The Launch of a NEW Sixth Form: The Midsomer Norton Sixth Form

This summer both Norton Hill and Somervale Sixth Forms celebrated outstanding A Level results. All students who wanted a place at University were successful in gaining their place. This clearly bucked the national trend as thousands of students were turned away. This was a marvellous start for the town's new Sixth Form as today Norton Hill and Somervale Sixth Forms are merged into the new Midsomer Norton Sixth Form.

The new Sixth Form will have almost 400 students on roll and a huge range of Level 3 courses on offer. The Sixth Form's philosophy is based on academic excellence and examination courses which will ensure that students have access to the best universities, best training and best jobs.  To ensure that academic excellence is maintained the Midsomer Norton Sixth Form will have  outstanding Sixth Form teaching drawn from across the two schools. There will be one experienced team for advice and guidance which will ensure that this is of the high quality.

Spread across the two school sites the Sixth Form will be able to make the most of the facilities across the two schools, such as the tv and media suites at Somervale, the sports facilities at Norton Hill and the Music Technology suites and Sixth Form libraries in both schools. There are dedicated Sixth Form facilities for study and recreation at both schools and, in addition, construction on a new Sixth Form centre at Somervale will start in October.

There will be other changes too. Students will be encouraged to manage their own time more effectively. They will not be treated like schoolchildren and will be given guidance on how to manage their time study time so as they get to grips with this they will eventually not have to register every morning and afternoon. Instead they will have regular mentoring meetings with their tutor and only their presence in lessons be registered. As they move on and off-site they will use thumb-print recognition to indicate where they are, thus saving the time taken to sign in at one given entrance. They will also have a designated Sixth Form car-park.

Headteacher Peter Beaven said "Our  Sixth Forms produced some outstanding results this summer.  These results provide a solid platform for the new merged Sixth Form which comes into being in September. The Midsomer Norton Sixth Form – based across Norton Hill and Somervale sites will provide a huge range of courses and opportunities for the young people of our town. Clearly, from this platform they will gain access to the very best opportunities across the country, whether they go on to the top Universities or into training."

Midsomer Norton Sixth Form website: http://www.msnsixth.com