Real-life ready: the right sixth form

It’s important to find a sixth form environment that you know will prepare your child for their next stage in life, whatever that may be

ANTONIA GELDEARD, Deputy Head and Head of Sixth Form, at Trinity School, Croydon discusses the benefits of an enriching co-ed environment to complete your child’s school career

Trinity’s sixth form became coeducational in September 2011. Each year, we have more than 300 students in the sixth form, and close to a third of these are girls.

We’ve seen an increase in applications in the last couple of years. Last year, we had close to 200 applicants. Many are attracted by the co-educational offering. Certainly advocates of mixed schooling have long said that this model offers a real-world experience: the classroom is more diverse, and this is great preparation for university and real life. What’s more, our community celebrates diversity and comprises a great variety of faiths and cultures.

This is something we actively celebrate. Our students talk about feeling a new lease of life when joining a sixth form. There’s a sense of a new world opening up; of new opportunities and fresh perspectives.

Making a fresh start

To ensure smooth transition, we’ve put in place a large number of induction events – from quizzes, to meals out, to team-building days and a system of inter-form connections in addition to a girls’ welfare scheme, whereby upper sixth girls chat with lower sixth ‘buddies’. Initially, there’s a period of settling and getting to know each other and this is as much about new students as biological sex. But as soon as the work starts – and our students are encouraged to join so much of the co-curricular offering that life is undoubtedly busy – an atmosphere of academic and cocurricular focus and achievement takes over.

Many come to Trinity having been attracted by the facilities, specialist support for university and co-curricular academic

extension opportunities – as well as its reputation for excellent pastoral care and being a friendly but exciting place. Coeducation is undoubtedly an attraction for many, too – with the tide increasingly turning towards a more modern and diverse educational experience, mirroring attitudes in society more broadly.

When students reach 16 and are looking at academic specialisms, the classroom benefits particularly strongly from enquiry, investigation and debate. A variety of perspectives and views are vital. During lockdown, for instance, online Teams lessons with shared resources and opportunities for students to present to each other in collaborative ways via a plethora of technology was greatly beneficial. The use of digital marking and shared documents fostered this sense of collaboration, and allowed us to benefit from a variety of perspectives and learning styles.

Breadth and equality of opportunity

Established pedagogy highlights the great benefits of peer-to-peer learning and this is an enhanced feature of A-level. At this stage, students are focused on independent as well as extension study. While the teacher is of course vital – and we try out many different ways of teaching content – the students are already interested and they want a guide who can bring the subject to life and stretch them.

We have a lot of girls join us for both our science and maths teaching as well as for humanities and creative arts. By the age of 16, there can be no argument that choices are down to stereotype as these choices have, largely, been made. Breadth and equality of opportunity crosses genders and develops pupils through the widest range of options, both within and beyond the classroom.

WHEN STUDENTS REACH 16 AND ARE LOOKING AT ACADEMIC SPECIALISMS, the classroom benefits particularly strongly from enquiry, investigation and debate. A VARIETY OF PERSPECTIVES AND VIEWS ARE VITAL

Celebrating community

Of course, there’s no doubt that, in society as a whole, there are structural inequalities as a result of gender, socio-economic and racial differences, which our students need to explore and understand but the mix of each of these found within our school is one of its greatest strengths. Our students have an amazing opportunity to learn from each other. The broader their experience of working across differences – whatever they may be – and the more they connect with the world outside school, the more ready they will be to create and enjoy communities when they leave us.

What to look for

My key piece of advice to parents and students when choosing a sixth form would be to find a school that’s going to prepare your child for the next steps; to find an institution that recognises that the real world requires academic results but also a host of other softer skills, and to choose a school that prepares students for university or other pathways, while recognising the need to be developed beyond the traditional three A-level education. It’s important to look at relationships in particular. This is telling: do students and teachers connect? Do teachers give of their time and advice to develop each individual?

Effective transition, induction and pastoral care underpins all of this. While we look for academic curiosity, and students that are outward looking and community minded, we know that it’s our job to nurture these qualities and these skills and to give our students – male or female – a platform and a base from which they can truly flourish.