Park Community Academy Sixth Form provision is based at ‘The Oracle’ in Blackpool. This unique setting was designed by young people and offers spacious classrooms, mini kitchen facilities, a fully equipped canteen, an on-site café, a theatre with tiered seating and a dance studio. We foster a modern, inclusive environment which is fully accessible for all.
Our intent is to prepare our students for the start of their adult life, working with individuals to identify their aspirations for adulthood, setting relevant targets and providing opportunity to work towards them in our wholly relevant curriculum. We strive to deliver outstanding teaching and learning, combining robust pastoral support with academic challenge for all. We utilize a holistic approach to raise cultural capital and provide real opportunities for students to develop those all-important employability skills. Our golden threads reflect the ambition we hold for all our students:
Successful Learners
Resilient Individuals
Responsible Citizens
We implement our vision through 3 learning pathways: ‘Academic Curriculum’, ‘Aspirations for adulthood’ and ‘Therapeutic Curriculum’ th
ese are designed to be flexible and intertwined. Each Pathway ensures that the students’ journey is tailored to meet their needs and offers a balance between classroom based learning and practical, real-life experience. The curriculum is enriched by a range of creative and physical education programmes and opportunities, including extra-curricular activities and residential opportunities. Throughout their time in Park 6th Form we ensure all students have the opportunity to attend Careers fairs and conventions; participate in Employability Skills, World of Work programme, mock job interviews and engage with external providers. A well established and thriving work related learning programme and work experience opportunities, alongside college link courses, supports the students growing independence and prepares them for adulthood.
More about volunteering:
Students at PCA 6th Form have the opportunity to take part in a number of volunteer projects throughout the year and we believe this directly supports our Golden Threads. In the past we have proudly worked with the charity ‘GroundWorks’ and made lasting contributions to local areas such as the Bispham Nature reserve, the North Lancashire Pond Trail and the public access areas to the back of Stanley Park and Blackpool Zoo.
More about Work Experience:
Each student has a well-planned work experience appointment based on their EHCP aspirations for their future. This may be an internal placement with roles such as; Teaching Assistant, Catering Assistants, Assistant Clerical Offices and Assistant Site Managers available or an external placement in the community. Previous workplaces have included – Pizza Hut, Burtons Biscuit Factory, Devon Hair, Cancer Research shop, Nibbles Café, Toy Land, Morrisons, Ascent trampoline park, Animal Grooming and CJ Cycles. Students also have access to the new enterprise trailer whereby they can put their working skills to the test in real life functional situations!
Further information regarding our 3 strands can be found by following these links:
Sixth Form
We are committed to making a difference and measure Imapct via a multi-facetted approach. We undertake routine formal assessment which can include (but is not limited to) Read Write Inc testing, Functional Maths assessments, Functional English assessment, accreditation scrutiny (including WJEC/BTEC/ASDAN), functional/additional Computing assessment and Maths end of unit assessment. Additionally, we maximise opportunities for informal Assessment including (but not limited to) Kahoot quizzes, work scrutiny, classroom activities, objectives, specific and developmental feedback and pupil observation.
Furthermore, we utilize information from our annual ‘Pupil voice’, Work experience feedback reports, Work scrutiny, Blog/Twitter/Newsletter/Website posts, National Citizens Award, John Muir Award, Duke of Edinburgh Award, Travel Training, Progress reports from SALT/OT/Physio etc, EHCP target progress, Annual review- aspirations, pupil voice/family voice, transition to further education observation and student employment successes!
‘Next steps’ in Education and ‘moving on’ to adult life
We ensure to work with our students and their families to make preparation for life after ‘The Oracle’. Our students have, in the past, taken the next step to a variety of service providers such as Project Search, Blackpool Gateway and Myerscough College. This process is completed in partnership with: pupil, parents and carers; Blackpool SEND Team, The Careers Service, The Transitions Team, The Learning Disability Team and College or Service Provider representatives. We communicate clearly with all parties making sure our students experience a smooth and supported process. We are proud to have a 100% success rate in helping students transition into appropriate provision of further Education or employment. To further support our students, we ‘keep in touch’ via a Youth Club available to ex-students on Monday evenings and we also maintain contact with their next destinations.
NB: The PCA Admissions Policy applies to all applicants to Park 6th Form @ The Oracle.
Additional work Key Stage 5
Students in KS5 are provided with additional work outside of curriculum time to support their BTEC and AQA coursework. This will predominantly take the form of individual research on particular topics. All students will be invited to choose their own reading for pleasure book and will also be set a reading task. All KS5 students are invited to the cohort wide google classroom where a comprehension task, linked to the ‘first news’ document that is uploaded each week, is set for all. All students are also encouraged to use reading apps to continue reading at home to further develop their confidence.
Students in Key stage 5 are also given additional work for English and Maths on a three year rolling program that is split into levels of challenge and ability. Students are given the work each week or possibly as a year long booklet. Professional judgement will be the deciding factor in this as roll out will vary from class to class. There is also a life skills weekly challenge/focus. Students are encouraged to return their additional work and can collect points on their ‘punch’ card that they can then trade in at the tuck shop.
The main focus of additional work for our KS5 students is preparing them for life after PCA hence there is an audit on life skills directed and worked on through additional activities. Students are encouraged to use their money and time skills at all opportunities. Parents/Carers may also request additional work for their child. Students at KS5 use their tracker passports to identify and track their progress.
Parents/Carers will also be encouraged to follow the class blog Twitter posts on a regular basis and discuss the photographs and learning activities of the class with their child.
Students are encouraged to use the time out of school to purchase items from local shops, get about in Blackpool independently using local transport or walking to gain knowledge of their immediate home geography.
