Headline Information
We have always achieved a 100% A*-C pass rate for our Year 10/11 course with students achieving 33% A*-A this year.
This year we achieved a 100% A*-C pass rate for our Year 12 Level 2 courses in Travel & Tourism and WorkSkills, with all of the students who studied the subjects now progressing onto A Levels or employment.
Our results have always been in the top 10% based on the ALPS data for Year 13 results.
Our Year 13 results were the best ever with six students successfully achieving an A grade. Since the subject was introduced to the Sixth Form at Biddenham, we have also seen a number of students achieve excellent results in the course then study it further at University. We find it extremely pleasing as a department that we have made them so passionate about the subject.
Information About the Department
Our department is based throughout three classrooms, two of these rooms have computer facilities for all students and the other has access to laptops.
One of our rooms is based in our new Stewart House Sixth Form Study Centre and is equipped with an interactive whiteboard.
We are extremely passionate about our subject area and this is demonstrated throughout our lessons. Since the department was set up in 2006 we are proud to offer a variety of courses across all year groups. These include:
- Level 2 BTEC Certificate/ Extended Certificate in Travel & Tourism, equivalent to one/two GCSEs (Years 9, 10 & 11).
- Level 2 BTEC Certificate in Travel & Tourism, equivalent to one GCSE (Year 12 Gold Students).
- Level 3 BTEC Certificate/ Subsidiary Diploma in Travel & Tourism, equivalent to one AS/A2 (Year 12 & Year 13 Platinum students).
- Level 2 BTEC WorkSkills, equivalent to two GCSEs (Year 9, 10, 11 & 12 Gold Students).
We are all subject specialists due to a variety of reasons: industry experience; Travel & Tourism degrees; PGCEs / GTPs in Leisure and Tourism and many years of expertise in teaching the subject. As teachers we bring a wealth of knowledge to our department, which ultimately leads to successful results.
We have a wide range of classroom resources which the students can access such as atlases, travel guides, travel journals, magazines and reference books. These are based throughout all three of our teaching classrooms.
Due to the nature of the subjects, field visits are an essential aspect of the teaching and learning. Therefore, we like students to apply what they have learnt outside of the classroom to their coursework. We visit a range of attractions/destinations throughout their studies on all courses, such as the London Eye, the Peak District, Madame Tussauds and Alton Towers. We have also led two very successful visits to Paris and Disneyland Paris, which were directly linked to their coursework.
We feel strongly about the fact that students need to develop the skill of independent learning and work hard to ensure that they know how to do this correctly. For example, how to research and reference and how to work in a team and plan events.
Staffing
Angela Willerton - Head of Department and Director of Applied Learning/AST
Jan Schofield - Assistant Head Teacher 14-19 & AST
Beverley Darlow - BTEC Quality Nominee and Teacher in Charge of WorkSkills
Tracey Redden - BTEC Quality Nominee and Teacher of Travel & Tourism/ WorkSkills
