
Support
Tutors
All students in the Sixth Form have a dedicated Tutor they will see twice each day during registration. Tutors are the first port of call for students and will take an active role in supporting students throughout their time in the Sixth Form.
The Sixth Form Mentoring Team
Miss Tinsley and Miss Canning
The mentoring team works alongside sixth form students who are looking for guidance, advice and a safe space to feel heard and talk through challenging situations. There are no judgements, conversations can be varied and unfiltered.
We offer support with wellbeing and health, futures advice and academic mentoring, and social and emotional coaching. Appointments provide an opportunity to be reflective and make positive decisions. We discuss perspective and different ways to work through concerns and barriers. We also help signpost and refer students to local, external agencies if they decide they want additional, specialised support.
Appointments can be made by emailing Miss Tinsley or Miss Canning.
If you are concerned for yourself, a friend or as a parent, a short list of trusted platforms to visit can be found below:
- Kooth - Online mental wellbeing community including messaging service with trained counsellors. Free, safe and anonymous
- SHOUT - 24/7 free text service, confidential for anyone struggling to cope. Text: 85258
- Papyrus - Confidential suicide prevention helpline specifically for young people. Open 9am–12am (midnight) every day of the year
- Young Minds - a wide range of support and advice for young people and parents. Free texts 24/7 to 85258. Parents helpline: 0808 802 5544 (Monday to Friday 09.30am – 4pm)
- Childline - Confidential calls, chat online or email about any problem big or small. Sign up for a free Childline locker (real name or email address not needed) to use their free 1:1 counsellor chat and email support service. 0800 1111. 7:30am - 3:30am, 365 days a year.
- CEOP - offers information and guidance which is appropriate and relevant to the experiences of 11-18 year olds. The website offers advice articles and signposts clear ways young people can access help and support.
- Space Youth Project - Support for young people who are or may be LGBT+
- Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families - Aims to empower young people to make informed choices about their mental health
- The Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust (YGAM) - An award-winning charity with a social purpose to inform, educate, and safeguard young people against gaming and gambling harms.
- ChatHealth - A free school nursing text service available to all young people aged 11-19. All messages are confidential, and you can text regarding a number of health topics from relationships to mental health.
ChatHealth is available Monday to Friday from 8.30am-4.30pm, including the school holidays. Text 07480 635511. - ParentLine - a confidential text messaging service for parents and carers of 5-19 year olds in Dorset. Parents and carers can gain advice about a range of issues from sleep development to exam stress. The service is available from 9am-4pm, Monday to Friday (excluding weekends, bank holidays and school holidays). Text 07312 263131.
- Dorset Connection - to speak to someone urgently about any kind of mental health issue, please call our 24/7 telephone support service on 0800 652 0190
- Dorset Youth's Mental Health Hub - Includes a library of resources on topics including mental health, bereavement, self-harm and drugs and alcohol.
- SHORE - a safe space for teenagers worried about sexual behaviour. 100% anonymous. Backed by young people.
Sixth Form Counselling
Referrals to the Sixth Form Counsellor can be made via the Mentoring Team. Sessions are weekly and extend for six to eight weeks in school.
Students need to be aware that there is a waiting list and support can be offered during this time by the Mentoring Team.
We also work alongside Dorset Mind and the Family Counselling Trust.
Financial Support
The 16-19 Bursary Fund is a scheme to help students facing financial hardship to continue in full time education after Year 11.
More information about the Sixth Form Bursary is available here
PSHCE
Over the course of the year students attend 10 PSHCE sessions designed to equip them with the skills to meet the challenges that form both part of their contemporary lived experience and the future.
In year 12 we work initially with students on the transition from GCSE to Post 16 learning making sure that we establish a solid foundation for sixth form study. After this we move on to sessions on Drugs and Alcohol, Safe Driving - where we work alongside Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue - Volunteering and an exploration of the benefits and potential pitfalls of the rise of AI technology. Running parallel with this we introduce UNIFROG, the platform used to assist students with their next steps in terms of Futures, whether that be via UCAS, apprenticeships or paid employment. An important part of the Year 12 PSHCE calendar is a session on managing Relationships, hosted by Peter Radford of “Beyond This” where we look at the challenges faced by young adults in managing and maintaining healthy relationships. Running throughout both years of sixth form is an underlying focus on student wellbeing in terms of both physical and mental health.
In Year 13 we continue to run sessions designed to help students with the UCAS process, Healthy Eating, and we work alongside YGAM in alerting students to the growing societal problem of online gambling. We also run a morning on Personal Finance that is very much bespoke to the needs of young adults about to enter into the complex world of finance, managing budgets and decision making. In the early part of the year, we also run a session on Black History Month in which we celebrate diversity and look to interrogate and explore changing notions of identity and culture. Throughout the students’ two years of sixth form life they will experience sessions that explore a real range of issues that engage with a myriad of themes, whether that be on health, race, culture and identity to give them the very best chance of meeting future challenges in an informed, tolerant and engaged manner.