Outstanding GCSE Resit Results Earn Blackpool Sixth Form National Recognition

The report, Making the grade: 10 recommendations to help students make progress in GCSE maths and English resits, is based on the approach taken by 11 sixth form colleges in England where post-16 students perform very strongly in these subjects.  

The report was compiled by the Sixth Form Colleges Association and officially launched at the Association’s annual Curriculum Conference at the University of Warwick today.

Sixth formers in England are required to continue studying maths and English if they did not achieve a GCSE grade 4 or above in these subjects at age 16.  As the report sets out, this is a controversial policy that is often unpopular with students and can be difficult for institutions to deliver at scale. 

However, the 11 colleges that feature in the report all have a substantial cohort of resit students and high GCSE maths and English progress scores – a government measure that shows the distance travelled between performance at the end of Key Stage 4 and the end of post-16 study.

While the average GCSE progress score for students in England is 0.05 for maths and 0.17 for English, at The Blackpool Sixth Form College the progress score is 0.72 for maths and 0.71 for English – both significantly above average. 

Today’s report sets out 10 recommendations that all schools and colleges can use to improve the development of their resit offer. These include prioritising the induction process, investing in specialist maths and English teachers, focusing on exam technique and majoring on one-to-one student support. 

The final recommendation is for college staff to be relentlessly positive – the common thread that ran through all 11 colleges that featured in the report.   

Commenting on today’s report, Nicola Craven, Principal at The Blackpool Sixth Form College said:

“We are delighted to be featured in the SFCA’s national report highlighting the exceptional progress of our GCSE maths and English resit students. Year on year, these results are a testament to the dedication of our specialist staff and the relentless positivity and hard work of our students at Blackpool SIxth.”