Senior

The Sixth Year Programme at St Aloysius’ College is built around three core elements: Academic Studies, Christian Formation, and Personal Development.

Combined, these three elements present a positive experience for our Sixth-Year pupils in their final year of school. The Sixth Year Programme is designed to encourage each pupil to grow and achieve personal excellence in each of these areas. It is the combination of all three elements that make the Sixth-Year experience unique to us as a Jesuit school.

Academic Studies

At the College, we aim to promote academic excellence whereby each student can develop his or her own intellectual gifts to the fullest. Sixth Year provides opportunities to:

• continue with academic studies to a more advanced level;
• consolidate existing qualifications;
• take up new subjects and interests;
• undertake and manage independent study and increased responsibility for one’s own intellectual development.

All Sixth-Year students are required to take either three advanced courses or four courses, including advanced course(s) where appropriate, plus, Theology. Advanced courses are defined to be Advanced Highers, a ‘new Higher’ or a subject not studied since S4. Students taking three advanced courses may also choose to follow a fourth course if they wish.

Christian Formation

Religious and spiritual formation is integral to Jesuit education and an integral part of the Sixth-Year experience is a commitment to community outreach. This may take a variety of forms, including participation in one or more of the many College charities, the Arrupe Programme, or outreach activities of one’s own choosing.

The Arrupe Programme affords students an alternative to games and runs on Wednesday afternoons. Those involved will participate in community service work during two ten-week rotations. These include schools for the disabled, hospices, homes for the elderly, work on behalf of the homeless, and international aid.

Personal Development

Jesuit education aims to promote the fullest possible growth of all the God-given talents of each individual person. Sixth Year provides opportunities to:

• develop the imaginative, creative, physical and social aspects of oneself;
• participate in co-curricular activities, especially in the service of others, and to take on leadership and initiating roles in the school community;
• recognise freedom and accept responsibility in ways that lead to the formation of a mature and balanced individual with an informed and Christian personal philosophy of life.

 An exciting range of service opportunities exists in the College, including:

The Common Room and Study Rooms provide a central focus for Sixth Year life. There is a Sixth Year Activity Fee which goes towards funding the Sixth-Year events programme for the year and provides a source of funding for additional facilities decided by the students themselves.

Sixth Year events include:

The senior games programme is built around individual students’ interests in sport and Physical Activity with a view to them pursuing this after leaving the College. Sport will play a significant role in the lives of our young people and we aim to provide students with a broad range of opportunities and experiences. The sporting values that we instil are underpinned by the College values and Jesuit pupil profile. Whilst we want our pupils to strive for excellence in all that they do we look to develop their compassion towards others, discernment in the choices that they make and their curiosity in all that sport and physical activity has to of­fer. Aloysians are regularly selected for regional and national teams and pathway programmes in a variety of sports.

Life after the College

Applying to University

The process of University Application can be a very exciting and yet very anxious undertaking. Sixth Year students will begin this process in June after their fifth-year exams. Our designated Careers Office will support our pupils throughout their UCAS applications and pupils will also be allocated a ‘Finishing Well’ period each week for their applications. Each year, we see a number of pupils choose to apply to Oxford and Cambridge University and our Careers Department provides specialist advice to those Oxbridge candidates.

Beyond the Green Blazer

Our pupils’ Green Blazer Story doesn’t end when they leave St Aloysius’ College. They now become part of a network of thousands of Old Aloysians, known as OAs, around the world.

OA will benefit from the many ways that the OA Community interacts, including:

• Year Group Reunions
• Business Networks
• London Dinners
• Pub Nights
• Guest Speaker Events

We host a range of annual events which provide them with the opportunity to foster relations with their own peer group and with other OAs and they will be able to access a variety of contacts via our Business Network Scheme.

 “Upon leaving the College in 2009, I never expected OA connections to play a part in helping me land the job I currently have today (Commercial Partnerships Manager at Newcastle United Football Club). Having attended the St Aloysius’ Business Network Events over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to make contacts that have helped with my career and day-to-day job. I would urge all students present and past to make use of the OA network” (Brett Mcgoldrick, class of 2009).

To find out more about the S6 experience read our blog posts from our 2020-21 Head Boy and Head Girl.