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 PARENTS STUDENTS WHAT YOU SAY ... ASSESS A SCHOOL HOW WE TEACH SOFTWARE? SOCIAL SKILLS PERSONAL SUPPORT HOMEWORK
TIMETABLE EXAMS TEACHERS HOME EDUCATION USEFUL LINKS DOWNLOADS CONTACT US | First College FAQ - OVERVIEWFirst College students live in the UK, in Europe or Asia. Download it as .RTF text document  What kind of Students or families choose First College?Main reasons: -- Bullying/ Sensitivty. -- Support needs (confidence/ personality/ difficult educational background). -- Disability or health. -- High achievers. -- Independent/ minority principles. -- Separated families (both parents can stay closely involved regardless of location) -- Home educators -- Worldwide residents/ expats. These are the main reasons we have met so far, but you might like to discuss others. More detail on this. What kind of reaction have you had from the education authorities?Very very approving by every Education Authority who has examined what we do. Examples: QUOTE "… he could not believe your fees were so reasonable for the amount of support, learning, work etc Was impressed with the report page and the feedback on marked homework." (Kent LEA. Their own scheme costs four times as much as our fees!) QUOTE "I have to say that I was impressed … The course organisers have obviously put a great deal of thought into providing a virtual school day that is varied and challenging, with built in personal relationships ... for each student. I have no hesitation in confirming that the education … fully meets the legal requirements." (Buckinghamshire LEA) How does online learning work in practice?Students attend classes for a one hour lesson at set times together with a teacher. ( Mon - Thurs school day 09.30 - 14.00 UK) Each person is at their own computer. During class they can talk to each other by text (typing short statements) or by voice, for discussion and exercises. The teacher can send a picture, web page or a prepared document to all students in class simultaneously. A big plus is that private conversations can be instantly opened with the teacher for individual help, but there is strong encouragement to work in the group too. Then there is our pioneering, exceptionally powerful homework system. Students send work in (like an email service) and get marked work back the same way. But each student's private work area displays a continual Report to student, teacher - and family. You can see EXACTLY what your student is doing - every work item, and whether it's been done or not, its grade, and teacher comments. Each family can also message individual teachers whenever they wish. Finally students can contact each other by private instant messaging both during and outside school. You can see it's a lively little community. Isn't online learning impersonal?People who haven't tried it do seem to worry about that. On our side it can sometimes seem it's all rather TOO Lively and sociable! It's important to drop the idea of "distance learning." This isn't learning by yourself being sent packats of papers. It's learning in groups who talk, discuss, laugh and share together. It's lively, chatty, develops personal relationships, and allows us to do a great deal to help you educate your child by training social skills. Young people love it. So do we and we put the highest emphasis of all on social skills as without them no lesson can run smoothly and really provide learning. It is often a surprise to parents and family how clearly other people's personalities come across. Younger people especially find it easy to relate to friends and fellow students through their computer. Each Student has a personal area where they can display a small portrait picture, or a picture of something important to them, plus a description of their interests. This helps them get to know each other, and their teachers also provide the same kind of information. With discussion areas and a private messenger running as well as active classrooms, there are plenty of ways to connect with all the other living people also using the technology. We would stress that we are far more than a tutoring service. Your child receives strong support around social skills and personal issues, as needed. What about socialisation in general?Students meet their own small class group (usually about 8-12 students, maximum 15) on four days a week Mon -Fri. But although small groups are excellent for learning , we have found it is beneficial for the students to mix in a larger group too. That is just one of the reasons for our Monday seminars when the whole school community gathers together for "Philosophy and Society." Students additionally have their own private areas to meet, and there are purely social times apart from study focussed discussions. The private conversation service further supports student friendships. (Some families allow the use of MSN as well.) Families can if they wish, exchange telephone numbers so their students can talk as ordinary friends, and arrange visits. We do advise families to arrange local activities via sports, arts, or hobbies to ensure regular social events with a group of other young people. What about internet risks and security?This is something we take very seriously indeed. Our classrooms and discussion areas are not only carefully protected behind username and password access, but the school is NOT run on this public site you are looking at. That would be crazy. The school is hosted completely separately with no connection at all with this public site. Only fully registered families can access the live school site. We are often asked by enquirers, journalists or interested outsiders to allow them to try out or visit a class. Please be assured we would NEVER permit anyone to crash into any class as a kind of tourist. The security risk on that is seriously dangerous. We monitor student exchanges via the software, and any outsider would be immediately apparent from the technical logs. We also provide you with our own clear briefing on internet security, with step by step instructions on how to protect your computer/s, and how to support your child or young person's safe use of the internet. If you wish to discuss this important issue please do. What about exams?Our Scholars' class prepare for the Edexcel IGCSE Exams. This is a slightly higher qualification than ordinary GCSE. The IGCSE exams are universally recognised and respected. Most private schools in the UK also run on the IGCSE system and state schools want to but are not allowed. Exams are taken in the ordinary way at a variety of international and UK locations. IGCSE exams are equivalent or better than GCSE; they involve a more international outlook and do not require exam coursework projects. Our exam results are extremely good - grades A* A B C normally, plus a few Ds. We would like to develop our program provide A Level tutorials for our IGCSE graduates. More details on exams. What is Home Education?In the UK every parent is legally responsible for educating their child/ren (under the Education Act 1996 Section 7). Parents can choose to appoint a school to assist them, or not, as seems best to them. Most families who try home education are highly successful; in fact research shows electively home educated children and young people do strikingly better at academic tests, are socially skilled and responsible, and adjust well or better to college, or (self) employment. On our Links page you can find websites to provide more details. For older children and young people though, families often feel they would prefer to have education advisers and partners: that is, teachers like us, working with them. First College fills this need by being a balance of home education and school. It was created by experienced home educators and teachers. What is the First College teaching philosophy?Throughout First College our approach is to apply generous amounts of kindness, patience, and detailed individual support. Where necessary, these essentials are backed by strong guidance, especially on self discipline. Parents frequently remark on how much more confident, and better organised their child becomes by working with us. We work in constant partnershp with a family to ensure self discipline by the student increases to enable sharing, mutual respect, commitment to and completion of work projects. Our rules are few, and clearly explained. We like to encourage choice and independence but this has to be underpinned with clearcut self discipline boundaries. Classes and CurriculumLuckily we are not limited by the National Curriculum. We ensure that the relevant core skills are covered without wasting time on a lot of unnecessary extras which come out of special interest groups designing the national curriculum. Our learning plans are clearcut, sensible and flexible. First Class This class is the first level. It's for all new students where we assess ability, then where necessary strengthen confidence and basic study skills. Many students sail straight through this level within days or weeks. Others whose previous education is not sio strong need to stay on this level to sort things out.First and foremost we work on a student's confidence, the golden key to learning. This may involve going slowly at first if the student is young or has had problems in the past. But a careful slow start will pay off handsomely later on where a hasty push upwards can easily end in the distress of going back to the basics again. We believe in groundwork, solid basic skills laid down before the leaps and achievements come in. Groundwork does involve a careful building stage to fill in gaps but we do all we can to ensure that our basics class is not just dull old nuts and bolts, but also includes a good proportion of fun to keep the student happy and motivated. More details Seniors This is a lovely intermediate class of selected students who have demonstrated they can get their work done, on time and to a reasonable level of quality. With confidence and groundwork in place we can introduce far more at this intermediate level, to explore the true joy of learning. Much of this can be student led, on projects and presentations. Of course at this level we are also steadily introducing skills and knowledge to prepare for the later exam level work. More details Familes have a choice about taking exams; a student can stay on in Seniors taking on more complex and advanced projects, improving collaborative research and design skills to an advanced level. Or they can move into the Scholars level, to do longer term structured work, without taking exams. Scholars level is mainly aimed at getting that vital package of 5 exams at C grade or above - though we're keen to get A* A and B where student ability and parent support is strong. The magic 5 is what employers and colleges demand but higher level students are welcome to take a greater number of subjects - providing we see real ability demonstrated. Alternatively for some students a small, focused package may suit them, with only 3 or 4 subjects. We can be very flexible. Students are given intensive support to not only prepare the content of the syllabus, but to train in exam techniques, in terms of personal organisation, stress handling, and question strategies. PLEASE NOTE: A student needs FIVE TERMS to prepare for exams even if they have already done some exam work elsewhere. More details
We train a strongly collegiate style of studying so that the student learns to take responsibility for their own work and deadlines. It means the transfer to later qualifications, University, or (self) employment is much easier as a result. First College UK is very much a family business. We created it to educate our own son, who is now a trainee online teacher in the school! (under strict supervision) CRB checks (Standard Level) on all teachers; DP registration (Notification reference: jvl530); Please do ask for any of this to be explained. |
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