St Dominic’s Sixth Form College
Oppidan x St Dominic’s
2023/4 Programme
In January 2024, Oppidan begun a partnership with our first Sixth Form College partner, St Dominic’s Sixth Form College in Harrow on the Hill.
In 2023/4, Oppidan started work with a motivation day for Y13 students, with six mentors delivering an assembly followed by a series of 1:1 sessions for fifty students ahead of their A Level exams. The sessions focused on three key outcomes: readiness, oracy and character. 'Thank you very much to the school Principal, Andrew Parkin, for his support and to our school lead on the programme, Pavandeep Gill (Assistant Principal), who had this to say about the programme:
“I just wanted to say thank you for a lovely day today; the students thoroughly enjoyed the 1:1 sessions and I now have others asking if they could have this at a later date! Always a good sign. The mentors were so talented and yet so down to earth, they were relatable and the students were so positive in their feedback to me.”
Student testimonials from 2023/4 programme:
How would you rate your experience on your Oppidan programme out of 10? 8.6/10
‘It was amazing it gave me back hope that even though I feel down right now I can still build myself back up and make something of myself.’
‘It was good to talk about both personal and academic growth and goals. It was a useful session for me and I enjoyed it. I would recommend it for fellow students who are struggling.’
‘My mentor was super helpful and understanding! They went through all the advice really well.’
Oppidan were delighted to co-lead a workshop with Pavandeep at the Sixth Form Colleges Association Summer Conference in June 2024. The workshop was titled 'Mentoring the hard to reach' and shared learnings from Oppidan's partnership with St Dominic's.
2024/5 Programme
After the success of the first year of the programme, Oppidan’s partnership with St Dominic’s has expanded for the 2024/5 academic year to include three touchpoints across our full COR Mentoring Journey. We have really enjoyed running these days, with Pavendeep sharing the following feedback:
“All the mentors were so lovely, enthusiastic and above all, very insightful! I had a few catch ups with them over coffee and lunch - in such a short time frame they had managed to understand the mind of a 16/17 year old and really think about how to advise them best. We had some lovely conversations regarding how best to support them and I found those very valuable. Some great advice was being shared yesterday, particularly looking at “readiness” and their next steps - especially things we hadn’t thought about such as foundation year degrees etc.”
The following student feedback was shared via student self-reported surveys about their experience on the most recent Oppidan programme:
8.4/10
How would you rate your experience on your Oppidan programme out of 10?
Character
88% of students agree or strongly agree that they understand themselves and their identity better as a result of their Oppidan programme.
Oracy
84% of students agree or strongly agree that their communication skills improved as a result of their Oppidan programme.
Readiness
67% of students agree or strongly agree that they feel more prepared for challenges in the future as a result of their Oppidan programme.
Student testimonials from 2024/5 programme:
‘It was lovely and really helpful. I spoke to people in my year group I’ve never spoken to before. The workshop really helped with how I express myself and how to set goals correctly.’
‘The mentors were very helpful and friendly, making me feel comfortable to express myself.’
‘The mentors were so kind and understanding, I had a good time today.’
‘I really enjoyed this experience and it allowed me to better understand myself and my future.’
‘It helped me to recognise different ways to approach challenges and how to overcome them.’