10 things you need to know about UTC Portsmouth
1. STEM college. UTC Portsmouth is the region’s only specialist STEM college, which means that our university and industry-led curriculum is specifically designed to educate students with a passion for elements of science, technology, engineering and/or maths. The curriculum is an academic one (it is not ‘hands-on’) and benefits from some aspects delivered with the involvement of industry partners.
2. GCSEs. Students who study with us take GCSE Science (triple or combined), Maths, English language, English literature and two GCSE equivalent engineering qualifications. They then have the choice of two options from the following four; GCSE Statistics, GCSE Computer Science, GCSE Geography or OCR Cambridge National Certificate in Engineering Programmable Systems.
3. Local skills gap. UTC Portsmouth is here to help solve a chronic skills gap in the area. There is currently a lack of young people with the appropriate skills to go into STEM careers and university degree courses. In addition, more girls than average come to UTC Portsmouth because we know the STEM world of work is determined to recruit more women to fulfil vital roles.
4. A four-year education. Students are urged to see this as a four year education and to continue their studies into Sixth Form with us. UTC Portsmouth does not offer vocational apprenticeships or courses which lead directly to manual employment (although students may progress to advanced apprenticeships after their four year programme). Our Sixth Form curriculum offers three distinct pathways: A levels, a T level or our Combined route. The combined route offers students the chance to gain an engineering certificate (which is the equivalent of one A level) alongside their choice of two A levels.
5. Importance of maths. UTC Portsmouth students need to enjoy maths because it forms such a large and important part of our curriculum, particularly within the engineering qualifications we offer.
6. Longer day. UTC Portsmouth operates a longer day and longer lessons. Students must be resilient enough to cope with the longer day. Year 10 and 11 students start college lessons promptly at 8.30am every day and do not finish until 4.40pm.
7. STEM learning habits. All students are regularly assessed against six STEM habits, which all students are expected to fully embrace. These are resilience, creative problem solving, teamwork, responsibility, communication skills and curiosity.
8. Independence and responsibility. Year 10 & 11 students are set ‘independent study’ instead of homework. This is mostly completed in dedicated time during the longer college day. There is always a teacher on hand to help during the session should any student need it. Technology is at the heart of independent learning. Every student has a Chromebook. These are used in lessons as well as for independent study and enable students to interact with their learning through Google Classroom. There are no bells and students are responsible for getting themselves to where they need to be at the correct times each day.
9. Training and Enrichment. All students participate in training and enrichment during the college day. Training allows students to gain additional skills, awards, and qualifications. A wide range of enrichment activities are offered to students to choose from including; 3D printing, maths challenge, robotics, and board game design to name just a few.
10. Standards of behaviour. UTC Portsmouth is a calm, ordered and adult learning environment because all students demonstrate excellent learning behaviours at all times. Students have excellent attendance and punctuality, which are requirements in order to be involved in a large amount of project and group-based learning. All of these are regarded as essential life skills that are demanded by all of our employer partners.
