Proposed Closure of Sixth Form
In December 2024 we undertook a curriculum review for the academic year 2025/26 whereby we identified that we would have insufficient interest from our Year 11 students joining the 6th form to make our Year 12 provision for September 2025 viable. This meant that there are no Year 12 courses running in this academic year. However, we did confirm that our current Year 13 provision would continue as normal, despite similarly low student numbers in this year group.
The situation for our 6th Form for September 2026 will be the same, i.e. insufficient interest from our own or external students wishing to join the 6th form. By the end of this academic year, we will therefore have no more students remaining in either of our Year 12 or Year 13. Students are preferring to undertake their 6th form by attending local colleges and further educational establishments, whose facilities, resources, range of subjects on offer and funding streams are broader than ours.
Therefore, to adhere to Department for Education guidance, we have to formally consult on ‘closing’ our 6th form.
There is sufficient alternative provision for 6th form places locally currently and if this demand grows further in the future, with greater interest from our Year 11 students to remain in a 6th form at Ash Green School, then we will consider re-opening the 6th form provision subject to its financial viability.
We are therefore running a 3 term-time week consultation process between 10 November and 28 November 2025. We will consult with staff, parents, trade unions and other stakeholders, e.g. local authorities, local primary, secondary, AP and special schools as well as local sixth form and FE colleges in the area.