OHA Honours Programme

The OHA Honours Programme is a specialised programme designed to challenge, support and inspire our most able students. It plays a fundamental role in securing excellent outcomes at Key Stage 4 and in raising aspirations for future study and careers.

Who is the Honours Programme for?

Students are selected for the Honours Programme may be identified based on:

High performance at Key Stage 2, including strong scaled scores
High attainment and potential demonstrated through internal assessments at OHA
Outstanding progress over time, showing the capacity to achieve the highest GCSE grades

Selection reflects not only current attainment, but also students’ commitment, ambition and potential to excel.

Our Vision

The Honours Programme is designed to build a culture of high performance, encouraging students to think deeply, work independently and aim for excellence. The programme provides both academic stretch and enrichment opportunities, ensuring students are well prepared for the demands of GCSEs and beyond.

What does the programme include?

Students on the Honours Programme benefit from a wide range of enhanced learning opportunities, including:

Academic enrichment and masterclasses across a range of subjects.
University pathways programmes, including visits and partnership projects through Higher Horizons.
Workshops and lectures designed to develop critical thinking and subject knowledge.
Careers guidance and small-group support sessions
Cross-curricular opportunities, such as debate club, creative writing club, chess club and STEM challenges such as the Lego league.
Trips and experiences, including universities, FE provision, workplace experiences and a wide range of subject specific trips.

These opportunities are carefully planned across year groups to ensure progression, challenge and breadth.

Spotlight on the Year 8 Scholars programme:

The Brilliant Club is an award-winning, UK-based charity that aims to increase the number of students from under-represented backgrounds progressing to highly selective universities. They achieve this by mobilising PhD students and early career researchers to deliver university-style tutoring and support to pupils in state schools.

What is the Scholars Programme?

The Scholars Programme gives students in secondary school the opportunity to explore higher education and build key skills to help them succeed in the next stages of their education.

Students take part in a series of seven university-style tutorials, delivered in-school by a PhD tutor throughout the course of an academic term. The tutorials are based on the tutor’s area of research expertise, so pupils explore an inspiring, supra-curricular topic whilst developing key academic skills that support their attainment across the curriculum. Students receive feedback and support from their PhD tutor to write a final assignment of 1,500-2000 words, demonstrating the subject knowledge, written communication and critical thinking skills they have developed throughout the programme.

On completion of the programme, students visit a university for a Graduation Event to celebrate their achievements and build their understanding of higher education, helping them make informed choices in the future and believe that they can succeed in university-style learning.

This year’s project title is ‘disease detectives’ and focuses on the study of epidemiology.

Spotlight on Year 9 Universe Conference:

Our Year 9 students 1st Univision Higher Horizon event was based at Staffordshire University, one of three conference held across the year where they explored a range of university subjects and pathways. They took part in workshops led by university academics, gaining insight into careers such as ‘How do I get into Vet School? ‘and developing their analytical skills through an English session on identifying language devices in an unseen poem. Importantly, they also learned about student finances and repayments and how being a graduate you are more likely to earn a higher salary.

Spotlight on Year 10 National Saturday College:

The National Saturday Club gives 13–16-year-olds across the country the opportunity to study subjects they love at their local university, college or cultural institution, for free. Launched with the support of Higher Horizons with our Y10 students we had over 30 applications with 18 students who were successful in gaining a place. These students will now go on to have Saturday masterclasses at both Keele and Staffordshire University with a focus on either Art and Design or Engineering.