On the Extended Project Qualification course (EPQ) you will learn to develop independent research, problem-solving, critical thinking and presentation skills. You choose a topic; conduct research and produce a report or artefact (eg. a product like a short film, music score, piece of Art etc) demonstrating your ability to plan, analyse and evaluate information. The EPQ also enhances skills in communication, organisation, and time management.
Qualification – Level 3 Extended Project Qualification - must
Examination Board - AQA
Specification – View on the AQA Website
Subject Lead: Ms Romero
Aspiration: A strong desire to achieve your goals. Working hard to achieve success through your own project management
Belief: Believe in yourself. Having faith. Living as one. Applying ethics and values to handling research and producing a successful product of your choice.
Excellence: In everything you do. In the classroom and beyond. Striving to be the best. Taking the opportunity to research and produce a unique project of personal interest applying taught, key skills.
Youth Leadership: Approaching everything with diligence and positivity. Taking a lead and making positive choices. Being the best version of you in the production and presentation stages of the project.
The EPQ course encourages you to define your own research and project guided by personal interest and academic curiosity; within this you may address issues of the world around you and religion. The process of production promotes a sense of independence, resilience and self reflection all of which lead to questioning a sense of self more widely as you learn about your own capabilities.
Marking is holistic. You will be awarded a mark out of 50 upon submission of a completed project or artefact, a production Log and presentation.
Skills attained throughout the EPQ are transferrable to a wide range of careers and courses. For example:
Critical thinking: a kind of thinking in which you question, analyse, interpret, evaluate and make a judgement about what you read, hear, say, or write.
Research: you will find relevant information and use it effectively. It includes creating a strategy to gather facts and reach conclusions so that you can answer a question.
Independent working: You take responsibility and control of your actions and decisions whilst considering those around you. It doesn’t mean that you never have to work with others or that you should never ask for help.
Organisation: You are able to manage time effectively, prioritise tasks, set goals, and develop systems for achieving those goals.
Attention to Detail: Be thorough and ensure high-quality, academic work.
Our vision for EPQ is to promote critical thinking, high level literacy skills and independent learning by allowing students to ethically research their unique and diverse interests to a high level to produce a project of their choice. Students will be taught to become critical, decisive and ethically minded in their approach to research learning valuable life skills in our ever-changing world of readily available information. Every student will be assigned a supervisor and access to a range of resources including outreach opportunities.
How to apply
You can find full details on how to apply to our sixth form on the Admissions page
