Sixth Form Pause Statement

2nd May 2024

After careful and thorough consideration, Greenwood Academy has made the difficult decision to pause admissions into Year 12 for September 2024. Greenwood Academy will remain open for current sixth form pupils moving into their final year of sixth form and is fully committed to ensuring an excellent education for these pupils throughout year 13.

This pause to sixth form entry is due to the low number of pupils who are opting to continue their study post year 11. For a number of years now the school has been focused on increasing the number of students staying with us into the sixth form. The target year group size for this academic year (2023/24) was 60 Y12 pupils and 41 year 13, but unfortunately only 40 pupils started year 12. For next academic year (24/25), only 26 year 11 pupils have selected Greenwood Sixth Form as their first choice for sixth form study.

The reality is that this size of sixth form is unsustainable and would lead to a Year 12 cohort so small that it would have an impact on the number of subjects we are able to offer and therefore limit pupils’ access to a sufficiently broad curriculum. It would also affect the wider social experience pupils were able to enjoy at sixth form.  

There are significant financial implications to running a sixth form for a group of this size and years 7 - 11 would also be affected as we would have to subsidise the cost of the sixth form.  This is clearly in neither our pupils’ nor the school’s best interests to remain open to new entries at this stage.

Whilst we understand that this announcement will cause disappointment and come as unsettling news to some pupils and parents, the decision is being made with the interests of all students and the whole school in mind.  It is not a decision we have taken lightly,  and have explored all possible alternative options for next year, including offering a reduced curriculum and continuing with a very small number of pupils.   

Once we have secured new potential destinations for our Year 11 students who have applied to the Sixth Form we will launch a formal consultation in autumn 2024 on the longer-term future of the Sixth Form at the school beyond the pause, and will ask for your views and feedback as part of this process. 

Our priority now is to ensure that the year 11 students who had planned to continue with us have the right support, information and guidance so that they can opt for either the reserve post 16 destination that they had picked, or an appropriate alternative post-16 education provider. There are a number of very good quality post-16 providers in the area and our team will be on hand to provide the care and support needed.