Throughout their four years on the Academies Partnership Programme (‘APP’), students should:

  • Aim high
  • Make the APP a priority and actively seek out opportunities to engage with it
  • Embrace, appreciate and make the most of opportunities, demonstrating appropriate motivation and commitment to see the programme through
  • Demonstrate intellectual curiosity, maturity and the right attitude to ensure their experience is a success
  • Make a positive difference to their family, school and/or community life, providing a strong role model for other students in their school

Detailed explanations of the aims of each year on the programme, and how success or progress can be measured appear in the following document. In summary:

Year 10

Over the course of their first year on the programme, a successful student recognises the opportunity provided by the APP and begins to adjust their expectations and ambitions accordingly, becomes familiar working within the APP routine and environment, engaging with their mentor via the e-mentoring platform, and completing all work on time and to the best of their ability, and, aiming high, starts to understand or explore the journey towards University or Higher Education.

Year 11

Building on a successful first year coming to terms with and becoming comfortable working as part of the programme, Year 11 students should use the APP structures and culture to aid and facilitate their personal development, start producing increasingly sophisticated academic work, including developing the ability to pursue individual interests and make compelling arguments, and prepare to succeed in GCSE’s, starting to think about what happens next in terms of Sixth Form and A-Level choices.

Year 12

As they move in to the sixth form, mentees will reflect on their GCSE results to identify where they have done well, less well, or better/worse than expected, showing initiative in seeking an increasingly personalised APP experience and successfully managing the transition to the start of their A-Level courses. This is the time to start to think seriously about Higher Education, identifying specific routes which would be achievable or desirable, coming to terms with perceived challenges or barriers to access, whether academic, social or financial, and developing an understanding of how these can be successfully overcome.

Year 13

The Teach First futures Mentee Action Plan helps to map and track the final stages of the journey towards University, and successful students should be engaging with and developing the competencies outlined in great detail by that. APP will remain an invaluable support network at this time, and the recent experiences of the mentor will be particularly important in providing their mentees with a guiding hand. The ultimate aim of the final year of the programme, given the nature of the entire programme, is for students to apply for and achieve a place at University.

Please see the attachment for further information.