Progression Information for all students (25th May)

An update from Andrew Kaye, Principal and Chief Executive (25th May 2020)

“I continue to be very impressed with how hard both students and staff are working during this time. I’ve seen excellent attitudes and behaviours amongst our student body with many of you carrying out key worker roles alongside your studies. It makes me incredibly proud to be the Principal of Fareham College. Considering recent Government announcements about the gradual roll-back of lockdown measures, I felt it prudent to provide an update to keep you informed of our plans.

Awarding Technical/Professional Qualifications

I emailed you some time ago to explain how GCSE qualifications were to be awarded, which you will find further down this page. Further updates, when available, will also be posted on this page.

We are still awaiting Ofqual and Awarding Organisations guidance as to how your professional and technical qualifications will be awarded this academic year. We are hoping that by the 5^th June 2020 we will be able to provide you with this information. Until then, it is vital you continue with your studies to support your overall achievement of your qualification.

Progression

All full time progression decisions have now been finalised and you should be receiving your conditional progression offer via email shortly. If you do not receive an email by the 5^th June, please contact the Careers Centre Team by emailing info@fareham.ac.uk

For those students exploring an Apprenticeship or part time work next year, further support and guidance will be issued on our website, week commencing 15th June 2020. There will also be an opportunity to discuss your future options with a Careers Centre Advisor. If you wish to speak to an Advisor, please email info@fareham.ac.uk

If you are exploring an Apprenticeship your details have been given to our Business Plus Team who should make direct contact with you. Again if you have any questions or concerns please email info@fareham.ac.uk

Reopening of the College

The Government’s ambition is that schools and colleges will start to welcome some year groups back from 1^st June. The year groups in question are R, 1, 6, 10 and 12. It has also been stated that early years settings may be able to open for all children.

The clear message we are receiving is that all easing back of lockdown measures will be subject to regular review of the rate of decline of the coronavirus infection and the ‘R number’ remaining below 1.

In light of the Government recommendations, for the remainder of this academic year the College will:

Consider the needs of individual students, not make decisions on year groups or cohorts.
Respect the decisions of students, parents, employers and staff members to continue to work from, or stay at, home at this time, if they need to do so.
Continue to deliver most of your teaching and learning online. This has been successful to date and is sustainable for the small number of weeks remaining in the academic year.
Provide limited onsite one-to-one tutorial support for:

Vulnerable students, students with EHCPs and students with additional learning support or emotional needs
Professional and technical students who have fallen behind with online learning, struggled to engage with online learning or who have developed significant knowledge gaps that will disadvantage them in their progression in 2020/21
English and Maths for progressing students who will re-sit these subjects in 2020/21
Careers education, information, advice and guidance – online only.

Facilitate access to practical teaching spaces for:

Students and apprentices who require additional off-the-job training or competency-based assessment to complete their qualification this academic year, subject to awarding body requirements and safe working practices
Apprentices undertaking end-point assessment subject to safe working practices.

Provide access to exam rooms to facilitate online examinations where required.

If you fall into one of the categories above, you will be contacted separately to discuss plans on how we can offer you further support.

The new ‘Stay Alert’ guidance makes very clear reference to ‘work from home if you can’. Therefore, this remains my expectation for the majority of staff and students until further notice.

I’m sure you’ll have some questions about what your return in September might look like. We are currently working on this; I will write to you and our new applicants, before the summer break, to describe what we intend to put in place. I can assure you that whatever the September start looks like, Fareham College will continue to provide you with the excellent education and training you are familiar with.

I wish you a great May half term, stay alert, stay safe.”

A progression update for all students (8th April 2020)

We are still awaiting Ofqual and Awarding Body information regarding how our technical professional qualifications will be awarded this year. We are hoping to receive this information after the Easter break. However, it is likely your teachers will recommend to the awarding body the grade they determine you would be most likely to have achieved if you had completed your studies fully. Judgements will balance different sources of evidence such as:

classwork
bookwork
any non-exam assessment – whether or not complete
the results of any assignments, in-class test or mock exams
previous examination results – for example, for any re-sitting students
any other records of student performance over the course of study.

Therefore, it is vital you continue to engage in online learning and complete the work set by your teachers. This will ensure you are awarded the grade you have worked hard to achieve this academic year and you are making the required progress to progress next year or enter into employment, Higher Education or onto an Apprenticeship.

At this point in year, the College would usually start to capture your progression choices to find out what your plans are for the next academic year. You would have a 1:1 meeting with a Careers Centre Advisor to explore your career and progression options for the next college year. However, due to the current situation, we have had to change how we are going to capture this. You should have already completed a section on Pro Portal under the ‘My Plans After My Course’ page, to inform your tutor what you would like to do in the next college year, or if you are leaving us, what you are going on to do. If you have not done this, please do so immediately.

Previously, your tutor would have also entered a comment which the Careers Centre Advisors can access, they will then action this accordingly.

As we are unable to hold 1:1 meetings, the Careers Centre Advisors will only contact you if the section on Pro Portal has not been fully completed. We will send an email to each student who has been offered a place to continue at Fareham College confirming this once all of the progression data has been captured. We are aiming to complete this by Monday 18 May 2020.

Apprenticeships

If you plan to apply for an Apprenticeship, please make sure you have added this to your ‘My Plans After My Course’ page so that the Careers Centre Advisors will be able to liaise with our Business Plus Apprenticeship Team who will make contact with you to support you in sourcing and securing an Apprenticeship.

Further advice on Apprenticeships, can be found at the following pages:

https://www.fareham.ac.uk/apprenticeships/

Higher Education

Universities and colleges are all still accepting higher education applications for courses starting in 2020.

To give you time to make your decisions and to understand more about how qualifications will be awarded this summer, UCAS has extended the May offer deadline for UCAS Undergraduate applicants.

Due to the virus you will not be able to attend open days, applicant days or interviews but there is lots of information online to give you a feel for what studying at different universities is like. This includes virtual open days and Unibuddy– a platform where you have the chance to speak to current students about their experiences.

If you are unsure about how the virus will impact your application, UCAS has a section dedicated to answering your questions: https://www.ucas.com/coronavirus

If you are concerned about your application to a university please contact them directly by searching for the university of interest and the word ‘admissions’. This should take you directly to the admissions pages with all contact information available. If you require further support, advice or guidance, please contact Harry.Gibbs@fareham.ac.uk

We are really excited for you as you decide upon and take your next steps, whether you are going to continue to study with us at Fareham College, attend University or move into employment. If you have any questions regarding your progression with the College, or if you require further advice and guidance about your next steps, please do not hesitate to contact the Careers Centre Team by emailing info@fareham.ac.uk and one of the Careers Centre Advisors will be in touch with you.

Fareham College update on 2020 qualifications achievements

The measures taken by the Government to reduce the spread of the Coronavirus included the physical closure of schools. Whilst Fareham College has moved all classes online and has continued to enable teaching and learning to take place for all students and apprentices, there will still be some questions you may have around assessment, achievement and progression.

There is no doubt that the Coronavirus has sadly interrupted education programmes to a degree not seen before, but this guidance is to reassure you that measures are in place to ensure you achieve your qualifications.

We can reassure you that you will get the qualifications you have been working hard towards but it is also really important you continue to use the time available to you to maintain your studies and plan carefully for your next steps.

Our Careers Centre team can support you with any queries or questions you may have regarding enquiries about courses, queries about applications, progression queries for current students and/or further careers information, advice and guidance. Please contact info@fareham.ac.uk and one of our team will get back to you as soon as possible.

For further qualification information, please follow the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-cancellation-of-gcses-as-and-a-levels-in-2020/coronavirus-covid-19-cancellation-of-gcses-as-and-a-levels-in-2020

Students undertaking GCSE qualifications

Your teachers will determine the grade for you in your GCSE subject. They will recommend to the awarding body the grade they determine you would be most likely to have achieved if you had sat your exams and completed any non-exam assessment. Judgements will balance different sources of evidence such as:

classwork
bookwork
any non-exam assessment – whether or not complete
the results of any assignments or mock exams
previous examination results – for example, for any re-sitting students
any other records of student performance over the course of study.

We cannot tell you what grade you will be awarded in advance, all grades submitted by the College will be moderated by the awarding body and could be subject to change. It is therefore vital you continue to engage in online learning as this will continue to demonstrate progress and develop knowledge in preparation for your next steps.

For those students who are expecting to return in September 2020 to continue with your studies, if your moderated grade in GCSE English or Maths is not yet at a grade 4 you will have further opportunities to re-sit these subjects, initially in November, subject to entry criteria, and then in the summer series exams.

Therefore, it is really important you use the time available to you to continue to study English and Maths. The following resources are available to you: