Raising the aspirations of our students

Aspiration: Dream Big, Aim High, No Excuses

As a Faculty, we firmly believe that our students should be ready for the next stage of education, employment or training and that they gain qualifications that allow them to go on to destinations that meet their interests, aspirations and the intention of their course of study. The CPA Scholarship programme allows us to provide our students, who are interested in the Arts, with enrichment opportunities which help raise their aspirations in their areas of interest. The CPA Scholarship Programme has a significant impact on the personal development of our students, as the enrichment activities available extend beyond the academic, technical or vocational and provides for students’ broader development, enabling them to develop and discover their interests and talents. This means a lot to us as a Faculty in terms of the personal development of our students as we believe that, at each stage of the journey with us, students need to be fully prepared for future success in their next steps. This supports the Faculty’s value of ‘Aspiration’ where students are consistently encouraged to dream big, aim high with no excuses. We believe that a focus on the vast array of opportunities available to our students in the future, and an increased awareness of the steps needing to be taken in order to get there, can significantly help raise the aspirations of our students.

Enhancing the achievement of our students

Achievement: Work Hard, Never Give Up, Be Proud

We have also found that our students’ participation in the CPA Scholarship Programme has had wider benefits on their curriculum study, as it makes their attitudes to their education more positive. Furthermore, we have found that they seem more committed to their learning, they are more resilient to setbacks and they take pride in their achievements, which supports the Faculty’s value of ‘Achievement’ where students are encouraged to work hard, never give up and be proud.

Developing respect, consideration and character in our students

Be Considerate, Have Manners, Show Mutual Respect

Another one of the Faculty’s values, which the CPA Scholarship is helping to enhance, is the Faculty’s value of ‘Respect’, as we have found that the relationships amongst students of different year groups, and staff, reflect a positive and respectful culture where students feel safe and do not experience bullying or discrimination.

Another enhancement of our students’ personal development is that the CPA Scholarship Programme helps develop their character – including their resilience, confidence and independence – helping them know how to keep physically and mentally healthy during a time when mental health in young people is a significant and important focus.

Continuously Moving Forward

Our aim is to continue to engage effectively with our students and others in the community such as parents, carers, employers and local services. We want to continue to move these positive relationships forward by working with the further education, higher education and professional agencies even more closely in the future to continuously improve the quality of education which we provide our students by working with us to ensure that our curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning and employment which reflects the Faculty’s ambitious intentions to create a course of study that clearly supports this intention of creating a coherently planned curriculum, sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning and employment.

Our CPA Scholarship Explained

Our CPA Scholarship was designed to:

• Raise the aspirations of our students

• Support and encourage our students’ talents in the Arts

• Increase their understanding and awareness of the range of careers and training opportunities in the Arts

The CPA Scholarship is structured as follows:

• On-going Partnerships: Each subject is linked with a further education provider and a higher education provider who they work with throughout the year from September to July.

• Term 1: in Term 1 each subject teams up with two local agencies/professional organisations

• Term 2: in Term 2 each subject teams up with two regional agencies/professional organisations

• Term 3: in Term 3 each subject teams up with two national agencies/professional organisations

The CPA Scholarship is structured in this way so that it progressively raises the aspirations of our students from a local to a national level whilst increasing their understanding and awareness of the range of careers and training opportunities in the Arts, again from a local to a national level.

By the end of the year students on each Scholarship programme will have engaged with eight different agencies/professional organisations in the Arts ranging from local opportunities to national opportunities.

To reward them for their dedication and commitment to the CPA Scholarship Programme throughout the year, we organise a London trip for each subject area which includes going to watch professional performance work down in London’s West End!