerated reader reading tests
• GCSE results for Year 12 and 13 students
• Recommendations from subject teachers 

 

How will we provide for pupils with high learning potential?

 

In-class support

High quality teaching for pupils with high learning potential is the same as high quality teaching for all our pupils. These strategies are outlined in our main Teaching and Learning policy. Strategies include:

 

• Ensuring there is clear progression within our curriculum model.
• Checking pupils have the knowledge base to succeed. In order to do this, all teachers need to ensure they have outstanding subject knowledge. This is achieved through our professional development programme.
• Identifying what excellence looks like in each subject area and sharing this with pupils.
• Assessing students according to our curriculum model. Have students learnt what we wanted them to learn?
• Encouraging students to work in their ‘struggle zone’. This may be through the content of our lessons, encouraging students to elaborate and explain their thinking during questioning or through feedback which enables students to learn from their mistakes.
• Avoiding cognitive overload by presenting material in small steps.
• Encouraging pupils’ metacognition and teaching pupils how to learn effectively. For example, using visualisers to live model teacher thinking and teaching pupils about the importance of retrieval practice and organisation.

 

Academic monitoring

All pupils have a mentoring session with their tutor, through our vertical tutoring programme, once every five weeks. Tutors discuss progress and identify targets in these sessions. 

 

Academic enrichment

There are a specific range of trips, clubs and programmes available to pupils with high learning potential. Here is a small example of what we have offered:

• The Scholars Programme: In Year 9 are invited to apply for a highly-competitive place on The Scholars Programme. At least 50% of the pupils are from a disadvantaged background. This may include pupil premium pupils, pupils whose parents do not have experience of higher education in the UK, and pupils who live in disadvantaged areas of Witney, as identified by postcode. 

 

• UKMT Maths Challenge: High attaining pupils in mathematics are regularly entered for the UKMT Maths Challenge. This is a national mathematics competition organised by The University of Leeds. Many pupils achieve Bronze, Silver and Gold certificates in the individual challenges, and a few go on to participate in the more advance stages of the competition. Lesson time is dedicated to helping pupils prepare, through modelling and discussing strategies, whilst looking at an array of problems. Pupils are also invited to further preparation sessions if they are entered for subsequent rounds.

 

• Science Department: The department organise a number of events to support pupils with high learning potential. For KS3 pupils, the department organise a STEM robotics challenge in Term 5, an RAF workshop in Term 4 and an Oxford University Christmas Lecture for KS3 pupils in December. KS4 and KS5 pupils will be invited to enter the RSC Chemistry Olympiad, the British Biology Olympiad or the Senior Physics Challenge between January and March. With the aim to challenge and inspire, these unique opportunities encourage pupils to push themselves further and excel in science.

 

• Oxplore: Oxplore is an innovative digital outreach portal from Oxford University. As the ‘Home of Big Questions’ it aims to engage those from 11 to 18 years with debates and ideas that go beyond what is covered in the classroom. Big questions tackle complex ideas across a wide range of subjects and draw on the latest research undertaken at Oxford. Oxplore aims to realise aspirations, promote broader thinking and stimulate intellectual curiosity. 

 

How will we support parents in meeting the needs of pupils with high learning potential?

At the Henry Box School, we have designed a super-curricular activity booklet for parents to support pupils with high learning potential. These activities have been carefully selected by subject teachers to enhance curiosity and challenge our pupils beyond the classroom. 

 

How will we raise the aspirations of pupils with high learning potential?

At The Henry Box School, we have worked hard to establish and maintain links with some of the UK’s top universities. Pupils with high learning potential are encouraged to attend university-led sessions throughout their time at school:

 

• Year 7: all pupils attend a university visit, coordinated by our School Leader: Sixth Form to Oxford Brookes University.
• Year 10 and 11: Pupils with high learning potential are invited to a talk run by the University of Oxford’s Outreach Programme which aims to discuss the skills and qualities that Russell Group Universities are looking for.
• Henry Box Alumni: We have many Henry Box Alumni who are either at university, doing apprenticeships or are now working and have offered help to any of our pupils who need it. They have supported our pupils with high learning potential with applications, personal statements, or mentoring.

 

How will we continue to meet the needs of pupils with high learning potential at Sixth Form?

We have high aspirations for all our Sixth Form pupils and support our pupils with high learning potential in applying to Russell Group Universities. This support includes the Extended Project Qualification which allows our pupils to embark on a largely self-directed and self-motivated project. Pupils must choose a topic, plan, research and develop their idea and decide on their finished product.

 

We encourage creativity and curiosity. A project topic may be directly related to a pupil's main study programme but should look beyond the specification. A finished product may take the form of a:

 

• research based written report
• production* (e.g. charity event, fashion show or sports event)
• an artefact* (e.g. piece of art, a computer game or realised design).

*A written report must accompany these options.

 

Pupils must also record their project process in their Production Log. The process of recording and completing a project is as important as the finished product. Both the Production Log and Product will be assessed. The EPQ is equivalent to half an A level and is co-ordinated by our School Leader; Sixth Form.

In addition, we offer the following opportunities to pupils with high learning potential at Sixth Form:

• Individual help with UNIQ Summer School applications
• Visits to Oxbridge link colleges
• Preparation for Oxbridge Entrance exams and mock interviews
• Regular academic mentoring from tutors
• Parent tutorials with Trinity College Oxford about applying to competitive universities

Updated October 2024