Durham Sixth Form Centre is the largest post-16 school in the North East of England, enviably located in the heart of Durham City, just a short walk from both the bus and railway stations. The school is a diverse and vibrant community of approximately 1,300 students, who have enrolled there from over sixty different secondary schools from across County Durham, Sunderland, Northumberland and further afield.
With over thirty A-Levels and almost twenty vocational qualifications, Durham Sixth Form Centre has one of the broadest curriculum offers in the area. Courses are delivered and led by specialist staff who have expertise in working with 16-19 year olds and, as the results testify, they have an excellent track record of academic success. Last year, Durham Sixth Form Centre was placed in the top 12% of schools and colleges nationally for A-level outcomes.
In March 2017, Durham Sixth Form Centre was graded ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted. Not only did they judge the school as ‘Outstanding’ for ‘Overall Effectiveness’ but also ‘Outstanding’ for ‘Student Outcomes’; the ‘Quality of Teaching, Learning and Assessment’; ‘Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare’; and the ‘Effectiveness of Leadership and Management’.
Ellen Beveridge, Headteacher, commented: “We are rightly proud of our successes at Durham Sixth Form Centre. The whole community works hard to strive for continuous improvement and we continue to evolve and expand. As part of our vision, we are developing in partnership with Durham Local Authority, a new on-site media and ICT suite, which will house the most up-to-date, industry-standard facilities, and be open for first teaching in September 2018.”
In addition to its broad curriculum, Durham Sixth Form Centre offers a wide range of extra opportunities in order to develop students’ skills, talents and interests. These include: the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, the Extended Project Qualification and the Arts’ Award, to name a few.
As a 16-19 school, Durham Sixth Form Centre is different to a school sixth form or Higher Education institution for a number of reasons. There are no younger (or older) students on site; there is a specialist and dedicated team of sixth form teachers, who work exclusively with the 16-19 age range; there are expert support staff focused solely on post-16 learning and progression.
If you would like to find out more about Durham Sixth Form Centre, the next Open Evening for prospective students is on Thursday 19th October, between 5 and 8pm. For more information visit www.durhamsixthformcentre.org.uk
