Click here to see The Learning Journey of St. Thomas More Catholic Academy

In January 2019, we launched the new and prestigious Honours Programme at St Thomas More Catholic Academy which is a bespoke provision for our students with high prior attainment. Individuals were selected to be part of the programme based on high performance at Key Stage 2, or if they have shown high attainment and potential through internal assessments at St Thomas More Catholic Academy. Others may have been chosen because they have made outstanding progress and have shown that they have the potential to achieve the best grades at GCSE and A Level.
The Honours Programme is a specialised programme for most able students which will be fundamental in securing excellent outcomes for students at Key Stage 4 and 5. It aims to build upon key skills for the most able, such as Growth Mindset, leadership, as well as extended careers advice and guidance to nurture ambition for the future. It also includes educational opportunities, workshops and trips to link with cross-curricular events in school, such as debating or university visits to enhance critical thinking and further raise aspiration.

The Honours Programme had an extremely positive impact on students throughout the last 5 academic years. The programme has grown each subsequent year to include more students, many from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Key Information Document can be found here.

The launch event for the Honours Programme took place on Monday 30th September 2024, and all Honours families and students were invited to attend.

This academic year, Honours students will complete a ‘Charter of Opportunities’ to help them to work towards ‘graduating’ from the programme and achieving an award at the end of the academic year. Successful Honours students who complete their Charter and achieve their Award will be invited to a special Graduation Ceremony in June 2024 to celebrate their success.

All Honours students can access weekly University style Masterclasses every Tuesday night 3.20pm-4.20pm in the Sixth Form Area – please see the Honours Team which details the most able Masterclass schedule for this term. Topics covered are broad and exciting, ranging from ‘How to Write a Book and Get it Published’, to ‘Dissecting Sharks’ to ‘Ancient Aliens’.

Honours students are asked to complete a Charter of Opportunities for Key stage 3, Key stage 4 or Sixth Form, in order to Graduate from the Honours Programme at the end of the year, which includes a number of optional and mandatory tasks.

There are a range of Honours Workshops scheduled through the academic year which all Honours students will be invited to during the school day. All Honours students have been added to the ‘Honours Team’ on Microsoft Teams, which is a place for Honours students to access interesting cultural opportunities, virtual visits, workshops and events, and to offer additional stretch and challenge work and materials including reading lists.

Year 7 Reading List

Year 8 Reading List

Year 9 Reading List

Year 10 Reading List

Year 11 Reading List

Sixth Form Reading List

There is a channel for each Honours year group, and within that a folder for each department where teachers have placed interesting resources and materials for students to get involved with. The aim of this is to stretch and challenge the most able students, as well as offering additional stretch opportunities for students who are highly engaged in learning. Departments will regularly update each year group Honours Team with resources that may include:

• Stretch and challenge resources/ materials
• interesting videos
• Virtual tours or visits

Departments also set an Honours competition each half term for all Honours Students via Teams. The department will post this competition on the Honours Team at the start of the half term, and the deadline for entries is listed below. Honours students in KS3 should take part in one competition during the academic year and the winner in each year group will receive a voucher prize.

Charters of Opportunity

You should aim to complete all of the actions in the top row and choose one of the actions in each of the columns in the second row. When you have completed these opportunities, you must log your evidence on the back of your Charter and keep any paper evidence in your Record of Achievement. In order to Graduate from the Honours Programme in the summer, you must have completed your Charter of Opportunities.

Key Stage 3 Charter of Opportunity

Key Stage 4 Charter of Opportunity

Key Stage 5 Charter of Opportunity

Record of Achievement

All Honours students are provided with a Record of Achievement and must keep this up to date with relevant certificates (these can be from both in and out of school), Honours tasks and any other work or evidence that they are proud of. This will be a record of their achievements at St Thomas More and beyond, which will be invaluable when applying for 6^th Form/ College/ University/ apprenticeship places. The Records of Achievement will be kept in school unless requested for interviews, and students will take this home when their leave STMCA.

Students are very welcome to bring certificates in from home to add to their Record of Achievement.

It is a fantastic achievement to be part of this programme and we wish to congratulate the many students who Graduated at the end of last year. We thoroughly enjoyed sharing in their success at the King’s Hall Celebration Event in June 2023.
If you have any further questions about the programme, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Barker (Assistant Head Teacher) on the school number.