N inking London conference: July 201 A sixth form college perspective
Feb 11, 2016
NLinking London conference: July 2012
A sixth form college perspective
A successful learning community
Newham sixth form college: NewVIc
NewVIc facts
Excellence and ambition
•759 students progressed to university in 2011•300+ honours students (GCSE average of B+), achieving
average points of A*A*A •3 students progressed to Oxford or Cambridge in 2011,
9 over 5 years•42 students progressed to Russell group in 2011, 265 over 5 years•Medical, law, humanities and STEM pathways•Sixth Form Bacc values achievement and service learning•Leadership programme, 100 leadership bursaries•Home to Newham Academy of Music, music bursaries •Proud to be comprehensive and promote social cohesion
Continuous growth
Growth in student numbers 1998-2011
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Continuous improvement
Points per entry NewVIc 1998-2011
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NewVIc points per entry have now converged with the national average: roughly grade C
Continuous improvement
Points per student NewVIc 1998-2011
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Progression to HE
84% of NewVIc applicantsprogressed to HE in 2011SFC average: 81%Private school average: 83%
No. progressing to HE
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Progression ofHonours studentsClass of 2011: 141 honours students• All who wanted to (95%) progressed to HE • 30% to Russell group.• Overall: average points equivalent to A*A*A• 24 actually achieved AAB+Class of 2012: 148 Honours studentsClass of 2013: 186 Honours studentsClass of 2014: ?
A growing number: 2010 to 2013• 5 grade A students: Took 3.5 A levels, achieved VA (value
added) of +21 and 3+ grade A’s each
• GCSE grade B students: Took 3.3 A levels, achieved VA of +17 and at least ABB
Results and Progression
• 95%+ to HE, 10%+ to Russell Group universities
• 15 achieved 3+ A’s at A level, 24 AAB+
Success rates
Value added
Accepted applicants to higher education by provider type
% of accepted applicants to HE from least advantaged areas of UK
Some comparisons 1
Top 200 schools for AL pointsproviders A2 students % total
Private schools 97 8,814 30.3%
State schools 95 12,584 43.2%
Sixth form colleges 8 7,728 26.5%
All 200 have average points equivalent to at least A*AA + A at AS
Sixth form college students are well represented among the country’s 200 highest achieving providers
Some comparisons 2
An equally successful cohort A2 students PPS Oxbridge
NewVIc top 32 32 1018 3 (9%)
Brighton college all 182 1016 18(10%)
England average 728.2
2A*s and 1 A at A level and 1 A at AS is equivalent to: 1005 points
A higher achieving cohort A2 students PPS PPE
NewVIc top 203 203 851.7 257.3
Seven Kings all 203 203 825.0 233.8
England average 728.2 213.1
3 A’s at A level is equivalent to 810 points
Some comparisons 3
Value for money? £/student £/AL point
Eton (boarding only) 31,000 30.60
Harrow (boarding only) 31,000 28.84
Wellington 22,804 22.74
Highgate 16,000 18.00
Brighton college 18,000 17.71
City of London 13,000 13.09
NewVIc 5,400 8.46
With the level of funding of Eton or Harrow, NewVIc would have a budget of £84M per annum. With that income we’d be only too happy to make boarding available!
““World class World class achievement achievement and and benchmarks benchmarks are superficial, are superficial, if not absurd, in if not absurd, in a world filled a world filled with inequality, with inequality, fear and fear and uncertainty.”uncertainty.”
Maxine GreeneMaxine Greene
Working at the boundaryMisunderstanding, ignorance, nasty stories, blame…orRespect, dialogue, understanding, shared purpose, creativity…
“Creativity takes courage” Henri Matisse
“We only think when we are confronted with a problem”
“Conflict is the gadfly of thought”
John Dewey
“Development is precisely the struggle of opposites”
Lev Vygotsky
“All invention and progress comes from finding a link between two ideas that have never met”
Theodore Zeldin
“Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls…where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit…”
Rabindranath Tagore
6 observations…
Excellence and ambition
•Increased selection by grade rather than skills and knowledge prerequisites?
•Increased GCSE requirements?•Less choice for non-AAB students•Reduction in “general education” degrees
in recruiting HEIs?•Facilitating subjects undermining non-
facilitiating subjects?•Polarisation / Russell-isation of debate?
6 suggestions…
Excellence and ambition
•Work with London SFCs, we are local hubs: 18,500 students, 6,500 A2s.
•Defend “rigorous vocationalism” •Ensure all A-level subjects can “facilitate”•Promote opportunities for degree level
liberal education at all levels (eg: CCC)•Work together to develop Extended
Project opportunities•Open up Central London HEIs to SFCs
““Education is Education is the point at the point at which we decide which we decide whether we love whether we love the world the world enough to enough to assume assume responsibility responsibility for it.”for it.”
Hannah ArendtHannah Arendt