Aiming HIGH

Critically, able students need to be confident that they will achieve outstanding results in order to progress to the most competitive universities. We are proud that gifted and able students at New College Doncaster make exceptional progress. The value added for able students with average GCSE point scores of 6.9 and above in 2022 was +0.20 compared with sixth form colleges nationally, which typically already perform better than schools. This means that around a fifth of all A level grades were higher than similarly qualified students achieved in other sixth form colleges. Students that achieve 7, 8, 9 results at GCSE achieve better results at New College Doncaster than nationally. The proportion of able students achieving A* grades at A level at New College Doncaster exceeds national rates.

We are delighted to have this year been nominated as the lead provider for South Yorkshire for ‘HE Plus’ – a project working with schools and colleges to support students applying to elite universities, including Oxford and Cambridge. This project complements the college’s existing work to support students applying to elite universities, to support students applying for medicine, dentistry and veterinary science, and to support students interested in Oxbridge.

Alongside their studies, students have the opportunity to take part in a research skills extra-curricular programme which can lead on to the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) – an opportunity for students to research, prepare a paper and deliver a presentation on an academic subject of their own interest, whilst achieving a qualification that is particularly helpful for students progressing to elite research universities. Our extra-curricular programme also includes a number of subject programmes through which students can start to explore introductory university level content, or subject content that sits beyond the scope of their current courses.

New College Doncaster has a strong track record of supporting good rates of progression to Russell Group universities and to Oxford and Cambridge.

Most popular competitive university destinations 2022:

• Durham University.

• Imperial College – University of London.

• University College – University of London.

Most students progress to higher education, including to prestigious universities. The number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds who progress to higher education is particularly high.

Ofsted, December 2021