If you have a sixteen-year-old in your household chances are they are resting and recharging after their final GCSE exams. You are now eagerly awaiting results day in August, and may or may not already have a solid plan for their next steps in life.
Will they choose A levels, AS levels, BTech, NVQ, City & Guilds? Or do they want to start earning through an Apprenticeship or work? If they do want to continue their studies, will they return to their current school in Y12, or will they look around at other schools and sixth form colleges?
Here in Marlow we are genuinely spoilt for choice when it comes to high quality education for our children. Both the senior schools in Marlow itself – Great Marlow School and Sir William Borlase’s Grammar – are popular and successful, with high standards and expectations, and both achieve great results for their sixth formers.
Sir William Borlase’s sixth form offers twenty-two A and AS levels including Politics, Psychology and Economics, and also a BTech in Theatre Production. Results recently have been particularly strong in Art, DT, Creative Writing and Music.
Great Marlow sixth form offers twenty-three A and AS levels including Law and Ancient History, and also five BTECH courses such as PE, Creative & Media and Travel & Tourism.
Take a look at our Marlow schools guide.
Are there any other sixth form options for Marlow teens?
Yes! Your child may have had an obvious educational or vocational path since Reception, they may have decided to stay at their current school… or perhaps they (and you) are still feeling unsure as to where they should go next.
We therefore wanted to include another strong option for your child’s further education: The Henley College.
Marlow families have sent their sixth formers to The Henley College for decades. In fact, 28% of current THC students come from Marlow catchment senior schools, 89 of those coming across directly from Borlase’s and Great Marlow after Y11.
THC offers a wide range of over sixty courses: there are thirty-five A and AS level courses, and a huge selection of twenty-three vocational courses and award-winning Apprenticeship programmes.
Their focus is providing every student with opportunities to succeed, not only those with ‘book smarts’ and not only through traditional A levels.
The College’s results are impressive too: 1/3 of vocational course students achieved a D*D*D* (which is the equivalent in UCAS points of three A*s at A level) and these qualifications are accepted by all universities (except Oxbridge). In fact 70% of The Henley College leavers in 2018 went on to university, including Russell Group and Oxbridge.
What makes it different?
The Henley College sees itself as a “mini university”, a bridge between school and higher education. They encourage their students to become independent, self-motivated learners before they leave home for uni so that when they do start their degrees (or work) they can hit the ground running with the skills and confidence they need.
They achieve this by maintaining a strong community on campus. There is a Student Union, a student leadership team, equality and inclusion team, SEN provision, Gifted & Talented and Elite Sports programmes and links with high profile businesses and sporting clubs (e.g. Leander rowing). The College is extremely proud of its ethos around diversity, inclusivity and flexibility and they strongly believe that there is more than one definition of success, and more than one path to achieve it.
If you follow The Henley College Facebook page you will quickly get an idea of the variety of success stories they are currently enjoying!
The Henley College will be hosting a two-day GSCE Results Advisory Service from 9am on Thursday 22 August. They will welcome calls from new or existing applicants who would like to discuss their results and options for study at Henley. The dedicated helpline number is 01491 634321.
We recommend you take a look at their Prospectus, get in touch and go along to their GCSE Results Clinic on 22 or 23 August:
The Henley College, Deanfield Avenue, Henley-on-Thames RG9 1UH
T: 01491 579988 / E: info@henleycol.ac.uk
Wishing all Marlow families the best of luck on GCSE results day next month and remember: the right attitude will always get you further in life than exam results alone!
