Dear Parents & Carers,

All students in Year 12 are going to be on work experience from Monday 8th July to Friday 12th July 2024. During this week there will be no classes and students will be at the workplace of their host employer.

Work experience gives students the chance to learn about what type of job they might enjoy, develop their CV and gain new skills. Students have been aware of the dates since before the Easter holidays and should already be contacting employers to source their own work experience placements.

We are using Unifrog (www.unifrog.org) to manage the administration of the work experience programme, which includes collecting information from the employer about their Risk Assessment and Health & Safety policy, as well as getting agreement from yourselves for the placement to go ahead.

Important information:

• Students need to agree to the placement with the employer first and then add the placement to their Unifrog account. Students have already created a Unifrog account and they will find the Placements tool on their Unifrog homepage.
• The Unifrog system will then email the employer, the parent and the school, to collect the necessary information and permissions. For this process to work, it is essential that students add the correct information to the system about the placement.
• Unifrog have created a set of guides which you can find here: www.unifrog.org/placement/guides and www.unifrog.org/placement/guides/how-to-use-the-placements-tool
• We recommend that you look at this document, as it includes advice on how to find a placement: www.unifrog.org/placement/guides/for-students-a-guide-to-placements-work-experience

Please read the guides and speak to your student about their progress in searching for a placement. If you have any questions, please contact us on sixthformsupport@cooppriesthorpe.co.uk

Kind regards,

Mrs C Brennan
Post-16 Manager

Dear Parents, Colleagues and Stakeholders,
I am writing to advise you that the Academy Governing Council of Co-op Academy Priesthorpe has approved the decision to close its current Sixth Form provision. With effect from September 2025, it is proposed that no further Sixth Form students will be admitted. This will not affect current students in Years 12 and 13 and they will continue to complete their courses and should attend lessons as normal.

There are two key reasons that underpin our decision to close the Sixth Form. The first of these is that there are several local Further Education Colleges and Sixth Forms who can provide a greater range of courses and subject choices than we are able to offer at Coop Academy Priesthorpe. As such, these providers have become an increasingly popular destination for most of our Year 11 students.
The second reason is that, in September 2025, a brand new, purpose built Pudsey Sixth College will open 1.4 miles away from Priesthorpe. Coop Academy Priesthorpe is one of four partners in this venture. The project is being led by the Luminate Group, whose membership includes Leeds City College and Leeds Sixth Form College. Our other partners are Crawshaw Academy and Leeds West Academy. We are incredibly excited about this opportunity, which will provide a fabulous focal point and destination within our local community, with world class facilities. Closing our current Sixth Form will also mean we can redirect resources more efficiently to support students across Key Stages 3 and 4.

At Co-op Academy Priesthorpe we have developed strong relationships with all local FE providers, and through these partnerships we continue to support our students through transition to the next stage of their education.

If you have any comments or questions you would like the Academy Governing Council to consider, prior to finalising this decision, please email them to prie-info@coopacademies.co.uk by 27th May 2024.

Best regards
Martin Blacoe Louise Pratt
Joint Principals