NEXT STEPS Sixth Form Ages 16-18

Why High School?

One of the key strengths at Gateways, is our average class size of between 14-18 pupils. The benefits of small class sizes are huge; each pupil is given the attention they deserve and the effectiveness of teaching is dramatically enhanced. This is evidenced by our Value Added data which regularly places Gateways in the top ten of all schools nationally. Our average GCSE class size is 13 pupils.

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Extra-Curricular

Activities

Involvement in the wide range of extra-curricular opportunities offered at Gateways is encouraged. Sport, drama, music, community outreach, debating and other clubs and societies allow pupils to develop leadership, communication and team-working skills.

For an extensive list of extra-curricular opportunities at Gateways please click here.

NHS x Stemettes v5-min

Adventures, Tours and Trips

Educations visits are a regular feature in our High School programme and they give pupils the opportunity to learn in a wider context.

In Upper 3, pupils are invited to an “outward bound” residential weekend, providing a chance for them to learn to work together and enjoy each other’s company. In Lower 4 pupils are offered the chance to go on a cultural trip to a UK city. Other opportunities open to High School include an annual ski trip, a biannual cultural and historical trip to Poland, an excursion to London to visit the art galleries and geography field trips. Opportunities further afield include a biannual netball tour and an expedition (open to older members of the school community), which is recent years has involved visits to Cambodia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Duke of Edinburgh

Gateways has an outstanding record on the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. Gateways is a Licensed Organisation for the delivery of the scheme. Each year a large number of students participate in the Bronze, Silver and Gold award training. At Gateways pupils are able to start the Duke of Edinburgh Award in U4 (Year 9). The Duke of Edinburgh award allows millions of 14-24 year olds the opportunity to complete the award. Participants learn a sense of teamwork, commitment, endurance, independence and employability whilst on the scheme.

The expeditions take place in the Yorkshire Dales National Park between the end of March through to the end of October with highly qualified staff members on each expedition. In order to complete the award, the pupils must complete a practice expedition and then a final expedition for their age group.

In order to prepare the participants for their practice and final expedition, a Duke of Edinburgh cook out during lunch time will take place on the school grounds. Here pupils learn about camp craft and what is best suited to eat on expedition.

At each level there are three additional components to complete in order to achieve your award. These are skill, physical and volunteering – each section provides the participant to gain new skills and responsibilities depending on their interests. These need to be completed for three or six months. At Bronze the expedition time is two days and silver is three. Once these sections and the final expedition has been completed the pupil will receive her award in assembly.

A Day in the life of ...

Taliya in High School

8:45am

This morning was our class assembly. We decided to focus on friendship as this means a lot to us in the class. We spoke about the qualities that we find in a good friend such as someone who is always there for you. We all wrote the assembly together

9:00am

History is my first lesson of the day. It is one of my favourite subjects because Mr Crosby explains it in a way that is fun and easy to understand. At the moment we are studying the Peasant's Revolt against the king after the Black Death. We watched cartoons to help us understand.

11:00am

After lessons we rush to the dining room for some snacks - sometimes there are slices of pizza which are my favourite! Today we sit outside and have a chat before the next lesson because the sun is out.

11:15am

In Spanish today we are in the language lab. We can call each other across the room to practise our conversations. I also like learning by testing myself on the iPad.

12.45pm

Today is fish and chip day which is everyone's favourite day! I need to eat a good lunch because I have rounders club straight after. Mrs Braithwaite teaches it and it's really fun - we get to try lots of different techniques and then practice them in a game. We also get to mix with other year groups.

2:00pm

This afternoon I have PE which is my favourite subject. Recently we have been doing athletics. I have been really enjoying the sprinting. Today we learnt how to improve our sprinting techniques by using sprint starts. After this I get changed for my final lesson before home time at 4pm.

What's happening in...High School

LATEST NEWS

15th December 2023

Cherryvine – Autumn 2023

Below is a link to our Autumn term issue of Cherryvine.  In this issue, we focus on ‘growth’ as well as a round up of this term’s trips and events which included...

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10th July 2023

Cherryvine – Summer 23

Below is a link to our Summer term issue of Cherryvine.  In this issue, we focus on wellbeing as well as a round up of this term’s trips and events which included...

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18th April 2023

Cherryvine – Spring 23

In our Spring 2023 issue, we focus on PSHE as well as the usual round up of trip and events. Click here or the image below to download the pdf.

Read more