Year 12 showcase impressive research skills in EPQ Event

To showcase the wonderful work by our Year 12 students, we invited the Pipers community to an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) Marketplace event to give our Sixth Form students the opportunity to talk about their chosen topics.

Each student worked hard to put together their display boards, keeping in mind their chosen subjects and how best to communicate them to other students and staff. Subjects this year included ‘Should the UK adopt a codified constitution’, ‘Does the evolution of historical perspectives on ADHD inform current understanding and management of the disorder?’ ‘Should a horse owner go through with medical treatment when their horse is confronted with a life altering situation?’ ‘Is Diplomatic Immunity Ethical?’ and ‘Nature vs Nurture’. We also had a performance EPQ this year using the influence of Jack Cole’s technique to create a musical theatre dance performance and an Artefact EPQ, which was the creation of a phonics board game for children with Dyslexia.

To support their university applications and gain additional UCAS points, students were given just a few months to complete their projects. This included selecting a topic and title, maintaining activity logs and diaries to track their progress, reflecting weekly on their time management, and ultimately producing either a dissertation or a final creative piece—an original 'artefact' they create from scratch. The limited timeframe was a key factor students had to carefully consider in order to complete their work successfully.

An Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) offers students a number of benefits. Universities regard it highly because it helps students develop essential academic skills, such as planning, researching, time management, referencing, and critically evaluating sources. Students are also encouraged to draw their own conclusions, either based on existing research or from their own findings.

At some universities, completing an EPQ can also reduce course entry requirements. For instance, if a course typically requires AAB and a student earns an A in their EPQ, the offer may be lowered to ABB — an attractive advantage for those aiming to secure a university place.

Well done to the Year 12 students for their dedication and hard work.

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