Sixth form college - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A sixth form college is an educational institution in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, Belize

Belize

Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...

, Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

or Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

where students aged 16 to 18 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A-levels

GCE Advanced Level

The Advanced Level General Certificate of Education, commonly referred to as an A-level, is a qualification offered by education institutions in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Cameroon, and the Cayman Islands...

, or school-level qualifications such as GCSEs. In Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

and India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, this is known as a junior college

Junior college

The term junior college refers to different educational institutions in different countries.-India:In India, most states provide schooling through 12th grade...

. The municipal government of the city of Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

uses the word "sixth form college" as the English name for a lycée.

In England and Wales

England and Wales

England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...

, education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

is only compulsory until the end of year 11, the school year in which the pupil turns 16 (although this is changing in September 2013) In the English

England

and Welsh

Wales

state educational systems, those wishing to continue may either stay on at a secondary school with an attached sixth form

Sixth form

In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...

, transfer to a local sixth form college, or go to a more vocational further education college, although, depending on geographical location, there may be little choice as to which of these options can be taken. In the independent sector, sixth forms are an integral part of secondary schools (public schools), and there is also a number of smaller-scale independent sixth form colleges.

Students at sixth form college typically study for two years (known as Years 12 and 13, Years 13 and 14 in Northern Ireland and/or lower sixth and upper sixth). Some students sit AS examinations at the end of the first year, and A-level examinations at the end of the second. In addition, in recent years a variety of vocational courses have been added to the curriculum

Curriculum

See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...

.

There are currently over 90 sixth form colleges in operation in England and Wales. Most perform extremely well in national examination league tables. In addition, they offer a broader range of courses at a lower cost per student than most school sixth forms. In a few areas, authorities run sixth form schools which function like sixth form colleges but are completely under the control of the local education authorities. Unlike further education colleges, sixth form colleges rarely accept part-time students or run evening classes, although one boarding sixth form college exists.

Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

does not, in general, have separate sixth form colleges (or, indeed, the same concept of the terminal two years of secondary education as being distinct from the other time spent there); as such, Scottish students who opt to remain in full-time education will typically remain in the same school for fifth, and possibly a sixth year (the equivalent to the English lower- and upper-sixth forms), studying Higher Grade and Advanced Higher qualifications.

England

The 1st comprehensive intake sixth form colleges in England were established at the end of the 1960s and have since proved popular with students, their parents, and other groups in the community. Until 1992, these colleges were controlled and funded by local education authorities

Local Education Authority

A local education authority is a local authority in England and Wales that has responsibility for education within its jurisdiction...

(LEAs), but the Further and Higher Education Act, 1992 transferred all institutions within the sector to the Further Education Funding Council for England

Further Education Funding Council for England

The Further Education Funding Council for England was a non-departmental public body of the Department for Education and Skills in the United Kingdom which distributed funding to Further Education and Sixth Form Colleges in England between 1992 and 2001....

(FEFC), a national agency with strategic responsibility for the operation of general further education (FE) colleges. Later the FEFC's functions were taken over by the Learning and Skills Council

Learning and Skills Council

The Learning and Skills Council was a non-departmental public body jointly sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Children, Schools and Families in England...

(LSC), a reorganisation that included changes in the funding and supervision of sixth form colleges. Sixth form colleges take responsibility for their own employment, pensions and pay arrangements with the support and advice of the Sixth Form College Forum (SFCF). The Forum is made up of representative principals from SFCs across the UK. The Forum or Council, sets up several Committees to deliver its range of support services for SFCs as well as facilitating lobbying work with Central Government.
Colleges for the most part do not charge full-time daytime students; however, adult students (most of whom attend evening classes) may have to pay a fee (for examinations, tutors' time and other costs).
There are also some sixth form colleges in the independent sector, specialising in A levels for which fees are paid.-these are unconnected with the Council or the Forum.

Wales

In Wales, sixth form education falls under the remit of the Welsh Assembly, and sixth form colleges are sources of further education alongside FE Colleges and sixth forms integrated into secondary schools. They typically offer the Welsh Baccalaureate

Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification

The Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification, also known as WBQ or Welsh Bac, was introduced in October 2006. Where offered, the WBQ runs alongside and complements qualifications such as A-levels and GCSEs. 31 schools and colleges are running a pilot scheme...

and Key Skills

Key Skills Qualification

The Key Skills Qualification is a frequently required component of 14-19 education in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. The aim of Key Skills is to encourage learners to develop and demonstrate their skills as well as learn how to select and apply skills in ways that are appropriate to their...

qualifications.