Sixth Form Bid

Sixth Form bid: latest information
(updated 20th January)

Sixth Form Parental Survey
In the last newsletter I gave the statistical outcomes of our survey.  There were also many positive comments made by parents.  Typical of these are:

“I think Lavington is a fantastic school which provides for a real local need.  I believe it would be a wonderful enhancement to the local community it serves if there could be a sixth form with the same values and success rate as the existing year 7 – 11 school”.
“Lavington is a wonderful school where my children are happy, settled and are doing well academically; therefore it is logical for them to stay and finish their education in such a positive environment.  It is a big move for students to move to another school and there is nowhere locally that compares to Lavington.  Having had a child that had to make that move, I know full well how difficult he found the change”.
“Lavington already operates an excellent school and there is no reason to believe that a sixth form will not be the same.  I have already put four children through Lavington, all of whom would have attended a sixth form here.  All had to travel a minimum of 14 miles and maximum of 22 miles for a sixth form education.  This travelling, I believe, had an adverse affect on their education.  Therefore distance from home is paramount”.
“Continuity of learning, secure in surroundings, retain confidence.  If happy in environment more motivated to learn and progress”.
In a rural area like Market Lavington, it would be a great resource, encouraging pupils to continue with their education”.

A smaller number of parents expressed concerns about Lavington having a sixth form, and for quite a few their comment was along the lines of:
“My only concern would be if Lavington failed to become a sixth form”
“No concerns, I think it could only be a good thing”
“Yes, that it may not be built in time for our child!”

Understandably, and sensibly, some parents raised concerns about accommodation, range of courses, experience of teachers and impact on the rest of the school.  In response I would like to clarify these points:
We do not have sufficient classrooms to accommodate a sixth form, but we do have space, where the old farm buildings are, to build a sixth form block, with dining, study and social areas, as well as classrooms.  This would cost approximately £3.5m, and the difficulty in accessing a capital grant for this is likely to be the greatest hurdle.

We would not be able to offer as wide a range of courses as schools twice our size, but we would be able to offer all of the core A level subjects currently taken at GCSE, plus some more, such as psychology, and vocational subjects ICT, business and sport.  If we are successful in our bid we will work up a more detailed subject offer and share this with parents and students.

Many of our teachers have A level experience, and we would recruit new staff (as we would need to for the extra classes) suitably qualified to teach the subjects on offer.  We already send staff on training courses and this would naturally happen for those current staff teaching any new courses.

We have a reputation of encouraging older students to support younger ones as prefects, peer mentors, paired readers and buddies.  This would be enhanced by having sixth form students.  In my experience of working in 11 – 18 schools and teaching A levels, having older students and post-16 courses encourages younger ones to aspire to further and higher education.  We would not take resources away from years 7 – 11 to support years 12 and 13.

If we are successful in our bid I will hold meetings for students and parents where I can explain our plans in more detail and answer any questions or concerns.
Martin Watson