Celebrating success
AQA Baccalaureate (Bacc)
First certificates are presented
The first students to successfully complete the new AQA Bacc received their certificates at an awards ceremony on 18 December 2007.
Award Ceremony
Students are presented with their AQA Bacc certificates by Dr Mike Cresswell.
Photographs © Dave Rogers
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The first trial of the Bacc took place at The Sixth Form College Farnborough in summer 2007. At the awards ceremony, which saw all students at the college receive their A-level certificates, 68 students were the first in the country to receive certificates for the AQA Bacc.
The certificates were presented by Dr Mike Cresswell, Director General of AQA. Speaking about the new qualification Mike said:
The AQA Bacc makes a major contribution to the choice which will soon be available to young people after their GCSE examinations
To achieve this award students have had to demonstrate planning, research and self-management skills alongside academic ability. In developing such important skills, AQA Bacc students are well placed for progression to further study or employment.
Dr John Guy, Principal of The Sixth Form College Farnborough said:
I have always thought that reporting the final achievements of young people at the age of 18 in terms of three for four A level grades is an inadequate reflection of their post-16 studies. The AQA Bacc reflects not only their A level performance but also their research and writing skills, as demonstrated by the Extended Project, their more general education reported through Citizenship, General Studies or Critical Thinking, and also their wider activities reported in the Transcript of Enrichment. It is by embracing all these aspects of their sixth form studies that the Bacc begins truly to reflect the breadth and depth of a challenging sixth form curriculum.
At Farnborough, we do not believe in a minimalist approach to learning. The AQA Bacc reports the sense of coherence in students' studies and their wider skills which employers find so valuable. It is very close indeed to the Tomlinson ideal which has inspired it.
