Enrichment
Expanding your horizons
Building cultural capital and confidence
At the Mossbourne Sixth Form, we firmly believe that developing your cultural awareness and personal interests is an essential part of your journey towards university and your chosen career pathway.
Our enrichment offer is therefore carefully designed to complement your academic studies, enabling you to become an articulate, confident young adult with a breadth of experience beyond the classroom.
We are committed to fostering a genuine love of learning and actively encourage all students to engage in a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities. These include a broad selection of activities including academic, cultural and physically active options. This offer is extensive and continually evolving, ensuring that it remains relevant, engaging and responsive to student interests.
Wednesday afternoons are dedicated to enrichment. Each week, from lunchtime, Year 12 students are taken off timetable to participate in a programme of activities tailored to their interests and aspirations. This dedicated time reflects the value we place on personal development and the importance of exploring opportunities beyond academic study. Please note that the programme is reviewed annually and may change to reflect the needs of each cohort.
Please note that the programme is subject to change each academic year.
Guest speakers
Broadening perspectives through real-world insight
Our Year 12 students benefit from regular access to a wide range of distinguished guest speakers who bring their expertise and experience directly into the Sixth Form. Through university-style lectures, students gain insight into a variety of professional fields and are given the opportunity to ask questions about career pathways, decision-making and the realities of working life.
Past speakers have included leading figures such as Matthew Barzun, George Alagiah, Edward Griffiths and Helgi Jóhannsson. These experiences help to broaden horizons, raise aspirations and equip students with the knowledge and confidence to make informed decisions about their futures.
Flagship Programmes
At Mossbourne Sixth Form our enriching, unique and dedicated flagship programmes provide unrivalled opportunities for students to focus on pathways in to medicine and architecture – hugely underrepresented careers for students from widening participation backgrounds. At highly selective universities, and highly selective courses, the gap in participation rates between students from advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds is stark. Our innovative programmes allow students to develop breadth, and depth, of academic learning.
The Medical Bursary (alongside our MedSoc) is an exciting opportunity for students interested in Medicine, Veterinary Science, Dentistry or associated medical careers to participate in unrivalled specialist experiences and personal support in building the skills needed to follow these career pathways. Please see our dedicated web page for further information.
The Architecture and the Built Environment Society is uniquely designed to provide students insight into the associated careers by providing links with partnerships – enabling students to gain valuable experiences often limited due to associated costs or lack of networks. Please see our dedicated web page for further information.
We strongly believe in breaking down all barriers to young people following their dream career pathway and will remove the hurdles created by a lack of accessibility.
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At Mossbourne Sixth Form, high-achieving students are carefully nurtured in preparation for applications to the fields of medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine.
The Medical Bursary Programme provides up to £1,000 per student of additional support, activities and preparation, throughout your time with us. This demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that our students are enabled to fulfil their aspirations to become the doctors and healthcare professionals of the future.
Success against the Odds
Nationally, students applying to these courses have low success rates, but at Mossbourne we buck this trend. An outstanding record of accomplishment of excellent exam grades and tailored support enables our students, to progress to study at prestigious establishments, including Cambridge, Oxford, Newcastle, Imperial College London, University College London, Royal College of Veterinary Medicine, King’s College London, and Birmingham. In 2024 alone, 18 students were successful in their applications to study Medicine, that is 10% of the year group!
Work Experience
Work experience is a vital part of preparing an application to these university courses. It gives students a realistic impression of what a career may involve and means that they can talk with authority in interviews. Unfortunately, it is often difficult for individuals to gain this vital experience without already having links to people in the profession. We have fostered a broad network of links with healthcare professionals and institutions, meaning we can aid students in securing work experience. Sometimes this can mean tailoring the work experience to the specialism students are interested in within a profession, such as shadowing surgeons if this is an area of particular interest.
Entrance Exam Training
Students applying to Medicine and Dentistry must complete the UCAT entrance exam, with scores being shared with universities. It is essential to get a high UCAT score to make a competitive application, with universities using this to determine which students to interview or give offers to. The UCAT is unlike any test students will have taken previously, so thorough preparation and lots of practice is needed to succeed.
At Mossbourne, students will receive rigorous training in preparation for the exam with access to Medify, an online platform to support in their practice. All of this is paid for by the Medical Bursary Programme.
Trips
To further students’ exposure to the realities of being a healthcare professional, we take students on trips to hospital simulation centres, where doctors receive their training. Working with peers, they are put through a range of simulated scenarios, stabilising patients, operations, and recovery.
Not only do students find this experience enjoyable, but they can also use it in personal statements and interviews to show they have what it takes to be a healthcare professional.
Interview Training
A key part of the application process are university interviews. To prepare students as thoroughly as possible, we have a rigorous interview preparation programme. This culminates in a Saturday session supported by alumni, where up to 30 medical professionals and medical, dental, and veterinary students give up their time to provide face-to-face interviews with our candidates. Once our students receive an invitation to interview at a university, we call upon our network of medics and alumni who have been successful at that university to do further interviews.
Application and Selection
Students wanting a career in medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine, should apply for the Medical Bursary Programme by indicating this on their Mossbourne Sixth Form application form.
Students will be selected on a number of criteria, including their academic record and enthusiasm for their chosen career.
Our Medicine Bursary Programme provides you with the challenge necessary to prepare you thoroughly for medical school, and requires, in return, both hard work and complete dedication, from you.
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Mossbourne Sixth Form runs an Architecture and Built Environment programme for students that might be interested in careers in architecture, planning, surveying or other careers in the built environment. The programme works with some of the best architecture schools and practices in the country, and also the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
The programme runs alongside chosen A level subjects during our Sixth Form enrichment slot on Wednesday afternoons. It consists of speaker slots from experts in the field, mentoring from architecture students, visits to building projects, architecture schools and practices, work experience and projects to develop a portfolio for a potential application to architecture school or similar. Students who then want to progress to an Architecture, Engineering or related degree will then have the support of the Sixth Form team in taking this forward.
Students who have an interest in the built environment, who can develop ideas into projects showing the various stages along the way, and who can communicate their thoughts and ideas to others are very welcome to apply. Experience with architecture, product design, art or similar would be advantageous but is not compulsory. The most important thing is that you have an inquiring mind and curiosity about how the built environment is created or can be changed.