Like many independent schools, Burgess Hill Girls is celebrating another successful year of A Level results. Though A Levels are an essential means of developing knowledge in specific subject disciplines, Burgess Hill Girls believes that A Level results are no longer the most important outcome for its Sixth Formers. Students need to be prepared for the future demands of work as well as developing psychological and emotional strength. To satisfy these needs, Burgess Hill Girls has created a new programme to enrich and extend its academic curriculum, the BOLD programme.
Four Key Themes
The BOLD Programme is focused around four key themes; Beyond, Opportunities, Leadership and Development, and is delivered through tutorial sessions, assemblies, classroom-based training and real world experiences.
Going Beyond
Burgess Hill Girls Sixth Formers engage in informed and evidenced super-curricular activities, from reading and research to work experience and immersive opportunities. Examples of the latter include a London Induction Day and a week-long residential trip to Washington DC.
Exploring Opportunities
This is the necessary research and engagement that gives the girls the best understanding of the world beyond school, and how they will take their place in it. From thorough and comprehensive training on UCAS, to university visits, course research and a visiting speaker programme, students are fully informed on all options that follow their A levels.
Taking Leadership
Students are supported in taking on opportunities to develop and practise leadership skills in preparation for life beyond school. This includes a dedicated Leadership Training residential trip to Scotland in the weeks after GCSE exams.
Personal Development
Students enhance their personal attributes through community service, extra-curricular activities, and Sixth Form VIVAs, which allow for regular student evaluation against professionally and academically informed criteria.
From the BOLD programme to Bold Girls
Head of Sixth Form Bill O’Brien Blake is confident the new curriculum will give pupils all the self-belief, determination, and life skills they need to fulfil their ambitions: “With the BOLD Programme, we know that we prepare our girls for everything that comes next, and that our leavers are ready to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.”
It is no coincidence that the official name of Burgess Hill Girls alumnae reflects the School’s intentions for its leavers. When they move on, students are not merely Old Girls; they become Bold Girls.