Dear Parent/carer

 

I am writing to update you around changes to our Post 16 provision from September 2024. 

 

For over 25 years, we ran a successful 'Pudsey 6th Form Confederation' with Crawshaw and Grangefield. Two years ago, Grangefield made the decision to withdraw from the partnership and 'go it alone' with their own Sixth Form. Crawshaw decided to close their Sixth Form last year. Working as part of the Pudsey 6th Form Confederation allowed us to offer a broad range of courses to our students. We were able to draw on the experienced Post 16 staff across three schools ensuring the highest quality. For us, operating as a stand alone sixth form reduces the courses we are now able to offer to our students. We are very aware that specialist Post 16 providers are able to offer more choice than us. In addition, courses are delivered by staff, who only teach KS5, and as a result are highly skilled experts.  We have therefore made the difficult decision to close our Post 16. Our current Year 12 cohort will be the last group to complete Post 16 courses with us on our site. 

 

However, we remain committed to providing a high quality Post 16 provision in the Pudsey area and in preparation for the change to our own sixth form, have been working with Crawshaw, Leeds West Academy, and the Luminate Group, which includes Leeds City College, Leeds Sixth Form College, and Leeds College of Building, on a bid to open a brand new 'Pudsey Sixth Form College', with capacity for 650 students. Planning for the project, which will be based on the Crawshaw site,  has received approval from Leeds City Council, and funding has been agreed to finance the construction of the new building. This will be a purpose built facility with specialist Post 16 staff. It was hoped the College would be up and running by September 2024, but, as often happens with new build projects, there have been a few obstacles to overcome. Luminate, who are overseeing the bid, remain fully committed to the project and are focusing on a September 2025 opening. The project is an incredibly exciting one for the local community, and an excellent opportunity for us to collaborate rather than compete with two of our local Secondary schools, for the betterment of our communities.

 

We are continuing to support our current Year 11 students in identifying high quality Post 16 specialist providers. This support has included assemblies delivered by specialist providers based in both Leeds and Bradford. All students will also have access to a personal careers interview with an independent Careers Advisor. We are also supporting students with applications through coaching. Could I also take this opportunity to guide you to some of the local open events in the area and useful websites.

 

Leeds Sixth Form College - Thursday 16th November 4pm - 7pm https://leedssixthform.ac.uk/

 

Notre Dame - Virtual Open Events Thursday 23rd November 5.30pm - 6.30pm & Thursday 11th January 5.30pm - 6.30pm https://www.notredamecoll.ac.uk/open-days

 

Elliot Hudson - Saturday 25 November – 10:00am – 12:45pm https://www.elliotthudsoncollege.ac.uk/admissions/open-events/

 

Leeds College  - https://leedscitycollege.ac.uk/events/

 

Bradford College - 11th November 2023, 10:00am - 3:00 pm https://www.bradfordcollege.ac.uk/events/open-day-bc/

 

Leeds College of Building - https://www.lcb.ac.uk/

 

Bradford New College - Tuesday 14 November 2023 - 4:30pm-7:30pm https://ncbradford.ac.uk/open-events/

 

https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/apprentices

 

Ensuring all of our students are supported into high quality destinations remains a priority for us as an academy. If you have any further questions about the changes to Post 16 then please get in touch at info@cooppriesthorpe.co.uk 

 

Kind regards

Martin Blacoe

Principal

Co op Academy Priesthorpe