Sleaford Joint Sixth Form

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Coordinates: 52°59′57.30″N 0°24′51.01″W / 52.9992500°N 0.4141694°W / 52.9992500; -0.4141694
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Sleaford Joint Sixth Form
Address
Map
Lindum House
Northgate

Sleaford
,
Lincolnshire
,
NG34 7PS

England
Information
TypeSixth Form
MottoCHOICE - OPPORTUNITY - SUCCESS
Established1983
Local authorityLincolnshire
SpecialistMaths and Computing (St George's Academy site), Sports and Science (Carre's Grammar School Site)
AdministratorMrs L. Phoenix
Key peopleProgress Manager and Head of Sixth Form (St George's Academy site)
- Miss M. Addison

Sixth Form Specialist Manager (St George's Academy site)
- Mrs C. Scriven
Head of Sixth Form (Carre's Grammar School site)
- Mr R. Smith
Progress Manager (Carre's Grammar School site)
- Mr B. Pickard

"Head of Sixth Form Enrichment (Carre's Grammar School site)"
- Mr B. Rooney
GenderMixed
Age16 to 18
Enrolmentapprox. 500
SportsFootball
Rugby
Tennis
Basketball
Cricket
Badminton
Netball
Swimming
Aerobics
Table Tennis
Prospectushttps://www.carres.uk/_site/data/files/document/6th-form/2725C5B5882C5C4643A71F76F110AE6E.pdf?pid=7
Websitehttps://sleafordjsf.org/

Sleaford Joint Sixth Form is a partnership in Sleaford, England, between Carre's Grammar School, Kesteven and Sleaford High School and St George's Academy.

The Sixth Form was amalgamated in 1983 for students from Sleaford's three secondary schools. At the time it was a partnership between Grammar and comprehensive schools. It was considered to be highly advantageous to all the schools concerned and was featured as a Case Study in a book considering how best to improve schools.[1]

Until 2010 the Joint Sixth Form was inclusive of all Sleaford Secondary Schools: Carre's Grammar School, St George's Academy (formerly St Georges College of Technology) and Kesteven and Sleaford High School. However, before the beginning of the 2010–11 academic year, Kesteven and Sleaford High School left the partnership, before re-joining in 2016.

History[edit]

Background[edit]

The Education Act 1944 made secondary education compulsory for all pupils aged 11 to 15. It also introduced a "tripartite system" of secondary schooling which provided curricula based on aptitude and ability: grammar schools for "academic" pupils, secondary moderns for practical studies, and technical schools for science and engineering. Fees were abolished in state schools. Pupils were allocated to them depending on their score in the eleven-plus examination.[2][3]

In Sleaford, the existing boys' school, Carre's Grammar School, had previously charged fees subsidised by funding from Kesteven County Council, while admitting some children funded by local authority scholarships. After the 1944 Act, it became a voluntary controlled grammar school under local authority management from 1945.[4] The girls' school, Kesteven and Sleaford High School, had also charged fees while admitting some pupils with scholarships; it converted to being a state grammar school from 1945 as well.[5] Both selected pupils based on performance on the County Selection Examination,[6][7] the eleven-plus examination.[8] The local authority-run Sleaford Council School was also split, with its senior department (catering for pupils aged over 11), becoming legally separate as the town's secondary modern school in 1945.[9]

Comprehensive debate[edit]

The educational opportunities for secondary modern pupils were limited compared to those at grammar schools, prompting criticism of the tripartite system.[10][11] In 1965, the Labour Government issued Circular 10/65 requesting Local Education Authorities implement comprehensive schooling.[10][11] In 1970, Kesteven County Council proposed replacing the three school selective system in the town with two comprehensive schools: this would have involved expanding Carre's and the High School as co-educational comprehensives for 11–18 year olds, with the secondary modern being abolished and parkland at Westholme becoming both schools' playing fields.[12] In 1971 Sleaford parents voted in favour of comprehensive education, but rejected the Council's proposals.[13] New plans were unveiled in 1972–73: the High School and the Secondary Modern sites were to become mixed 11–16 schools and Carre's would become a sixth form college.[14][n 1] Parents voted for the plans, albeit with a 50% turnout.[16] The County Council approved them, but allowed governors a veto.[17] Following negotiations with governors at Carre's, the scheme was revised in 1974 so that Carre's and the High School became 11–18 schools; the secondary modern would be closed.[18]

Despite support from most staff and all three headteachers,[19][20] Lincolnshire County Council (Kesteven County Council's successor body) voted to return the scheme for consultation in 1975.[19] Two of the leading opponents, councillors Eric Fairchild and Reg Brealey, were governors at the secondary modern and Brealey was a former pupil.[21] The latter proposed a three-school system, arguing it offered more choice: the secondary modern would be consolidated at Westholme as a single-site 11–16 school; Carre's and the High School would operate Sixth Forms.[22] The Education Act 1976 rejected the principle of selection in state schooling and empowered the government to compel local authorities to convert their schools to comprehensive schemes.[23] After the Government ordered Lincolnshire County Council to submit a comprehensive proposal in 1977, it voted to submit the three-school system, which had become popular with parents and was championed by Brealey.[24][25][26] But, the Labour Education Secretary, Shirley Williams, dismissed the proposals in 1978 on grounds that the Sixth Forms would be too small.[27] The council then voted against the two-school system again.[28]

In the 1979 general election, Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government came to power and shortly afterwards it repealed much of the Education Act 1976 and thus allowed local authorities to retain grammar schools (where they still existed) through the Education Act 1979.[29][30] In Lincolnshire, the Council shifted focus towards retaining its remaining grammar schools (including those in the Sleaford area) and improving schools where work had been put on hold during the comprehensive debate;[31] despite 90% of English councils adopting comprehensive education, Lincolnshire had resisted.[32]

KSHS leaving the Sixth Form[edit]

Kesteven and Sleaford High School ceased to take new sixth form students from the Joint Sixth Form from September 2010. Existing students were taught to the end of their courses in June 2011. The break-up was and remains controversial with the parties disputing responsibility for the decision. A local paper stated that the High School had decided to go its own way, quoting the headteachers from the other two schools, and this is the reason still cited on the Carre's Grammar School website.[33] Conversely, Kesteven and Sleaford High School blamed the fact that St George's had become an academy, which therefore made it impossible for the two schools to operate under a formal and legal agreement together.[34] In February 2015, the Kesteven school expressed its intention to join the Robert Carre Trust along with Carre's which then came into place 1 September 2015.[35] Although the Girl's High School is part of this trust it still operates on its own site, having its own staff, students and facilities.[36]

Courses and Events[edit]

The SJSF partnership offers courses across all 3 schools, ranging from art and media, to maths and science.[37] They offer transition packs for students moving from GCSE to A-Level, as found in the website, along with study guides and virtual subject briefings.[38]

In the past, multiple prefect teams from the SJSF have attended meetings with Sleaford's local MP Caroline Johnson,[39] or have taken part in North Kesteven's 2023 Question Time NK event, with the Heads of School Council from Carre's reviewing the event. [40][41]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ The proposal involved the abolition of the eleven-plus examination and the establishment of five co-educational comprehensive schools at Sleaford Secondary Modern, Sleaford High, Ruskington Secondary Modern, Lafford High and Billingborough Secondary Modern, with Carre's being converted into a sixth form college.[15]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Gordon Kay, 'Case Study: Sleaford Joint Sixth Form' in Cyril Taylor, A Good School for Every Child: How to Improve Our Schools, (Routledge, London), 2009, 146-7 [1]
  2. ^ Ward & Eden 2009, pp. 34–35
  3. ^ "Education Act 1944", Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  4. ^ Ellis 1954, pp. 38–39
  5. ^ Edmonds & Venn 1977, pp. 25, 27, 59
  6. ^ Ellis 1954, pp. 39
  7. ^ Edmonds & Venn 1977, p. 59
  8. ^ Richard E. Gross, Secondary Education: Overview and Appraisals (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965), p. 175.
  9. ^ HM Inspectors of Schools 1949, p. 2.
  10. ^ a b "Comprehensive schools: the history". Times Higher Education. 15 January 1996. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  11. ^ a b Ward & Eden 2009, pp. 36–37
  12. ^ "Schools' Long Term Policy". Sleaford Standard. 6 March 1970. p. 1. Retrieved 18 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ^ "Schools Switch—The Count-down starts next week". Sleaford Standard. 5 January 1973.
  14. ^ "New School for 600 in Plan". Sleaford Standard. p. 1. Retrieved 18 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ^ "Schools Switch – The Count-Down Starts Next Week". Sleaford Standard. 5 January 1973. p. 3. Retrieved 18 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. ^ "Parents Vote for Schools Reshuffle". Sleaford Standard. 4 May 1973. p. 1. Retrieved 18 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. ^ "All-In Schools Go-Ahead, Now for the Crunch". Sleaford Standard. 3 August 1973. p. 1. Retrieved 18 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  18. ^ "Decision Day for All-In Schools Plan". Sleaford Standard. 20 December 1974. p. 1. Retrieved 18 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  19. ^ a b Lenton, Bob (10 January 1975). "Schools Plan Delay Stuns Teachers". Sleaford Standard. p. 1. Retrieved 18 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  20. ^ "Schools Plans – Heads and Staff 'Agreed'". Sleaford Standard. 17 January 1975. p. 3. Retrieved 18 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  21. ^ Lenton, Bob (10 January 1975). "Schools Plan Delay Stuns Teachers". Sleaford Standard. p. 1. Retrieved 18 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  22. ^ "Millionaire in Fight to Save His Old School". Sleaford Standard. 17 January 1975. p. 1. Retrieved 18 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  23. ^ Education Act 1976 (1976, c. 81), ss. 1–2.
  24. ^ "School's Life in Balance". Sleaford Standard. 31 March 1977. p. 1. Retrieved 18 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  25. ^ "'Three School' Plan Victory". Sleaford Standard. 5 May 1977. p. 1. Retrieved 17 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  26. ^ "Three School Plan Victory". Sleaford Standard. 7 July 1977. p. 1. Retrieved 18 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  27. ^ "Three-School Scheme Is Thrown Out". Sleaford Standard. 30 March 1978. p. 1. Retrieved 18 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  28. ^ "It's the Three-School Scheme: County Throws out Two-School Idea". Sleaford Standard. 27 July 1978. p. 9. Retrieved 17 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  29. ^ Education Act 1979 (1979, c. 49), s. 1.
  30. ^ Anne Beauvallet, "Thatcherism and Education in England: A One-Way Street?", Observatoire de la société britannique, vol. 17 (2015), pp. 97–114.
  31. ^ "Bright Future for Grammars". Sleaford Standard. 17 May 1979. p. 1. Retrieved 14 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  32. ^ "Comprehensive Schools: The History". Times Higher Education. 15 January 1996. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  33. ^ Sleaford Standard 12 May 2010 'Heads issue reassurances after joint sixth form breakup' [2] and Carre's Grammar School news page "Carre's Grammar School - News Section". Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  34. ^ Lincolnshire Echo 5 May 2010 'Joint sixth form splits after 27 years'
  35. ^ "Robert Carre Trust - About". Carre's about section.
  36. ^ "Kesteven & Sleaford High School - Sixth Form". Kesteven & Sleaford Girls High School.
  37. ^ https://www.carres.uk/_site/data/files/document/6th-form/2725C5B5882C5C4643A71F76F110AE6E.pdf?pid=7
  38. ^ "Home | Sleaford Joint Sixth Form". sleafordjsf.org. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  39. ^ "Sixth Form Students Quiz Local MP". Kesteven & Sleaford High School. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  40. ^ https://twitter.com/NorthKestevenDC/status/1734534409091424563
  41. ^ North Kesteven District Council [@NorthKestevenDC] (12 December 2023). "Last week North Kesteven District Council hosted a QuestionTime panel event for teens to tackle hot topics. Over 120 students from all 8 district secondary schools got involved in 2 hours of lively debate, discussing topics from vaping to the urgency for climate action. [Video]" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

Bibliography[edit]

52°59′57.30″N 0°24′51.01″W / 52.9992500°N 0.4141694°W / 52.9992500; -0.4141694


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