Clifton College Website

Life in the Sixth Form

Having been at Clifton for nearly twelve years, I have found myself in nearly every year group available (that I could have been in). By far the best, in my opinion, is the Sixth Form. The Third Form was good, there’s no doubt about it; even the Fourth Form wasn’t too taxing or repetitive, but at the moment, the Lower Sixth "rules".

There are numerous reasons for this. Firstly, it’s the first time that pupils get up close and personal with study periods (or, to use the colloquial version, "cuts"). Tangent: anyone who has seen the John Cleese (OC) film ‘Clockwork’ will connect with the teachers correcting pupils that "they are not 'frees', they’re study periods". According to a source close to Cleese, this running joke was based on his time at Clifton.

So, what do pupils do to fill these study periods? They/we are supposed to stay in our houses and study, or go to the Percival Library and study. What actually happens? Pupils normally (with some exceptions) just chat with friends, or write articles like these for the school website. Anyway, whatever happens in the fifty-minute breaks, it is most enjoyable to be able to relax (whilst working, obviously).

The second plus of Years 12 and 13, is the JCR. Because of the government’s new licensing laws, alcohol is not allowed to be served. Therefore, the JCR was rendered useless. But in half term, the school revamped it and turned into a Sixth Form dining area for lunch with hot paninis, muffins, free sandwiches and bottles of water. This is fantastic! Words cannot describe how well this has gone down. Not only has the school managed to solve the problem of the JCR (at one point it was thought that it would have been easier to resolve Global Warming) but this new scheme has also reduced queuing at normal lunch in the dining halls.

Thirdly, the rapport with teachers is better. They treat you as an adult. Naturally, if you walk into a lesson late, with work not completed or generally are rude, then the relationship will be different.

The most blatant reason why Sixth Form "rocks my world" is the subjects. No more monotonous Maths; no more brain-bending Biology or ghastly Geography – it’s Double English, History and RS for me and that suits me perfectly. Having the freedom to choose what you study not only excites you into wanting to learn, but it makes it a whole lot easier, as hopefully, you are better at those subjects.

There you have it. Four reasons why the Sixth Form is a whole lot better than any other year. The only down-side that I can think of is what I experienced four years ago. You get all the way to the top of the pecking order (from Year 4 to Year 8) and then you change schools (Pre to Upper School) and shoot down to the bottom. In a year’s time, I’ll be a minnow at University. And do you know what? That’s actually quite daunting. In the meantime, I’m off to enjoy the rest of my cut...study period!

William Hanson
Moberly's House
February 2007

© 2006-12 Clifton College