Blanchelande reopening its sixth form

Monday 25 February 2019

Students at Blanchelande College will once again be able to study their A-Levels at the school, as it has announced its intention to reopen its sixth form.

The private Catholic School made this announcement to parents over half term, and said the decision had been taken in light of rising student numbers, rising academic results and high parental demand.

The sixth form will open to its first year group, year 12, in September 2020, and the first students will study in year 13 in 2021. 

In 2014, when the senior school was single sex, there were 274 students, in 2017 there were 305 boys and girls. Right now, February 2019, there are 378 boys and girls. Mr O'Brien calls this the success of co-education. 

Robert O'Brien, the Principal of Blanchelande, said: "Parents are always asking when the Blanchelande Sixth Form is going to reopen and we would not be taking this step without the support and enthusiasm of [them]. We are also conscious of the need to ensure continuity for our students throughout their senior school life, as will be the case at all mainstream schools on the island following the restructuring of States education.

"I have great confidence in our ability to extend our provision to Sixth Form, and see our excellent GCSE results replicated at A-Level. The growth in our pupil numbers and superb 2018 inspection report affirms the success of the school."

If the school had not taken this decision, it would have been the only one on the island to not have a sixth form under the new Education system. 

Going forwards, Blanchelande will be recruiting a Head of sixth form, who will join the Senior Leadership Team. At the start, many lessons will take place using the school's current facilities, but as things progress Mr O'Brien said the plan was to have new facilities developed inside an "under-utilised area of its spacious buildings". This will include a new library, two seminar rooms, a scene lab and a common room. 

Chairman of Blanchelande's Board of Governors, Rob Hutchinson, added: "This is an important decision for Blanchelande but following our excellent inspection report and significant growth in pupil numbers, we are confident that the time is right to reopen our Sixth Form. It’s the natural next step following the introduction of boys into the seniorschool four years ago. Most importantly, it is a response to parental and student demand."