Agenda item

To receive evidence in respect of the Post 16 Partnership Excellence for All Working Group Strand

The Committee received a presentation from the Head of School at Egglescliffe School and Sixth Form regarding the work of the Post 16 Partnership Excellence for All working strand. The presentation included:

• Egglescliffe School GCSE successes and A level results, with 100% A level pass rate in 21 subjects, 52% of Grades A*-B and over 25% of grades A*-A. It was noted that data and statistics should be considered along with the background and personal stories of the students to reflect the real achievements made, and the school was proud of the results achieved by their students.
• Recruitment to post 16 provision, which was historically very stable at Egglescliffe with a cohort of 160 – 170. Challenges for recruitment to post 16 provision included the curriculum offer, the curriculum success, and incentives offered by other providers.
• Collaboration between in borough post 16 providers to improve recruitment, ensuring that there was a strong offer with good outcomes across the borough that encouraged students to enrol at in borough providers. There was an ongoing trial with two strands to address the outcomes:
  • Business mentor support, led by the Employment and Training Hub to bring business and students together. The strand targeted students who were not academically achieving in Bede and Egglescliffe colleges providing a series of interventions to improve their confidence, study skills, leadership, employability and knowledge of sectors. To date masterclasses had been held regarding communication skills, interviewing the mentor, and understanding business sectors. Information from the sectors had been shared with colleges and schools previously, however the information was more powerful coming direct from businesses and the feedback from the masterclasses had been very positive.
  • Teach meet, held in November 2025 when staff across eight subjects areas came together to discuss, plan, and implement a series of interventions to approve outcomes. The feedback from staff was positive and another session was planned in February 2026. Members questioned whether Teach Meets would be used for more subjects and informed that they had been targeted at subjects which were underperforming or only had one class in the college which limited discussion with colleagues, e.g. sociology and economics.

The number of students coming out of borough to Stockton-on-Tees providers was noted. While Egglescliffe Sixth Forms intake was usually from the school itself, they did enrol a small number of students from other schools, including private schools. However, Stockton Riverside College and Bede College had 695 students from out of borough enrolled on their courses.

The Committee discussed recruitment, with members questioning whether the range of courses for in-brough providers differed from those outside the borough, and whether students were being signposting to vocational courses available in-borough. It was acknowledged that Egglescliffe Sixth Forms offer was A level courses however they invited local colleges into the school to promote vocational courses to those students who wished to choose that route. It was believed that there was a perception by students’ the incentives and vocational offer from other colleges were better. A survey had been carried out to understand further why students were choosing out of borough providers and this would be presented to the Committee during the review.

It was noted Communication and Marketing working strand had developed a leaflet to promote the Post 16 offer in borough to Year 10 and 11 students. As a result, applications to all in borough providers was spectacularly high for this time of the year, with applications for Egglescliffe already at 170, this was 50 more applications than at the same point last academic year, while Stockton Riverside College had increased by 20% and Stockton Sixth Form College increased by 50%. The work of the Communication and Marketing working strand would be presented at the next Committee meeting.

AGREED that the information provided be noted.