Shropshire school to open sixth form

Designed to offer current students the opportunity to continue with their post-16 education at the school, a sixth form is the next exciting step for The Marches, following the school’s conversion to an Academy in August 2011.

Mrs Sarah Longville, Headteacher at The Marches School commented:

“Over the past couple of years we have reached some crucial milestones including achieving an ‘Outstanding’ report from Ofsted, Academy Status and our Best Ever GCSE Results in August 2012. We are delighted to now have the opportunity to further nurture our students’ through their post-16 education and give them the opportunity to continue with their learning at the school.

Our students develop strong, working relationships with teachers and the sixth form is about meeting their needs, through the provision of post-16 education, in an environment where they have already achieved. I strongly believe that students will continue to thrive at The Marches due to the strong pastoral support system, highly successful teaching staff and a culture of high expectations. With the introduction of the Raising Participation Age in 2013, this is an important focus and we have every confidence that the sixth form will enhance the character of the school, whilst also having a positive impact within the border market town of Oswestry. As ever, we will continue to seek the best possible options for all our students and are entering into early discussions with Walford and North Shropshire College to further develop our working partnership, in light of these recent developments.

We are delighted that our application has been successful and we now look forward to progressing with our plans to accommodate our first intake in September 2013.”

Arthur Walpole, Chair of Governors commented:

“This is a very pleasing and exciting achievement for the school. We have tried previously to gain agreement for a sixth form but it has only been as a result of our becoming an Academy that the further opportunity became available to us. Our successful application has been due to the high level of support from everyone involved in the school and the shared view that this will improve the opportunities for the young people in our community – which is our number one priority. We also had the full support of Keith Barrow the leader of Shropshire Council who said how very pleased he was to hear that the application had been successful. He was in full support of the application and firmly believes that a sixth form at The Marches School will ensure that learners from Oswestry and surrounding areas are provided with improved opportunities to secure successful progression onto higher education and employment.”

The main focus of the school sixth form will be offering academic qualifications such as A-Levels and will also be looking closely into the delivery of the International Baccalaureate. The sixth form will, initially, only be accessible to Marches School students. For further details on this exciting new development please visit www.marchesschool.co.uk.