• A community of citizenship learners
• Citizenship qualifications for sixth-formers
• 'Hear Us' A sixth-form conference
• Empowering sixth-form students
• Citizenship in action at a special school
• Pathways to citizenship (Aylesbury High School)
• Pathways to citizenship (Aylward School)
• Pathways to citizenship (Eggbuckland Community College)

A community of citizenship learners

Citizenship is at the heart of the community of learners at Sir Bernard Lovell School, an 11-19 comprehensive school in Bristol. From key stage 3 through to the post-16 centre, there is a wide range of citizenship activities and courses on offer to students.

In the sixth form, the emphasis is on developing independent, responsible learners who have a strong voice in their school and play an active part in their communities. Approaches to citizenship include through accredited courses, induction activities, personal research study and enrichment activities.

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Citizenship qualifications for sixth-formers

Exmouth Community College is an 11-19 LEA-maintained mixed comprehensive school. As part of its provision for sixth-formers, it offers successful one-year accredited citizenship courses.

Students either take GCSE Citizenship (short course) or AS Social science: citizenship. Both courses have proved popular with the students and results have been good. Having had less success with non-examined post-16 citizenship activities, the school believes that accredited courses are the best way to make citizenship education a significant and well-established part of the post-16 curriculum.

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'Hear us!' A sixth-form conference

Alderman Callow is a mixed comprehensive school and community college for 11- to 18-year-olds with a sixth form of 40 students. Citizenship plays an important part in all students' learning and the school is keen to encourage collaborative events across year groups.

In line with this - and as part of a project supported by the LEA's Minority Group Support Services -a group of sixth-form students organised a conference on refugees and asylum seekers for year 7 students. The event was a great success, informing and enthusing the younger students and reinforcing the sixth-formers' learning and understanding.

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Empowering sixth-form students

Whalley Range High School is a girls' comprehensive for 11- to 18-year-olds with a sixth form of 320 students. Around 90% of the girls who attend the school are Muslim. The school’s post-16 citizenship programme aims to empower students to engage in their community and understand how to bring about change.

The programme is centred on weekly tutorial sessions and whole-day events (such as debates and conferences). Students also have opportunities to take part in a sixth-form forum and community volunteer work within and outside school. Both staff and students are extremely positive about their experience of post-16 citizenship and the school is planning to extend and develop the programme in the future.

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Citizenship in action at a special school

Ash Field is a day and weekly boarding school for students with a range of special needs and learning difficulties. Citizenship plays an important part in helping the school to achieve its aim of promoting students' independence and preparing them for the reality of life in an able-bodied world.

For the past two years, the school has been piloting a post-16 citizenship programme that has involved students taking part in activities ranging from developing a website on disability to questioning local politicians. As a result, the students have made new friendships outside school and have shown a remarkable growth in self-confidence.

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Pathways to citizenship

Aylesbury High School is a selective state school in Buckinghamshire for girls aged 11-19. The
school was founded in 1959 when the previously coeducational Aylesbury Grammar School became
boys-only. There are still close links with the boys' school, which is on an adjacent site.

There are
1,266 students on roll, of whom 376 are in the sixth form. The school has a reputation for academic
excellence: 97 per cent of students achieved five or more GCSEs at grade A* to C in 2004, and over
95 per cent of the sixth form students gained places at university.

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Pathways to citizenship

Aylward School in Edmonton, North London, is an 11-18 mixed comprehensive school with
approximately 1,500 pupils, of whom 153 are in the sixth form. About 58 per cent of the intake
have minority ethnic backgrounds, and English is an additional language for over 50 per cent.

The school has good links with the local community, including shared school and community use of
an on-site state-of-the-art ICT centre (EDICT), working partnerships with the NHS and other
placement providers, and an ongoing relationship with Youth Volunteers for Enfield (YAVE), which
supervises young volunteers from the school working in the community in their free time.

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Pathways to citizenship

Eggbuckland Community College is an oversubscribed technology college on a 44-acre site on the
outskirts of Plymouth. It serves 1,500 11-18 students, including a sixth form of 300, and offers a
wide range of courses including vocational provision as a member of the Tamar Valley Consortium. It
is nationally recognised for its commitment to e-learning. The school is a 14-19 Pathfinder and a
member of the local Training Schools Initiative. It has applied for specialist status for performing arts.

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