Walnuts School

6th Form

Who are we?

We are a group of students ranging from seventeen to

nineteen years of age; henceforth, the name of our

establishment is the Post 16 Base, as we are all over

sixteen years of age. Thomas

We are the 6th form department of The Walnuts

School, a school for autistic children based in Milton

Keynes. We can be found in Fenny Stratford. Ben

We are sixth form as one whole group who

are based in Bletchley and part of The

Walnuts School. Harry

We are Post 16 with 16 students, from

Walnuts School. Callum O

The walnuts sixth form is a collection of students

who are stationed at the fenny Stratford Masonic

centre. Our usual activities consist of preparing for

college, work and living in the community just to

name a few. Joshua

What is Sixth Form about?

Boosting

self-esteem and

confidence

Building on

existing

skills

Developing life

and independence

Transition preparation for

college, employment or

other services

Sixth Form students are treated as young

adults and are encouraged to act

accordingly.

Students are provided with

experiences and activities which are age

appropriate and adapted to suit individual students

as required.

Students are encouraged to problem solve,

question, challenge, disagree, and make supported

choices and decisions.

Problem solving and learning from outcomes in

order to make informed choices to promote

independence.

What do we do?

We do a variety of things revolving around maturity, jobs in a

workplace, community familiarization, safety, and

horticultural activities; namely in places like Moulton,

Bedford, Luton, Stevenage, and more. We have sessions at

Moulton College with activities such as small animal care,

cooking, floristry, and carpentry. We also treat ourselves if

we’ve done a great job and had an outstanding year by visiting

some favorite places. . Thomas

We use the public buses to go to Central Milton Keynes and Newport Pagnell.

We visit Moulton College for different lessons such as Floristry and Food Tech.

We do different life skills such as hoovering the floors, mopping the floors, cleaning

the toilets and changing the bin bags in the bins.

We visit Bletchley Leisure Centre to use the gym or the swimming pool.

We do independent shopping and shopping for our base at Asda, Morrisons,

Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

We do different DIY jobs such as painting shelves and walls.

We visit the local allotment to help with different jobs. Shaan

We are dedicated to educating 17-19 year olds in preparation for moving

on to college or work. We do a variety of activities, including regular

maintenance of the facility, vocational skills and planning trips into the

community to shop for supplies. We even attend Moulton College most

weeks, have work experience at Tesa and use Bletchley Leisure Centre for

the gym or swimming! Ben

Learning Learning in sixth form is driven by encouragement

of independence and being a responsible young

adult. All sixth form students are encouraged to

make independent choices and be responsible for

the outcome of those choices and actions.

Regular opportunities to take part in a variety of

age appropriate activities are available throughout

Sixth Form. Students will start their week with a

diary planning session, where they document their

lessons and activities they will be taking part in for

the week ahead. This session is paramount as it ena-

bles students to have clear directions and know

their objectives for the rest of the week. Students

are responsible for referring to their diaries to

prepare for the week and ensure they have the cor-

rect equipment for the activities of that day.

All students have an individual learning pathway

which incorporates personal targets.

Key Skills

Key skills are developed throughout all

areas of the sixth form curriculum;

Communication

Problem solving

Working with others

Self Organisation

Relationship Building

Money Management

Appreciate individuality

The Wolf Report

The Wolf report

‘Improving the quality of further education and

skills training’

Department for Education and Department for Business,

Innovation & Skills, 3 March 2011 states;

‘Our society believes in equality of

opportunity for all its citizens. That means equipping young people for a world in which their education makes a critical

difference to their future lives.’

‘Helping young people to obtain genuine work experience –

and, therefore, ‘employability skills’ should be one of the

highest priorities for 16-18 education policy in the next

few years’.

In Sixth Form, we believe that our

students should, as far as possible, and as appropriate to their needs,

be entitled to the same range of

opportunities and life chances as

everyone else.

What is our focus?

Life Skills, Functional Skills and

Vocational Skills are interwoven with

everything we do!

Life Skills Students in the Sixth Form are encouraged to develop and

extend their life skills in preparation for leaving school.

This involves activities such as; using a washing machine,

Ironing, cleaning, hovering and using basic diy skills. The

students have recently completed a project in which the

group chose shelves to purchase within a budget, built the

shelves themselves and then painted them in a design they

had agreed on. The shelves are now used daily in our art

room and look fantastic.

Other life skills that students are encouraged to take part

in include to use the library, use public buses, make

telephone calls, create shopping lists, be responsible for

personal hygiene and money management.

Work Experience

We aim to provide all our students with a work

experience placement in Post 16

(appropriate to their needs).

Our interpretation of employability skills is skills

that will help the students in life beyond school.

Some 6th Form students will be able to gain some

form of employment but all will need broader skills

emphasising independence and decision making as to

whether they gain employment or not.

“The work experience at Tesa is a nice learning spot

about work, what it feels like and what I can expect

for when I get a job in the future. I have really

enjoyed Post 16 and I hope that others will too”.

Ben

In Sixth Form, we recognise the need to provide

work-related learning; creating an integrated

approach with a variety of agencies who provide

opportunities and benefits for our students.

Supporting successful

transition is a fundamental part of our final year.

In my view Post 16 has a good amount of opportunities,

one of them being the Parks Trust in Milton Keynes.

When I was at Parks Trust I got to work with a wood

chipper which was very good and I had to be very careful.

It felt like one of my best school days ever. The

machines there were very dangerous, some staff were

using chainsaws to cut down large trees. Then they used

the wood chipper to shred the tree branches, they had to be

careful so they didn’t get their hands caught in the wood

chipper.

Don’t worry you are safe at Parks Trust as the staff will

show you how to use all the equipment safely. Cal-

lum Booth.

In 6th Form we are treated like adults. We are allowed to go

to different shops to buy snack or lunch independently.

We are allowed to use our phones during break time. You

get an opportunity to do work experience which gives you

an idea of what work will be like. The staff members are

always there to help you when you are struggling. At

snack time we are allowed to have a cup of tea, coffee or hot

chocolate. Using the gym or the swimming pool at Bletch-

ley Leisure Centre is a great way of getting exercise. Do-

ing different life skills such as hoovering and cleaning

the bathrooms is a good way of preparing to live alone.

Being in 6th Form is helping me a lot with road crossing

skills, shopping skills, using the public bus and finding

my way around in the community. I am enjoying my

time in 6th Form. Shaan

Hear what the students in Sixth

Form have to say............

What I like about 6th Form

In 6th Form I can;

Zumba

Go on the train

Shopping Andrew

Do Cooking

Off to the gym

Buy things Jacob

Go on the bus

Puzzles

Learning Chloe

When I go out in the community I;

Go to the library

Buy a drink at the cafe

Go on a bike ride at the gym

Most of all I really enjoy;

Puzzles, Zumba dancing workout and going on the bus to

Milton Keynes shopping centre to go to the shops.

Chloe

We are treated like adults.

We get to go out in the community and

be independent.

In Life Skills we do cleaning and

hoovering up.

We have the opportunity to do Work

Experience. Callum O

In sixth form, we have independence and less

written work, but more practical and physical

lessons, including going to the gym on Fridays

and allotment skills on Mondays. We are all

individual and treated equally like adults.

This is special to me because it’s enabled me to

grow up making mistakes and learning from

them. This has also helped with being part of a

team and working in small groups to complete

a task. This is also special because we go out in

the community and travel training to Bedford

and CMK once a week on Thursdays. Harry

When I go out in the community I;

Go to the City

Go to Moulton College

Go to the allotment

Most of all I really enjoy;

Going to Tesco’s and up to the city and using my mobile

phone.

Jacob

When I go out in the community I;

Go to the library and go on the bus to Central Milton Keynes. I

also go on the bike at the Gym.

Most of all I really enjoy;

Going swimming and to the theatre. I like shopping in Bletchley

too.

Andrew

What makes Post 16 different from being at a school is that

we all get opportunities that children and young teenagers

usually never get the chance to do. Almost all of the work

we do here is practical, and we have very little paperwork to

fill out. Aside from that, there are no lessons where people

will struggle with enabling them to excel in the outside

world, and build themselves a better life by learning how to

budget, plan, and prepare for college years and beyond. Giv-

en all of this freedom and knowledge, we slowly but surely

build ourselves up towards the futures we all wish to

achieve. And if at any time we do start to falter or struggle,

the staff are always there to lend a helping hand. Thomas

Produced by students and staff from the Post 16

department

263 Queensway,

Bletchley,

Milton Keynes

MK2 2BZ

Telephone Numbers

01908 379208

01908 371271