Before half term, Ashton Sixth Form College celebrated Year 10 students's completion of the 2022 Realising Aspirations Programme, with a finale event.

From February to May, students from eight schools across the Tameside borough have attended various Realising Aspirations sessions at Ashton Sixth Form College. 

The programme aims to provide Year 10 students with an exciting opportunity to sample a higher level of academic teaching. Students enrolled on the programme choose a subject strand from six options: Art & Design, Business, Humanities, Performing Arts, Science & Maths and Social Sciences.

During a range of after school sessions, students experience academic taster sessions in these subject areas. College teaching staff stretch and challenge students beyond their current GCSE curriculum. This allows them to try new subjects and develop new skills. Students then complete assignments to consolidate their knowledge and display their understanding.

After taster sessions, students attend Study Skills workshops - these prepare them for an academic environment that is often suited to university - and the Pathways Evenings - where they meet ASFC students and career advisors. 

The aim of these events is to get students thinking about the academic skills they have developed during their taster sessions and highlight ways how they can transfer these skills into the final year of their GCSEs and beyond. This year, the University of Huddersfield delivered a session on revision skills and one introducing students to Higher Education.

Principal Anton McGrath welcomed the students, alongside the Programme Co-ordinator Alex Noble to the Grand Finale event. It was an opportunity for parents, families, and staff members from the schools who participated, to celebrate the student's hard work. 

Although hosting the programme's launch event online due to Covid, the Year 10 students have been committed throughout the programme and their accomplishments are an incredible achievement. 

Well done to everybody who participated in and completed the programme - we have loved welcoming the Year 10's into our college and classrooms the past few weeks!

Year 10 Realising Aspirations 2022