We want all of our students to have a wonderful experience studying at LAE Stratford, so we were thrilled to hear from our alumna Lina, who has written this piece about her time with us.

Starting sixth form marks the point in life where you have two years to get the grades to reach the next stage in your journey: university. More specifically, your work at college will help determine where to go and what to study.

For me, LAE had a massive influence on my choice and not just in terms of the grades I achieved. It was more helping me figure out what I wanted to get out of my university experience. There were numerous opportunities I was provided with to allow me to get these answers for myself, whether that was the Friday afternoons spending time in a pathway, reading the famous weekly Friday Bulletins to see the different work experience or insight days available, or even a simple chat with staff. All these options allowed me to try different things that I was interested in and ultimately helped me decide what to study at university.

Alongside this, life at LAE goes beyond studying. The different opportunities ranged from participating in sports – one could say I am not entirely a big fan of physical education, but options varied from rock climbing to trampolining to the typical sports like football. There was ample choice and catered towards numerous preferences. Other extracurricular included societies, outreach and pathways. This was all embedded into the timetable so there was no extra commitment or disturbance from your studying life. Although this may seem exhausting, this all prepared you to stand out from other candidates when applying to university and making you a well-rounded person as well as adding substance to the definition of you and not allowing grades to solely define you.

Despite hating sports in secondary, sports at LAE provided a break from the intensity of studying and was an opportunity to have fun outside the classroom. This is what sixth form life should be, it should be more than purely studying and drafting endless applications for internships, insight days and eventually university.

Lastly but not least, the support at LAE is phenomenal. This varies from extra academic support to personal advice where you perhaps need an outside opinion. I certainly needed an outside view when it came to applying to university. I am thankful of the advice I received as it has provided me with the confidence to make choices I was confident with.

The support is genuine and comes from a caring place; there were times where staff went above and beyond to support me with applications and ensuring that even after I left I was happy with my next steps in life.

The atmosphere throughout my two years was very welcoming and compassionate. I will forever be grateful to have spent two years at a sixth form where there was more to life than just studying. Those two years helped shaped me to become the person I am today, studying Business Psychology at Loughborough University and undertaking a marketing placement at GlaxoSmithKline. Part of this success is down to attending LAE.