“As a small school, the staff did not have the time to offer A level studies,” explains Tracey Hudson, ICT/Business Studies Teacher & Post 16 Mentor. “Previously students had to leave the Island to go to the UK or St Helena to study A levels. As you can imagine this was not an ideal situation.”
The school found there were concerns about the jump from GCSE to A level especially with no face-to-face teaching. Families were also concerned about the Island’s internet speed and whether it could cope with online studies. “We overcame those concerns by appointing a mentor in the school with responsibility for checking in with students and forming a link between the school, students, parents and Wolsey Hall,” continues Tracey. “The ISP on the island sponsored a separate internet line just for Post 16 education.”
Looking ahead
“Ideally we would like to continue this relationship and grow it into providing some online face to face tutorials for the students. Our numbers of students will always be small given that our class sizes are tiny but we enjoy being able to offer this extra option.”
Tracey Hudson
ICT/Business Studies Teacher & Post 16 Mentor
Finding the right provider proved challenging for us. As a small school some of the online tutoring providers would not accept us due to it not being financially viable for them. Wolsey Hall has allowed us to offer A Level studies alongside our Youth Training Scheme. We can provide further opportunities for our older students, giving them a pathway into higher education if they so wish. This has resulted in student aspirations rising across the school and we’re seeing younger students talking about A level studies too.
