Linking London conference: July 2012 A sixth form college perspective

1. Linking London conference: July 2012 A sixth form college perspective N

2. A successful learning community Newham sixth form college: NewVIc

3. NewVIc facts • 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 Excellence and ambition

4. Continuous growth

5. Continuous improvement NewVIc points per entry have now converged with the national average: roughly grade C

6. Continuous improvement

7. Progression to HE 84% of NewVIc applicants progressed to HE in 2011 SFC average: 81% Private school average: 83%

8. Progression ofHonours students Class 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 students Class of 2013: 186 Honours students Class of 2014: ?

10. 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+

11. Success rates

12. Value added

13. Accepted applicants to higher education by provider type

14. % of accepted applicants to HE from least advantaged areas of UK

15. Some comparisons 1 Sixth form college students are well represented among the country’s 200 highest achieving providers

16. Some comparisons 2 2A*s and 1 A at A level and 1 A at AS is equivalent to: 1005 points 3 A’s at A level is equivalent to 810 points

17. Some comparisons 3 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!

18. “World class achievement and benchmarks are superficial, if not absurd, in a world filled with inequality, fear and uncertainty.” Maxine Greene

19. Working at the boundary Misunderstanding, ignorance, nasty stories, blame… or Respect, dialogue, understanding, shared purpose, creativity… “Creativity takes courage” Henri Matisse

20. “We only think when we are confronted with a problem” “Conflict is the gadfly of thought” John Dewey

21. “Development is precisely the struggle of opposites” Lev Vygotsky

22. “All invention and progress comes from finding a link between two ideas that have never met” Theodore Zeldin

23. “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

24. 6 observations… • 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? Excellence and ambition

25. 6 suggestions… • 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 Excellence and ambition

26. “Education is the point at which we decide whether we love the world enough to assume responsibility for it.” Hannah Arendt