Students and staff at Blackpool Sixth are celebrating further success in the 16 to 18 performance tables published today.

We are now number one on the Fylde coast across all schools and colleges on the key measure of students’ best three A levels.  We are also top of the table on students’ progress in applied general qualifications (mainly BTECs) These two measures, once again, make us the best post 16 provider for A level and BTEC across the Fylde coast.

Our ‘value-added’ scores for both A levels and BTECs rose once again, showing that our students are making really excellent progress during their time with us.  This means that students are doing significantly better in these qualifications than would be predicted based on their GCSE results when they join the college.  Our value added results for A levels put us in the top 15% of all schools and colleges in England, furthermore our valued added score for applied general qualifications is equal to the very best achieved by all colleges in the country.

We had over 800 students complete their qualifications in 2017 and these leavers excelled themselves by achieving exceptionally good results. Our results for A level and BTEC Level 3 were the best ever for a third year running.  The overall pass rate rose to 99.6%.  Nearly 70% of our students gained a high grade and over 40% gained an A* or A grade or equivalent.

In the autumn just under 80% of our students progressed directly to university.  A significant number of these students gained places at the most selective universities (highest and high tariff), including the Russell Group.  The vast majority of the rest of our leavers have secured apprenticeships or other high quality employment with training, or have taken a gap year before progressing to university.

Blackpool Sixth Principal, Jill Gray, commented, “We are absolutely thrilled with the outstanding success of our students.  This success is represented not only by their fantastic exam results but, even more importantly, by their excellent progression to the next stage of their life – whether that be university, apprenticeships or other high quality employment with training.  The hard work and dedication of our staff is commendable and demonstrates that they really are helping to build futures for all of our students.”

The performance tables can be accessed here.