The College Sixth Form

The Ethos of the Sixth Form

We pride ourselves in delivering the best education possible to our students.

The 6th Form of St John’s College has been structured with one simple underlying ethos in mind: how best to prepare the individual for life.

Academic subjects prepare a student for further education and a career; co-curricular activities prepare them for a life of health and diversity; and the holistic aspects of the 6th form prepare our students for life as a principled, responsible and morally-upright world citizen.

In order to benefit fully from their education, St John’s 6th formers are encouraged to appreciate how crucial it is that they aim to become broad-minded and diverse individuals. The need for mature, multi-dimensional and well-rounded people is becoming more and more apparent in the modern world and these three qualities are noted as being what universities and employers most value in applicants.

The 6th Form is structured with an emphasis on academic attainment. Students are at school first and foremost to attain an academic education and their main priority is to do well in their subjects and pass their final examinations to the very best of their ability. Everything else is secondary to this core goal. For this reason, attention to academics is made an absolute priority in the 6th Form and students are advised to arrange their life around their schoolwork and make it the number one obligation of their school career.

Zimbabwe is blessed with its climate and there is a strong emphasis on sport in our schools which is why many of our students are so sought-after in foreign countries. The nature of sport makes it a pertinent social metaphor for teaching a young adult a great deal about life itself; about rules and structures, the value of a team unit, displaying humility in victory and graciousness in defeat, as well as being an important factor in overall health and wellbeing. St John’s believes that by actively pursuing a sport will stand our students in good stead for life, but playing a wide cross-section of sports will also develop different parts of their character.

St John’s pupils are also very much encouraged to embrace and participate fully in the many cultural activities and societies that the school offers, thus striving to add a multi-dimensional aspect to their profile as a student, with the realisation that a balance between academics, sport and culture is a diet which best feeds a healthy mind and body.

Apart from the tangible activities students engage in, there are many principles which are included into the ethos of the 6th form which are aimed at developing character and social responsibility. An Honour Code specific to the 6th form is a document to which all students are required to pledge an undertaking to uphold all the values, principles and traditions on which the school is founded. In addition, Human Rights issues, global awareness and a Green Policy which promotes eco-literacy, environmentalism and sustainability form very much a part of what St John’s as a whole wishes to instil in all its students, thus helping them to become morally upright citizen of a modern world order which more and more will rely upon the initiatives and motivation of the next generation.