Following a month long consultation in the new year, Birmingham City Council has approved an application by King’s Norton Boys’ School to end its sixth form provision.
The consultation, unanimously supported by the school’s Governing Body, saw staff, parents, students, stakeholders and the wider community being encouraged to share their views.
King’s Norton Boys’ School’s Head Teacher Paul Woodhouse said: “I am very saddened that our sixth form has become no longer viable or sustainable due to a shortfall in Government funding and an increase in post-16 education provision in the local area.
“Since the consultation was launched, the school has been working tirelessly to ensure we have offered careers advice to students, including support from establishments offering further education provision within the local area.
“Meanwhile, our Year 7 cohort is set to expand from September 2018, and we are developing a five-year strategy focussing on our vision that, by 2022, our school will become ‘outstanding’ – both in terms of its Ofsted rating and the contribution it makes to the lives of all of the boys who spend their formative years with us.
“Long hailed for our high quality sporting provision, plans are also in place for a new £2 million sports hall which will enable us to further enhance our physical education curriculum and extra-curricular activity offer.
“We continue in our efforts to raise pupil attainment, building on the success of last summer’s GCSE results which saw 68 per cent of our students achieve at least five GCSEs grades A* to C including maths and English.
“I want to thank our students, parents and staff for their understanding and patience throughout the consultation process and I look forward to continuing to work with them as we transition through the changes ahead.”
Andrew Collyer, Chair of Governors at King’s Norton Boys’ School, said: “The Governing Body fully supports the decision made by the Local Authority and we believe these changes are vital in order to allow the school to continue on its journey of transformation.
“As we continue our open and transparent communications with students, staff, parents and the wider community, we are also now canvassing all stakeholders and parents for their ideas and contributions to our five-year strategy.
“The Governing Body is looking forward to continuing to support Head Teacher Paul Woodhouse as he puts in to place these exciting and visionary plans to strengthen King’s Norton Boys’ School.”
Sixth form provision will end at the school on August 31st 2018. Current Year 12 students will continue in to Year 13 to complete their studies in the 2017/18 academic year. No Year 12 sixth form places being offered in September 2017.
Meanwhile, the Year 7 intake will increase from 128 places to 150 places from September 2018.