New Eton-backed sixth form to prioritise children from disadvantaged backgrounds

Children living in ‘postcodes of deprivation’ and who would be the first in their families to go to university will be among those prioritised to learn at Oldham’s new Eton-backed sixth form.

In August the government gave approval for the expansion of the elite boarding school to open a co-educational sixth form college for 480 students in the centre of Oldham, in conjunction with state school trust Star Academies.

It will be one of three Eton-sponsored sixth forms opening in the north of the country, along with Dudley and Middlesbrough, after the areas were all listed in the government’s 55 education ‘cold spots’ in England – those identified as having the weakest education outcomes – as part of its levelling up agenda.
 

Read more: Oldham’s 'Eton of the north' will give 'world class' education to ordinary youngstersPublished: 23 August 2023

Eton has pledged to invest £1 million extra at each new sixth form per year on top of the government’s own funding through the free school programme.

It has previously been indicated that 60 to 65% of places will be allocated to young people from Oldham with the remainder going to youngsters from neighbouring areas.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Eton head Simon Henderson said they were aiming to open the new sixth form in Oldham in the ‘next two to three years’ following the DfE announcement, meaning pupils currently in years eight and nine could attend when they graduate high school.

Council leader Arooj Shah said: “From our perspective, we’re looking at sites because we just want to get shovels in the ground and start and we’re really excited about it.”

She said they had already identified a potential site in the borough for the new sixth form but would not confirm where it was located.

A huge focus for the partnership, in which the council is heavily involved, will be increasing the number of pupils in Oldham who do A-levels. Currently, only 36% of the borough’s young people go on to get these qualifications after leaving high school.

Mr Henderson said: “One of the reasons why we wanted to open Oldham is a significant number of young people – over a third – have five or more good passes at GCSE but actually fewer than ten per cent go on to convert those into the kind of A level grades you’d need to access the top universities.

“So we’re trying to help that pathway. It will be a sixth form that follows an academic curriculum, A levels particularly in the traditional facilitating subjects and it’s specifically aimed at getting young people in the top universities.”

‘Facilitating’ subjects are those like maths, sciences, English and history, and students would each take between three to four A levels.

“We’re going to be prioritising pupil premium children, those from the families with the lowest incomes, looked after children – those through the care system, those who would be the first in their family to go to university, and those from particular areas, postcodes where we think perhaps they haven’t had access to this sort of opportunity,” Mr Henderson added.

While there will also be an academic-based admissions policy in place, the head said it would not cherry-pick only the most academically gifted students.

“We’re not purely looking for those that have got the top grades, but we’re looking for those that want to follow a clear academic curriculum in the sixth form,” he added. “It will be selective but not prohibitively so.

“It is trying to take those bright young kids that do pretty well at GCSE but currently aren’t converting those into the type of A-level grades that they need to get into the top universities. And that’s what we want to help with.”

Councillor Shah added: “I think that’s the most significant thing for me about this project. For me it was never about the young people who were the highest achievers, it was about the young people who would benefit the most, and giving them the opportunity to go to really good outstanding Russell Group universities.

“It’s for them to have those kind of opportunities that they would never normally have coming from Oldham and I think that’s a good thing.

“This is about people, it’s not about politics and I think that people have a view [of Eton] and for me, that’s a very narrow view. I will take any opportunity that opens access for our young people to have established world-class connections and educational establishments that provide that.”

Alongside using the ‘EtonX’ digital platform within the curriculum – which is run virtually by Eton and already available to high schools in the borough – there would be ‘broader enrichment’ opportunities on offer, including a speaker programme, career and university preparation pathways and Oxbridge tutorial sessions.

Mr Henderson added: “Eton will run a summer school every summer for young people from the sixth forms so they will come and do a residential summer school in Eton in the summer holidays.

“This is a long-term project and both Eton and Star are committed to this project and to Oldham in perpetuity. Eton is planning to put in about a million pounds a year and we want to do that indefinitely.

“Eton has a particular place in the public consciousness and some people will have some preconceptions about what they think Eton is.

“That’s often very different from the reality and actually Eton is two things, it’s a boys' boarding school in Berkshire but it’s also a much broader educational foundation and its mission is to advance educational opportunity and this project is a natural extension of much broader work that Eton’s been doing over many, many years and that is something that Eton is very committed to for the long-term.”

Charlotte Green, Local Democracy Reporting Service